The End

Since the very first post on Classic Ground back in mid-March 2006, this blog has been about "my beliefs, attitudes, and assumptions related to art, to American popular culture, and to the fortunes of America's greatest gridiron tradition." I started because I had some awful, post-dissertation-research-turned-into-book-and-exhibition writer's block, and I used the blog to unclog the issue. As Notre Dame football embarks on the Brian Kelly era, this blog won't go on that particular ride.

I started just after Charlie Weis's first year and the opening of Brady Quinn's Heisman candidacy. I wrote about things that interested me. 1002 posts, including this one. 2 World Cups. Book reviews. Memories of the San Diego Sockers. Album reviews. Top ND plays.

If you have been paying attention, blog posts have become too few and far between. Classic Ground has served its usefullness for me. And I won't take the metaphorical napalm to the blog, yet, but will keep it up as an archive for now.

The End. Go Irish!

Pittsburgh area trip

This past week, Bill Eiland, director at the Georgia Museum of Art, and I traveled to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. On Tuesday evening, after arriving in Pittsburgh, we immediately headed downtown to the Andy Warhol Museum. At the Warhol, we had a quick conversation with director Tom Sokolowski, viewed the exhibition Twisted Pair: Marcel Duchamp and Andy Warhol, and enjoyed the unique store.

On Wednesday, we spent the entire day in a private collection which included great American tonalist and impressionist landscapes, WPA-era prints, and more.

On Thursday, Bill and I packed in an insane amount of museum viewing: (1) the Frick Art & Historical Center, with a personal tour from the director, Bill Bodine, and his director of curatorial affairs, Sarah Hall, and looking at the special exhibition Small But Sublime: Intimate 19th-Century American Landscapes; (2) a drive from Pittsburgh to Youngstown, Ohio, and a wonderful personal tour and late lunch with The Butler Institute of American Art's director, Lou Zona; and (3) the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, including the excellent art collection, minerals and rocks, dinosaurs, and everything else.

Yesterday, Bill and I sojourned out to Greensburg, Pennsylvania, and visited with (and enjoyed lunch with) Judith Hansen O'Toole, director, and Barbara Jones, chief curator, at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art.

A whole litany of future projects and potential projects for the Georgia Museum of Art will emerge from this great trip.

Pictures follow:

Wayback Machine

Back in 2002, the Georgia Museum of Art joined with museums in communities throughout the United States to celebrate "freedom" as a way to mark the one-year anniversary of September 11.

Freedom, a display of works from the museum's permanent collection, was on view from August 24 to September 22 in the Lamar Dodd Gallery in 2002. The exhibition focused on the freedoms to assemble, to create, to worship, to inquire, to express ideas, and freedom from fear. It was also a collaboration between me and our two other curators at the time, Ashley Callahan (decorative arts) and Romita Ray (prints & drawings).

Georgia Public Broadcasting Radio came to the museum and did a story on 8/30/02 on Freedom. The audio (which we only previously had on cassette but, thanks to Lynn Boland, now in a digital format) has (a much younger) yours truly interviewed a couple of times, and is embedded and playable below:






The two paintings above -- Art Rosenbaum's McIntosh County Shouters (Oil on canvas; GMOA 1996.84) [Art is also interviewed in the piece...] and Ferdinand Warren's Night Ball Game (1946; oil on canvas; GMOA 1947.174), respectively -- are mentioned in the radio story. The display also included, and the radio blurb mentions, a marble portrait bust of Abraham Lincoln by Randolph Rogers, based upon his large-scale public sculpture in Philadelphia.

(Double posted at Curator's Corner.)

"The moral rectitude of the referee"

Beppe Severgnini, in his Ciao, America! An Italian Discovers the U.S., on Americans and the 1994 World Cup:

"The average American approaches soccer like a pathologist: he (or she) cuts it open to find out what's inside. Facts. Numbers. Statistics. You can't simply say that the other team was incredibly lucky and the refereeing was scandalous (these are concepts that translate into any language). Oh no. Americans demand that victories and defeats should have a justification. Soccer, like everything else, has to be scientific. ...The vital thing is to have an explanation that doesn't depend on good luck or the moral rectitude of the referee."

2010 FIFA World Cup™: Round of 16
Ghana 2, US 1
Uruguay 2, South Korea 1
Germany 4, England 1
Argentina 3, Mexico 1
Quality goalkeeping? Rare.
Excellent FIFA referees in the round? Way too few.

WC 2010 Group Stage over

U-S-A! U-S-A!



Props for using the great Rudy soundtrack as well.



Official FIFA highlights [here].

Back to my World Cup picks...

As of last Saturday, I was a very mediocre 10-16 (.385).

Here is what has happened, beside the American victory, since:

Group A
Tues. June 22 My pick: Mexico ties Uruguay. Incorrect. Uruguay 1, Mexico 0.
Tues. June 22 My pick: France ties South Africa. Incorrect. South Africa 2, France 1.

Group B
Tues. June 22 My pick: Nigeria ties South Korea. Correct. Nigeria 2, South Korea 2.
Tues. June 22 My pick: Argentina over Greece. Correct. Argentina 2, Greece 0.

Group C
Wed. June 23 My pick: England over Slovenia. Correct. England 1, Slovenia 0.
Wed. June 23 My pick: USA over Algeria. Correct. USA 1, Algeria 0.

Group D
Wed. June 23 My pick: Germany over Ghana. Correct. Germany 1, Ghana 0.
Wed. June 23 My pick: Serbia over Australia. Incorrect. Australia 2, Serbia 1.

Group E
Thurs. June 24 My pick: Denmark ties Japan. Incorrect. Japan 3, Denmark 1.
Thurs. June 24 My pick: Netherlands ties Cameroon. Incorrect. Netherlands 2, Cameroon 1.

Group F
Sun. June 20 My pick: Slovakia ties Paraguay. Incorrect. Paraguay 2, Slovakia 0.
Sun. June 20 My pick: Italy over New Zealand. Incorrect. Italy 1, New Zealand 1.
Thurs. June 24 My pick: Slovakia over Italy. Correct. Slovakia 3, Italy 2.
Thurs. June 24 My pick: Paraguay over New Zealand. Incorrect. Paraguay 0, New Zealand 0.

Group G
Sun. June 20 My pick: Brazil over Côte d'Ivoire. Correct. Brazil 3, Côte d'Ivoire 1.
Mon. June 21 My pick: Portugal over North Korea. Correct. Portugal 7, North Korea 0.
Fri. June 25 My pick: Brazil over Portugal. Incorrect. Brazil 0, Portugal 0.
Fri. June 25 My pick: Côte d'Ivoire over North Korea. Correct. Côte d'Ivoire 3, North Korea 0.

Group H
Mon. June 21 10a Chile ties Switzerland. Incorrect. Chile 1, Switzerland 0.
Mon. June 21 2:30p Spain over Honduras. Correct. Spain 2, Honduras 0.
Fri. June 25 2:30p Spain over Chile. Correct. Spain 2, Chile 1.
Fri. June 25 2:30p Switzerland ties Honduras. Correct. Switzerland 0, Honduras 0.

Overall, on my Group Stage picks? 22-26 (.458). Not terrible.

My selections for teams making the Round of 16?
A: Mexico, Uruguay
B: Argentina, Greece
C: England, USA
D: Germany, Serbia
E: Netherlands, Cameroon
F: Slovakia, Italy
G: Brazil, Portugal
H: Spain, Chile

So, I got 12 of 16 correct and properly guessed 5 of the 8 group winners.
All 4 of my semifinal teams remain in the tournament.

Tomorrow:

United States

vs.

Ghana

-

2:30pm (EDT) on ABC

The Bottom Six teams of the tournament? A bit of a shocking list with three African teams plus France: North Korea (0 pts.; -11 goal differential), Cameroon (0 pts.; -3 goal differential), Honduras (1 pt.; -3 goal differential, zero goals scored), France (1 pt.; -3 goal differential), Algeria (1 pt., -2 goal differential, zero goals scored), and Nigeria (1 pt., -2 goal differential).

WC 10 update

Above, Clint Dempsey expresses my feelings about referee Koman Coulibaly; but also about my picks so far. Eight days of the FIFA World Cup 2010 down. I was 2-3 after the first two days with my picks. Here is how I have done over the last 6...

Group A
Wed. June 16 2:30p Uruguay over South Africa. Correct. Uruguay 3, South Africa 0.
Thurs. June 17 2:30p Mexico over France. Correct. Mexico 2, France 0.

Group B
Wed. June 16 7:30a Argentina over South Korea. Correct. Argentina 4, South Korea 1.
Wed. June 16 10a Greece ties Nigeria. Incorrect. Greece 2, Nigeria 1.

Group C
Sun. June 13 7:30a Algeria ties Slovenia. Incorrect. Slovenia 1, Algeria 0.
Fri. June 18 10a Slovenia ties USA. Correct. Slovenia 2, USA 2.
Michell Kaufman in the Miami Herald sums up my feelings pretty well [here].
Fri. June 18 2:30p England over Algeria. Incorrect. England 0, Algeria 0.

Group D
Sun. June 13 10a Serbia ties Ghana. Incorrect. Ghana 1, Serbia 0.
Sun. June 13 2:30p Germany over Australia. Correct. Germany 4, Australia 0.
Fri. June 18 7:30a Germany ties Serbia. Incorrect. Serbia 1, Germany 0.
Sat. June 19 10a Ghana ties Australia. Correct. Ghana 1, Australia 1.

Group E
Mon. June 14 7:30a Netherlands ties Denmark. Incorrect. Netherlands 2, Denmark 1.
Mon. June 14 10a Cameroon over Japan. Incorrect. Japan 1, Cameroon 0.
Sat. June 19 7:30a Netherlands over Japan. Correct. Netherlands 1, Japan 0.
Sat. June 19 2:30p Cameroon ties Denmark. Incorrect. Denmark 2, Cameroon 1.

Group F
Mon. June 14 2:30p Italy over Paraguay. Incorrect. Italy 1, Paraguay 1.
Tues. June 15 7:30a Slovakia over New Zealand. Incorrect. New Zealand 1, Slovakia 1.

Group G
Tues. June 15 10a Portugal over Côte d'Ivoire. Incorrect. Portugal 0, Côte d'Ivoire 0
Tues. June 15 2:30p Brazil over North Korea. Correct. Brazil 2, North Korea 1.

Group H
Wed. June 16 7:30a Honduras ties Chile. Incorrect. Chile 1, Honduras 0.
Wed. June 16 10a Spain over Switzerland. Incorrect. Switzerland 1, Spain 0.

Overall: 10-16 (.385), just slightly better than a random .333 would be.

WC 10: Good 2 days

..except for my picks and Rob Green's handle.

Group A
Fri. South Africa 1 - Mexico 1
My pick: Incorrect. Mexico over South Africa.

Fri. Uruguay 0 - France 0
My pick: Correct. Uruguay ties France

Group B
Sat. South Korea 2 - Greece 0
My pick: Incorrect. Greece over South Korea

Sat. Argentina 1 - Nigeria 0
My pick: Correct. Argentina over Nigeria

Group C
Sat. England 1 - USA 1
My pick: Thankfully, incorrect. 2-3 for the first 2 days. England over USA
US Soccer's official recap [here]. Post-match quotations [here]. Too bad Jozy Altidore's was as unlucky as Clint Dempsey was lucky or it could have been 3 points for the Americans. Steve Cherundolo, who I thought played very well, Jay DeMerit, and Robbie Findley each received yellow cards for the U.S.

Next up for the Americans: Slovenia on Friday at 10a EDT.

FIFA World Cup 2010 predictions

Four years ago, I went ahead and offered up my predictions for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, and announced that I thought the hosts would win it.

For 2010 in South Africa, my predictions are below, with Spain over Argentina in the Final.

I'll do a periodic check-in to see how lousy I'm doing.

By the way, kickoff times are EDT and taken from FIFA.com.

Group A
Fri. June 11 10a Mexico over South Africa
Fri. June 11 2:30p Uruguay ties France
Wed. June 16 2:30p Uruguay over South Africa
Thurs. June 17 2:30p Mexico over France
Tues. June 22 10a Mexico ties Uruguay
Tues. June 22 10a France ties South Africa
Advancing: Mexico (7 points) and Uruguay (5 points)
Going home: France (2 points) and South Africa (1 point)

Group B
Sat. June 12 7:30a Greece over South Korea
Sat. June 12 10a Argentina over Nigeria
Wed. June 16 7:30a Argentina over South Korea
Wed. June 16 10a Greece ties Nigeria
Tues. June 22 2:30p Nigeria ties South Korea
Tues. June 22 2:30 Argentina over Greece
Advancing: Argentina (9 points) and Greece (5 points)
Going home: Nigeria (2 points) and South Korea (1 point)

Group C
Sat. June 12 2:30p England over USA
Sun. June 13 7:30a Algeria ties Slovenia
Fri. June 18 10a Slovenia ties USA
Fri. June 18 2:30p England over Algeria
Wed. June 23 10a England over Slovenia
Wed. June 23 10a USA over Algeria
Advancing: England (9 points) and USA (4 points)
Going home: Slovenia (2 points) and Algeria (1 point)

Group D
Sun. June 13 10a Serbia ties Ghana
Sun. June 13 2:30p Germany over Australia
Fri. June 18 7:30a Germany ties Serbia
Sat. June 19 10a Ghana ties Australia
Wed. June 23 2:30p Germany over Ghana
Wed. June 23 2:30p Serbia over Australia
Advancing: Germany (7 points) and Serbia (5 points)
Going home: Ghana (2 points) and Australia (1 point)

Group E
Mon. June 14 7:30a Netherlands ties Denmark
Mon. June 14 10a Cameroon over Japan
Sat. June 19 7:30a Netherlands over Japan
Sat. June 19 2:30p Cameroon ties Denmark
Thurs. June 24 2:30p Denmark ties Japan
Thurs. June 24 2:30p Netherlands ties Cameroon
Advancing: Netherlands (5 points) and Cameroon (5 points)
Going home: Denmark (3 points) and Japan (1 point)

Group F
Mon. June 14 2:30p Italy over Paraguay
Tues. June 15 7:30a Slovakia over New Zealand
Sun. June 20 7:30a Slovakia ties Paraguay
Sun. June 20 10a Italy over New Zealand
Thurs. June 24 10a Slovakia over Italy
Thurs. June 24 10a Paraguay over New Zealand
Advancing: Slovakia (7 points) and Italy (6 points)
Going home: Paraguay (4 points) and New Zealand (0 points)

Group G
Tues. June 15 10a Portugal over Côte d'Ivoire
Tues. June 15 2:30p Brazil over North Korea
Sun. June 20 2:30p Brazil over Côte d'Ivoire
Mon. June 21 7:30a Portugal over North Korea
Fri. June 25 10a Brazil over Portugal
Fri. June 25 10a Côte d'Ivoire over North Korea
Advancing: Brazil (9 points) and Portugal (6 points)
Going home: Côte d'Ivoire (3 points) and North Korea (0 points)

Group H
Wed. June 16 7:30a Honduras ties Chile
Wed. June 16 10a Spain over Switzerland
Mon. June 21 10a Chile ties Switzerland
Mon. June 21 2:30p Spain over Honduras
Fri. June 25 2:30p Spain over Chile
Fri. June 25 2:30p Switzerland ties Honduras
Advancing: Spain (9 points) and Chile (2 points)
Going home: Honduras (2 points) and Switzerland (2 points)

Round of 16
Sat. June 26 10a Mexico over Greece
Sat. June 26 2:30p England over Serbia
Sun. June 27 10a Germany over USA
Sun. June 27 2:30p Argentina over Uruguay
Mon. June 28 10a Italy over Netherlands
Mon. June 28 2:30p Brazil over Chile
Tues. June 29 10a Slovakia over Cameroon
Tues. June 29 2:30p Spain over Portugal

Quarterfinals
Fri. July 2 10a England over Mexico
Fri. July 2 2:30p Argentina over Germany
Sat. July 3 10a Brazil over Italy
Sat. July 3 2:30p Spain over Slovakia

Semifinals
Tues. July 6 2:30p Argentina over England
Wed. July 7 2:30p Spain over Brazil

Third Place Game
Sat. July 10 2:30p Brazil over England

Final
Sun. July 11 2:30p Spain over Argentina

Recruiting update

The Blue-Gold weekend, as mentioned below, was a large recruiting event for the Notre Dame football staff.

Next to give their pledges were a trio of players at the Blue-Gold weekend: Tony Springmann, Jarrett Grace, and Conor Hanratty.

Springmann, an offensive lineman from Fort Wayne, Indiana, chose Notre Dame over Boston College, Duke, Stanford, Purdue, and Michigan State.

Grace, a linebacker out of Cincinnati, selected the Irish over Boston College, Stanford, Cincinnati, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Michigan State.

If the name Hanratty doesn't sound familiar, you are a newbie Irish fan. A hint, from Sports Illustrated and Time:



Conor Hanratty, meanwhile, is an offensive lineman from New Canaan, Connecticut, and selected his Dad's alma mater over the likes of Boston College, California, Clemson, Florida State, Iowa, Stanford, and Wisconsin.

Steve Wiltfong, at Irish Sports Daily, has an interesting article on recruiting in the mid-1960s versus today via the Hanratty family.

Yet, for some Notre Dame fans, one of the lingering questions when Brian Kelly was hired was -- given his time spent at Grand Valley State, Central Michigan, and Cincinnati -- how would he fare when he went head-to-head against the elite football programs for the commitments of blue-chip, 5-star players? Could Kelly and the Irish staff beat Southern Cal, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Texas, and the like for a player?

So?



Ben Koyack, a tight end from Oil City, Pennsylvania, will continue the tradition of Notre Dame as Tight End U., and picked ND over Penn State, LSU, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Southern Cal, and the rest of Division I football. South Bend Tribune article [here].

Then, Kelly got a pledge from Matthew Hegarty, an elite offensive tackle from Aztec, New Mexico, over offers from Florida State, LSU, Oklahoma, Texas, Southern Cal, and the rest of the nation. Irish Sports Daily [here]. If you like cyberstalking recruits, Youtube video from Oklahoma's camp [here].

Of course, some Irish fans still await the next elite defensive lineman to say "yes" to Kelly...

B-G wrap

Tom Coyne's Associated Press story via und.com [here].

und.com great litany of video content is [here].
.pdf file for stats [here].

Remembering that the defense was intentionally "vanilla," und.com's youtube highlights of the game...



2010's The Shirt is, of course, kelly green:



It includes a detail/version of the November 1993 Sports Illustrated cover featuring Jim Flanigan.