Notre Dame

I never warmed up to Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen and here's why. It was the way he announced his oral commitment to the Fighting Irish when he was in high school in California.

First, the sad news that retired Plain Dealer sportswriter friend Paul Baumgartner died in his sleep Sunday in Lorain. That report from his son, Paul Baumgartner Jr. via e-mail Wednesday. No other details available. I'll update as soon as they are available. Please send this bulletin to any old PD people you know.

Statues at Notre Dame Are Moving

I don't know if Brady Quinn is the guy to pin the Browns' future upon. Against the Steelers he was less than mediocre. He's surrounded by bush leaguers, of course, and an amateur offense. I'll be long dead before this organization rises above the level of embarrassment.

Cleveland has enriched the NFL immensely. The other owners got about $18 million each, which was their individual shares of the $535 million expansion fee Al Lerner paid for the team. Then we paid for a new stadium and handed it over to Lerner and the NFL.

What did we get in return?

Dung.

Lotta things to cover. I'll do it quickly.

The Browns scored nine points in the last two minutes to make the score look close against San Diego Sunday because the Chargers relaxed and had some defensive backups in there. The Browns scored only seven points when the Chargers were serious.

When I was driving to Channel 8 in the afternoon to anchor the Sunday night shows, there was virtually no traffic headed into town. In the old days there would be traffic jams on the Innerbelt Bridge an hour before the game, lined up to exit at Ontario and E. Ninth St. None of that this past Sunday. Then I saw why. The Stadium was only half-filled. They called it a sellout. What a charade! Tickets may have been sold but went unused. They couldn't even give them away.

Tried to reach Ken Maglicic and Joe Kantor after reading about them in Jim Dent’s new book about Notre Dame’s 1964 football season. It was head coach Ara Parseghian’s first year, the season that completely turned around the Irish program. Maglicic and Kantor were quoted at length.

Anyway, I tried to reach both of them the other day, but neither is in the phone book. I know they’re around. They both live here in the Cleveland area. Maglicic went to St. Joe’s High School, Kantor to St. Ignatius.

Photo: Ronald Regan & Knute Rockne.

Jerry McKenna, the sculptor who is the world's foremost authority on legendary Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne, is in town for a couple of days. After beers and burgers at Herb's Tavern Tuesday night, Jerry spoke of Rockne and referred to him as Keh-NUTE. He stuck that "k" sound on the front of Knute's first name.

"When did you start calling him Keh-Nute?" I asked.

"I always called him Keh-Nute," said McKenna, "because that's how he pronounced his name."