Tag: Rally

Notre Dame athletics announces new Name, Image and Likeness collective

It’s time to “RALLY”

While many schools across the nation were quick to push out Name, Image and Likeness collectives, Notre Dame wanted to wait to roll out its own that best suited the needs of the Irish’s student-athletes.

That day has finally come, as on Monday the Irish announced “[autotag]RALLY[/autotag],” described in a press release as “a collective and lifestyle agency for the next iteration of collegiate athletics dedicated to creating meaningful and market-based name, image and likeness (NIL) opportunities for Notre Dame student-athletes.”

RALLY is led by the Board of Directors chairman Jack Shields, who graduated in 1983, along with a few others most notably [autotag]Jordan Cornette[/autotag] and [autotag]Hannah Storm[/autotag]. Having two former Irish media stars in the group is a big deal, as they’ll help navigate through some potentially unknown waters within that industry.

You can learn more at ndrally.com, where they attempt to connect prospect student-athletes, businesses and fans of Notre Dame to help the cause.

While some students-athletes have already gotten themselves involved in NIL deals, this will open the doors for many more in the future.

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The message of Chiefs’ Super Bowl LVII rally: ‘We ain’t done yet’

The overarching message of the Super Bowl LVII rally is that the #Chiefs and their winning ways are here to stay.

As Kansas City Chiefs CEO and Chairman Clark Hunt delivered the franchise’s third Lombardi Trophy to its rightful place next to those earned in Super Bowl IV and Super Bowl LIV, he told fans that he was thankful that this championship title didn’t take another 50 years.

He only meant it as a joke, but it’s also a reminder that they’ve built this team into a perennial winner. Seven consecutive AFC West wins, hosts of five consecutive AFC title games, and three Super Bowl appearances in the past four seasons, including their two wins. In a season where the team traded away an All-Pro receiver and replaced several aging veterans from their Super Bowl LIV and LV runs, there were a lot of questions and doubt about whether the Chiefs’ run of success could be sustained.

“We started the season with 24 new faces and 11 of them are rookies,” Chiefs GM Brett Veach said on Wednesday. “And many people thought this was a retooling year.”

Hoisting the Lombardi Trophy high, Veach told the crowd looking upon the stage at Union Station the following: “This is what a rebuilding year looks like, right here.”

He’s said it before and at that moment he was saying it again — so long as Patrick Mahomes is their quarterback, they always feel like they have a chance. The star quarterback himself seems to be just as bought into the notion too.

As he celebrated the Super Bowl LVII win with his teammates, he was thinking about those doubters, but he was also looking ahead to the future.

“Before we started this season, the AFC West said we were rebuilding,” Mahomes shouted at the crowd. “I’m going to be honest with you, I don’t know what rebuilding means. In our rebuilding year, we’re world champs. . . I just want to let y’all know that this is just the beginning, we ain’t done yet.”

And Travis Kelce, in his usual candor, delivered this same message in the most impactful way of all.

“Everybody’s asking if this is a dynasty,” Kelce proclaimed. “It’s been a dynasty. Y’all just ain’t noticed it until now.”

Get used to it Kansas City, because this team, they’re still only at the beginning of a long journey.

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Demario Davis using his offseason to advocate for Mississippi prison reform

New Orleans Saints LB Demario Davis traveled to Parchman, Miss. to advocate for criminal justice reform following violent prison riots.

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New Orleans Saints linebacker Demario Davis is a leader on and off of the field; it’s not for nothing that he’s been voted a team captain in each of his first two years with the team. He was also recognized as a first-ream All-Pro linebacker this year, but was snubbed by the Pro Bowl selections process. Left with some free time, Davis turned his attentions to a cause much more important than football: prison reform.

Davis, a Brandon, Miss. native, returned to his home state for a rally near the State Penitentiary at Parchman, which has been the site of weeks of violence and drawn national attention over poor living conditions for inmates. He’s been very vocal in the past about the fight for inequality in America and abroad, delivering supplies to immigrant children separated from their families while helping post bail to release a jailed immigration activist. He’s also spoken about the need to help families broken by U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement raids in Morton, Miss. and at the Mexican border.

Davis shared his thoughts on the developing crisis at Parchman in an interview from the rally, saying, “Well I think the problem is, specifically here in Mississippi, is that it’s part of a larger issue. We have a problem in our country which is mass incarceration. We have all moved past where we were trying to take care of people, and now we’re using people to make a profit.”

He took aim at several issues in his explanation, including for-profit prisons, oversentencing for non-violent offenders, and the need to rehabilitate people with drug-addictions rather than punish them. Davis, a devout born-again Christian, often cites his faith as his motivation to remain compassionate and help others, stressing the need to match his words with his actions.

“We’ve got too many people with not enough beds,” Davis said. “And so in these situations, what happens is, under-resourced facilities. Here in Parchman is a great example. People are underfed, they lack healthcare, they’re subject to living in inhumane situations. It ends up happening where human beings are treated worse than animals.”

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Vols men’s basketball falter vs FSU

NICEVILLE – The Tennessee Volunteers men’s basketball team’s season-opening winning streak has finally come to an end, losing a tough game in the final minutes on the road to the Florida State Seminoles, 60-57, in the Emerald Coast Classic. The Vols …

NICEVILLE — The Tennessee Volunteers men’s basketball team’s season-opening winning streak has finally come to an end, losing a tough game in the final minutes on the road to the Florida State Seminoles, 60-57, in the Emerald Coast Classic.

The Vols were led by Lamonte Turner, who scored 20 points, but only shot 4-14 from the field and did most of his damage at the charity stripe, going 11-14; he also gave away 8 turnovers. Yves Pons brought the double-double trouble scoring 13 points, grabbing 10 boards and swatting three shots, representing the Vols’ best performance on the evening. Jordan Bowden was the only other UT player to reach double digit points, adding 11 of his own to go along with five rebounds.

Despite the close finish, Tennessee never led in this game. It was a furious comeback in the last two minutes that produced the final margin of defeat, with the Vols falling short in the end. Their largest deficit of 13 came at 10:42 in the second half, and the Volunteers just were not able to dig themselves out of that hole. FSU made three of four free throw attempts in the final seconds to seal the loss despite a last-second trey by Turner.

Overall, the Vols only shot 33 percent from the field and a putrid 23 percent from behind the arc. Their 89 percent mark from the free throw line on 29 attempts is very encouraging, as was their team total of seven blocks, but it is hard to win games against quality opponents when you cough up the ball 21 times.

The match was the first between the two teams in three decades, with the all-time record in the series now standing at 5-4 in favor of Tennessee. The loss ended a five-game winning streak to open the year for the Vols, though there remain plenty more games to be played.

The Volunteers next face either Purdue or VCU on Saturday at 4 or 7 p.m. ET, depending on game results, and will be broadcasted on the CBS Sports Network.