Apparently Pat Haden (a Trustee at USC by the way) got his envelope full of hundreds from ND before the game but Tom Hammond was not so lucky.

You think calling the games of floundering Notre Dame is getting to NBC’s Tom Hammond? During Saturday’s telecast of Notre Dame’s 38-0 loss to Southern California, the veteran play-by-play announcer was quick to disagree with analyst Pat Haden when his partner, you know, analyzed the game.

With Notre Dame trailing 14-0 before halftime, Haden suggested quarterback Evan Sharpley “wing it,” as the team had “nothing to lose.” Wrong, Hammond said. “There is something to lose. They’re deep in their own territory here.” A few seconds later, Haden tried to make excuses for Sharpley’s poor passing by saying his receivers weren’t getting open. Hammond wasn’t buying that fish, either: “I think he’s missed some throws, too. There’s plenty of blame to go around.”

Okay, I am sure that it’s very painful to have to come to ND every other week and watch this team play, but I guess the memo from GE/NBC didn’t get to Hammond where you are supposed to talk about how great it is at ND and how they are fighting, etc. Well, I am glad that Hammond finally had enough of the over-announcing that he and Haden have been doing for years on ND broadcasts. Of course, when Navy comes to town in 2 weeks I am sure that the ND suckfest will get back on track.