Michael DeCourcy

This is a column I guess I'll only write once. My favorite Final Four memories, on the occasion of my impending retirement following nearly 26 years as Senior Writer at @sportingnews. (I'll still be around some, just not all the time 😉) sportingnews.com/us/ncaa-basket…

NEWS: Arkansas is reinstating its tennis programs 20 days after they were initially cut. wholehogsports.com/news/2026/may/…

@G1BBYMAC I’m sorry, but I don’t have to stand for being insulted.

@tsnmike @wwalsh Why you blocking Brian Driskell Mike? Not a good look bud. Looks like a bad faith argument from you where you have nothing of actual value to say back bud. Have the brain worms infested you with Irish penis envy?

Is it time for the ACC to tell Notre Dame to hit the road? @tsnmike thinks so. sportingnews.com/us/ncaa-footba…

Couldn’t agree more

@wwalsh Wow they beat a few average and a bunch of terrible teams. Purdue! Arkansas! Boston College! Stanford! Syracuse! You know how you get to playing so few good teams and so many bad ones? I’ll give you a hint: the answer is in my column.

There you go. The same lazy argument again. You said this over and over. Last year, for the last 2/3 of the season, ND was one of the most dominant teams during the entire football playoff era. I am talking about the opponent-adjusted metrics. Yes, they lost two early games. They lost to Miami (away) by 3 in week 1 with a frosh QB, a new DC, and a new (terrible) defensive scheme. Yes, they lost to A&M. Yes, a bad call took that game from them. Still, they lost. But they changed the defensive scheme back, started allowing Carr to throw the ball down the field and became absolutely dominant. The advanced metrics bore that out. That is why the bettors thought they were the best team on the day they were kept out. Don't you see this? For years, the committee has said their objective was to put the best teams in. You write about this for a living. And you don't get it. ND would have been a neutral field favorite over every team in the playoff except maybe Indiana. That would have been a pick'em. That very same team lost Love (arguably the best player in college football) and Price to the draft. What did the bettors do? They made ND the favorite to win next year and made Carr the favorite to win the Heisman. It is the same team that you thought didn't belong in the playoff, just without some of their great players...

@JJayTradez Agreed. But he’s under contract another year. What’s the alternative?

@tsnmike @JoshYohe_PGH He did, but that was only 4 of 86 games. Less than 5%.

I have all the respect in the world for Crosby, Malkin, Rust, Rakell, Letang and Karlsson. But starting next season, they’ll be 39, 40, 34, 33, 39, and 36, respectively. Bringing them all back simply doesn’t make sense. My column: nytimes.com/athletic/72755…

With all that’s happened involving @NDFootball and @theACC lately, is it time for the league to give the Irish an ultimatum? I know what I’d say: sportingnews.com/us/ncaa-footba…

@JJayTradez @JoshYohe_PGH He played well when Penguins played well in Philly series. He's under contract another year. I wouldn't be offering another deal. But do you want to eat that money for 27?

@tsnmike @JoshYohe_PGH Is Letang performing well?

@wwalsh Notre Dame played two highly difficult games. Lost both. Doesn't seem all that hard to understand. I was trying to defend ND by saying they should not have been the victims of the committee trying to create drama when they had same record as Miami but lost head-to-head.

No. Because the arguments that you made over and over and over were bad. And I am not "mad" at you. But you are going to get called out sometimes because you are a public figure. What you write (unfortunately) influences people. For example, you repeatedly said that ND should never have been ranked ahead of Miami last season. This, of course, is idiotic. When the committee rankings first came out, Miami had just lost to Louisville and SMU. And, appropriately, they were started at #18. It is bizarre that you said they should have been ahead of ND. ND was on a 6-game dominant winning streak at that point. They were started at #10. How on earth could Miami have just been magically put up in the top ten after dropping those 2 games right before the first ranking? It was a goofy thing to say. And you said it over and over. By the way, here is when Miami was moved ahead of some other teams along the way: - Week 12. They pass Georgia Tech. Did GT lose a game that week? No. - Week 13. They pass Vanderbilt. Did Vanderbilt lose a game that week? No. - Week 14. They pass Utah. Did Utah lose a game that week? No. - Week 16. They pass ND. Did ND lose a game that week? No. The truth is that Miami was methodically elevated while they played a string of bad teams for the last 1/3 of the season. The only decent team they played was Pitt. They were getting elevated through the ranks (and over everyone) as they beat Syracuse, Stanford, NC State, etc. By the way, what the committee did with Miami was corrupt, but at least they were a good team. My real beef was with Alabama. Bama was not a good football team. But the committee elevated Bama over ND when Bama barely survived a terrible Auburn team. That is when we knew the fix was in. It was absolutely disgusting. At that point, I was alerting everyone on my ND message board that there was a collusion going on. The ACC voters were backing Bama and, in turn, the SEC voters would put Miami in. Alabama did not belong in the playoff. Survived South Carolina. Two weeks later lost to Oklahoma. Two weeks later survived Auburn. One week later got crushed by Georgia. And there you were...tweeting about how impressive their resume was compared to ND. There was a reason why ND was the #2 betting favorite to win the title on the day the field was announced. And they were #2 despite having to play in the first round. Adjust for that and the bettors thought they were the best team in college football. And they were kept out. For Alabama... And the ACC was given Miami (a good team) as part of the deal. Of course, the playoff ended and ND was immediately installed as the favorite to win the following year. They are #2 now. And their returning QB was named the Heisman favorite. He still is. That is the team that was kept out. And there you were...over and over and over explaining why they didn't belong in a playoff. And then your write this lazy stuff about the ACC. Blah blah blah.

@JJayTradez @JoshYohe_PGH So fans are mad when players are "disloyal", but when they age (while still performing well) they're supposed to want them out?

@JoshYohe_PGH The fans of Pittsburgh pro sports are an anomaly. They fall head over heels in love with players, and will do Olympic level mental gymnastics in advocating for them to play forever based on their accomplishments from 20+ years ago.

Charles Barkley sounds off on ‘homophobic society’ after ex-NBAer’s death: ‘They’re just stupid’ nj.com/sports/2026/05…

He was the most important player on the U19 World Cup championship team that included AJ. No slight to AJ, but Mikel should have been MVP.

Inside Lincoln Financial Field’s transformation into ‘Philadelphia Stadium’ for the World Cup inquirer.com/soccer/world-c… via @PhillyInquirer

Sources: The Chicago Bulls will hire Acie Law IV as VP of Player Personnel. Law was Director of Player Personnel for the Brooklyn Nets. He’s been Director of Amateur Scouting for the OKC Thunder and won a championship with them in 2025. Prior, he was a Sacramento Kings scout.

On @ForbesSports Jannik Sinner Breaks Novak Djokovic’s Masters 1000 Mark via @forbes forbes.com/sites/adamzago… @PatrickMcEnroe @ChrisMcKendry @Steve_Weissman

@cartman1 @edeaner25 @NDFootball @theACC @PeteSampson_ Eric was on about "tradition". I'm just pointing out that works a lot of ways. There still is no rational explanation for ND's insistence on FB independence.

@tsnmike @edeaner25 @NDFootball @theACC @PeteSampson_ You wonder why ND basketball, men and women, would play hoops in the ACC? Are you obtuse to make an argument all the time, or just here? Ever wonder why ND hockey plays in the Big10? ND football plays 6 ACC, 1 BigXII and 3 Big10 games. 2 SEC’s in 25/27/etc. Indie by choice.

@ericwildeman22 @dchirch If it's dying, why does Notre Dame want to be involved?

@tsnmike @dchirch We can agree to disagree there. But a 24 team playoff helps ND’s ability to schedule infinitely. So again - does the dying ACC really want to give an ultimatum to Notre Dame? Their biggest money/attendance draw? Not in a million years, buddy.

@wwalsh Wait, now you're mad because I didn't think ND should have been in the playoff?

Go to your Twitter profile. Go to the search field. Write Notre Dame. Hit enter. Then scroll. I don’t know how many posts you have there… but there are very many. You go and on and on about Notre Dame. So many negative comments. What is your problem with them? Did you apply for admission and get rejected? Do you have a problem with Catholics? Something else? It is weird that you hate on them so much. And your many comments about last season’s playoff decision (to leave them out) were lazy. You either couldn’t understand everything that led up to that decision or purposely ignored it. Either way, it was frustrating to watch you do that. And now you are continuing the same (lazy) storyline now. Folks like Bryan, me and others see these comments and we remember. That is why you got the response you just got. It wasn’t just about this article. It was the pattern.

@Timothy66078053 I'm not going to be insulted. Sorry. I don't have to stand for that.

@tsnmike you couldn’t be a bigger crybaby for blocking Bryan Driskell

@wwalsh @dsimms239 @mattdavid1035 Sorry, Bill, but I've not written anything like this before. Don't get to make up what you want. I have written multiple times about Dwight Clay's game-winning shot for the Irish in 1974. Perhaps you're confusing the two.

You have been writing versions of this same story for a while now. It is frustrating for many people (who actually understand the situation) to see you get it wrong over and over. And you use a national platform while doing it. He gave you some excellent data. And all you have now, apparently, is the block button.

@BrendanCordial @NDFootball @theACC I’ll put that down “for posterity.” 👍

@tsnmike @NDFootball @theACC lol