Do you believe in magic?
It's Guest Blogger Time!
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And not a minute too soon.
Please give a laurel and hardy welcome to Matthew C. Lindon, proud Chaminade HS alum, Dam Safety expert, Renaissance Man and zealous "Keep Park City like it was in the 1980's" advocate.
I don't always understand Matt but when I do...
Dateline: Park City, UT
OK, I was wrong. Penn State was not overrated, they were a good team. Especially #11 and 44. Whatever their names are. How do you play in this day of NIL without your name on your shirt. Coaches’ choice? That’s bad marketing and self-promotion. But it is about team. Isn’t it?
It’s Ironic that in this day and age, where teams play as many as 16 games and everyone gets hurt, that our team is deep. Next man in. Do your job. But if you are a good player, and you don’t play much, you are going to go to someplace that will play and pay you. So, it is hard for teams to hoard players and remain deep. Sorry Alabama. Unless you have a good school, a good program and a good coach that kids want to play for. That is the parity of today. That is us. That is our brand.Ever since I saw Tom Clements beat Alabama in '73, 50 years ago with my girlfriend's alumni dad, I have been intrigued by this brand.
People say that I am too weird to have gone to Notre Dame but I wonder how weird I would be if I didn’t. I wonder about the rest of us too. We identify with this. It’s made us who we are, collectively, communally. We spend and save our cooperative alumni capital on this brand. People know it, even without our loud green shirts, understated old hats and plaid pants. We are all ND influencers. ND is us.
Matt
P.S. So, our shared stock has risen. We are back. We will recruit better, promote better, improve all academics and athletics, be prouder and louder. The schedule and the academics are not too hard for us to win these days. They are an advantage. Are we a better school over the years, because of the fame and the money, without which we would be another backwater, Podunk, Episcopal school in the Indiana wilderness. I think so. We are ND.
Quote of the Week
Jeremiyah Love
...whatever happens, happens."
You've all probably heard the expression, "he made a 'business decision'" -- typically in the context of an athlete choosing his long-term health (and earning potential) over making a physically challenging play, or even playing in the game all together.
Well, when Jeremiyah Love chose to play on a less than fully healthy knee -- at a position that has a notoriously short shelf-life -- he made a team decision.
And if you want to understand why this ND team is winning 'though the odds be great or small,' I'd submit young Mr. Love's attitude as Exhibit A.
Word of the Week
There was a surprisingly large number of them in this world, he felt. And it always lead him to muse internally: are they on the spectrum or just complete dicks?
This question returned to him as watched the joint pre-Orange Bowl press conference involving coaches Freeman and Franklin. Generally speaking, men in those situations are circumspect to say anything inflammatory -- anything that could be construed as potential 'bulletin board' material.
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| Perhaps fixate less on our conference status...... |
It was remarkable, Jerrence thought. He was seeing two things within a week he wasn't sure he'd ever see:
1. Someone (Freeman) making ND almost universally likable and
2. Someone else (Franklin) making the preternaturally unflappable Freeman angry.
So... Rain Man or just a dick? Dick. 100% a colossal tool.
Playoff: Game 3 Thoughts
I've been kicked by the wind, robbed by the sleet
Had my head stoved in and I'm still on my feet
And I'm still willin'...
is
For most of the 1st half, things didn't look so good, did it? And yet, that 2nd half, a true testiment to the power of character.
Other SUPER random musings:
Oops.
2. Streaks. I, personally, don't recall a game where the scoring was this streaky.
Not just back-and-forth but prolonged stretches of relative dominance by the each team:
- 10-0 Penn St. (10 straight pts.)
- 10-17 ND (the next 17 pts.)
- 24-17 Penn St. (the next 14 pts.)
- 27-24 ND (the final 10 pts.)
Weird. And does this dispel the "can't play from behind" accusations? (Probably not.)
3. Officiating. Can we PLEASE have ONE game where the officials aren't a critical topic of conversation?! It would seem not. Two calls stand out to me, both against ND (and maybe, probably, there were calls against PSU although I don't recall any).
A. How does ANYONE miss that hold (which, incidentally, Penn St. scored on)?
B. At worst, Shuler GRAZES Warren's arm. And yes, the ball was sufficiently under thrown to be uncatchable by the TE.
-- Don't these refs get evaluated before getting these high profile assignments?
And of course, when he hits the game winner -- BTW, his first ever -- the cameras went nearly immediately to happy dad. Now, every parent surely lives and dies with their children's performances (in whatever field) but I was taken back in time when this particular sequence occurred.
The new kid in school is a hero.
But that's not the important thing: the Corrigans lived in Davenport 10 years earlier so Jerrence's dad's job transfer, only two months earlier, represented for the parents a return to a community they had a prior decade's worth of roots in.
So on that particular evening (Iowa plays their HS games on Friday nights) with the big victory, Jerrence's father was just so damn proud.
I imagine Mr. Jeter was too.
5. Hot Take #1 - a prediction:
Q. When is a season-ending injury NOT a season-ending injury?
A. When 'the season' goes on for almost six months.
Welcome back, the Pride of the Quad Cities, Charles Jagusah. If ND wins, you're likely to be a big reason why.
6. Hot Take #2 - a conundrum:
- The Good News: After 16 games, practically speaking, the freshmen (and to some extent, the sophomores) aren't newbies any more -- they've vets.
- The Bad News: the season is practically 2x as long as they've ever played before, when does fatigue... wear out... become a problem?
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| What's your point? |
- 1st Round: $4M (plus $3M for expenses)
- Quarter-finals: $4M
- Semi-finals: $6M
- Championship: $6M
After the initially agreed playoff proposal ("ND, because you're not in a conference, you'll NEVER get a 1st round bye!"), now the narrative is "this is so unfair, they get to keep all the money."
The game summary... this is a keeper.
The Brackets
Buddy's Buddy
The older one gets, the more one is confronted with a certain level of inevitable introspection informed by a lifelong bank of data that cannot be ignored.
For instance, I'm a lot weirder than I'm given credit for. And getting stranger.
Also, never the sharpest tool in the shed, my mental acuity is diminishing.
Case in point: my observational blindspots groweth, where I now often miss the bigger picture as I focus on meaningless minutiae.
Take, for example, this particular section of the blog which, ostensibly sets out to celebrate one individual from each game, a person who seems to stand out above... contributing more... than the others.
The operative word being 'individual.'
Or young Aneyas Williams' big 1st half.
Or Love's TD run (Best. 2 Yard. Run. Ever.)
Or how you don't even hear Ryan Clark's or Leonard Moore's name (always a good thing for a DB) or even coach Denbrock's (whose 2nd half adjustments and ballsy rollout pass call on 3rd-and-3 made Jeter's game winning kick infinitely easier).
Yet, if anything this season has shown us -- repeatedly -- is that Notre Dame's sum is so much greater than its parts. Simply put, they win because they play like a team. Easy concept, exceedingly harder to execute.
Duh. Don't I feel stupid.
So let us use this space, this week, to recognize the whole damn team. Guys who made plays, guys who signaled in plays, guys who played the scout team -- and coaches who are absolutely in the conversation as the best college staff in the country.
I finally get it. And it's why I think we have a chance Monday night even when most rational data points surely suggest otherwise.
Special Class of '79 Buddy recognition
It's common to talk about -- and certainly apropos in this game -- making adjustments that turn a game's fortunes.
So when things looked somewhat bleak in that 1st half and desperate times call for desperate measures, what did Man of Action, Alex Shusko do?
Watching at home, he selflessly switched seats just before halftime -- going from a 60" TV to a 19" -- and wham! 17 straight points. Talk about taking one for THE TEAM. You da man, Ace!
As for those of you who thought themselves similarly team-oriented by going to bed in the 2nd half when the game was in doubt, I salute you too. Just not quite as passionately.
RE-PETE (A shameless, illegal lift of Pete Sampson's weekly mail-bag)
So... a few things:
1) Realistically, everyone of any seeming college football expertise, nationally, thinks Ohio State is going to win comfortably on Monday night.
It's not a ridiculous thought.
2) Everyone in Ohio (who's not an ND fan) thinks the Buckeyes are going to destroy Notre Dame.
Possible but one would like to think, not likely.
It would seem apparent that to avoid both pts. 1 and 2, ND is going to need a big game from at least one of its receivers. Faison? A strong candidate. Evans? It'd be nice to see the presumed All-America candidate finally show his abilities at full health. Then there's Greathouse...
From Sampson's post-Orange Bowl wrap up:
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When I sat down with Mike Denbrock last summer, I asked how the offense would function without a No. 1 receiver. He didn’t disagree with the question’s premise but said if there was a WR1 on this team, it was probably Greathouse.
Now he’s put up seven catches for 105 yards and that 54-yard touchdown that left two Penn State defensive backs on the ground.
Worth the wait for the sophomore. Notre Dame probably needs another one against Ohio State.
Source: The Athletic
January 11, 2025
Cocktail of the Month
First of all, for any of you who scoffed at Jerrence's "lucky liquor" superstition, who's laughing now?
Secondly, when I think of the Nittany Lion fans (not necessarily their alums)... stuck smack in the middle of Pennsyltucky... I frequently envision them as slack-jawed, knuckle dragging yahoos, barely clawing their way to the evolutionary plateau that the rest of our planet's homo sapiens have existed upon for centuries.
That's bad, right? And surely says more about me than them -- but still one finds inspiration for this week's cocktail
Edgar Rice Burroughs's
Tarzan Cocktail
1875 -- 1950
Tarzan of the Apes author Edgar Rice Burroughs designed this cocktail with the tropics in mind.
Have a few sips and you'll be king of the jungle - or at least middle Pennsylvania - in no time.
* 1 tspn. Cointreau
* 1/2 oz. lime juice, freshly squeezed
* 1/2 oz. simple syrup
* lime wheel, for garnishing
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Combine rum, Cointreau, lime juice and simple syrup in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake until chilled. Strain into a chilled coupe glass and garnish with the lime wheel.
Source: How To Drink Like A Writer
Writing by Margaret Kaplan
Schedule 2024
August
31 @Texas A&M W
September
7 Northern Illinois L
14 @Purdue W
21 Miami (OH) W
28 Louisville W
October
12 Stanford W
19 @Georgia Tech W
26 Navy W
November
9 Florida State W
16 Virginia W
23 @Army W
30 @USC W
December
20-21 Indiana W
2025
January
2 Georgia W
9 Penn State W
20 Ohio State
Wager 2024
Update: Semi-finals... And then there were three.
And only Messers. Scanlon, Cincotta and Corrigan (Mike) left.
Wins | Director - ND Equivalence | Domer |
12  Christopher Nolan | The Nick Saban of the film world - Nolan is Mr. Swing For The Fences Big Idea Guy, even if every effort isn't always a home run. But they are undeniably ... epic. Just like a 12-0 season. | Kevin C, Lini
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11  Martin McDonagh | Hello, he's Irish! Solidly predictable for always being really, really good. And as his reputation has been burnished, the star talent in his cast has followed. Sound familiar? | Jerrence, Daryl Jim S, Tim C. Jerry C, Mike C. Greg R., Bob S. George, Raz, Ted, Bob J. Peter, Tim S., Dave M |
10  David Fincher |
Pretty much a stud in both film and TV formats. Always interesting, albeit with palpably dark undertones... one is never sure how the story is going to end up. Much like a 10 win season will feel like. | Pat B, Mike B. Bill, Sloane, Alex Phillip, Randy
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9  Yorgos Lanthimos | Do I always understand what's going on his films? Nope. |
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8  Richard Linklater | Perhaps the product of recency bias - I quite liked 'Hit Man' - Linklater's films fall for this blogger into the "nice-fun-I see an interesting insight" category. They just don't feel especially memorable. Like we'd view an 8 win season. | |
7  Wes Anderson | When does quirky/idiosyncratic become tiresome? When you feel like you're watching - again - an inside joke that you're not included in. Anderson attracts an an all-star cast that no longer seems to add up to the sum of their parts. In a word, disappointing. | |
6  Lars Von Trier | Uncomfortable. Unpleasant. Disturbing. Often off the rails, his films might be 'art' but it's tough to call it many people's definition of entertainment. | |
Schadenfreude of the Week.
The schadenfreude cup is beginning to run dry -- soon one will have to turn to the lacrosse schedule and celebrate one of the ACC powers -- Duke, UNC, Virginia -- taking an in-season loss.
Of course, the NFL also remains an option for another month. (Looking at you, Minnesota Vikings.)
But for now, we'll remain focused on our very playoff brethren. Again, remember: kill or be killed.
But it's suddenly occurred to me: perhaps it's because there are so many Penn State fans in that city. Like the rats in medieval times, they crawled out from under their rocks and migrated to the large urban areas.
Much like Los Angeles has to deal with the horde of USC tools and Detroit has their 'Wal-mart Wolverines.'
Congrats, Philly, you've now been vaccinated.
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| So close. Yet so far. |
...has anyone considered maybe Quinn Ewers isn't that good?
3) Green Bay Packers. This one's for good friend (and godmother to Ryan Corrigan) aunt Steph! Keep fighting! Go Iggles!
Terry's Tools.
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| The few, the proud... |
I ask you, beyond some legitimately impressive actors and writers... what have the Welsh contributed to western civilization? A language that's based on making words using a random generator of letters?
They've also given us the Sin Eater -- that myth about a person who consumes a ritual meal to take on the sins of a deceased person. The practice was believed to allow the deceased's soul to pass into heaven.
Nice. Sleep tight after that bedtime story, little Sloane.
After the last two ND victories and my out of control consumption of all things ND football media-related, good and bad... from the good guys (the Golics, the Dan Patrick's) to the middle of the roaders (the Rich Eisen's, the Joel Klatt's, the Josh Pate's) to the ugly (Stephen A's, Cam Newton's) I have become the equivalent of an ND Football media content Sin Eater.
I ingest so you don't have to. And I'm not feeling so good.
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Baby, I'm born to lose... ..
1) James Franklin. Sometimes, statistics aren't lies. Like 1-18 lifetime vs. Top 5 opponents. Or perhaps, more charitably, 1-15 against those same teams while at Penn State.
Actually that latter stat is probably worse since the first three losses were while you were at Vanderbilt.
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| "You know you're being filmed right now, right?" |
In his apology, he says he was provoked. Okay, sure.
His unhinged behavior subsequently got him fired from his job -- ironically as an analyst at a DEI-focused consulting firm -- as well as permanently banned from Lincoln Financial Field.
Surely alcohol was involved? This being Philadelphia, absolutely not a requirement. But I must now know: Penn State fan?
*so comfortably that an Eagles WR was shown reading a book while on the sidelines. (Who knew they could even read?)
Name of the Week
Who hasn't labored over the naming of a newborn? Perhaps it's easy for some of you -- family tradition can often dictate. If you're Kay Corrigan, there had be a saint somewhere in your name (although we're still searching the archives for St. Jerrence).
Maybe there is the inspiration of a topical figure -- the mind reels at the number of possible Donald's applying to Penn State in 2042...
But often it can be a little more daunting, especially if one prioritizes a name that they feel needs to be complementary to the surname.
For example, if you're a Smith or a Jones, perhaps you're looking for something a little less generic than a Mary or a John. (Although, it's been proven that 'Jerry' seems to go well with everything.)
This week's nominee inspires that kind of symbiotic thinking: an impressive East Meets West combination -- lets call him the Istanbul of college football -- a phenomenal football player befitting an equally cool city.
Why did Constantinople get the works?
That's nobody's business but the Turks.
Abdul Carter
After playing against him (with only one working arm at the time), I seriously doubt there's anyone on Ohio State that Notre Dame is going to fear as much.
The guy is a dude.
Final Thought
While I firmly believe we are now playing with the proverbial 'house money' and precious few people give us much of a chance, here's an idea...
