I knew it was not going to be your run-of-the-mill day when after having this nice fellow explain to me the difference between stable coin vs. crypto currency, someone pulled me aside and said, "Yeah, Chris is actually a Fed Governor..."
Like "The FED, Fed?!"
Yep.
Hey, Chris - do a brother a solid and let us know about the particulars of that impending interest rate decision....
And THAT is only one of a myriad of reasons that the Stayer Lot tailgate is the magical place it is.
But I digress. For the second straight week, I'm honored to have a special guest contributor, Matthew C. Lindon ofPark City, UT -- Citizen Scientist and itinerant Man of Letters, with a timely, dare I say necessary, thought.
Thanks, Matt.
Pickleball -- A Parable.
I play Pickleball from time to time and although it is a funny game with a silly name, I find it is mildly athletic, moderately strenuous, and tremendously social. Played mostly by older folks 40-80, it is nuanced and evolving every time I play. The ratings are like our GPAs with 2.0 a beginner, 4.0 a Master Student and 5.0 a PhD Grad season. My rating is the same as my engineering GPA at 2.67. Just enough to be acceptable, without being a dick.
Maybe overrated but I’m going with it. I live on my old reputation and sporty uniforms.
You inevitably play P-ball with your personality where good players are patient, waiting for the other side to make a mistake. Who lives life like that? So, I tend to want to go for lines, put them away, or hit the human-highlight-reel shots, and I don’t win much.
A typical game involves underestimating the opposition and falling behind at the beginning, blaming it on bad luck, or not wanting to waste too much Pball capital on the deplorables. Attempts are made to even the score, but my low percentage shots are exactly that. Hubris.
Eventually with enough adjustments, pep talks and trash talking we may pull even but indubitably take our foot off the gas and lose ignominiously. My partners, usually attractive competitive women, look at me with disdain as I sulk back home devoid of any self-esteem or pride.
None for you.
But then I realize why they call it Pickleball. It is a silly, stupid GAME. It doesn’t mean anything. And I think of all the joy and celebration of the other team that won and how they told all their friends and took it back to their retirement village to burn some couches and roll some cars. And I know that the sum-total of joy in the world has increased exponentially because some down-and-out Pball chumps have beaten the local high rolling, pros-from-dover, who need another meaningless win like a fish needs a bicycle. And I feel good again.
M. C. Lindon
Quote of the Week
"There are lies, damn lies and statistics..."
Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli
To be clear, Northern Illinois was a program loss. Virtually everyone disappointed.
While the offense will take the bulk of the heat -- deservedly so -- and the stat sheet will show the D only gave up 16 points ("you shouldn't lose by giving up that few points"), they don't get off the hook. UNI got basically anything they wanted, whenever they needed it.
ND's offensive issues terrify me. I don't see a quick fix. But the defensive 'no show' when we needed it most was a far greater disappointment.
One man's opinion.
Word of the Week.
Used in a sentence paragraph: Young Jerrence was shook. The variety of emotions hitting him all at once was like going through the five stages of grief in the time it used to take a Polaroid to develop.
Not good.
What had he just witnessed? To say it was nothing like the game Notre Dame played the week earlier in College Station would be a massive understatement.
Quite simply, it was a 'from the mountain top to the outhouse' level embarrassment. Worse than merely losing a game, the shambolic performance cast into doubt whether the program had a leadership problem.
Jerrence knew that while cooler heads might prevail inside the university, the torches 'n pitchforks were gonna be out amongst the unwashed masses -- almost assuredly beginning the call for defenestrating the head coach, a drumbeat that will surely be maintained for the entire season.
Jerrence wasn't to that point, attitudinally, at least not yet. Still, he couldn't help hearing the words of a favorite Graham Parker song in his head. The shock of this loss felt... different, way worse.
I know what they're saying yeah I'll never get back again
I pushed my luck this time and I'm on the skids
But I know what I'm doing I just can't stop doing it
Me and my companion, hell bent to ruin it...
Game 2 Thoughts
Drive to the night - far as it goes
Away from the daylight - into the afterglow
Somewhere unforgiven...
Short and well, not sweet.
1. One wonders what Leonard looks like in practice. This can't be written off as simply 'he had no Spring practice', can it?
2. UNI averaged 6 yds./play -- but their 2nd downs had to exceed that. One could argue that was the NDdefense's big fail. For as many 2nd and longs that the Huskies had, every 3rd down seemed to 2-3 yards or less.
Also, and not unrelated: we don't tackle very well.
3. Special teams. Where is this "Thunder From Down Under" Aussie punter?
4. Meanwhile, back in the 1842 Club...
Do you have anything stronger -- like mushrooms?
5. Sure, getting your name on a building is always impressive, but GETTING YOUR NAME ON A MEMORIAL FENCE...
Whoa.
Buddy's Buddy
If you had asked me before kickoff on Saturday, who should be Buddy's pal this week, I'd have said Johnny Tailgate -- a name which will mean nothing to the reader until they've attended a 2024 Stayer Lot tailgater. Then you'll kneel at his altar.
And I'm sure his time will come here.
By halftime, my vote had changed to the nice woman in the 1842 Club making my Basil Hayden Manhattans. And she didn't even have to be told to make it a double.
By the end of the game, and one would be fair to interrupt at this point and guess, "no one?"... but lest one lets despair completely overwhelm one (and I'm resisting), the vote goes to...
Jeremiyah Love. Arguably he should've been credited with the 2nd game winning TD - and had ND won, a spectacularly athletic TD run that ESPN would've probably run forever (and maybe they did).
11 carries, 79 yards.
2 receptions for 10 yards.
(Gee, might it worth considering getting him the ball more often?)
Anyway, the kid does not deserve to get thrown into the dumpster fire with the rest of the team.
He was (and is) a stud. Maybe the only one on offense.
RE-PETE (A shameless, illegal lift of Pete Sampson's weekly mail-bag)
Right now, as big of a fan as I am of Mr. Sampson, I'm a little miffed at him...
On his Independent podcast with Matt Fortuna, he opined that "Brian Kelly would've won that game."
That may be true - personally, I'm not sure - but really? Did we have to go there?
Felt like a little bit of an unecessary low blow. In any event, in lieu of him having a mailbag this week by the time I need to publish, find below a portion of his own post-game takeaway's -- focusing on the elephant in the room: is our present QB the guy to right this ship?
----------------------------------
When NBC’s Zora Stephenson asked Freeman in pregame about quarterback Riley Leonard’s debut in Notre Dame Stadium, it sounded an alarm that nobody heard.
“(Leonard) told us that last week he had a conservative approach against A&M, but today he wants to test the limits,” Stephenson said. “What do you want to see from him?”
“Just want to play within the offense,” Freeman responded. “I don’t, we don’t, need anything spectacular. Do exactly what your coaches tell you to do, play within the game plan and the rest will take care of itself. If we start trying to make plays and throw the ball down the field, then all of a sudden we’re playing out of character. Just do exactly what we want you to do, and the rest will take care of itself.”
Just last week Freeman pushed back on the notion Leonard’s deep ball accuracy was a weakness. He said he believed in Leonard. Now the coach wants Leonard to paint by numbers in the passing game against a MAC opponent?
This isn’t about Freeman being right or Leonard being wrong or vice versa. It’s that Freeman and Leonard apparently didn’t see Saturday’s game plan through the same lens. And now Notre Dame has the worst loss of the college football season with a big-money QB yet to throw a TD.
There are two big questions with Leonard this week. Does Freeman think the transfer gives Notre Dame the best chance to win? And if Leonard doesn’t, does Freeman have the constitution to bench a captain who was a major acquisition in the transfer portal?
To pull the plug on Leonard after two games feels like a white flag. But to put Leonard back out there when he’s struggling to connect with Notre Dame’s receivers or read defenses… what would change in the season’s third week?
But the problems with ND’s offense are not all down to Leonard. The offensive line remains undercooked. The running backs are dynamic with the ball but a negative on the offense without it. Receivers don’t get open. Other than Beaux Collins, they don’t help out the quarterback, either. If not for Mitchell Evans’ return, the tight end position was a production black hole last week. Notre Dame is one of five programs yet to throw a touchdown pass this season. Only two programs in the country have converted fewer third downs than Notre Dame.
Mike Denbrock and his staff have a ton to correct. A new QB wouldn’t help that.
Source: The Athletic
September 9, 2024
Cocktail of the Month
When thinking of a cocktail that'll provide that knock-you-on-your-ass instant karmic jolt when you most need to leave planet earth, even for a few precious minutes... what springs to mind?
-- Long Island Ice Tea?
-- Black Russians?
-- Zombie?
I recently read about something charmingly called an "AMF" (for 'Adios, Motherfucker') which involves vodka, tequila, rum, gin and blue caraçao.
Yikes. But Saturday afternoon, I would've been mainlining that sh*t.
Still, after last weekend's debacle, I'd like something less flammable but more hallucinogenic. Harkening back to the good old days when this particular spirit was rumored to cause visions and convulsions (insert ND football joke here).
Oscar Wilde's Absinthe
1954-1900
Three nights I sat up drinking absinthe, and thinking that I was singularly clearheaded and sane.
The waiter came in and began watering the sawdust. The most wonderful flowers, tulips, lilies and roses sprang up and made a garden of the café.
Don't you see them, I said to him.
"But Monsieur, there is nothing there."
O. F. Wilde
1 oz. absinthe
1 sugar cube
Pour absinthe into absinthe glass. Place a slotted spoon over the mouth of the glass and set your sugar cube on top of it.
Slowly drip 3 oz. of water over the sugar cube, allowing the water to dissolve the sugar, dripping the sugar into the glass.
Stir and enjoy.
Source: How To Drink Like A Writer
Writing by Margaret Kaplan
Schedule 2024
August
31@Texas A&M W
September
7Northern Illinois L
14@Purdue
21Miami (OH) Alumni Hall gang reunion
28 Louisville
October
12 Stanford The Brothers Corrigan game
19@Georgia Tech
26 Navy
November
9Florida State Night game - accepting couch viewing bookings
16Virginia
23 @Army (Yankee Stadium) McSorley's anyone?
30@USC
December
20 1st round playoff game at ND Stadium -- see you there. (Maybe not.)
Wager 2024
Repeat this after me:
I'll never make fun of Albert's predictions again.
I'll never make fun of Albert's predictions again.
I'll never make fun of Albert's predictions again.
Note: If I STILL have anyone's win # wrong, please let me know!
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
Matt L., Brian M.
Jay, John L.
Ray, Blair
John P.
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.
Tim S.
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, Jim B.
Sloane, Alex
Phillip, Randy
Mike G.,Jerry P
Gutsch, Mark
Jim T., Brian W
9
Yorgos Lanthimos
Do I always understand what's going on his films? Nope.
But the ride is pretty enjoyable even when you don't know where you're going or even how you got there.
Ultimately, you might end up appreciating it more than you thought at the time.
Alvin, Garrett
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.
It's a sad, sad week when schadenfreude is making up the sole source of anything resembling sports-related happiness for Jerrence:
Green Bay loses
$220M Packers QB gets hurt (and isn't that just most Philadelphian thing to do?)
Bears win despite Mr. Painted Finger Nails throwing for 90 yards.
Michigan. If ND had performed LIKE THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO, this should've been a sweet, sweet comeuppance for a program that adopted the Pete Carroll 'live in the ethical grey area' (then quickly get out of town).
Still nice but... and with USC coming in two weeks, I hope coach Moore is getting in his crisis management media training.
Colorado. Fun fact: Prime Time is now 0-7 in his last seven games against Power conference teams.
"Coach Harbaugh, there's a coach Sanders on the phone inquiring about exit strategies..."
Terry's Tools.
Let me just say that identifying Tools after Saturday's game is akin to having to consider fumigating your own house.
You know there could be a lot of vermin behind the walls, you just don't really want to confront it.
So you don't.
And so I won't either.
And yet, there's always one pest I can root out to show the boss that I DID enter the house and I DID exterminate something.
Thank you, University of Colorado.
1) Shedeur Sanders. I think the headline says it all:
This was after the kid left the field with 2 minutes left, not waiting to congratulate the winners. What did his coach (i.e., dad) have to say about this display of non-leadership? Nothing.
Name of the Month
If one is going to commit to full post-debacle self-loathing, why not finish the exercise with a genuine shoutout to Northern Illinois' star player:
Antario Brown
225 yards total offense:
20 carries, 99 yards
2 receptions, 126 yards
While some of us wondered if possibly he had a twin - Posterio - that was just petty, mean-spirited, sophomoric speculation as we watched the kid run through our defense basically anytime he needed to.
Like I said, a lot of self-loathing.
Final Thought
Now that my weekends have freed up - and we're inching closer to finally rehabbing The Crack Den guest house, hello Home Depot!
Prior to beginning my road trip to College Station, I envisioned something along the lines of Hunter Thompson’s “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”, or Jack Kerouac’s, “On the Road.” However, to paraphrase Hunter Thompson, “We were somewhere around Brenham, on the edge of the wasteland known as College Station when the alcohol started to kick-in.”
Editor’s note: I was not driving.
The final result, in addition to combining the previous two métiers was/is a mish mosh which includes Alan Ginsburg’s, “Howl”, L. Frank Baum’s, “Wizard of Oz”,John Steinbeck’s “Travels with Charlie (or, as you shall see, “Travels without Charlie.) Frank Goebbels, the writers from South Park’s “Book of Mormon’ with a dash of Rod Serling added to the mix.
What a long, strange trip it's been...
The adventure started out in Houston. The first person eyeing my ND shirt and hat asked, “Are you going to the game?’ When receiving an affirmative reply, their response was, “I hope you kick the sh*t out of them. Absolutely curb stomp them. It is going to be as weird a crowd as you are ever going to experience.”
At this point while thinking, “Have you been to an Iggy Pop or Dead concert?” I actually said, “You must have gone to UT.”
The next encounter was someone wearing a maroon (read bad wine colored) shirt who commented, “You must be going to the game. Have you ever been to a game in College Station? It is the ultimate College football experience. There is nothing like it anywhere. I always want to go back. You are going to love it.”
One has to admit, both of the respective State universities deserved an A+ for their strident views. In one instance, it was an almost comedic disdain for the other. The other, expressed an almost religious like belief and worshipful attitude towards Texas A &M.
If anything, my pre-conceived description of the game as our cult versus their cult (albeit theirs’s being a cult on steroids) was proving prescient.
As you get closer to Oz College Station, every sign, every water tower, is emblazoned with Aggieland. Or Welcome to Aggieland. Or Aggieland, Home of the 12th Man. When I say every water tower, I mean every water tower. College Station resembles not so much a university town, but a company town. Conform, or else. Believe, or else.
As you get about 10 miles away, this apparition appears on the prairie -- there is no skyline -- a scene somewhat similar to Dorothy seeing Oz for the first time... and that apparition is Kyle Field. One of the reasons it looks so tall / big from a distance, is because it is big and tall. Our seats would be testament to that.
As we pulled into the parking garage (Yes, you read that correctly, parking garage, not parking lot) next to the Stadium, we were struck by the lack of participation in the tailgating venues. Granted, it was still four plus hours prior to kick off. However, I can attest that the Stayer tailgater would have been buzzing four plus hours prior to a big/opening game.
As we began our tour of The Campus Voted Ugliest In America by one publication (not the Austin Statesman or the UT alumni magazine) we stumbled across this sight:
Located just outside the north end zone was a cemetery, and not just any cemetery. A cemetery for all the former mascots (named Reveille) In addition to the gravesites there were:
Tombstones for each dog
A giant statue
A miniature scoreboard -- so the deceased mascots can still keep track of the score from their graves.
Oh, that's not weird at all.
The most recent mascot to die had a funeral service in the basketball arena attended by over 10,000 True Believers people.
Again, not weird.
One of the couples I was with was son Garrett and his fiancée. (Garrett’s fiancée, despite coming from several generations of Texas A&M grads went to UT. In addition, she was wearing a green dress. And no, she was not the person asking for the curb stomping.)
As they are house shopping in Houston, they mentioned that several of the houses they viewed had large portraits or pictures of Reveille in the LIVING ROOM. Staring at the gravesites I kept expecting to hear Rod Serling’s voice saying, “You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension, a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You are moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You are entering Aggieland.” Or travels without Charlie.
My view of the Cult vs. Cult was reinforced by the next major tailgating area. While there were plenty of smokers and grills around , there appeared to be a paucity of alcohol. This was deemed especially surprising when it turned out they sell both beer and hard liquor in all areas of the stadium.
The other item that stood out was every, and I mean every, Texas A&M fan had a maroon shirt and, or a maroon #12 jersey. Most Notre Dame fans were wearing some ND gear, but it was a hodgepodge. Some white, some blue, some green.
Wilkommen!
The conformity of dress and race made one think that Rod Serling had indeed landed and transported us to the 1936 Berlin Olympics, augmenting those maroon shirts with the prevailing brown in the student section.
After completing the campus tour (it may have been the Austin Statesman or the UT Alumni magazine which called it the ugliest campus in America) we began the trek back to the stadium. While not beautiful, except for a few dorms which resembled inner city public housing projects (and after all, we have Keenan Stanford, Grace and Flanner) the campus was far from ugly. It was also far from pedestrian - which you would expect from a campus with 75,000 students.
Stadium/Game Observations:
Have I mentioned the stadium is tall? I think the walk up the ramps to the Notre Dame section took longer than the drive from Houston to College Station. Except for a small group of fans near the Notre Dame player tunnel, the rest of ND fandom were banished to Siberia. Actually, not Siberia, but rows 32-40 in several sections of the 400 level in the north end zone. We were over 170 feet, or 17 stories high. I think I could actually see the Houston skyline easier than the players and the south end zone. Despite several fans suffering from altitude sickness, the Notre Dame faithful represented themselves quite well.
The Irish fans were engaged, rabid and loud. I attribute this to the combination of how the game was playing out and the in-stadium alcohol sales.
For the most part, pre-game ceremonies were classic Americana and very similar to Notre Dame. There was a prayer -- BTW, A&M claims they have the most Catholics on one campus in the United States. (Note: not fact checked but as with anything else their fan base says / believes, it was said with such stridency and conviction that I assumed it is true.) This was followed by the national anthem and a flyover. There are also 50 American flags flying across the top of the Stadium. This all reinforced my conviction that if the US is ever invaded, I want to be in Texas.
The pageantry that began next was straight out of a cult rally. To see approximately 100k people (subtracting for the ND fans) moving, singing and cheering in a choreography supported by the yell leaders and a sound system being cranked at decibel levels which would have made The Who proud was mesmerizing, impressive... and scary. Imagine 100k people doing the Haka with piped in music. The only thing missing was a throng of people marching with burning torches.
And that readers brings us to the yell leaders. Not cheerleaders. Yell leaders. At midnight before the game, 20-25k people typically attend yell practice. (The cynic in me says are they that dumb that they cannot remember the words or how to cheer / yell?)
The yell leaders are all male --females need not apply.
They are dressed all in white.
From the big screen, it appears as if all of their father’s own a dental implant company. Depending on one’s view, they either all look and behave like gay porn actors or were culled from previous leads in the Book of Mormon. Going through a continuous series of choreographed moves and cheers accompanied by The Faithful with a sound track blasted at jet engine decibel levels.
It is difficult to tell if the stadium is actually loud, or the music is just LOUD. It is somewhat similar to an NFL stadium environment where the rats fans are preconditioned to respond to loud music. (Note: we were so high up, you had no idea what the noise level was at field level.
The other item which may contribute the their fan’s behavior is that the entire school clearly suffers from Little Brother Syndrome as it relates to that college in Austin. The announcer welcomes everyone to The Largest University in Texas! (Kyle Field is, in fact, the largest college stadium in Texas.) The team is referred to not as the Texas A&M Aggies, but the fighting Texas Aggies. Virtually everyone shown on the Jumbotron (aka Twelfth Man TV) gave the upside down Hook ‘Em Horns sign. Even their fight song contains the lyrics, “Goodbye Texas University. So long orange and white.”
I could go on, but I think you get the picture.
Pre-game, one of the Stayer Lot faithful texted an ND beat writers observation that Notre Dame looked undersized relative to TAMU. Someone on the thread trotted out the adage of the size of the dog in the fight is what matters, not vice versa. That seemed especially evident by the Notre Dame player’s demeanor during the game (from 3 miles away, it looked like both sides were doing their share of yapping). However, the Fighting Irish clearly were not just talking the talk, but walking the walk. We were clearly the tougher, better conditioned, harder hitting team.
Besides, most of their dogs were dead and lying outside the stadium.
The game itself began to play out somewhat as expected; although A&M driving down the field on their first drive did induce a certain pucker factor. I don’t know if they showed any of the Aggie band’s performance at halftime. Their marching style and formations was reminiscent of the final scene in “Animal House” when “Stork” took over as drum major and lead the band down a dead end alley.
All of the faithful remained in the stands to literally ooh and ahh. The Notre Dame fans scattered for the bathrooms and alcohol stands.
At the beginning of the 2nd half, the decibel level was distinctly lower -- almost as if the A&M fans had a sense of foreboding... a sense of "we have been down this road before and aren’t going to make the turn." The Notre Dame fans were upbeat and starting to become even more voluble. When Jadarian Price broke off his TD run, it appeared as if all the air had been sucked out of the Stadium. When Love scored, the legion of Aggie fans began forming a large conga line so the 100,000+ could exit the Stadium as soon as possible.
When we finally exited the Stadium, it was like a scene from Night of the Living Dead or The Zombie Apocalypse. Almost all of the Aggie faithful were exhibiting a vacuous, hollow eyed vacant stare. It was almost as if they had been lobotomized.
The few who did speak mumbled phrases like:
“I can’t believe this happened -- AGAIN."
"I can’t believe how loud the Notre Dame fans were."
"Their 12th Man was louder than ours.”
For once, it was nice to be part of a winning takeover of an opponents stadium. I think we all can admit to being painfully aware of what they were experiencing. The attached video perfectly sums up the feelings of both schools fans.
A side-by-side look at how the Notre Dame and Texas A&M fans are feeling, post-game.
The problem with ending a story, it assumes there is a plot that can be tied together / concluded. Alan Ginsberg’s poem Howl is an indictment of modern society and a celebration of anyone who lives outside its standards. Ginsberg, had he visited College Station for a football game would indeed have gone howling, barking mad (Reveille related pun intended.) The conformity and the unfailing belief in A&M, their cause and honor code among All The Faithful is both impressive and scary. For all the accomplishments of A&M grads and their desire to “do things the right way”, they then trot out Johnny freaking Maziel before the game. The dichotomy was perplexing.
I really wanted to hate / dislike the A&M fans. They were, and are, so smarmy.
While they may not be original thinkers, they were really nice and genuine. I almost feel bad making fun of them.
Almost.
To quote Hunter Thompson one more time, “The Edge… There is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over.”
R. E. Rasmus, Esq.
Quote of the Week
"It's not just that they won -
It's the way they won..."
Matt Fortuna
ND beat writer (with an excellent college football Substack newsletter and The Independent podcast w Pete Sampson), friend of Gruley's (we all have something we're not proud of) and periodic dinner guest for a few us, it's safe to say Matt is privy to and has greater insight into, the Notre Dame football program.
And while tis the season of hyperbole -- it was only one game after all and last year at this time this blogger was falling in love w our QB and his dreamy coif -- Fortuna's observation seems worth putting some value in: ND owning a 4th quarter in hostile territory / Texas heat was not nothing. If anything, without getting too far ahead of ourselves, give the team big points for character and conditioning.
Word of the Week.
Used in a sentence paragraph: Young Jerrence pondered what he'd been reading - and began to wonder whether the media, the talking heads, ever got whiplash from changing their positions so quickly.
A quick review: The ESPN Game Day hosts, historically renown for sucking up to Notre Dame (editor's note: remember to insert sarcasm font), were now, almost to a man, picking the 20th ranked Aggies to beat the higher ranked Irish.
Well, everyone except Corso -- but who takes him seriously anyway?
"Okay, coach Saban - your opinion I'll listen to."
But those men's predictions were far from unique.
And when the upset did not occur -- huzzah! -- Jerrence found that the vox populi immediately turned, now, to how easy Notre Dame's schedule was from thereon out... intimating an always weak (and likely undeserved) path to the BCS playoffs.
Huh. You motherf*ckers, Jerrence thought.
Where was that snarky sentiment a year ago when Michigan was putting cream puffs like East Carolina, Bowling Green and UNLV on their schedule in advance of their 1-game, end-of-year schedule vs. tOSU?
Game 1 Thoughts
I'm so glad!
I'm so glad!
I'm glad I'm glad I'm glad...
It might've been the Macallan talking (for future reference, when including a sauna in your pre-game routine, single malt scotch -- no matter the quality -- does not make for an appropriate re-hydration vehicle. But this game's outcome was exceptionally satisfying and a few things deserve additional commentary beyond Mr. Rasmus's.
1. The defense is really good. Duh. But what didn't occur to me until I listened to The Independent's podcast, is that defense travels.
Which is to say, if one wishes to avoid the historical road game disappointments (see Louisville, 2023), having a great defense is a big advantage. ND will face better offenses but it's hard to see this group not holding team's under 20 pts. a lot.
2. Riley. This may be damning with faint praise, or maybe just damning. But as respected football savant, Mark Ungashick, pointed out, there's a definite Buchner-esque vibe to Leonard's game. Again, not meant to be a total diss. Granted, it's only one game and his passing will surely improve. I just wouldn't expect him to turn into Mr. Accuracy. But damn, he is one tough kid.
3. O-line. If every week is likely a referendum on both Freeman and Leonard, include the Offensive Line in that critique. And after Week 1, so far so good. While far from perfect, it's hard not to be optimistic about a group that had a total of 6 career starts combined, go up against the best D-line they'll face (with two likely 1st round draft choices) in a stadium of 107,000 screaming cultists -- and largely kept their QB upright while opening key holes for their RB's.
BTW, that line played every single snap. Zero substitutions. And took over the 4th quarter. The arrow's pointing up.
4. "Youth will be served." Coaches necessarily have to have a 'win now' mentality - and last week's game was no exception from an ND standpoint.
And yet, for all the deserved praise for the play of the defense, know this: a ton of youngin's got some pretty significant playing time. How's this for in-game role call:
Shuler
Bowen
Viliamu-Asa
Ausberry
Hinish
Moore
Young
For all the inevitable hand wringing about the D losing talent, the pipeline is looking awfully strong.
5. Penalties. Kinda ironic that it seemed to be the experienced D that had more issues with noise impacting line of scrimmage timing. Worried about this being an ongoing thing? Not me.
Buddy's Buddy
For a game that was arguably... objectively... not the most exciting for 3/4 of the contest, there certainly were a great many candidates to be The Bud this week.
And it would be tough to argue that the fingerprints of change weren't all over that victory:
New QB
New WR's
New Kickers
New Offensive Coordinator
New Conditioning Guru
So if you're tired of the same old story
Oh, turn some pages
I'll be here when you are ready
To roll with the changes
And yet, there was one holdover -- a fellow who a year ago was being pilloried for the Ohio State 'only 10 men on the field' gaffe.
I am the Keymaster! The Destructor is coming!
Al Golden. The Rick Moranis-lookalike whose defense was something of a revelation... not the talent (we kinda knew that) but the schemes, the confidence, the aggressiveness -- that was new.
Case in point: on A&M's final meaningful drive, down by 7...
4th and 2 with 1:37 left.
Any other year (and probably most other college DC's) are playing off, conceding the the first down and protecting against the big play.
Nope. The DB's play tight and sophomore CB Christian Gray breaks up the pass, almost pick 6's it. Game over.
Love it.
Special Note: Truth be told, I'm not the biggest Scottie Scheffler fan. While clearly blessed with prodigious talent (and that funky back foot dance step during his swing), he's just a bit too... vanilla... for me to get terribly excited about.
That said, seeing him accomplish the Ungie Trifecta (Masters, Olympic gold medal and jail) in a single year... that simply cannot go unrecognized:
RE-PETE (A shameless, illegal lift of Pete Sampson's weekly mail-bag)
One of the hot takes from this past week's game, a narrative that no one probably ever thought was worth considering - which is probably why it's a hot take - is wondering about a coach's emotion before / during / after a game.
Exhibit A: Brian Kelly, post-USC loss.
Of course we all remember Lou occasionally flipping out. That was a different era. And more recently, the vision of purple-faced Kelly is something that one simply cannot un-see.
But Marcus getting too fired up? Nah. And yet because of clowns like me, desperate for content, needing something to write about... coach Freeman's fiery approach coming out of the visitor's tunnel, pre-game, got people's attention.
So let's have someone smarter than me address it.
Where are they thinking of putting Freeman’s statue? Kidding (but hopefully not). My real question: I appreciate and get behind the juice Freeman brings, but is there a point of diminishing returns when your coach is the emotional driver of the team? Can the captains do that? — Jonathan G.
Based on Freeman’s choice of pants last weekend, his statue will go in a squat rack.
As for the actual question, here’s what Freeman said about the pregame energy during his Monday news conference:
I understand your point that the coach burns energy in doing this every week (it won’t happen every week), but the point is Freeman is in tune with what his team needs from its coach at that moment. That’s good player management. Remember Brian Kelly letting the offense run up the score at Pittsburgh in 2020? He did it because he thought the offense needed to build some extra belief, with No. 1 Clemson on the horizon. Or take former Notre Dame defensive coordinator Clark Lea at Vanderbilt. His natural disposition is more professorial than street fighter. But during a game two years ago, he head-butted a player (who was wearing a helmet) on the sideline because he thought his players needed a coach who was in the fight with them.
These maneuvers might be different, but they all served the same purpose: giving a team what it needed at that moment. I would expect Freeman to go back to a more measured approach against Northern Illinois.
And it’s after Labor Day, so no more white pants.
Source: The Athletic
September 5, 2024
Cocktail of the Month
In a clear homage to this week's guest writer and gonzo journalist, how can one not continue his surreal observations through to the weekly libation?
Anytime someone invokes cults, Nazi Germany, Stephen King's Pet Cemetary (perhaps I'm stretching here) and mormons, all in the same article, well...
...that demands a drink that will help me make sense of this!
Hunter S. Thompson's Singapore Sling
(with a side of mezcal and a beer chaser)
1937-2005
John Updike didn't fall into the same traps of overindulgence that plagued other writers of his era; he practiced moderation throughout his life and was rewarded by a long and successful publishing career.
However, the old fashioned features crucially in his 1960 novel Rabbit Run, proving Updike's familiarity with cocktails of the time.
But while the cocktail played a key role in the novel's domestic tragedy, it would transcend these fraught associations - becoming part and parcel of the craft cocktail renaissance of the 21st century.
Serves 1
* 1.5 oz London dry gin
* 1/4 oz. Cointreau
* 1/4 oz. Benedictine
* 1/4 oz. Cherry Heering On the side
* 1 oz. lime juice * 2 oz. mezcal, neat
* 3/4 oz. pineapple juice * Budweiser, cold
* 1/4 oz. grenadine
* 1 dash angostura bitters
* soda water
* fresh fruit for garnishing
Combine gin, Cointreau, Cherry Heering, Benedictine, lime juice, pineapple juice, grenadine and angostura bitters in a cocktail shaker. Add ice, shake until well-chilled and strain into a collins glass filled with ice. Top with soda water. Garnish with the fresh fruit and mint sprig.
Serve with a shot of mezcal and a can of Bud.
Source: How To Drink Like A Writer
Writing by Margaret Kaplan
Schedule 2024
August
31@Texas A&M W
September
7Northern Illinois
14@Purdue
21Miami (OH) Alumni Hall gang reunion
28 Louisville
October
12 Stanford The Brothers Corrigan game
19@Georgia Tech
26 Navy
November
9Florida State Night game - accepting couch viewing bookings
16Virginia
23 @Army (Yankee Stadium) McSorley's anyone?
30@USC
December
20 1st round playoff game at ND Stadium -- see you there.
Wager 2024
Speaking only for myself, but I think there's a lot of wager participants exhaling right now.
The 12-0'ers, obviously. But the 11-1 gang wasn't exactly planning on a "lose the 1st game, run the table" strategy either.
No matter. We're all on our way.
Rollin' hard
Rollin' fast
Rollin' by...
Note: If I got anyone's prediction wrong, please let me know!
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
Matt L., Brian M.
Jay, John L.
Ray, Blair
John P.
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.
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, Jim B.
Sloane, Alex
Phillip, Randy
Mike G.,Jerry P
Gutsch, Mark
Jim T., Brian W
9
Yorgos Lanthimos
Do I always understand what's going on his films? Nope.
But the ride is pretty enjoyable even when you don't know where you're going or even how you got there.
Ultimately, you might end up appreciating it more than you thought at the time.
Alvin, Garrett
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.
Let's just say the schadenfreude vibes are starting off in a very, very promising fashion.
And with the early September schedule looking like it's got more than a few really good games -- a marked departure from typical years -- long may it last!
Consider this the 20204 season's amuse bouche.
More irony...
LSU. The winner - if one can call it that - of this week's "Larry Corrigan 'Root For a Tie With Lots of Injuries' Bowl", it's all becoming too predictable, LSU blows yet another high profile season opening contest.
And remember when the headlines were all about USC trying to get out of playing the game?
One imagines that Brian Kelly is not especially appreciative of that irony right now.
Florida State. This is probably a cautionary tale for many schools, including Notre Dame, but boy, how quickly the worm can turn. Unlike many of FSU's coaches throughout history, Mike Norvell doesn't seem like a bad guy - or a bad coach -- but boy, things look really shaky for the 'Noles.
Logically, at this point, I should be rooting for FSU to get it together, at least sufficiently to make their game vs. ND in November look relatively meaningful for the Irish.
And yet... psychological 'muscle memory' would suggest otherwise.
SEC! SEC!I know I'm living in a fantasy world (about much of modern college athletics, actually) but can we lay to rest this notion that the SEC is so very different -- so vastly superior to -- any other conference? Built on 2-4 really good teams (just like everybody), the rest of the conference is just... okay (just like everybody).
Terry's Tools.
The Band once sang, "Life is a carnival."
Which is truer than one might initially think.
Just like Life, a carnival's raison d'etre is ostensibly to bring fun-packed thrills to the masses, not to mention serious sugar induced hysteria that parents have to contend with well after they leave the fairgrounds...
But I digress.
The carnival is, also like Real Life, full of it's sketchy features -- creepy clowns, rides of dubious safety, games that are clearly rigged and of course, the carny -- that itinerant worker / vagabond with questionable personal hygiene.
Many are just regular folk. Nice people. And a few are not -- they go into politics. Or the media.
1) Ted Cruz. This should probably belong more appropriately in the Buddy's Buddy section but at some point one needs to realize you are what the casino's call a "cooler," an employee who is sent to the tables to stop winning streaks. The theory is that the presence of the “cooler” in and of itself will, in turn, give bad luck to the rest of the table.
Before last Saturday's A&M game, Sen. Cruz's record for attending (and presumably supporting) Texas college football games was 1-7.
Make that 1-8.
2) Chris Fowler. I do not like being one of those guys who bitch constantly about the quality of the announcers who call ND football games. I don't think NBC should be 'state TV' for ND games nor am I a conspiracy theorist that believes every play-by-play guy or analyst is 'out to get' Notre Dame.
And I'm willing to concede that I may be wrong on all of these points.
So, regarding last Saturday evening, I happen to like Herbie -- I believe he strives to be pretty objective. I can't say the same about Fowler, not that he's so biased as he just adds zero value.
But as we've often said about replacing any past mediocre ND coaches, who are you going to get that'll be better?
Here's a thought - how about giving Kirk's dog a shot...
Hmm, isn't that ball clearly past line marker?
3) Officiating. Just when I wanted to think 'we don't need to go to digitizing the game's officiating (and certainly not having it AI-driven)... isn't there a certain charm to having actual humans involved in adjudicating the sport?
Not when we get decisions like the 4th down ruling.
And will there every be any 'we f*cked up' mea copa from, well, anyone?
Are you familiar with the expression, "when pigs fly"?
Extremely disappointing.
Name of the Month
I so want this to be true but is more likely the product of an overly active imagination.
Talented college football player, born somewhere around 2002 -- suggesting his mother or father could've been born in the early to mid-1970's... becomes a big fan of the country's most popular TV show -- still with the largest TV audience to watch a final episode -- which ran until 1983.
Or maybe they watched it in syndication and for reasons inexplicable, gravitated to one of the least likeable but possibly most sympathetic characters:
Major Burns
Final Thought
Meanwhile back in the real world. Be careful out there.
