Didn't think that you could get so much from a picture show
Man dies first reel, people ask, "What's the deal?
This ain't how it's supposed to be...
Dateline: Notre Dame, IN
At some point in each of their lives, these men were all fanboys of someone ND-related (Jerrence would've been knocking octogenarians over if Austin Carr was there), but in this instance there was decided... apathy.
Thanks, we're good.
Um, perhaps he can come to us.
What would account for such disinterest? Granted, and meaning no disrespect to Ian Book, this was a group who have seen tailgate attendees including Hall of Fame players, Supreme Court Justices, Fed officers, people who had Joint Chiefs of Staff chairmen on speed dial...
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| Until next year (or month), oh magical elixir! |
Or... it was just mid-November and these Boomers were a little tired? Now 10 games in, it had already been a fairly exhausting year. Two months earlier, one could've shorted the sh*t out of the ND football stock. Now, they were in the proverbial driver's seat for a BCS Playoff bid, if not yet an assured home game.
The path to this point wasn't how it was supposed to be.
And yet, who's complaining now?
Quote of the Week
Marcus Shrewsberry
What? You thought this was a football reference? This is our basketball coach. Who, apparently, took issue with the team's lack of effort -- in an 17 pt. victory.
Football team, take note.
Word of the Week
So when fully 1/3 to 1/2 your team is new, how can one expect them to immediately gel -- to reflect their true 'quality' immediately?
You can't.
So, hey BCS Powers That Be, perhaps the month of September, performance-wise, good or bad, should be heavily discounted, if not thrown out entirely.
Nonetheless, watching ND on Saturday, the positive change in Notre Dame was so apparent to Jerrence. He knew they were demonstrably better than the first month bwhen they had both their best and worst games. And he appreciated the coaching staff's esemplastic skills as the November version of the team -- far different than what they surely envisioned in March -- demonstrated their true abilities to 'plug and play' so many newbies and effectively blend a disparate group into a very unified, complementary team.
So they've got that going for them. Which is nice.
Game 10 Thoughts
The night they drove ole Dixie down...
Q. How often, in the post-Lou Holtz Era, has a 21 pt. victory felt a little disappointing? Not a rhetorical question.
A. Not often.
But such seemed to be the case last Saturday.
1. The Good.
- I may have been hasty in not advocating for ND's defense as elite. If they aren't, they're damn close. The Army game is going to be an interesting test to that evaluation.
- #1 pass efficiency in the nation
- #1 in turnovers
- #3 in scoring
- #4 in yards per play
- #4 red zone defense
- #6 third down defense
- The end of the 1st half were possibly the wackiest four minutes in recent memory but showed some serious ND creativity and speed.
- two 70+ yd. TD's called back, including the best pass Riley Leonard has every thrown in his life.
- Best. Punt Fake. Ever. The best part was little Faison hiding behind the O-line.
- Jack Kiser. Setting a record that likely may never be broken - playing in a COVID-enhanced 63 games (and counting).
For a kid fairly, lightly regarded, coming out of a very small Indiana high school... becoming a captain and setting a record. Pretty cool for Mr. Kiser.
2. The Bad.
- Beaux Collins can't catch a cold.
- Kicking. Ugh. There are those on this blog that understand hip problems better than I do... can Mitch Jeter get well, like, real soon?!
3. The Ugly.
- 1-12 on 3rd downs, many of which due to penalties that put them in huge yardage-to-gain holes. Going forward, that's not going to win many games.
4. Payoff Bingo. Jerrence was never the sharpest toddler in the play group -- so it's taken me a few weeks to understand how ND could rank fairly high in the Playoff poll but still be borderline to host a 1st round game.
As a PSA, I'll clarify for those like me: it's all due the playoff awarding 1st round bye's to the four conference winners -- SEC, Big10, Big12, ACC -- and two of those likely winners are ranked below ND (currently, Miami and Boise St.) and therefore jump them.
Hence, their #6 ranking becomes an 8th place in practicality.
Allow me to spin this scenario positively:
1) Getting Alabama (or an Ole Miss) in 20F weather (at night?!) = Best Case Scenario. Most of their players probably have never seen snow or own a winter coat. Welcome to South Bend, bitches.
2) Getting Oregon, who won't have played for almost a month... rather then instead of later, when they've had a game under their belt.
Buddy's Buddy
The older one gets, the more one strives not to take too many things, anything actually, for granted. Such as:
One's health.
One's family.
One's friends.
The overall good, 60+ year fortune that's led to one being able to actually care about something as trivial as a football game.
The recognition of this week's Buddy winner, Xavier Watts, attempts to practice what I preach -- calling out someone who's so consistently good, so consistently reliable, that it's easy to almost discount him entirely:
Recall young Mr. Watts' path to this point (if memory serves correctly):
- Highly recruited out of Nebraska as a WR
- And eschewing the Cornhusters
- Never really sniffing the field as a Freshman or Sophomore
- and NOT transferring (unheard of, now)
- Bouncing back and forth between WR and DB
- Almost never a recipe for success
- Finally breaking into the starting line up sometime last year (I think)
- Winning the Bronko Nagurski award for best defensive player in the country
- Choosing to stay another year, ostensibly to get better
- HAS gotten better
- Leads arguably the best secondary in the country, with a freshman / sophomore / transfer as his cohorts.
Thanks, X.
RE-PETE (A shameless, illegal lift of Pete Sampson's weekly mail-bag)
Fascinating -- and gratifying -- to see how the narrative of Notre Dame football has perked up over the last month.
I've always appreciated the weekly Pete Sampson -- Matt Fortuna analyses re the State of the Program. As "Insiders," there has to be a centrifugal pull for them toward The Mother Ship ("please put on your rose colored glasses as you enter"), yet I've found them to very willing to be critical.
Three weeks left in the regular season, a couple things stand out to this blogger: 1) win out and ND will be playoff-bound and 2) no single person remains more important to that goal than our QB. Thus, today's lift from a Sampson column earlier this week...
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It’s probably time we grade graduate transfers with more nuance than “hit” or “miss” when it comes to evaluations. Jayden Harrison and Rod Heard are the perfect examples.
They probably haven’t hit the heights they wanted in coming to Notre Dame. Harrison had All-America upside in the return game. He has returned seven kickoffs with a long of 34 yards. Heard felt like a utility knife at defensive back. He has been easy to miss in the box score.
Heard’s forced fumble in the first half helped break the game open. And Harrison’s coverage on Rendell’s 64-yard punt was textbook.
Whenever this season ends, the graduate transfer story will be Riley Leonard and Jordan Clark. But Harrison and Heard deserve a chapter, too.
Source: The Athletic
November 18, 2024
Cocktail of the Month
A shout out to the legendary Dr. Brooks who provided me with my first exposure to the author below - his book, "Little Failure: A Memoir" is a GREAT read.
Thank you, Mike.
What is about fellows named Mike who seem to lead me toward... martinis.
Not sure about what this Russian author likes to pair, food-wise, with the cocktail -- especially at breakfast -- but when in Rome, or NYC, as this week's game is.
Just sayin'...
Gary Shteyngart's
Breakfast Martini
1872-
Much to the chagrin of purists, his regular order is a vodka tonic. But like many writers before him, he's known to enjoy a pre-noon martini. And despite his affinity for the Soviet spirit, once in a while he'll spring for gin.
His drink of choice at Manhattan's smoked fish and bagel emporium Russ & Daughters has enough protein from egg whites and sweetness from jam to soften the blow from the booze and keep the day open for storyboarding, teaching and writing countless blurbs for New York's literati.
* 1 egg white
* 1 oz. gin
* 1 oz. lemon juice, freshly squeezed
* 1 tspn. strawberry jam
* 1 tspn. simple syrup
* 1 dash angostura bitters, for garnishing
-------------------
Rinse a chilled coupe glass with absinthe. Shake egg white in an empty, chilled cocktail shaker until frothy. Add gin, lemon juice, jam, simple syrup and ice. Shake vigorously until combined.
Strain into the absinthe-rinsed coupe glass. Garnish with the bitters.
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 (Yankee Stadium) McSorley's anyone?
30 @USC
December
20 1st round playoff game at ND Stadium -- see you there?
Wager 2024
Interesting that with only two games left, there's still three winning wager possibilities 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. |
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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, 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. | 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.
I'd like to consider this to be the beginning of Schadenfreude harvest season.
Not unlike the making of a fine wine.
As so many of this blog's readership consider themselves pretentious wine aficionados, they'll surely appreciate this analogy, recognizing how important the harvesting process is... as it directly affects the quality and character of the final end product.
Picked too early, it may be acidic and lacking in alcohol (eek!)... picking too late often leads to an unbalanced, jammy result (perish the thought).
But we're right in the sweet spot for this offering.
------------------------------------
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| Enjoy Orlando and the Citrus Bowl... |
So. It turns out, they're not. At least, not "really good." Pretty good, yes. Just not anything to feared. Granted, getting spanked by Georgia, in Athens, is nothing to be ashamed of. Also nothing you're ever gonna put on your BCS Playoff resume. Which, this year, they don't have to worry about anymore.
Only a couple days after BYU gets upset by (checks notes)... Kansas.
Surprise! Like anyone who goes door-to-door selling anything... sooner or later you're going to encounter difficulties. In this case, serious ones. Seems like an appropriate metaphor for what happened to the Cougars last weekend.
Dead UF Man Walking!
Unfortunately for LSU, there's approximately 61 million reasons for not jettisoning coach Kelly after this season.
And they've got (the now tough) Vandy and Oklahoma left on their schedule so it could get worse... which it apparently did, today, with Michigan flipping LSU's 5-star QB recruit. (Money does talk after all.)
Ouch.
4. Chicago Bears.
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| So young to be so jaded. |
- I think the Bears are a significantly better team than their record suggests, head coach notwithstanding.
- Even if I wasn't a Packer fan, it'd be nearly impossible for me to root for Caleb Williams.
- I'd lose my charter membership to the "Packer Fans Are People Too" secret society if I didn't cite the Bears' improbable loss to the Pack this week, in the most Bears-like way to blow it. (Which is saying something after the Washington Hail Mary fiasco.)
Terry's Tools.
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| The few, the proud... |
Tools are like shape shifters. They come in many forms, some more familiar... recognizable (e.g., coach Prime Time)... than others.
But also, there's cunning often masked as -- or perhaps blended with -- stupidity.
That's trickier to divine even if the end result is still the same for the recipient: drawing a reaction that spans the gamut from head-shaking to queasiness of stomach to weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth, even the occasional rending of garments.
Or, in my case, "Defarge, fetch the poteen -- I'm getting the vapors!"
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| Surprised ND didn't get called for only 10 men on the field. |
Sometimes -- and this year one could argue it's often -- it's just a matter of incompetence.
Or ignorance.
Hey ACC refs, know your rules.
The stupidest part of this whole thing was attaching the 'penalty' to the jersey numbers of the O-line.
Why the number matters - ever - is beyond me.
And the fact that they alerted the refs to this beforehand... disappointing.
Brian Kelly. How do you show someone you've lost your team without saying you've lost your team?
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| "Flipper! Flipper! Faster than lightning..." |
And it's probably unfair to pick on young Mr. Taylor -- he's young and therefore almost invariably stupid -- but here's the deal:
I understand kids making a rash decision on a commitment - you fall in love w a place you visit before you may realize there are other, better options, better fits, out there.
Or maybe it's just a case of "Dude, what part of my "For Sale" sign didn't you understand?"
Now that the fact that Taylor has now reneged on the Wolverines ought to make him a Buddy candidate but sorry, character has to matter, (mom and dad).
Name of the Week
Name of the week in arguably The Game of the Week.
Get used to probably seeing this kid's name a lot -- possibly NFL bound at some point -- he's pretty good on a nationally recognized team.
Truth be told, it unclear whether this is his actual, God-given / what's the birth certificate say name...
But insofar that the young man is from Alabama, there's a non-zero chance that it could be. In any event, I give you...
A starting WR for the 10th ranked Tennessee Volunteers, Mr. White is a junior with a 118 receptions in his career -- so he's not just a pretty name.
How'd he get that name? Standing 5'10" it's not like he's sooo diminutive to get tagged with the moniker of a small and elusive furry woodland creature.
But having seen the lad play, it does kinda fit.
Okay, fact check (and isn't that refreshing): Born Marquarius Malik White, his great-grandmother was holding him in her garden when a squirrel picked a tomato and moved away. White moved at the same time as the squirrel, so great garndma started calling him "Squirrel."
Frankly, a little disappointing -- I was hoping for something more dramatic -- but every week can't be home runs.
Final Thought
Welcome, future SEC opponent.
November 21, 2024.
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| November 21, 2024. |
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