I've always enjoyed Thanksgiving weekend. I loved the night before Thanksgiving seeing old friends again. Then I went out two years ago on Thanksgiving Eve and it was miserable. All I did was stand in line everywhere. I said I was never going out on Thanksgiving Eve again (I lied). I loved idea of football Thursday through Sunday. Football can be ruined when you have performances like the Jets in 2007 or Notre Dame in 2006, 2008, 2009, and 2011. This weekend was the best. It had a little bit of everything, great football, terrible football, people I hadn't seen in ten years, one of my best friends threatening to murder me, you know, usual stuff.
Thursday night I went out very early with Darryl and Molly. We went out early and beat the crowd. Eventually Vin joined us. Darryl disappeared, Molly drove us home, and unlike last year, I didn't have to go back to Huntington after getting dropped off to pick up Darryl. So this was the best Thanksgiving Eve in a while.
The football on Thanksgiving was interesting. We saw terrible coaching from Jim Schwartz, the Cowboys being the Cowboys, and the Jets with the performance that will hopefully mean the end of Mark Sanchez and Rex Ryan. I was dozing off during the first half of the Jets game. I didn't sleep that long. The score was 7-0 and then I opened my eyes again and it was 28-0. The Jets are a disaster. Let's move on.
Friday was my ten year high school reunion. I hadn't seen most of the people there since high school. It was actually more fun than I thought it would be. Darryl and Molly were in Huntington at the same time. Darryl texted me from Molly's phone and said that if I didn't meet up with them, he would murder me. I never met up with them. He didn't remember that threat the next day.
Saturday was the day I've been waiting for. It was the fourth time in my life that Notre Dame went into the last game of the regular season undefeated. In 1988, they beat USC and then went on to win the National Championship. In 1989, they lost to the forces of evil in Miami. In 1993, they lost to Boston College (one of my first memories of college football). And we've been wondering in the desert since then. Now, 19 years later, we had a chance play for a National Championship once again. It was fitting that we had to go through our biggest rival, USC. The 2005 game at Notre Dame was the most exciting sporting event I've ever been to. But USC's cheating cost us the game and a shot at a National Championship. I loathe Pete Carroll and Reggie Bush to this day for what they did. I had been waiting 7 years, 1 month, and 9 days for revenge for what happened that day.
I felt confident all week. Then yesterday came and I felt nervous (this was the exact opposite of how I felt going into the Oklahoma game). My hands were shaking as I texted my friends in the first quarter. Anyway, it was quite a game. Theo Riddick played the best game of his life. Kyle Brindza outscored USC 16-13. And Manti Te'o picked off another pass. He is the best player in college football. HeIsManti. We took a 10-0 lead in the first quarter and held on for the whole game. We won it like we've been winning games all season, with the best defense in college football. Marqise Lee is the most dangerous player we've played all season. Our defense did a great job on him. For most of the game, whenever he got the ball, we tackled him right away. We took a few pass interference penalties, but I was fine with that. A 15 yard penalty is better than a 50 yard gain or a touchdown. Finally, in the fourth quarter, he made a big catch to set up a first and goal with USC down 9. Eventually, two straight pass interference penalties gave USC a first and goal at the 1. Then Lane Kiffin decided it would be a good idea to try to run up the middle against Louis Nix and his friends. Of course, we stuffed USC just like we stuffed Stanford. It got to fourth down and for some reason Lane Kiffin decided to go for it. Lane, you needed 10 points to win. Three would have helped you, but thanks for being a moron in addition to being a huge d-bag. The incomplete pass on fourth down just about sealed it for us. At first it looked like it might be complete, but when I saw the ball on the ground, I yelled, "No! Yes!" No as in it's not a touchdown, and yes as in this is awesome. We got a first down, took some knees, and then had to punt with about 20 seconds left. We held on for the 22-13 win. I finally got the revenge I had been waiting for since 2005. We are going to Miami on January 7 to play for the National Championship. My friends and I have already been discussing travel arrangements. It was the best day of my life.
After the game, I got a call from my old friend Tommy. I met up with him and his friends in Huntington. I wore my Rudy jacket and got lots of comments from people congratulating me. Tommy was quite entertaining. The best part was his plan to find a wife. I won't give it away, but let's just say it involves a suit with a microscopic checkerboard pattern. I finished off the day with a couple of Victory Guinnesses. Life is good. One more game to win.
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