I absolutely hate this time of year. From the Super Bowl until the start of the Big East Tournament, it's cold and there's nothing going on in sports. Regular season NBA, regular season hockey, and regular season college basketball. Those are the sports with the worst regular seasons. I like all of these sports, but more than half the teams in the NBA and NHL make the playoffs. College basketball is a little more complicated. If you're in a small conference, all that matters is winning your conference tournament (with some exceptions like Gonzaga who can get in even if they lose in their conference tournament). If you're in a big conference, you have to either win your conference tournament or be good enough to get one of the thirty something at large spots in the tournament (if you can't do that, you're just not good). And today I realized that since tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, I can't eat meat for two of the next three days (the worst three-day stretch of the year).
If you know me from my days at camp and my Alvernian articles, you know that I've been influenced by Bill Simmons in my writing. But this post is actually influenced by his podcast. In particular, his Half Baked Ideas podcasts with Kevin Wildes. His Leap Year Day bit was my favorite moment in BS Report history. I just loved that idea. Anyway, Joe House said, "There's no such thing as too many holidays in February." In another Half Baked Ideas podcast, Kevin Wildes proposed celebrating more eves, like we celebrate Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. I've been celebrating Thanksgiving Eve for years, and I've had some great Easter Eves with John and Darryl. So naturally, I loved this idea also.
Also, the day after the Super Bowl needs to be a holiday. Some folks have suggested playing the Super Bowl on a Saturday. I'm opposed to that. I like the tradition of Super Bowl Sunday. We just need to have a federal holiday the day after the Super Bowl. The suggestion has been made to push the Super Bowl back two weeks and have it the day before Washington's Birthday. I'd be fine with that. Part of the idea was play two more regular season games and then have the Super Bowl two weeks later. They're not going to 18 games any time soon. Of course, they could just push back the start of the season.
But here's my solution: We make Lincoln's Birthday a federal holiday that is celebrated on the second Monday in February. The NFL season starts at the same time, but each team gets two byes (one of which would come the week before playing on Thursday night). That pushes the Super Bowl back one week, which would make it the day before Lincoln's Birthday.
And why shouldn't Lincoln's Birthday be a federal holiday? The man was our greatest president ever. He saved the Union and freed the slaves. Besides being our greatest president, you can make the case that he's the greatest American ever. I took a little survey today on who people thought was the greatest American ever. My friend/fellow history major John and a few other people said Lincoln. He's actually not my answer (more on that in a future post), but I agree that a very good case can be made for Lincoln. If you made a top ten list, there are several politicians that you might consider, but the only politician that you could possibly put ahead of Lincoln is George Washington. So your choices for greatest American ever are Lincoln, Washington, or somebody who's not a politician. My brother Sean brought up the names Thomas Edison and Jonas Salk (although he leaned towards Washington). Not bad suggestions. When I asked my friend/fellow history major Darryl a few months ago, he said Martin Luther King Jr. I don't have a problem with that suggestion, and as you've probably noticed over the past 27 years, we do have a federal holiday in his honor. Check out the list of federal holidays. I'm not anti-Columbus and he is certainly very historically significant, but I think Lincoln deserves a holiday more than he does. And while I like not going to work on New Year's Day, I'm not sure why it's a holiday (we put up a new calendar, big deal). You're telling me Lincoln doesn't deserve a federal holiday? Let's make it happen.
So to summarize:
1. We honor somebody who is well-deserving of a holiday.
2. We get an extra holiday in February.
3. We celebrate Lincoln's Birthday Eve with the Super Bowl.
4. The NFL season starts at the same time, but we get an extra week of regular season football.
5. The Super Bowl comes a week later, which reduces that awful time between the Super Bowl and the start of the Big East Tournament (soon to be the ACC Tournament that I care about, although I might still go to the Catholic 7 tournament occasionally if it replaces the Big East at Madison Square Garden) by one week.
6. We don't have to work the day after the Super Bowl.
Happy Birthday Abraham Lincoln! Sorry my brother called you racist (yes, this actually happened and if you know my brothers, I'm pretty sure you can guess which one it was).
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Sunday, February 10, 2013
The Best Basketball Game I've Ever Watched
As I mentioned in my last post, I wanted to go to a basketball game at Notre Dame this year. Tonight's game was one of two games that I was considering going to. I never would have made it out there today, so I'm not at all upset about not going, but if I had been there, it probably would have been my best blog post ever.
Here's how I spent my day today: shoveling my driveway, watching The Office on DVD, watching the Notre Dame basketball game, and drinking. It turned out to be a pretty awesome day.
This game definitely calls for a blog post after enjoying several Boston Beer Company products. The first 39 minutes of the game weren't pretty. We led by three at halftime, but we were pretty bad for the first 19 minutes of the second half. Jack Cooley fouled out on a horrendous call. I'm not complaining about the referees. I didn't have any beef with them other than that call. Cooley had four fouls. He probably would have fouled out at some point. And if that foul hadn't been called on him, the game might have turned out differently. But that call was as bad as it gets.
Anyway, I had my first beer (the new Sam Adams White Lantern, which is very good) about halfway through the second half. I finished that with about two minutes left in the half. As you might know, I drink by mood, so I decided to have a leftover Old Fezziwig Ale instead of an Irish Red because the Fighting Irish had lost the game. Only they hadn't. Late in the second half, Dick Vitale had talked about looking for Cam Biedscheid to score. I remember thinking, no, I want Jerian Grant with the ball if we need a big shot. Even if I had realized that he hadn't made a field goal at that point, I still wanted Grant with the ball. It turns out that I was right and Grant went nuts and scored 12 points in the last minute and got the game to overtime.
Grant fouled out in the first overtime. Cooley and Knight had fouled out, so it was up to Eric Atkins, Pat Connaughton, Cam Biedscheid, Zach Auguste, and Garrick Sherman (who hadn't played in regulation) to find a way to win. Pat Connaugton was great (16 points, 14 rebounds, 7 assists), Cam Biedscheid hit a huge three at the end of the second overtime (I think it was the second overtime), Eric Atkins played 60 minutes and only turned the ball over three times, Zach Auguste provided some great hustle, and Garrick Sherman turned out to be a very unlikely hero (17 points and 6 rebounds in 22 minutes). Sherman had a huge tip in at the end of the fourth overtime (I think it was the fourth overtime, I'm losing track), to tie the game.
In the end, we just outlasted Louisville. We won in five overtimes. It was definitely the longest game I ever watched. The UConn-Syracuse Big East Tournament game a few years ago went six overtimes. I either turned it off at some point or fell asleep watching it. This game had a very very improbable comeback and my team won. I enjoyed every Celtics NBA Finals win over the Lakers more than this (because of how much higher the stakes were), but if I were an objective basketball fan, this was the most entertaining basketball game I've ever watched. And we beat Rick Pitino. Now that Jim Calhoun is gone, the three most despicable coaches in college basketball are John Calipari, Jim Boeheim, and Pitino (even though his son went to Notre Dame). We've beaten Calipari and Pitino this year. Maybe we'll get another shot at Boeheim in the Big East Tournament next month.
If this was hockey and I was naming the three stars of the game, Garrick Sherman would be the third star, Pat Connaughton would the second star, and Jerian Grant would be the first star. The fact that Grant didn't play the last 22ish minutes of the game and Sherman didn't play the first 43ish minutes of the game and they were two of our three most important players in the game tells you a lot about how amazing this game was.
Go Irish!
Here's how I spent my day today: shoveling my driveway, watching The Office on DVD, watching the Notre Dame basketball game, and drinking. It turned out to be a pretty awesome day.
This game definitely calls for a blog post after enjoying several Boston Beer Company products. The first 39 minutes of the game weren't pretty. We led by three at halftime, but we were pretty bad for the first 19 minutes of the second half. Jack Cooley fouled out on a horrendous call. I'm not complaining about the referees. I didn't have any beef with them other than that call. Cooley had four fouls. He probably would have fouled out at some point. And if that foul hadn't been called on him, the game might have turned out differently. But that call was as bad as it gets.
Anyway, I had my first beer (the new Sam Adams White Lantern, which is very good) about halfway through the second half. I finished that with about two minutes left in the half. As you might know, I drink by mood, so I decided to have a leftover Old Fezziwig Ale instead of an Irish Red because the Fighting Irish had lost the game. Only they hadn't. Late in the second half, Dick Vitale had talked about looking for Cam Biedscheid to score. I remember thinking, no, I want Jerian Grant with the ball if we need a big shot. Even if I had realized that he hadn't made a field goal at that point, I still wanted Grant with the ball. It turns out that I was right and Grant went nuts and scored 12 points in the last minute and got the game to overtime.
Grant fouled out in the first overtime. Cooley and Knight had fouled out, so it was up to Eric Atkins, Pat Connaughton, Cam Biedscheid, Zach Auguste, and Garrick Sherman (who hadn't played in regulation) to find a way to win. Pat Connaugton was great (16 points, 14 rebounds, 7 assists), Cam Biedscheid hit a huge three at the end of the second overtime (I think it was the second overtime), Eric Atkins played 60 minutes and only turned the ball over three times, Zach Auguste provided some great hustle, and Garrick Sherman turned out to be a very unlikely hero (17 points and 6 rebounds in 22 minutes). Sherman had a huge tip in at the end of the fourth overtime (I think it was the fourth overtime, I'm losing track), to tie the game.
In the end, we just outlasted Louisville. We won in five overtimes. It was definitely the longest game I ever watched. The UConn-Syracuse Big East Tournament game a few years ago went six overtimes. I either turned it off at some point or fell asleep watching it. This game had a very very improbable comeback and my team won. I enjoyed every Celtics NBA Finals win over the Lakers more than this (because of how much higher the stakes were), but if I were an objective basketball fan, this was the most entertaining basketball game I've ever watched. And we beat Rick Pitino. Now that Jim Calhoun is gone, the three most despicable coaches in college basketball are John Calipari, Jim Boeheim, and Pitino (even though his son went to Notre Dame). We've beaten Calipari and Pitino this year. Maybe we'll get another shot at Boeheim in the Big East Tournament next month.
If this was hockey and I was naming the three stars of the game, Garrick Sherman would be the third star, Pat Connaughton would the second star, and Jerian Grant would be the first star. The fact that Grant didn't play the last 22ish minutes of the game and Sherman didn't play the first 43ish minutes of the game and they were two of our three most important players in the game tells you a lot about how amazing this game was.
Go Irish!
Friday, February 8, 2013
I don't recommend driving in a blizzard
I had considered going out to Notre Dame for the basketball game against Louisville tomorrow. I haven't been in the basketball arena since it was renovated, so I really want to get there while my friend Jon is still in law school there (he graduates next year). Fortunately I decided not to go this year, because it wasn't going to happen this weekend anyway. I'll do what I can to get there next year.
I did a post after my last trip to Notre Dame in October about my worst travel experience ever. I was complaining about having a delayed flight, not being able to drink in the airport, missing my connecting flight, and then having to sleep in the terminal at O'Hare. I topped that today and I just had to drive 13.6 miles.
Then things got really bad. Woodbury Road comes to a fork shortly after I crossed into Suffolk County. I wanted to take the fork to the left and stay on Woodbury Road. As I was trying to go that way, I got stuck. There were a couple other cars stuck as well. Not knowing what to do, I called my dad. He volunteered to come meet me and try to get me out. I knew that was not a good idea and I talked him out of that. He asked if there was anybody that could help. I didn't see anybody so I said there was nobody. I felt like Commissioner Loeb in the climactic scene of Batman Begins when he had to tell Lieutenant Gordon that there was nobody left to send in. I was kind of hoping Batman would come to rescue me. I was thinking I might be spending the next 16-20 hours right in that spot.
I had a shovel and I tried to dig my way out, but the problem wasn't that I was stuck in snow, it was that I was on ice trying to go uphill. Within a few minutes, the police had showed up and they had closed where I was trying to go anyway. A police officer pushed my car as I stepped on the gas to help get me unstuck. I wish I knew who he was so that I could buy him a very expensive bottle of Scotch or something to thank him. That guy was awesome.
Once I was unstuck, I had to take the fork to the right. I had never gone that way before, so I had to use the map on my phone to figure out where to go from there. It was still hilly and my battle was not over yet. I almost got stuck again, but I managed to get myself out. I was worried about getting stuck any time I had to stop. I could have turned on Pulaski at one point, but I went straight instead because the gates by the train tracks had just gone down. I drove past the Huntington train station and had to stop at a light. The car in front of me got stuck and I almost got stuck behind that car as I tried to get around it. That was the last time I got close to being stuck, but I still had a couple of miles to go. I was really excited when I turned off Broadway onto Fenwick (like two-tenths of a mile from my house). That was the first time I knew I would make it home (even if something bad happened with the car, I could walk home from there).
I pulled into my driveway around 5:35. I have never been so happy to get home from work. What is usually a half-hour drive took almost 2 hours and 45 minutes. And that was without picking up food and stopping at Blue Bell (don't worry, I have enough age-appropriate beverages for tonight, and I'll need them). Driving home tonight was the scariest experience of my life (I'm not exaggerating at all).
Big thanks to the Suffolk County police. Great job by them out there tonight. I saw a lot of buses crawling along on Woodbury Road trying to get kids home. God bless those bus drivers today. I hope all the kids got home safe.
If you're in the Northeast and you're reading this, you're obviously not out there right now. I recommend that you stay where you are for at least the next 12 hours.
If you're in the Northeast and you're reading this, you're obviously not out there right now. I recommend that you stay where you are for at least the next 12 hours.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
My X Favorite Super Bowls
Today is Super Bowl XLVII and this is my XLVIIth blog post (and I'm going with this Roman numeral gimmick). The Super Bowl is one of the many many things that makes the United States the greatest country in the world. Sports and capitalism come together today. They don't have the Super Bowl in Iran or North Korea.
Anyway, in honor of Super Bowl Sunday, I'm giving you my X favorite Super Bowls. I'm limiting this list to Super Bowls that I've watched. If I didn't, I'd have to include Super Bowl III (for obvious reasons), Super Bowl XIX (Joe Montana beating Dan Marino), and Super Bowl XXIV (Joe Montana beating some quarterback from Stanford). So here's the list:
X. Super Bowl XLIII. I remember thinking that the fourth quarter of this game was great, but the rest of the game wasn't. Santonio Holmes made one of the greatest catches in NFL history. He was a Super Bowl MVP and a great wide receiver, but the Steelers were willing to give him away to the Jets (should have been a big red flag). This was also the last game that John Madden ever called.
IX. Super Bowl XXXIX. I was rooting for Charlie Weis because he was coming to Notre Dame. I was also rooting against Terrell Owens since he was the biggest scumbag in the NFL. Owens played a great game, but Charlie Weis won. Weis never should have left the Patriots. But good news, the Patriots haven't been able to win a Super Bowl without him.
VIII. Super Bowl XXXVII. This is easily the worst game on this list, but I loved every second of it. I hated the Raiders more than any team in the NFL back then. I still hate them, but the Patriots have taken their place as my least favorite team. If the Buccaneers had been my favorite team, this would have been the NFL version of Game 6 of the 2008 NBA Finals. It was awesome.
VII. Super Bowl XXXII. I think this is an under-appreciated Super Bowl. The Broncos were big underdogs, it was probably the best quarterback match up I've seen in a Super Bowl (I'd give Favre-Elway the edge over Brees-Manning, II Aikman-Kelly match ups, and II Manning-Brady match ups), and the NFC had won XIII straight years. It was a great game. And it prevented Brett Favre from winning a second Super Bowl.
VI. Super Bowl XXXVIII. It would have been awesome if the Panthers had beaten the Patriots, but this was a great game. For the first XXVII minutes, the teams struggled to score. Then they went nuts. It was back and fourth and the Patriots won it with a field goal with VI seconds left.
V. Super Bowl XXV. This would be higher on this list if I remembered it better. It was the first Super Bowl I ever watched. I remember Norwood missing the field goal, but I don't remember much other than that. I also remember rooting against the Giants because I was a Jets fan. I didn't understand that the Bills are a natural rival of the Jets and the Giants aren't. This is right in the conversation for greatest Super Bowl of all time. And Bill Parcells won, so that's good.
IV. Super Bowl XXXIV. We've had Super Bowls that came down to the last play, but this is probably the best finish in Super Bowl history. I remember thinking the Rams would win easily because I didn't think the Steve McNair could lead the Titans to victory. I gained a lot of respect for McNair in this game and he became one of my favorite players. Kurt Warner set the Super Bowl record with 414 passing yards in this game (amazingly enough, Warner has the top III spots on the list of most passing yards in a game in the Super Bowl).
III. Super Bowl XXXVI. The Patriots were not the detestable team that they've become. The Rams were pretty detestable under Mike Martz (they weren't II years earlier under Dick Vermeil). I was rooting hard for the Patriots, who were big underdogs. Due in large part to Mike Martz's crappy coaching, the Patriots were able to pull of the upset. The game ended with the greatest kicker of all time making his second best kick of the season (Vinitieri's kick against the Raiders in the snow was amazing, he's is another person that the Patriots haven't been able to win a Super Bowl without).
II. Super Bowl XLVI. I was really worried about the Patriots winning this Super Bowl. My favorite NFL player, Justin Tuck, played a great game with II sacks (pulling him within a half sack of the all time Super Bowl record) and a forced safety on Brady's intentional grounding. The Manning to Manningham pas was a thing of beauty. If the Patriots losing wasn't enough, Bradying became a thing:
I. Super Bowl XLII. I never found the Patriots detestable before this Super Bowl. This was the season of Spygate. An undefeated season was on the line. Because of how big of an upset this was, it gets the nod for the top spot over last year's Super Bowl. Justin Tuck was the best player in the first half of this game. I remember thinking early in the fourth quarter that this game could be an all-time classic (a thought I also had II years later, but the TAINT by Peyton Manning to Tracy Porter ruined that) and it turned out to be quite possibly the best Super Bowl ever. The helmet catch is probably the greatest play I've ever seen (the Mike Jones I yard short tackle and the Santonio Holmes catch are the II other possibilities I can think of). The Legend of Eli Manning started that day. And it prevented this.
It's kind of sad that a Jet fan's II favorite Super Bowls were won by the other New York team, but that's the way it is. Happy Super Bowl Sunday!
Anyway, in honor of Super Bowl Sunday, I'm giving you my X favorite Super Bowls. I'm limiting this list to Super Bowls that I've watched. If I didn't, I'd have to include Super Bowl III (for obvious reasons), Super Bowl XIX (Joe Montana beating Dan Marino), and Super Bowl XXIV (Joe Montana beating some quarterback from Stanford). So here's the list:
X. Super Bowl XLIII. I remember thinking that the fourth quarter of this game was great, but the rest of the game wasn't. Santonio Holmes made one of the greatest catches in NFL history. He was a Super Bowl MVP and a great wide receiver, but the Steelers were willing to give him away to the Jets (should have been a big red flag). This was also the last game that John Madden ever called.
IX. Super Bowl XXXIX. I was rooting for Charlie Weis because he was coming to Notre Dame. I was also rooting against Terrell Owens since he was the biggest scumbag in the NFL. Owens played a great game, but Charlie Weis won. Weis never should have left the Patriots. But good news, the Patriots haven't been able to win a Super Bowl without him.
VIII. Super Bowl XXXVII. This is easily the worst game on this list, but I loved every second of it. I hated the Raiders more than any team in the NFL back then. I still hate them, but the Patriots have taken their place as my least favorite team. If the Buccaneers had been my favorite team, this would have been the NFL version of Game 6 of the 2008 NBA Finals. It was awesome.
VII. Super Bowl XXXII. I think this is an under-appreciated Super Bowl. The Broncos were big underdogs, it was probably the best quarterback match up I've seen in a Super Bowl (I'd give Favre-Elway the edge over Brees-Manning, II Aikman-Kelly match ups, and II Manning-Brady match ups), and the NFC had won XIII straight years. It was a great game. And it prevented Brett Favre from winning a second Super Bowl.
VI. Super Bowl XXXVIII. It would have been awesome if the Panthers had beaten the Patriots, but this was a great game. For the first XXVII minutes, the teams struggled to score. Then they went nuts. It was back and fourth and the Patriots won it with a field goal with VI seconds left.
V. Super Bowl XXV. This would be higher on this list if I remembered it better. It was the first Super Bowl I ever watched. I remember Norwood missing the field goal, but I don't remember much other than that. I also remember rooting against the Giants because I was a Jets fan. I didn't understand that the Bills are a natural rival of the Jets and the Giants aren't. This is right in the conversation for greatest Super Bowl of all time. And Bill Parcells won, so that's good.
IV. Super Bowl XXXIV. We've had Super Bowls that came down to the last play, but this is probably the best finish in Super Bowl history. I remember thinking the Rams would win easily because I didn't think the Steve McNair could lead the Titans to victory. I gained a lot of respect for McNair in this game and he became one of my favorite players. Kurt Warner set the Super Bowl record with 414 passing yards in this game (amazingly enough, Warner has the top III spots on the list of most passing yards in a game in the Super Bowl).
III. Super Bowl XXXVI. The Patriots were not the detestable team that they've become. The Rams were pretty detestable under Mike Martz (they weren't II years earlier under Dick Vermeil). I was rooting hard for the Patriots, who were big underdogs. Due in large part to Mike Martz's crappy coaching, the Patriots were able to pull of the upset. The game ended with the greatest kicker of all time making his second best kick of the season (Vinitieri's kick against the Raiders in the snow was amazing, he's is another person that the Patriots haven't been able to win a Super Bowl without).
II. Super Bowl XLVI. I was really worried about the Patriots winning this Super Bowl. My favorite NFL player, Justin Tuck, played a great game with II sacks (pulling him within a half sack of the all time Super Bowl record) and a forced safety on Brady's intentional grounding. The Manning to Manningham pas was a thing of beauty. If the Patriots losing wasn't enough, Bradying became a thing:
 |
| That's right, Tom, you've failed in your II efforts to tie Joe Montana in Super Bowl wins. |
I. Super Bowl XLII. I never found the Patriots detestable before this Super Bowl. This was the season of Spygate. An undefeated season was on the line. Because of how big of an upset this was, it gets the nod for the top spot over last year's Super Bowl. Justin Tuck was the best player in the first half of this game. I remember thinking early in the fourth quarter that this game could be an all-time classic (a thought I also had II years later, but the TAINT by Peyton Manning to Tracy Porter ruined that) and it turned out to be quite possibly the best Super Bowl ever. The helmet catch is probably the greatest play I've ever seen (the Mike Jones I yard short tackle and the Santonio Holmes catch are the II other possibilities I can think of). The Legend of Eli Manning started that day. And it prevented this.
It's kind of sad that a Jet fan's II favorite Super Bowls were won by the other New York team, but that's the way it is. Happy Super Bowl Sunday!
Friday, February 1, 2013
Super Bowl Logos
There are some folks who don't like Roger Goodell. I don't entirely get why people dislike him so much. Bill Simmons hates Goodell. He says that the NFL didn't care about issues of player safety, but then he gets mad at Goodell for doing something about the Saints' bounty program. How does that make sense? Anyway, there is one thing that Goodell did that I absolutely hate with a passion: standardized Super Bowl logos. I'm not kidding. I feel very strongly about this. Check out this picture of all the pre-standardization logos:
The first Super Bowl I ever watched was Super Bowl XXV. I'm going to give you my five worst and five best Super Bowl logos from Super Bowl XXV to Super Bowl XLIV. Let's start with the five worst:
5. Super Bowl XL. The only thing good about this logo is that it's red, white, and blue. It's pretty bland. There's something lacking. Give me some kind of artwork rather than just the words "Super Bowl" and the Roman numerals.
4. Super Bowl XXIX. The only thing this logo has going for it is the sort of sun-looking thing at the top. Too many straight lines.
3. Super Bowl XXXIV. Pretty bland. And why is the third X bigger than the other two?
2. Super Bowl XLII. Great Super Bowl, crappy logo. What is that supposed to be?
1. Super Bowl XLIV. Unlike Super Bowl XLII, I get what this is supposed to be, but it's just bad. The game was in Miami. Give me the beach and/or the sun in the logo somehow. That logo had no connection to the city where the game was held.
In Goodell's defense, the Super Bowl logos were getting pretty bad. I didn't really like the logos for Super Bowl XLI or Super Bowl XLIII either. But I'd still take a bad logo that was unique for each game over Goodell's generic standardized logos.
And now for the best logos from the Super Bowls I've watched:
5. Super Bowl XXV. I had four that I really liked and I needed a fifth. This makes the list for not being bad, for being red, white, and blue, for being from the first Super Bowl I watched, and for being the logo for one of the best Super Bowls ever.
4. Super Bowl XXX. It has a very Arizona feel to it. Very appropriate for a Super Bowl played in Tempe.
3. Super Bowl XXXVIII. This is the Super Bowl that has the longest Roman numeral attached to it. All those letters could have been a problem for designing a logo, but it was done very well. The planet is also very unique for a Super Bowl logo and appropriate for Houston.
2. Super Bowl XXVII. I've talked before about how I want to get to every Major League Baseball Stadium, but I don't feel the need to get to every football stadium or every basketball arena. There are only two football stadiums that I haven't been to yet that I would make a point of visiting. One is Lambeau Field. The other is the Rose Bowl. This is the perfect logo for a Super Bowl played in the Rose Bowl. It was also the last Super Bowl played in the Rose Bowl. They should go back there, but it won't happen because these days they won't put a Super Bowl in a stadium that doesn't have any NFL team (the Rose Bowl never had an NFL team, but it hosted five Super Bowls).
1. Super Bowl XXXVI. If you know me well, this one was pretty obvious.
To be sure, there were some bad ones. But at least they weren't all bland and generic like the Super Bowl logos Goodell has given us. Quick googling turned up a logo that would have been a million times better for Super Bowl XLVII than the generic grey logo:
5. Super Bowl XL. The only thing good about this logo is that it's red, white, and blue. It's pretty bland. There's something lacking. Give me some kind of artwork rather than just the words "Super Bowl" and the Roman numerals.
4. Super Bowl XXIX. The only thing this logo has going for it is the sort of sun-looking thing at the top. Too many straight lines.
3. Super Bowl XXXIV. Pretty bland. And why is the third X bigger than the other two?
2. Super Bowl XLII. Great Super Bowl, crappy logo. What is that supposed to be?
1. Super Bowl XLIV. Unlike Super Bowl XLII, I get what this is supposed to be, but it's just bad. The game was in Miami. Give me the beach and/or the sun in the logo somehow. That logo had no connection to the city where the game was held.
In Goodell's defense, the Super Bowl logos were getting pretty bad. I didn't really like the logos for Super Bowl XLI or Super Bowl XLIII either. But I'd still take a bad logo that was unique for each game over Goodell's generic standardized logos.
And now for the best logos from the Super Bowls I've watched:
5. Super Bowl XXV. I had four that I really liked and I needed a fifth. This makes the list for not being bad, for being red, white, and blue, for being from the first Super Bowl I watched, and for being the logo for one of the best Super Bowls ever.
4. Super Bowl XXX. It has a very Arizona feel to it. Very appropriate for a Super Bowl played in Tempe.
3. Super Bowl XXXVIII. This is the Super Bowl that has the longest Roman numeral attached to it. All those letters could have been a problem for designing a logo, but it was done very well. The planet is also very unique for a Super Bowl logo and appropriate for Houston.
2. Super Bowl XXVII. I've talked before about how I want to get to every Major League Baseball Stadium, but I don't feel the need to get to every football stadium or every basketball arena. There are only two football stadiums that I haven't been to yet that I would make a point of visiting. One is Lambeau Field. The other is the Rose Bowl. This is the perfect logo for a Super Bowl played in the Rose Bowl. It was also the last Super Bowl played in the Rose Bowl. They should go back there, but it won't happen because these days they won't put a Super Bowl in a stadium that doesn't have any NFL team (the Rose Bowl never had an NFL team, but it hosted five Super Bowls).
1. Super Bowl XXXVI. If you know me well, this one was pretty obvious.
Monday, January 28, 2013
Random Stuff
Let's start with Manti Te'o. I could go on for a while about this, but I'll keep it short. Te'o was a victim of a hoax. Deadspin was incredibly irresponsible in their reporting of the story. Their incorrect conclusion led to a lot of people accepting their incorrect conclusion. Thankfully, ESPN was responsible and got everything right, but the damage was still done to Manti. Certain people that I know, who will remain nameless (Tom, Paul, and Ethan), jumped to the worst possible conclusions without any evidence and still can't admit that they were wrong about the whole thing. I took a lot of nonsense from them, but I'm proud to have defended Manti the way I did. Unlike people who had no interest in learning what really happened with this hoax, there were those who helped me keep my faith in humanity. My brother Sean's friend Lorenzo has a graduate degree from USC. You might think that a USC fan would want to believe the worst about Notre Dame's best player, but Lorenzo did not jump to crazy conclusions and gave Manti the benefit of the doubt, so I give a lot of credit to Lorenzo.
Initially, I was also worried that Manti might have been in on the hoax. I'm sorry I ever had that thought. Jack Swarbrick's press conference defending Manti was his finest hour as Notre Dame's athletic director. Swarbrick's defense of Manti inspired me to defend him as well. That was the beginning of the record being set straight about what really happened. Swarbrick's interview with ESPN after the facts had come out was also outstanding. Much like I wanted Brian Kelly fired, I wanted Swarbrick fired for those horrendous Shamrock Series uniforms (I still hate those), but he proved that I'm an idiot. He's the best athletic director in the country. I can't imagine anybody else handing this situation as well as he did. I sent him an email thanking him for the way he handled it. I don't know if he'll ever read that, but whatever.
Moving on, I saw Notre Dame take on St. John's at Madison Square Garden on January 15. We played a terrible game and lost. But it was my first trip to the Garden since the Big East Tournament last year. They had gotten a lot of work done on it in the last 10 months. It looked good. I like it better than the Barclays Center. I'll be back for the Big East Tournament again this year, so maybe I'll have some more thoughts at that point.
I can't wait for this week to be over so that I can enjoy Super Bowl weekend. Two thoughts about the Super Bowl in general before getting to the game. First, this is a great week to have NFL Network (way to be eight years late to the party, Cablevision). And second, I really really hate the standardized Super Bowl logo. As for this year, I had decided this year that I was rooting for the winner of the Vikings-Packers game in the playoffs. The Packers have fellow former St. Ed's resident Ryan Grant on their roster and there's nothing unlikable about them (except for Clay Matthews). The Vikings have Harrison Smith, Kyle Rudolph, fellow former St. Ed's resident John Carlson, John Sullivan, and Robert Blanton. Once the 49ers beat the Packers, I was not too happy. In the conference championship games, we had Jim Harbaugh, Ray Lewis, a team with a quarterback from Boston College, and the Patriots. Clearly, the team with a quarterback from Boston College was the least of all evils there. This wasn't like last year where I could easily support Justin Tuck and the Giants. But after the Falcons lost, all that really mattered at that point was the Patriots losing. Fortunately, the Ravens took care of that. My initial thought was that I'd root against the city of San Francisco (if you don't know how much I can't stand dirty, smelly hippies, you obviously don't know me well enough) and Jim Harbaugh in the Super Bowl. After some more thought, I decided to root for the 49ers. They have Ian Williams and Darius Fleming on their roster. Joe Montana played for them. And they don't have Ray Lewis (Miami is about as evil as they come, Michigan might be the only other school on that level). So I'm rooting for the 49ers. But if the Ravens win, at least the Patriots didn't.
After the amazing start of my coaching career last summer with the Swamp Donkeys, I'm now the assistant coach of my school's basketball team. I'm really enjoying it. When I was coaching last summer, all I was really doing was standing on the sideline wearing a suit and managing substitutions. I did switch to a zone defense, but my best contribution as coach was calling our best timeout of the season to save a possession for us in the last minute of our playoff win (I was actually dressed for that game, though). But I've learned a lot from our head coach. I feel like I could actually coach a team now myself. Two weeks ago, the head coach couldn't make practice, so I had to run it by myself for the first time. Since then, we've won three straight games and we're over .500 for the first time this season at 4-3. Coincidence? Yes. But it was a good practice and I'm glad I had a chance to run my own practice. Hopefully I'll have another chance to be a head coach, possibly this summer. I now have a variety of under the basket inbound plays to run and I can coach offense against a zone. It's also been fun because I like the kids on the team. I've this is my fifth year teaching at my third different school. Every year, I have to go to eighth grade graduation and I barely know the kids. This year it will be nice to have a connection with some of the eighth graders. One other note about coaching this year. Unfortunately I haven't been wearing a suit. I can't outdress the head coach. He wears a polo shirt that has our logo and says coach on it. He gave me one too. It's a nice shirt, but of course, I'd rather wear a suit.
With the injury to Rajon Rondo, it's just over for the Celtics this season. They should trade Garnett. I would hate to see Paul Pierce wearing a different uniform, but the smart basketball move would be to trade him also. At least the Lakers are not good.
I have some Year of Jim stuff coming up soon. As I mentioned already, I'll be at as much of the Big East Tournament as possible. And in April, I'll be attending at least four baseball games. I'll be going to Opening Day for the first time (something I've been wanting to do for a while now) and crossing a stadium off my list. Should be good.
Initially, I was also worried that Manti might have been in on the hoax. I'm sorry I ever had that thought. Jack Swarbrick's press conference defending Manti was his finest hour as Notre Dame's athletic director. Swarbrick's defense of Manti inspired me to defend him as well. That was the beginning of the record being set straight about what really happened. Swarbrick's interview with ESPN after the facts had come out was also outstanding. Much like I wanted Brian Kelly fired, I wanted Swarbrick fired for those horrendous Shamrock Series uniforms (I still hate those), but he proved that I'm an idiot. He's the best athletic director in the country. I can't imagine anybody else handing this situation as well as he did. I sent him an email thanking him for the way he handled it. I don't know if he'll ever read that, but whatever.
Moving on, I saw Notre Dame take on St. John's at Madison Square Garden on January 15. We played a terrible game and lost. But it was my first trip to the Garden since the Big East Tournament last year. They had gotten a lot of work done on it in the last 10 months. It looked good. I like it better than the Barclays Center. I'll be back for the Big East Tournament again this year, so maybe I'll have some more thoughts at that point.
I can't wait for this week to be over so that I can enjoy Super Bowl weekend. Two thoughts about the Super Bowl in general before getting to the game. First, this is a great week to have NFL Network (way to be eight years late to the party, Cablevision). And second, I really really hate the standardized Super Bowl logo. As for this year, I had decided this year that I was rooting for the winner of the Vikings-Packers game in the playoffs. The Packers have fellow former St. Ed's resident Ryan Grant on their roster and there's nothing unlikable about them (except for Clay Matthews). The Vikings have Harrison Smith, Kyle Rudolph, fellow former St. Ed's resident John Carlson, John Sullivan, and Robert Blanton. Once the 49ers beat the Packers, I was not too happy. In the conference championship games, we had Jim Harbaugh, Ray Lewis, a team with a quarterback from Boston College, and the Patriots. Clearly, the team with a quarterback from Boston College was the least of all evils there. This wasn't like last year where I could easily support Justin Tuck and the Giants. But after the Falcons lost, all that really mattered at that point was the Patriots losing. Fortunately, the Ravens took care of that. My initial thought was that I'd root against the city of San Francisco (if you don't know how much I can't stand dirty, smelly hippies, you obviously don't know me well enough) and Jim Harbaugh in the Super Bowl. After some more thought, I decided to root for the 49ers. They have Ian Williams and Darius Fleming on their roster. Joe Montana played for them. And they don't have Ray Lewis (Miami is about as evil as they come, Michigan might be the only other school on that level). So I'm rooting for the 49ers. But if the Ravens win, at least the Patriots didn't.
After the amazing start of my coaching career last summer with the Swamp Donkeys, I'm now the assistant coach of my school's basketball team. I'm really enjoying it. When I was coaching last summer, all I was really doing was standing on the sideline wearing a suit and managing substitutions. I did switch to a zone defense, but my best contribution as coach was calling our best timeout of the season to save a possession for us in the last minute of our playoff win (I was actually dressed for that game, though). But I've learned a lot from our head coach. I feel like I could actually coach a team now myself. Two weeks ago, the head coach couldn't make practice, so I had to run it by myself for the first time. Since then, we've won three straight games and we're over .500 for the first time this season at 4-3. Coincidence? Yes. But it was a good practice and I'm glad I had a chance to run my own practice. Hopefully I'll have another chance to be a head coach, possibly this summer. I now have a variety of under the basket inbound plays to run and I can coach offense against a zone. It's also been fun because I like the kids on the team. I've this is my fifth year teaching at my third different school. Every year, I have to go to eighth grade graduation and I barely know the kids. This year it will be nice to have a connection with some of the eighth graders. One other note about coaching this year. Unfortunately I haven't been wearing a suit. I can't outdress the head coach. He wears a polo shirt that has our logo and says coach on it. He gave me one too. It's a nice shirt, but of course, I'd rather wear a suit.
With the injury to Rajon Rondo, it's just over for the Celtics this season. They should trade Garnett. I would hate to see Paul Pierce wearing a different uniform, but the smart basketball move would be to trade him also. At least the Lakers are not good.
I have some Year of Jim stuff coming up soon. As I mentioned already, I'll be at as much of the Big East Tournament as possible. And in April, I'll be attending at least four baseball games. I'll be going to Opening Day for the first time (something I've been wanting to do for a while now) and crossing a stadium off my list. Should be good.
Saturday, January 12, 2013
January 7 and January 9: Mixed Emotions
I wanted to get this finished on my birthday, but that didn't happen. This is going to be long and rambling, so I apologize in advance, but I also think it will be one of my better blog posts. The game was terrible, so I won't get into that too much, but here we go:
Let's start with January 9, 2005. It was my 21st birthday and it was the day I moved into St. Ed's after transferring to Notre Dame. The first person I met there was my roommate and fellow transfer, Kyle. We were both a little unsure of what we were getting into when we saw our room in St. Ed's. I was even more unsure when I came back to the dorm that night after a night of drinking and met another one of our roommates, Dan, and had one of the most bizarre conversations I've ever had with anybody in my entire life. (By the way, Dan would later be kicked out of the dorm for sneaking six kegs in and by the next year, he thought my name was Pat.) As it would turn out, transferring to Notre Dame was the best decision I've ever made in my life and that was the day it became a reality.
January 7, 2007 was the day I officially graduated from Notre Dame (although by then I had been done with college for almost a month). Graduating from Notre Dame is my proudest accomplishment. (I'm not sure what would be second on the list of accomplishments that I'm most proud of, but it might involve ping pong balls, my friend Vinny, and a long winning streak) I had always gotten by in school without doing a ton of work, but I put in a really solid effort in college. I think I found the right balance between doing well and having fun.
January 7, 2013 could have been the best day of my entire life, but it wasn't, and that's why I couldn't be too excited about this birthday.
I was in Miami in April. Not once did the thought occur to me that I might be back in January to watch Notre Dame play for the National Championship. It was also crappy weather in April. This time it was beautiful. My question: Why aren't the Dolphins awesome? What NFL free agent wouldn't want to go there? We stayed at an apartment in Miami Beach. It was Kyle, his wife Lauren, Jon, and me. I never expected to like South Beach so much, but it was awesome. The water was the bluest that I've ever seen. We went out Sunday night and we met up with Wilhelm. I hadn't seen him since I stayed with him for the Navy game in 2007 (probably the lowest point for Notre Dame football during my lifetime). Before the game on Monday, we had lunch with Dennis and his girlfriend Courtney. We had a meal at a bar/restaurant called Finnegan's Way. I thought that was a good spot, but the fact that they were out of Guinness was a bad omen. Kyle, Lauren, Jon, and I all wore Hawaiian leis in honor of Manti Te'o. We took a bus to the game. It took a really long time, but we got there around 5:40 and met up with Wilhelm and his family. The atmosphere outside the stadium was amazing. It was quite a party. I only drank one Sam Adams because I wanted to be able to remember the game. I was hoping to be drinking plenty of celebratory beers after the game.
Before going into the stadium, we huddled in prayer. It was one of my favorite moments of the day, but obviously, it didn't work. Kyle, Lauren, Wilhelm, and I went into the stadium around 7:20. We were all worried about having fake tickets until they scanned. Everybody hugged it out before going our separate ways. I was sitting with Jon's brother, Kevin. We were closer to the Notre Dame bench, so I thought it would be a Notre Dame section, but it turned out to be an Alabama section. I didn't have extensive interactions with Alabama fans, but they were very nice. I didn't go to the Sugar Bowl in January 2007, but I know a lot of people had bad experiences with LSU fans. I have nothing bad to say about Alabama fans, and they had cool accents. They were also impressed with the performance of the Notre Dame band (more on that later).
As for the game, I hoped I would be crying tears of joy at the end (I absolutely would have cried). I didn't cry tears of sadness (though I might have if we had lost a competitive game). The closest I came to crying was when Kapron Lewis-Moore got hurt and had to be helped off the field. I knew he was done. It was his last game. It was clear that he wasn't going to win it, but I hated to see one of our captains have his college career end with an injury like that. And he would have had a shot in the NFL, but I don't know about that anymore. I'm sure he'll do just fine for himself even if he doesn't get a chance to continue playing football, but it was really sad.
If we had won, not only would it have been my best moment as a sports fan, it would have been the best moment of my life (if you think I'm exaggerating, you obviously don't know me well enough). But the loss didn't come close to being the worst loss of my life (that was Game 7 in 2010 for the Celtics against the Lakers). It wasn't even the worst Notre Dame loss I had ever experienced. Last year, we lost five games. Every Notre Dame loss makes me sad, but four of those losses made me angry also (Stanford was the exception). This loss just made me sad. Alabama was better, they played a really good game, and we played a really bad game. I'd rather be just sad than sad and angry. I got to a point where I just wanted the game to be over. There was no way I was leaving before the game ended, but I wanted it to end. The best part of the game was the band. I texted Dennis (a former band member, who was in Miami, but not at the game) at halftime and told him that we were dominating the battle of the bands. The band played the Back to the Future theme and made a Delorean. Then they played God Bless America and made the shape of the USA.
As bad as we were, we could have been even worse. LSU never crossed the 50 in the championship game against Alabama last year. I was happy that Theo Riddick scored a touchdown. I went from wanting him to play less to him being my favorite offensive player. He'll be missed.
It was a terrible game, but it was a great year. I got to see them play in Ireland. I got to see them beat Michigan. I wasn't there for the Stanford game, but that was awesome. We beat Oklahoma on the road when nobody gave us a chance. November 17 was a magical day that combined a great senior day with losses by Kansas State and Oregon to get us to number 1 for the first time since 1993 (although if one of those teams had won that day, maybe we would have beaten them in the National Championship Game instead of losing to Alabama). On November 24, we won our first game as the number 1 ranked team since 1990 and beat our biggest rival to make it to the National Championship Game. Manti Te'o made a great run for the Heisman. The last game was a nightmare, but that doesn't change the fact that the regular season was a wonderful dream and I will always be thankful for that. Thank you Brian Kelly, Manti Te'o, Louis Nix, Stephon Tuitt, Kapron Lewis-Moore, Zack Martin, Everrett Golson, Theo Riddick, Tyler Eiffert, Bob Diaco, Chuck Martin, and everybody else for everything this season.
We had said before the game that we'd go out after win or lose. The game was so bad that I had no interest in going out. Kyle, Lauren, and I went straight back to the apartment. Kyle and I stayed up talking about the game for a while. We had a six pack of Harp in the fridge and I drank four of those in an attempt to drink away my sorrows. Kyle went to sleep and I stayed up drinking and reading stuff and watching the post-game press conference with Brian Kelly, Manti Te'o, Everrett Golson, Tyler Eifert, and Zeke Motta. I got mad when I saw the AP poll had us fourth. We earned a spot as one of the top 2 teams with our regular season performance. If Oregon was so good, they would have been the team playing us, but they blew that opportunity against Stanford. They won the bronze medal game and they should have been 3. Ohio State would have been destroyed by Alabama also and their cheating prevented them from having a shot at playing in the National Championship Game. We were being punished for having been good enough to play Alabama (just like Georgia was, they belonged in a BCS game over Florida, but because they beat Florida, they had to play Alabama in the SEC Championship Game). Oregon also only won 11 games against FBS teams. Alabama, Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Stanford were the only schools with 12 wins against FBS teams. I finally decided it was time to go to sleep around 3:30 and my last thought was that I had to be up for work in 26 hours. I was not happy about that.
I have one other note from the game. On the left side of the jumbotron, they were scrolling through officials at both universities. For us, they listed Brian Kelly first, then Father Jenkins, then Jack Swarbrick, and then some other people. For Alabama, it was Saban first and then the president, athletic director, and some other people. It should have gone president, athletic director, and then football coach. Didn't we learn from Penn State that the football coach should not be the most powerful person at a university? I realize that Kelly and Saban are the most important people at their universities, but the presidents and athletic directors need need to have more power.
Notre Dame just wasn't good enough this year, but if Kelly stays, I believe we will be back. It's not as easy to win at Notre Dame as it is at a school that doesn't care about academics for their athletes (like Oklahoma with their shameful 47% graduation rate for football players). I never want us to sacrifice our academic standards. I am very proud that we are number 1 in student athlete graduation rate. I would rather that we not be a championship contender than take a win at all costs approach like they do at so many big football schools. But Brian Kelly has shown that we can be a championship contender and have high academic standards. So I never want to hear that we can't win with our standards. We just haven't had the right coach since Lou Holtz. Now we have that coach so I hope he stays, but I don't know what's going on right now.
So that was my trip to Miami. As terrible as the game was, I didn't regret going and spending all the money I spent for one second. It was great seeing Jon, Kyle, Wilhelm, and Dennis. I hadn't seen all those guys in the same day since 2006. Hopefully we'll get another chance to see Notre Dame play for a National Championship. If we do, I'll definitely try to go again.
My trip home wasn't fun. My flight was delayed and even though I was first on standby for the flight before, I didn't get on that flight (the Jerry Seinfeld bit about flying standby came to mind). I ended up getting home at about 12:20 on what was then January 9. I really didn't want to go to work when I woke up at 6:30. But my kids were pretty good. They know I dress by mood. I said before the game I would wear one of my Notre Dame ties no matter what happened. I wore a black shirt with a black tie with the Notre Dame leprechaun logo on it. One girl gave me a Notre Dame umbrella for my birthday and also brought in cookies that we shaped like a shamrock with blue frosting and a gold ND logo on them. They were pretty awesome, but it was still a pretty sad birthday. Hopefully next year will be better.
There was one other good thing about my birthday. Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, and all those other scumbags that made a mockery of the great game of baseball didn't get close to getting into the Hall of Fame. Jack Morris absolutely belongs in the Hall of Fame. Burt Blyleven is in the Hall of Fame, but he never had a five-year run like Morris had from 1983-1987. Morris, John Smoltz, and Curt Schilling are probably the three best big game pitchers of my lifetime. Schilling belongs in the Hall of Fame too, but he did pretend that baseball didn't have a steroid problem when he testified in Congress in 2005, so I feel less sorry for him.
So now I'll enjoy the rest of the NFL playoffs and start focusing on basketball. I'll be at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday for Notre Dame-St. John's. Soon enough it will be time to start planning some baseball trips again. And that will get me to Notre Dame's opener against Temple on August 31.
Go Irish!
Let's start with January 9, 2005. It was my 21st birthday and it was the day I moved into St. Ed's after transferring to Notre Dame. The first person I met there was my roommate and fellow transfer, Kyle. We were both a little unsure of what we were getting into when we saw our room in St. Ed's. I was even more unsure when I came back to the dorm that night after a night of drinking and met another one of our roommates, Dan, and had one of the most bizarre conversations I've ever had with anybody in my entire life. (By the way, Dan would later be kicked out of the dorm for sneaking six kegs in and by the next year, he thought my name was Pat.) As it would turn out, transferring to Notre Dame was the best decision I've ever made in my life and that was the day it became a reality.
January 7, 2007 was the day I officially graduated from Notre Dame (although by then I had been done with college for almost a month). Graduating from Notre Dame is my proudest accomplishment. (I'm not sure what would be second on the list of accomplishments that I'm most proud of, but it might involve ping pong balls, my friend Vinny, and a long winning streak) I had always gotten by in school without doing a ton of work, but I put in a really solid effort in college. I think I found the right balance between doing well and having fun.
January 7, 2013 could have been the best day of my entire life, but it wasn't, and that's why I couldn't be too excited about this birthday.
I was in Miami in April. Not once did the thought occur to me that I might be back in January to watch Notre Dame play for the National Championship. It was also crappy weather in April. This time it was beautiful. My question: Why aren't the Dolphins awesome? What NFL free agent wouldn't want to go there? We stayed at an apartment in Miami Beach. It was Kyle, his wife Lauren, Jon, and me. I never expected to like South Beach so much, but it was awesome. The water was the bluest that I've ever seen. We went out Sunday night and we met up with Wilhelm. I hadn't seen him since I stayed with him for the Navy game in 2007 (probably the lowest point for Notre Dame football during my lifetime). Before the game on Monday, we had lunch with Dennis and his girlfriend Courtney. We had a meal at a bar/restaurant called Finnegan's Way. I thought that was a good spot, but the fact that they were out of Guinness was a bad omen. Kyle, Lauren, Jon, and I all wore Hawaiian leis in honor of Manti Te'o. We took a bus to the game. It took a really long time, but we got there around 5:40 and met up with Wilhelm and his family. The atmosphere outside the stadium was amazing. It was quite a party. I only drank one Sam Adams because I wanted to be able to remember the game. I was hoping to be drinking plenty of celebratory beers after the game.
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| Me and Kyle on South Beach |
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| Dennis, Jon, Kyle, and me at Finnegan's Way for our pregame meal. |
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| Wilhelm, Jon, Kyle, and me outside Sun Life Stadium before the game. |
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| My view of the field, just before kickoff |
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| The band in the shape of the United States. I really should have taken a picture when they made the Delorean, but I was too upset. |
It was a terrible game, but it was a great year. I got to see them play in Ireland. I got to see them beat Michigan. I wasn't there for the Stanford game, but that was awesome. We beat Oklahoma on the road when nobody gave us a chance. November 17 was a magical day that combined a great senior day with losses by Kansas State and Oregon to get us to number 1 for the first time since 1993 (although if one of those teams had won that day, maybe we would have beaten them in the National Championship Game instead of losing to Alabama). On November 24, we won our first game as the number 1 ranked team since 1990 and beat our biggest rival to make it to the National Championship Game. Manti Te'o made a great run for the Heisman. The last game was a nightmare, but that doesn't change the fact that the regular season was a wonderful dream and I will always be thankful for that. Thank you Brian Kelly, Manti Te'o, Louis Nix, Stephon Tuitt, Kapron Lewis-Moore, Zack Martin, Everrett Golson, Theo Riddick, Tyler Eiffert, Bob Diaco, Chuck Martin, and everybody else for everything this season.
We had said before the game that we'd go out after win or lose. The game was so bad that I had no interest in going out. Kyle, Lauren, and I went straight back to the apartment. Kyle and I stayed up talking about the game for a while. We had a six pack of Harp in the fridge and I drank four of those in an attempt to drink away my sorrows. Kyle went to sleep and I stayed up drinking and reading stuff and watching the post-game press conference with Brian Kelly, Manti Te'o, Everrett Golson, Tyler Eifert, and Zeke Motta. I got mad when I saw the AP poll had us fourth. We earned a spot as one of the top 2 teams with our regular season performance. If Oregon was so good, they would have been the team playing us, but they blew that opportunity against Stanford. They won the bronze medal game and they should have been 3. Ohio State would have been destroyed by Alabama also and their cheating prevented them from having a shot at playing in the National Championship Game. We were being punished for having been good enough to play Alabama (just like Georgia was, they belonged in a BCS game over Florida, but because they beat Florida, they had to play Alabama in the SEC Championship Game). Oregon also only won 11 games against FBS teams. Alabama, Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Stanford were the only schools with 12 wins against FBS teams. I finally decided it was time to go to sleep around 3:30 and my last thought was that I had to be up for work in 26 hours. I was not happy about that.
I have one other note from the game. On the left side of the jumbotron, they were scrolling through officials at both universities. For us, they listed Brian Kelly first, then Father Jenkins, then Jack Swarbrick, and then some other people. For Alabama, it was Saban first and then the president, athletic director, and some other people. It should have gone president, athletic director, and then football coach. Didn't we learn from Penn State that the football coach should not be the most powerful person at a university? I realize that Kelly and Saban are the most important people at their universities, but the presidents and athletic directors need need to have more power.
Notre Dame just wasn't good enough this year, but if Kelly stays, I believe we will be back. It's not as easy to win at Notre Dame as it is at a school that doesn't care about academics for their athletes (like Oklahoma with their shameful 47% graduation rate for football players). I never want us to sacrifice our academic standards. I am very proud that we are number 1 in student athlete graduation rate. I would rather that we not be a championship contender than take a win at all costs approach like they do at so many big football schools. But Brian Kelly has shown that we can be a championship contender and have high academic standards. So I never want to hear that we can't win with our standards. We just haven't had the right coach since Lou Holtz. Now we have that coach so I hope he stays, but I don't know what's going on right now.
So that was my trip to Miami. As terrible as the game was, I didn't regret going and spending all the money I spent for one second. It was great seeing Jon, Kyle, Wilhelm, and Dennis. I hadn't seen all those guys in the same day since 2006. Hopefully we'll get another chance to see Notre Dame play for a National Championship. If we do, I'll definitely try to go again.
My trip home wasn't fun. My flight was delayed and even though I was first on standby for the flight before, I didn't get on that flight (the Jerry Seinfeld bit about flying standby came to mind). I ended up getting home at about 12:20 on what was then January 9. I really didn't want to go to work when I woke up at 6:30. But my kids were pretty good. They know I dress by mood. I said before the game I would wear one of my Notre Dame ties no matter what happened. I wore a black shirt with a black tie with the Notre Dame leprechaun logo on it. One girl gave me a Notre Dame umbrella for my birthday and also brought in cookies that we shaped like a shamrock with blue frosting and a gold ND logo on them. They were pretty awesome, but it was still a pretty sad birthday. Hopefully next year will be better.
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| These would have been even more awesome if they were National Championship cookies. |
So now I'll enjoy the rest of the NFL playoffs and start focusing on basketball. I'll be at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday for Notre Dame-St. John's. Soon enough it will be time to start planning some baseball trips again. And that will get me to Notre Dame's opener against Temple on August 31.
Go Irish!
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