Go Irish

A Thriller in South Bend

About the only upside to this whole being on disability/terminal illness thing is you get to say "screw it" and start doing a s many of the things you always wanted to do in life as you can. One thing I always wanted to see was a Notre Dame football game. My friend Bruce gave me a birthday gift of two tickets and his chauffeur services for the weekend, and so my older son Joe and I went to the game.

Once my new oncology found out I was going he invited us to his tailgate (He went to N.D. as an undergrad and is a season ticketholder). I mentioned that if he had an extra ticket, we could use one. Lo and behold, the good doctor called Friday night with an extra ticket for Bruce. Joe went swimming at the hotel while I watched.

On Saturday, we went to campus early and all bundled up for what we expected to be a cold and rainy day Joe had on his N.D. jersey. The campus is beautiful. We saw the "Touchdown Jesus" on the library and Joe got his picture taken in front of it. We then we to the Eck Center hoping to get a campus tour, but they don't give them on football weekends despite what the website says. Joe wanted (and we purchased) a book from some old (Class of '44) N.D. alum who was hawking his book inside the center. He autographed the book for Joe , and then we went next door to the bookstore. It was an absolute zoo, but Joe found an instant camera and a "fan pack" (pennant, bumper sticker, and pin) for himself, and rather selflessly picked out a very cool green #83 jersey for his little brother. (More on that later.) We did get Joe a stocking cap for the game, too.

Coming out of the bookstore, we ran into the cheerleaders and the N.D. Leprechaun. Joe got his picture taken with the latter. On our way to the doctor's tailgate spot, the pep band and the Irish Guard came by. We got closeups of both. At the tailgate, we were introduced to the doctor's family members, other friends, and his fiancee's family. They were all very nice people and the two of the doctor's future brothers in law took Joe to meet the team coming out of Mass. Joe got to high five Brady Quinn (the QB) which had to be quite a thrill for him. At the tailgate, I took a shot of Crown Royal, from my Grandfather O'Brien's flask and said a silent prayer for him in the direction of Touchdown Jesus which was visible from our tailgating spot. Grandpa O'Brien, prior to his death in 2004, had advised Joe to go to college at N.D. After awhile, nature called so to speak. The doctor advised us to go to the second floor of the Joyce Center, where there were absolutely no lines. No lines for the bathroom on a football Saturday??!! Now that's a doctor who can inspire confidence in his abilities! :-)

We then went to the game where a lackluster N.D. team who could not run the ball (35 carries, 41 yards) got the ball back on their own 20 yard line with 1:02 to play and zero timeouts, trailing 17-13. The people behind us (who had been bitching about head Coach Charlie Weis the whole game), left after the Irish turned the ball over on downs with 2:25 left to play. I joked to the person next to me that "they must be (Los Angeles) Dodger fans, too." After two complete passes to the UCLA 45 yard line, Quinn hit #83 Jeff Samardzija (pronounced "sa-mar-ja") who broke off his route and ran a 15 yard flag inside, broke two tackles, and stumbled on his way to the end zone. He scored with 27 seconds to play. Final score: Notre Dame 20, UCLA 17. So Joe was omniscient enough to get his brother the star player's jersey in the very cool green color.

All in all, a great weekend.