Every year on Christmas Eve,
millions of Children around the world lay down in bed with visions of new toys
dancing in their head. These kids lay
down that night thinking about their Nintendo Wii, or their Big, Big, Loader,
their Legos or their Hannah Montana Best of Both Worlds two doll set. These kids cannot sleep lying in the beds
thinking about the day that is to come. Can
you blame them?
I was the same way last
night. After a great gChat conversation
with my closest friend that wasn’t going to be at the game, I laid in bed
thinking of my friends that were tailgating at that very moment. I thought about Hogan and his 1000 beers. .
.I thought of Spicy leading the charge for dunk-a-roos, I thought of my parents
and Mike who were somewhere along the Indiana Toll Road at this point, I
thought of Sharky and Brad, and Carl and Dip, and everybody else. There was no way I was falling asleep.
But, like those children on
Christmas, I did eventually fall asleep.
This is the story of what happened next.
2:56 AM-Here Come the Irish starts playing on my iHome in the family room a
mere minute after my alarm clock went off.
I couldn’t have planned things more perfectly. I open my eyes, shoot out of bed, and pull on
my Christmas PJ Pants that Stonewall gave me, my Kyle Rudolph Jersey, and my
GBN Swimming and Diving Cap. I probably
look like the most ridiculous person in Yanji right now, but it is game day.
3:00 – The Rudy Theme comes on, and I get more excited as I write the intro to
this game diary above.
3:06 –Thunderstruck is playing as my 43 minute pre-game pump up mix
starts to pick up.
3:07-yea Texas
3:10-Gavin wakes up, “dude, I
think that is too loud” Just then, the mix goes into Barney Stinson pump-up
mode: SHOT THROUTH THE HEART AND YOU’RE TOO LATE. . .
3:12-Got a pseudo-text e-mail
from Dad, “Good morning, Weather is good in South Bend. Hope all is well”
3:13: Gonna Fly Now, time for the 3:13 Shotgun. I go into my room to my keys and realize that
the music probably is too loud, oh well.
Which of the eight keys I have from different doors at school should I
use to shotgun
3:15: “Bob, we share a wall with
these people, we have to turn it down” Gavin goes and turns down the volume,
but it doesn’t matter because Last of the
Mohicans just came on.
3:16: A promo for the ND-USC
game comes on. Shouldn’t NBC have a
pregame show instead of silly skateboarding, or whatever this is?
3:18: You can do ANYTHING to
this song. You can drink to it, you can
type to it, you can pray to it, you can run for office to it. Thanks Dip.
3:20: Apparently Chris Cole won
the event AND he leads the points standings.
He is interviewed by some hot sideline reporter (at least she looks that
way on my small netbook. Let’s get this
going on Gavin’s larger computer).
3:21: ND Cadence plays on the iHome, it isn’t loud enough.
3:22: GO IRISH GO!!!
3:23: The Blood of Cu Chulainn, and the skateboarding is STILL on, a
pseudo-text e-mail from Sharky says, “Just got into the Stadium, I’m excited
and nervous” LET’s DO THIS!!!
3:27: After several distractions,
we do the shotgun just as I Gotta Feeling
is starting to amp up. Gavin mutes the
skateboarding and raises the volume back above the previous level. THREE, TWO ONE, GO IRISH
3:30: The Game coverage starts. Let’s see if they can give us a good intro
like ND-FSU 1993.
3:31: The JustinTV feed tweaks
out, and we start scrambling. What does
the special camera on NBC look like?
3:32: We think we find it, but
it turns out to be ESPN. I’m sure we’ll
find it, because Don’t Stop Believing
just came on.
3:36: The supplemental feed is
interesting, but we’re now paying to get a better feed as the Fight Song comes
on the iHome to end my pre-USC mix. It’s
time for kickoff.
3:43: What is a David Ruffer?
3:43: Doesn’t matter, LET’s
GO!!!!!
3:44: Pass Interference? These are Pac-10 Refs?? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
3:45: Gavin, “That would be
sweet to be Kyle McCarthy.”—Me, “Why?”—Gavin, “To make every tackle on the
Notre Dame Defense.”
3:49: Good defensive stand,
Gavin asks if I am going to type like this throughout the game. I don’t know.
I’ve never done this before. I
put the SMC glass in the freezer so that it is frosted
3:50: Here comes the
Offense. Pat Haden, “He [Clausen] has
really done well at the end of the game.”
That’s just about the understatement of the century.
3:54 (10:56 game time): Well, if
we are going to punt, let’s at least prevent the return like that.
3:58 (9:30ish): Long completion
by Barkley, WTF? That tight end is huge,
but we can’t let them do this kind of thing.
3:59 (9:26): SC is driving down
the field. This is not good.
4:00 AM: touchdown SC. Haden: “That was too easy.” Yes it was, Pat,
yes it was.
4:03: The Bears are on Sunday
Night Football? I am totally watching
that at school on Monday.
4:04 (8:42): Irish ball. Let’s go Clausen, we need something here.
4:07 (6:37): Clausen sacked
after two throw aways. That was not the
series that we needed. This is looking
more like 06-08 than it is like 2005
4:11: They go over Pete
Carroll’s quarterbacks, Palmer, Leinart, Booty, Sanchez, yuk.
4:12: Te’o with a tackle near
the sideline, tell me that’s not a late hit out of bounds.
4:16 (3:43): The Irish have the
ball again. We really seem to be setting
up the run during this series, which should be great moving forward as Aldridge
carries for another first down.
4:19 (1:20): I guess we’re going
for the Field Goal.
It’s a FAKE!!!!!!!!
4:20 (1:15): Irish at the
Goalline. HUGHES TOUCHDOWN!!!!!!!
4:22: After review, the ruling
stands. I didn’t think it was a
touchdown, but I’ll take it. Tie Game. That stat on the TV (er, computer) says it
was the first touchdown against USC in nine quarters. Does that mean that we have scored a TD since
Brady Quinn?
4:24 (1:00): They fumble the
reverse on the Kickoff return and almost make me go crazy, but they recover.
4:26: The first quarter comes to
a close with a 7-7 tie. I think we had a
good first quarter, and I’ll always take a tie game against SC. Now we get the local ads, coming to us this
week from . . .TAMPA! Personal injury
attorneys, here we come.
4:32 (13:50): Wow, that Bradford
guy just stomped straight forward over our defense. Again, the Trojans are in the red zone, and
things are not looking good.
4:34 (12:54): THIS IS
HUGE!! Pete Carroll calls the time out,
Tenuta and Brown better have these guys ready coming out of the commercial for
a Bud Light Foozie?
4:36: Monopoly is back at
McDonald’s!!!! Why do we not have a McDonald’s here? I heard that if Yanji get’s 10,000 more
people, we get a McDonalds, so let’s increase baby production up here so that I
can play some Monopoly.
4:37: Barkley overthrows the
receiver; SC get’s a field goal. That’s
what we need now it is time for an AskJeeves commercial that looks like a
really bad Old Navy commercial.
4:40: Saw VI!?!?!?!? It’s coming
full circle? Does that means this is the
final Saw movie? I highly doubt that.
4:41: Jimmy is only 3/8 for 20
yards. Hammond says that the Irish
‘trickery’ has got is this far, and that is not going to do it. Clausen is sacked. We’re not going to win this game relying on
trick plays and the wildcat offense. We
need Clausen to perform, we need our running backs to perform, we NEED out
defense to perform.
4:46 (11:52): Clausen misses his
man on 3rd and 12, and it’s time to punt the ball.
4:48: They are reviewing the
punt, how awesome would it be if they overturned this?
4:49: But they don’t. First down SC
4:51: Matt Barkley went to South
Africa over break. You have got to be
kidding me. NBC shows pictures of him
with an African boy. Who does this guy
think he is, a Notre Dame Student? Tim
Tebow? I’m starting to hate Matt
Barkley.
4:55 (8:22): FUMBLE!!
FUMBLE!! I do a stupid looking dance
like Marshall does when he is happy in How
I Met Your Mother.
4:57: It looks like they are
going to overturn this; I think he was probably down. Stranger things have happened, and these are
Big East Refs doing the replay.
4:59: The ruling on the field is
overturned. It was the right call, let’s
stop them here/
5:00 (7:24): After a couple
runs, SC is kicking its second Field Goal of the game, and it’s good. 13-7 SC.
This is really starting to look like a much closer game than the past
couple years, but I don’t think close will be good enough (although it will
continue the Friday Night Lights-like
trend of close finishes).
5:03: USC airs its
commercial. They say that their students
end up going anywhere in the world, but I haven’t met any yet, so anywhere in
the world must not mean here.
5:05 (6:21): Alright, Duval,
pushing his way into the first down for a great play. I’d love to see a LOT more of him in this
game. He’s only had 8 catches this
YEAR?? He needs to step up his game if
we are going to win.
5:06 (5:21): A Golden Tate play interrupts
sideline reporter Alex Flannigan saying something, but I wasn’t really
listening to her.
5:10 (3:03): After a couple poor
plays, we punt the ball.
5:14 (1:45): Fumble? Fumble??
Are we getting the ball?? As we
jumped up from our couch I noticed our beers shake a little bit on our coffee
table. This being the same coffee table
that both our laptops were also on, I was suddenly more worried about the computer
situation then the game situation.
Intentional grounding was called, I guess it isn’t our ball.
5:17 (0:44): Jesus Christ, that
was a long punt. 59 yards? I guess we
probably won’t have a chance to score here.
5:18: I’m pretty sure Pat Haden
just described Notre Dame Stadium as the Sistine Chapel of College of college
football. Nice metaphor Haden. Now Flannigan is pounding Weis with questions
about why being down six is a good thing, and Weis wants nothing of it. Apparently we can see the bands playing on
NBC.com. Let’s check it out.
5:20: Oh yea, and it is time to
make breakfast. It’s not Kegs and Eggs,
but BingChuan and eggs.
5:21: The SC band is playing Don’t Stop Believing? Really, do they understand what they are
doing?
5:22: The SC band just started Living on a Prayer. They really don’t get it do they. It wouldn’t shock me if they start playing the
Notre Dame Victory March or the Theme
from Rudy next.
5:30: Emmm. Scrambled Eggs. For those of you that have been asking what
I’m eating in China, it’s pretty much the same thing.
5:31: Brady Quinn is done with
the Browns? Has he played more than two
games? Brady gave me some good moments
in 2005-2006 and I’d love to see him do well in the NFL, and it seemed like he
should be able to do it with the Browns.
Regardless of what happens to Quinn, I think Mangini sucks. On a different note, Peter King is picking the
bears to win on Sunday; good think I’ll be able to watch that game.
5:36: Offensive statistics do
not look good after the end of the first half.
Now it’s time for a commercial for . . . Bengal bouts!!
5:39: WHAT WOULD YOU FIGHT
FOR? Great commercials by Notre Dame
this year, maybe I like them more because I’m in China, but we’ve really
outdone ourselves with these commercials.
5:41: Haden: “Charlie Weis is
one play away from taking the lead, so he is right about the rushing
game.” Huh?
5:42 (13:20): Allen, Allen,
Duval. . . two first downs. This is
starting to look like a drive.
5:45 (11:33): Catch by the
‘dependable Robby Paris’. I’m so glad
that he became dependable at some point.
5:49 (10:27): After the Armando
Rush, not a good spot, 4th and 1 . . . Aldridge didn’t get it. Turnover on downs.
5:50: WAIT, they’re measuring it
. . . it looks close . . . it will be short.
Let’s go defense.
5:59: After a USC first down,
and a short injury break (that included a preview for a silly little film called
Alien Abduction that makes me happy
Yanji doesn’t have a movie theater) a nice SACK by the Irish.
6:00: sc touchdown, f***
6:01: 13 point deficit, we
really need to score on this drive
6:04 (7:21): For the second time
in a row, Tate and Allen are back on the kick.
We’re really putting everything we have into this game. Weis knows what is at stake, let’s see if
Clausen can do something.
6:05 (7:08): Sack, and an
UNSPORTSMANLIKE PENALTY. First
down? Should I be happy about this?
6:07: Not much happening, only a
Clausen run, Parris catch and fumble with a Tate recover. You know just some standard boring Notre Dame
football.
6:08 (5:18): Clausen goes deep,
TATE TOUCHDOWN, damnit it, they’re reviewing it
6:10: TOUCHDOWN!!! Show me a defensive stop.
6:13: Te’o with a tackle. Every time something good (or bad, or
anything) happens I tug the cords on my GBN Swimming and Diving Cap even
further, and sometimes around my neck. Hopefully I won’t choke myself.
6:15: We almost sack Barkley,
but then he gets a huge pass, and a stop near the five. Shit, we need another big stop.
6:17: touchdown, sc. They review it, but there’s not much of a
question. 27-14, at least it’s not ugly,
but this isn’t looking good. Our offense
again needs another score to keep the pace, and our defense NEEDS to make some
stops because we can’t be down more than 14 or the game is over.
6:20 (2:30): Now that we need a
score, Clausen gets sacked.
6:21 (1:43): Pass Interference, Is
this the only way for us to move the chains?
6:23 (1:16): Tate reception, but
now it’s 3rd and long. We REALLY NEED SOMETHING
6:24: yuk
6:25: USC has the ball, a long
reception to Damian Williams. This guy
has just been killing us all day.
Fleming is down, but with the 3rd quarter almost over, does
anything really matter? We’re gonna need
another furious Clausen comeback and some more defensive stands. I imagine the ND Nation guys are already
livid with this game.
6:27 (0:00): Anthony McCoy. I thought we had a good tight end, but it
turns out we don’t. McCoy is the real
deal and we have nothing that can match him.
6:29: It is the beginning of the fourth
quarter. In the stadium right about now
people are doing that godforsaken Weis cheer with their hands forming Ws and
the 1812 Overture conclusion being played by the band. I probably wouldn’t be doing it if I was
there. While this game isn’t a blowout,
it really doesn’t look close and it is about to be blown wide open.
6:33 (13:33): sc touchdown, Joe
McNight runs it in to make the score 34-14.
This sucks, with the 20 point lead we won’t just need Clausen heroics
but some defensive heroics as well. I
just don’t see it happening. People are
probably already calling for Weis to be fired.
This is not a good situation.
6:37 (13:14): Clausen underneath
to Allen for a long game, plus a late hit makes it even longer. Come on guys, let’s get down the field. Wake up the echoes. . .
6:38: Robby Parris has pink hair
extensions for Breast Cancer Awareness month, and wore a pink blazer today that
he bought at Salvation Army. Who is this
guy, and when did he become such a dependable media darling?
6:41 (11:13): Clausen runs for
the TOUCHDOWN, personal foul on SC (assessed on the kickoff), is the TD the
beginning of the comeback? Is it too
little too late? DEFENSE NEEDS TO SHOW
UP NOW!!!!!
6:42: Oh, and the extra point is
blocked, or something. It doesn’t
matter, just SHOW ME DEFENSE!!!!! 34-20
6:44: [Notre Dame Commercial
time] Strengthening the weak in faraway
lands!!! I’m in China! WE ARE THE
FIGHTING IRISH!!
6:47 (10:29): We just can’t stop
them. USC is driving again; Ian Williams
is on the grass. We NEED a stop, and I
don’t think we’ll get it.
6:48: At one point yesterday I
was thinking about the game, and realized that I really didn’t know that much
about USC. I realized that maybe I had
blind faith in our chances, that I just assumed we would be able to win the
game because Clausen had the poise to win in the clutch for three games in a
row.
6:50: Tom Hammond notes the
gorgeous camera angle of the sun setting behind the stadium. I look out my window and see the sun rising
out to the east of our apartment. It
sounds obvious, but it’s comforting to know that we’re all looking at the same
sun. . .
And THE SAME INTERCEPTION!!!!!!!
6:52 (8:55): Irish in the red
zone, Clausen sacked. The defense came
up big, now it’s time for the offense.
6:54 (7:28): TOUCHDOWN
IRISH!!!!!!!! WE”RE BACK IN IT BABY!!!
6:55: 34-27. That Gary Gray interception could go down as
the play of the season if we can make another defensive stop here. There’s a lot of time left, and a lot of game
left to play, LET”S DO THIS!! [I’m
starting to think that I am overusing the all caps and exclamation points]
7:00: I see my friend Stonewall
appear on gChat and send him a message.
Apparently he just woke up. For
the record, he is in Eastern Time. I
have no further comment on that
7:02 (5:30): HUGE SACK!!! JOHN
RYAN
7:02 (5:10): 3rd and
10, my hands are shaking
7:03 (4:41): He’s out of bounds,
Golden Tate back for the Punt.
7:04: Another promo for Sunday
Night Football, “I’ve heard them say two young guns too many times.” –Gavin
talking about the way in which every promo describes Bears-Falcons as
Cutler-Ryan
7:05 (3:52): Clausen dives for
the first down. The line on the screen
says that Clausen has led 4 career 4th quarter comeback
victories. This is what we call CLAUSEN
TIME
7:07: THE DEPENDABLE ROBBY
PARRIS WITH ANOTHER CLUTCH CATCH
7:08: I am punching my legs at a
ridiculously high rate. I am feeling
this, this is OUR TIME!
7:10: First Down Irish, Golden
Tate with a great catch [I’m really restraining myself on the caps]
7:11 (0:54): We’re under a
minute left, this is the game, this is Weis’s career, this is Clausen’s Heisman
7:12 (0:47): 3rd and
10, two plays to get the ten yards.
7:12(0:42): 4th
down. Weis calls a timeout, no
commercial break, but this is it. This
is all it. Whatever happens on the next
play will be ingrained in the eyes of Irish Nation FOREVER!
7:14 (0:35): CATCH, PENALTY,
FIRST DOWN!! ROBBY PARRIS COULD BE THE HERO OF THE GAME!!
7:15: Oh my god, we’re near the
five.
7:15 (0:09): Nine seconds left,
ahhhhh??
7:17: Caught by Rudolph? Review?
Four seconds?? REVIEW THAT!!!
7:18 (0:04): No touchdown. This is it, one play left. One final play.
7:18 (0:00): The ball hit the ground.
7:19: Is there one second left??
Is there time left? Clausen and Barkley
have already shook hands, but now the Trojan players have been sent back to
their sideline. It is 2005 in
reverse. ONE FINAL PLAY!!
7:21: Timeout USC. Now, this is it. They thought it was over, we get one more
chance, one final chance at immortality.
One final shot at REDEMPTION!! Someday,
a current Notre Dame Freshmen will write a reflection of this like I did of
2005 last
week.
7:25: The game is over. That freshmen will write something similar to
what I wrote. He will write about the
chances. He will write about the moment
we thought the game was over. He will
write about the moment when the game was over and the USC team was rushing the
field. He will write about the time that
was put back on the clock, and how all of Irish Nation thought that it was our
time. He will write about how it wasn’t
our time, and how we still don’t know what to think.
7:27: Sideline reporter
interviews Weis as he walks out of the tunnel, and looks like a dead man
walking. He looks and sounds like a guy
who is about to be fired. Is he about to
be fired? Was this truly the end? They show the play, and it was all Duval who
fell down.
7:30: Boston College is next
week in another must-win game. It is
definitely a trap game, the students are on Fall Break, the team might not be
focused, and now we NEED TO WIN. I’m not
as upset as I am shocked. I think
everybody expected us to pull it out at the end. With one second left, we were all expecting
some more Purdue-like heroics. We’ve now
had five games in a row go down to the last minute of the game and it is taking
years off of all our lives. I don’t know
what to say. I don’t know what to
say. I don’t know what to say.
12:30: At the beginning of the
game I compared the feeling I had last night to the feeling of a little boy on
Christmas Eve; I couldn’t sleep because I was so excited with
anticipation. In the end, the game was
like the Christmases that so many little children have each year. I remember circling so many things in the
Toys R Us Thanksgiving catalog that I couldn’t possibly get all of them as
gifts. There is always a gift that
little kids want but don’t get, and losing this game is like that gift.
I don’t know if our team is past
moral victories at this point, but I think the moral victory is the closest
thing to not getting that one Christmas gift.
We might be pleased with how our team played, and we might even get a
little national respect because of it, but we didn’t get the ONE THING we all
wanted so much. It’s like Christmas for
that little boy. He might have gotten a
lot of gifts, and been really happy when he thinks about it overall, but at the
end of the day he didn’t get the one thing he wanted.
When we get older, however,
Christmas is no longer about the gifts.
It is about coming together with friends and family (some you might not have
seen for a very long time) and celebrating just that, being together. Even though we lost, I’m certain that all my
friends and family who went out to the game think it was more than worth their
time and will do it again next year [at least I hope they do it again next year
. . . guys, we’re all going to a game together next year, right?].
So while we can all dwell on the
game and wonder about what might have been.
While we are pretending that we had higher expectations than 9-3 in
July; while we are wondering if Charlie Weis will ever lead us to the promised
land; while we are wondering if Clausen will go pro and this was our best
chance at SC; we can remember that the game is about more than the win, just
like Christmas is about more than the gifts.
I always hated that cheer in the
face of a loss, but over here in China it seems pretty comforting to know that
WE ARE ND
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