I'd be curious to know if there's been a statistically significant increase in the number of heart attacks in Michiana during this particular college football season. If so, it's certainly thanks to Notre Dame's insistence on bringing every single game this season (the only exception being the season opener against Nevada) down to the last few terribly dramatic minutes.
I have my fair-weather tendencies when it comes to football in general. Los Angeles has no team, so I'll follow the Chargers when they're doing well. I enjoy a good Super Bowl here and there, even if my fondness of the game is often exceeded by my fondness for the commercials (and from time to time, the half-time show). But I do like Notre Dame football and I do go to the home games. I've even been to an away game (ND@USC, 2006, we really just don't need to talk about the second half of that game, but it was a good overall experience). That being said, last season was a bit of a snoozer and a bit of a heartache (with the GRAND EXCEPTION of the Michigan game where all the forces of Mother Nature came together for a great game followed by some fantastic quad-sliding. On the subject, I would like to formally apologize to the staff of North Dining Hall for entering the dining hall soaking wet, I hope you understand).
But this season, oh man, this season you'd have to be crazy to even think of leaving a game early for a quick nap or to avoid the lines at candle light dinner. I'll admit I don't know everything about football, when I won Madden against my brother it was only because my play-calling was so creative and random that it was impossible to strategize against. However, at the same time I've never had any patience for the drunk girls who, even after three and half seasons of college football, still don't know the difference between a touchdown and a touchback. The point is, I know enough to follow the game. And these are games to follow.
So while we may not be back to the glory days, we're sure as heck doing a lot better than we were. At least this time around, the games are exciting, even if they are too close. And more than anything, we're winning this season!
Except that we didn't beat USC. We came close, but ultimately we lost. Campus was quiet, more depressed than I'd seen it in a while. We came so, so close. We were down to the very last second. I wish the final score could have reflected just how close we were, practically sitting on the goal line with one second on the clock, a second that we had to fight for. And in an instant it was all over, but we weren't the victors. There really isn't much else to say on the issue. I wanted to win. We all wanted to win. But we didn't. However, I'm not the only one who is still proud that the game was as close as it was. USC is a formidable opponent and even in defeat, we still took them down a peg.
Football is an odd sport if you think about it too hard, but it's interesting. I like college football because I actually know some of the guys on the field. We're not besties, but they're friends of friends, guys I go to class with, people I talk to and eat with and party with. It means something to cheer them on and support them, it's part of the community that's such a central part of the the identity of our school.
I'm waxing poetic a bit, and I don't really mean to, but I started this post because I didn't know how to deal with Saturday's loss, so I just put a few thoughts on the page to see where they would take me. I took a pretty sentimental turn in a post that was only meant to say, golly gee, it's been a wild ride this season, and oh boy, I've loved every minute of it. Football isn't the be all and end all for me, but it's a lot of fun, and I'm really glad I've gone to every home game. I've almost lost my voice several times, I've made some friends, and I've gotten sick from the wind and the rain, but there's something vaguely primal about creating in-group, out-group distinctions and using them as a reason to scream and jump around for a few hours. There's also something to be learned in dramatic structure, how the game itself tells a story. It's a story of war, it's a story of life, of wins and losses and good things like that. I'll stop myself before I get any farther into sentimental rambling. But this season has been a series of awesome stories, of victory snatched from the clutches of defeat and defeat where there was so much hope. A little part of me wants to go reread the Trojan War now, but I'll spare myself.
*the title of this post came from watching a Michigan game with some friends where it was decided that Jimmy Clausen probably keeps Keebler cookies in his fanny pack, if this isn't true, I don't want to know
