Death by Irish

For the third week in a row, the Fightin' Irish have done their best to give me a freakin' heart attack. Let's have one without quite so much excitement, guys, how about it?

It was a cool and gloomy day, so we decided not to tailgate. Some people go all out and have tents and generators and heaters...we just do lawn chairs, so it wouldn't have been much fun sitting outside for a couple of hours before the game. We left here around 2:00, had no problems getting to the Stadium, got parked, and headed to the Stadium. Since it was supposed to be kind of chilly, I layered, and I really didn't get chilled at all. My LL Bean river driver shirt (two layers, cotton on the inside, wool on the outside), my Jeff Samardzija jersey, my barn coat with quilted lining, and my blue and gold striped scarf. I was ready, baby! Just my hands and nose got a little bit cold, but it really wasn't bad. We did get rained on, though, for most of the second half. We took a couple of ponchos with us, and they protected us from the worst of it. (Ironic note: we got these ponchos one year when we were at DisneyWorld, so they had Mickey Mouse on them. We had them stored in the garage, and a real mouse chewed a hole through the chest and back of the one Ken put on. Dirty rat.)

It stopped raining towards the end of the second half, which was good...because it wasn't the end of the game! AGH! Washington kicked a field goal to send it into overtime! Nooooo! Irish get the ball first, bada bing, bada boom, touchdown! Now it's up to the defense (which, quite frankly, left something to be desired during regulation, except for three awesome goal line stands). They hold through three downs, and Washington has enough time to try for a touchdown on their last down. (A field goal does them no good at that point, remember.) The quarterback drops back, throws to the end zone, a guy has it within his grasp at the one yard line, on the verge of scoring...WHAM! Two Notre Dame defenders hit him from either side and POP! he coughs the ball up. No catch, game over, Irish win 37-30! The crowd goes wild! High fives with each other and the guys in front of us. YAY!

Man, it really was one of the most exciting games I've seen in a while, so I'm glad we were able to be there for it. Who cares about a little rain?

We were sitting by the Washington section, and they were pretty cool. There was one guy who I at first thought was being kind of a jerk by saying stuff to the Notre Dame fan next to him...but turns out they were together! (Married, I think.) He actually ended up being a nice guy, just a very enthusiastic fan, and Ken went up to him after the game and shook his hand, and said, "Good game." The guy grinned and said, "Hey, it's better than last year!" (I don't remember the score, but we blew 'em out.) We aren’t ND alum, but always try to be good ambassadors of the city and of the school, and be respectful of the other team and their fans. Most feedback we hear from other teams is that it’s a great experience to come to South Bend and they’re treated very well. I’m sure there are always exceptions, but for the most part, I think people stay respectful and decent. That’s the way it should be.

The half-time show was pretty fun this time, too. One of the songs they did was "Walk Like An Egyptian," and at one point, the band set down their instruments and did just that. It was really cute. Oh, and there was some little kid behind us who, late in the fourth quarter, started yelling, “Let’s go defense!” even when Notre Dame had the ball. Haha! I told Ken, “I think someone had a little too much game day candy!” Man, that kid was hyper. I think it made his day, though, when the Irish scored a touchdown to reach 30 points, and his family lifted him over their heads (the touchdown pushup) 30 times and we all cheered for him. I’m grinning…that was really cool, and it’s fun to see kids enjoy the games so much!

A fun game and great day spent with my hubby and cheering for the Irish! My voice is about shot, so I'd better shut up now! [grin] Visit Ken's blog for his take on it and a couple of pictures. I'm looking forward to watching the highlights on our local news tonight. There's nothing like being there in the Stadium, but you can definitely see the plays better at home. Yay Irish!