Hello all! I've been reading this forum for many years and I don't post much (in fact this might be my first), but I wanted to say thanks to those who do. Granted, sometimes some of the posts, and exchanges between some posters, can be goofy/petty/nonsensical, and occasionally down-right mean and insulting, but by and large, to me anyway, posters here always seem to provide good analysis and thought provoking questions. I'm a disabled senior who doesn't get out much now, so coming to this forum to read up on the latest about our Lady's University is a highlight of my day (of course at my age, going into a room and remembering why I'm there is a highlight too so I admit the bar isn't set too high). As far as going to games, I've only been to one at ND. Years ago our kids surprised my wife and I (for our 30th anniversary) with tickets to a game at ND. We knew something was up because because in the months before they had been asking us if we could ever go to a game - which one would it be. We knew that tickets to the big games were more expensive, and those games were sure to be stressful, so we chose the Duke game - 2016. Everyone figured that we would crush them, so it seemed like a great game to go to, where we wouldn't loose! We all know how that turned out, and it was not the kind of anniversary gift we wanted, but we were still overjoyed to be there! While in South Bend, I remember seeing a local newscast soon after the game where Brian Kelly said he was sticking with Brian VanGorder. The next day he fired him. I got the feeling there was no real plan for that season and the 4-8 record kind of verified that. I don't know too much about the nitty gritty details of coverages, and schemes, but I love to read posts from people here who do. I can only offer something my old high school coach would do which seemed to work: We had a coaching change and the new head Coach inherited a kid with a rocket arm, but who loved to throw interceptions. Not on purpose, but it always seemed like it. Anyway, the (new) coach went out and bought a bunch of the same color shirts as the jersey's of the team we were to play next. Light or dark, depending on if we were home or they were. Anyway, I don't know if that did the trick alone did it, or if was something else did, but the interception king suddenly stopped tossing it to the wrong team, hardly ever after that. He still over threw it sometimes, and our receivers sometimes couldn't hang on to the ball, but the number of interceptions nearly went to nil. So the next week, and every week after, the defense was practicing in shirts the same color as what our upcoming opponent would wear. This new coach of ours would also have anyone who fumbled carry a football from the end of the game (where they fumbled) until the next game. Everyone in our school instantly knew, if they saw you carrying a football, that you had fumbled. Today, they probably wouldn't let you do that, but believe me, it worked. It's not that your hands got any stronger but the embarrassment gave our backs a little more incentive to hold on to the ball! In any event, thanks for letting an old man read and learn from you folks, it's always been fun, or at least entertaining!
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Be less Groucho and more Harpo.
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I'm embarrassed for your entire bloodline right now.
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This man shops behind liquor stores, he's not using carriage returns.
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Unappealing, flat, and easy to pound.
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witness testimony".
Link or you're an idiot.
Slovak meltdown in 3 ..... 2 ....... 1 .................
Big V.
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Thanks Everyone! I've been married close to 40 years so as anyone who's been married a long time knows: thick skin is a requirement! As to the "Eyewitness testimony", I was referring to those who post some incredible or hard to believe nugget of info, and when pressed on where/how they heard or know that, they respond with something as credible as: "I heard it from my neighbor's daughter's boyfriend's plumber's uncle, who happened to see/hear/get an inner locution that such and suck is happening, or happened (Do You Remember: IT'S GRUDEN!). AS to paragraphs, I will try and be better about that in the future. On my opening post I had an quick thought to say thanks and that just morphed into a long diatribe for which I beg forgiveness (Hey, I'm old and don't even like computers, so the fact that I am using one like this is quite an improvement).
After posting this yesterday, I remembered that I did attend two other ND games, One game was at the coliseum in Los Angles. Holtz was the coach and ND won 10-6. It was a glorious feeling to walk amongst the to-jam fans while they suffered another loss to ND. Don't know who was running the sound system that day, but after the game they kept playing the ND fight song - over and over, even in the bathroom. On the walk to our car, we had to walk through a gauntlet of (really) pissed off condom fans and came upon an older ND fan (65 to 75), laid out on the ground, blood streaming from his nose and mouth, with his wife trying to comfort him and stem the bleeding. Next to him on the ground was the largest usc fan I've ever seen, on his stomach with his hands handcuffed behind his back, and a cop on a horse standing next to them. The wife was repeating that they hadn't done anything, nor said anything and didn't know the guy who hit her husband. It was just that the old man was in his ND jacket and was smiling and happy. That's all it took. I was wearing an ND jacket too that day, and if I had been to that spot a few minutes earlier, that could have been me. I promised my wife, that even for free tickets or a sideline pass, we would NEVER visit that cesspool again.
The only other ND game I attended was at the Rose bowl against UCLA. We were 0 and 5 so far that season and most of the UCLA fans would laugh at us when we walked by wearing our ND apparel, with many of them chanting "0 and 6, 0 and 6" in an apparent prediction of our record after the game. There are a few fond memories of that day including that we won, but the one that stands out the most to me was what happened near the end of the game. The Irish had the ball and something happened down at the other end of the field, which I could not see, so I had no idea what was going on. The players for both teams were up by the line of scrimmage but were just standing around. I guess it might have been a TV time-out. I don't know. But all of a sudden, the Rose bowl speakers started playing the last few moments of the usc VS stanford game and the place was quiet. From what I remembered, stanford was winning and usc was driving. A few moments later that game was over and usc had lost. Then the loudspeakers announced that usc had lost and the Rose Bowl erupted in cheers! I learned that day that UCLA fans detest usc almost as much as we hate and detest usc and michigan. I was at the game with my oldest daughter and son and there are some more great memories of that day, but that's for another time,
In any event, thanks you all for the warm welcome and GO IRISH! (P.S: I didn't uses capital letters for usc, standford or michigan on purpose)