It's really getting close now, isn't it?

In four days we'll know.  Until then, we're reduced to waiting and chuckling as the (allegedly) invincible SEC teams continue to look rather pedestrian against non-SEC competition.  When Oklahoma blows out Texas A&M tomorrow, assuming my projection is accurate, it will be high time for the gamblers of the world to revisit that point spread for Monday night.

The point spread is right where we like it though, to tell the truth.  The Notre Dame gang aren't really very good at handling success.  They tend to get high on the smell of their own farts and then, as sure as the sun rises in the east, lose a game that they should have won.  When the whole world disrespects them, on the other hand, they play as well as they can play.  Sometimes 'as well as they can play' simply isn't good enough, but we can live with that.  It's the unmotivated bullshit that we can't stand to see.  With those degenerates from Alabama favored by 10, there should be no lack of motivation for the players and coaches this time around.

Which brings us to the topic of motivating the fans.  That's sometimes a more tricky proposition.  A certain degree of cynicism has been woven into the fabric of Notre Dame football over the last twenty years.  Since the voters screwed the Irish out of their rightful national title following the 1993 season, there hasn't been a whole lot to cheer about.  Sure there have been good games and decent seasons.  But lots of teams play good games and have decent seasons every year.  The loyal sons of Notre Dame aren't going to be very inspired by that.  So, for the fans of the Irish, motivation is a little tougher to produce.

Quite a few of us who follow the Fighting Irish are, in a manner of speaking, Irish.  We're not Irish in the sense of having been born in Ireland.  By that measure we're purely American and damned proud of it.  Yet we have some weird fondness for the land that our grandparents left behind, many years before we were born.  As you're likely aware, I had the chance to visit Ireland for a week last year and it certainly was a magical vacation.  This post is directed at people like me - Irish-Americans who happen to live and die with the Fighting Irish.  There will be a follow-up post before the game, but for now we'll just listen to the Wolfe Tones and get our blood pumping.