Apparently the pep rally was tonight

Depending on who is providing the estimate, we're talking about anywhere from 15,000 to 25,000 Notre Dame fans in attendance.  Say whatever you like, but that is simply stunning.  If I traveled all the way from [insert location here] to Miami, you can bet I'd find some other kind of diversion on a Saturday night.  Either our fans are the most dedicated anywhere or they are the most boring anywhere.  Maybe it's a combination of the two.  In any case, wow...

Even though I have no hope of traveling to Florida and I've never been one to get fired up about a pep rally, I'm officially ready for this game.  You'll note that my prediction for the Cotton Bowl was laughably wrong, in keeping with tradition.  How anybody can watch as much college football as I do, but be as clueless as I am when it comes to predicting games, is anybody's guess.  I'm pretty nervous about Notre Dame's chances though, so things are looking good.

After all, you can put us down and keep us out but we'll come back again...

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.

How big is your screen?

Big enough to contain this one?

[Graphic courtesy of zerohedge.com]

That's like saying I have $16,000 in credit card debt, a minimum wage job, and a house in foreclosure - but I got a $62 coupon to spend on a new $1,089 television that I otherwise couldn't afford.  So, you see, I'm making progress.  I'm still putting that TV on my credit card, and it still costs me $1,027, but I couldn't possibly try to control my spending.  What sense would that make?

I swear... these morons... and WE the people who elect them...  I swear.

Little nephew comes over to spend the night...

We go out to dinner, come back to the condo, play with Legos for a little while, and then kick back to watch some TV show about the ancient Mayans.  Naturally, it's not a compelling topic for a five year old, so he's out like a light.  My brother decides to mess with him and see how he reacts.  Cold can of soda against the belly... kid groans... and then there goes the hand.

I've had some of those dreams, I think.  Can't remember if they go all the way back to when I was five.