Cheer, Cheer, for.....

I knew it was coming, too many stars were aligned for it not to happen.


Stars in East Lansing:

Michigan State wins their first two games of the season, outscoring their opponents 72 to 6, with one of them being a shutout.

Their opponents in these games were the football powers of Youngstown State and Florida Atlantic.

Last year, they beat Notre Dame with that now famous fake field goal to win in overtime. Stinging defeats like that linger in the memories a long time, and smolder.

Despite the best efforts of the coaching staff, visions of BCS championships were no doubt dancing in the heads of the Spartans.

Stars in South Bend;
Notre Dame has their return to glory sidelined by losing their first two games in a fairly humiliating way. Their season opener at home is fumbled away in front of the stunned Irish fans.

Their second game is lost in the final play of the game in the “big house” at the University of Michigan and their (at times) dazzling quarterback.

They were returning to South Bend to face the hated Spartans, with any chance of season success hanging in the balance.


They align:

I tuned in to NBC, er, excuse me, “The Notre Dame Football Network” at 3:30. The first 15 minutes or so was the typical media idolatry of the Legendary Football Heritage of Notre Dame. Finally we get to the game, and of course Notre Dame marches down the field and scores much to the delight of the home crowd. The announcers were giddy.

Okay, my good Domer friend, you can probably stop reading now, and allow me my yearly rant regarding your favorite team, and yes, I owe you lunch. It’s like watching a train wreck. You try to look away but you can’t. I knew the writing was on the wall when the Spartan’s kickoff after mustering a field goal was returned for a touchdown.

Besides what was going on on the field, the announcers made me routinely reach for the mute button. The color man on almost every play said something like “I LOVE what they’re doing spreading the field”, or “I LOVE how they’re running their routes”; who the hell cares what you LOVE? And in his rhapsody he routinely missed players names.. “A great run by Smith!”; play by play man: actually (whatever his name was) it was Jones.. Well I LOVED how he made that cut. And near the end of the first half, he pontificated that “Good teams will do a controlled march down the field and score”. To their credit, the Irish did just that, scoring with about three minutes left. I don’t believe I heard that phrase when the Spartans came right back and did the same, only to try a repeat of the fake field goal (c’mon Dantonio? You thought they forgot?) failed pitifully.  A game ending interception sent the Spartans back to East Lansing waiting for next week and Central Michigan!

Behavior of "The Stars"

And lastly, I know that the Irish players are young, and are disappointed with their performance prior to this game, and so on. But apparently none of them had ever made a tackle, or knocked down a pass in the backfield, sacked a quarterback because every time they did that, it was cause for massive rejoicing, chest bumping and general “Look at ME” behavior. One time a Cousins pass (well, more than once) sailed three feet over the potential receiver’s head by a, and the defender acted like he just won the super bowl (which is probably where he thinks he will be). And after scoring a touchdown, one of the Notre Dame players made some sort of sign (not the bird) toward the stands, whereupon he got flagged for whatever. When he reached his bench, his outraged teammates assaulted him with back slaps, wide grins, and high fives. The poor humiliated player was laughing.

And to be fair, as I always am, this behavior is becoming more the rule than the exception throughout college football. Whatever happened to making a play/interception/touchdown; handing the ball to the referee and generally acting like “I do this all the time, it’s no big deal”. Ever see Jimmy Brown do a victory dance in the end zone? I think not.

Okay, Domer, let’s do lunch!

Anniversary

Eight years ago today, we were visited by Hurricane Isabel..

And she was definitely


DFD(estruction)