Week 11: Chilly Scenes of Winter

Guess who just got back today...

Dateline:  Notre Dame IN

A short story about resilience and adaptability: 

Jerrence finds himself in Iowa for Thanksgiving with the family matriarch, Kay - now rounding the bend toward 98 yrs.

This year will be a little different.  Due to a case of COVID in her Independent Living facility, even though she has tested negative, the annual Norman Rockwell dinner on a cousin's farm has been cancelled. An infant w RSV - taking no chances.

Moreover, quick investigation revealed that every restaurant in town of any quality will be closed for the day. 

The few, the proud, the increasingly numb... 

Jerrence:  Well, mom, it looks like it's gonna be a day of just watching football and drinking. 

Kay:  Okay. 

Jerrence:  Okay?  To be honest, mom, I expected a little more resistance to that proposal. 

Kay:  Why?

Why indeed.  She's almost 98 and clearly comfortable at this point in her life with playing the proverbial hand that's dealt her... simply moving on and making the best of the situation.  Plus she's got a stash of Zinfandel for just such an occasion.

I wish more of ND Nation was like her.  I'd like to think the 'Stayer Lot Few' did just that last weekend. 

Quote of the Week

"It ain't the way I wanted it. I can handle things!  I'm smart. Not like everybody says... like dumb... I'm smart and I want respect!"

Fredo Corleone 

                                                                   

Respect?  Maybe next year, Fredo.  (But I doubt it.)

Word of the Week

Used in a sentence paragraph:  Jerrence looked down at his 1842 Club chili - there was snow flakes in it.  That's not right, he thought.  How could that be? 

Because after a brilliantly sunny 1st half, it was in fact, snowing in Notre Dame Stadium.  And not just flurries.  Hard.  

Mid-November and feeling like being inside a snow globe. 

I say, Peter, are those hints of cinnamon I'm noticing? 

The radical change in the weather, while perhaps unsettling to many (especially the BC team), Jerrence found extraordinarily demulcent.  

And why not?  

The team was up 37-0 (making the Navy game appear to be increasingly an annual aberration), he was hanging with close friends one last time for the season, and Boston College was committed to running the ball - and more importantly, running the clock. 

Plus, Jerrence knew there was a nice, celebratory scotch in his future. 

Huzzah!

Game 11:  Thoughts

Let the stories be told 

Let them say what they want...

Well who doesn't like a circus-like roller coaster ride?  At least on the way up.  And maybe not for three months.  Take heart, it's almost over. Some near-final observations...

* How would Freeman have them prepared? If this season is - and always was going to be -  a referendum on the Brian Kelly replacement hire, right now you'd have to feel pretty good about it.  

Maybe not feeling entirely great - but can we recognize ND's a unique place where anyone new was going to have a learning curve - so bringing the team back from the prior week's horror show to a performance of complete domination has to count for something.

Bob, that's not my hand you're squeezing...

* Morrison is a legit star. 

If two INT's in a game is good, three is better right?  

And five for the season, sweet. 

And here's a fun fact (at least by my less-than-rigorous investigation), every single one of the lad's picks have led to TD's. 

Another fun fact:  he didn't enroll until the summer.

Please let him get #6 this weekend. 

Peter, are you flirting with the photographer?

* No change re the Pyne evaluation. 

I'm sorry but he's still the same MAC conference-level QB that we've seen all year.  

He made a couple really good throws (and at least one aided by a very good catch).  

But it's fair to ask one's QB to make more than 3-4 quality passes in a game. 

And since we are asking, it better be this week.

We cut to further action in the 4th quarter... 

 

Someone tell Judy this is actually fun...

* 19 Game win streak.  Remember when one would cringe as ND fell apart at the end of  every season - and with it, away went the quality recruits, thinking "Nah, I'm good.  Think I'm gonna stay closer to home."

For a variety of reasons, those days seem to be over (NIL bribery notwithstanding).  

And a big contributor to that is the team going four - now possible five? - years without a loss in the last month of the season (with these last games now being the final data points for recruits before the early signing period).

That's worked out nicely. 

Please make it 20 in a row. 

Buddy's Buddy

This week's designation proves equally challenging as the last for exactly the opposite reasons:  too many candidates.

* There's the record setting TE.

* There's the record setting DE.

* There's the (seemingly) soon-to-be record setting freshman CB.

* There's the QB who puts together just enough good plays to be considered.

Let's talk about Logan Diggs.   Starts the game with a 51 yard run.  And follows it up with a great catch on a 28 yard wheel route (do you notice how many players need to make terrific catches on Pyne's passes).  End the game with a 150 total yards and has emerged as the bell cow of the RB's.  

Remember when there was talk of him transferring last off-season?  Whew.

One more thought:  When one thinks of Dillon Hall, typically, it's within the context of non-prosecutable deviance.  The kind wildly embraced in other cultures - Thailand comes to mind - but largely frowned upon in western societies.

But sadly, last weekend and through this Thanksgiving holiday, another theme sadly connected to Dillon has been front and center for this blogger:  mortality.  

First we had the annual anniversary of Dave Huffman's tragic car accident - 24 yrs. ago, I think?  Maybe one of the first instances for me of meeting a guy - a legitimate sports star - who was a genuinely decent, grounded, nice guy.

Last weekend was just as bad, maybe worse, if not quite as shocking - the passing of Mike Brooks' wife, Leslie, from cancer.  

If there's one thing that connects the class of '79 men - besides our shared schooling - it's been the consistent ability to marry ridiculously above our station.  

And while I never had the pleasure of knowing Leslie, I know this to be true.  Because while the idea of anyone marrying Mike is not entirely out of the realm of possibility - there is a perverse charm to him after all - but to do so, knowing you're also signing on to the rest of the Dillon reprobates? 

That's clearly a special person.

RIP, Leslie.  And our sincere condolences, Mike.  Whatever we can do for you, let us know.

And sometimes is seen a strange spot in the sky

A human being that was given to fly

RE-PETE (A shameless, illegal lift of Pete Sampson's weekly mail-bag)

On the whole, I hope we'd all agree that we've got a lot to be thankful for - even as some of us may be going through some legitimately very tough challenges.

But the fact is, the uneven performance of the 2022 Notre Dame football team ought to be on the bottom rung of anyone's list. 

The team remains something to be proud of, and as an excuse to hang with, well, most of you :) , it's been another terrific year.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, and from your eyes inside the program, what should Notre Dame fans be thankful for as Marcus Freeman wraps up year one? Maybe some things casual fans won’t see? 

For me, the obvious ones are:

1. Winning a big game against a top-five team convincingly
2. Not losing the team after the Stanford loss
3. The recruiting operation

Curious what others may be lurking behind the scenes.

Terence M.

I’d include how Freeman has managed Notre Dame in the biggest-picture view. He has shown a real grace during this season’s tumult, navigating moments that could have frayed his coaching confidence. For a first-time head coach to lose at Ohio State, lose his starting quarterback and lose to Marshall back-to-back-back, it felt like watching a freshman quarterback throw four picks in Week 1. Does he ever recover?

For how much Freeman talks about confidence, those opening eight days really tested his. He has clearly come out the other side of that, without publicly blowing up or throwing players and/or coaches under the metaphorical bus (publicly or privately). That takes some real restraint. Brian Kelly has 30-plus years of coaching experience and would have struggled to hold this season together without making a spectacle of it all.

But the biggest point would build on your second point, Terence. The idea that everybody was on the same page exiting the Stanford game is a fantasy. Freeman had to pull the staff and roster back from the brink while also basically faking his own confidence in the moment. That was an incredible test that Freeman passed and probably will be one of this year’s defining accomplishments, right there with beating Clemson and potentially beating USC. It set the table for him to show the in-season improvement that’s so critical to wherever Notre Dame football goes in the future with Freeman at the helm.

Source:  The Athletic

November 24, 2022

Cocktail of the Week

Last week, Faulkner.  This week, Hemingway.  Talk about two ends of the spectrum.  Variety is the spice of life, they say.

Perhaps you've heard this anecdote which served to underscore his brilliant brevity. When challenged to write the saddest story ever in six words, he crafted:

For sale.  Baby shoes.  Never worn. 

Perhaps if he were around for this football season, I suspect we'd be seeing something equally tragic:  QB Drew Pyne.   Returning next year. 

In any event, succinct writer, minimalist cocktail.

A Farewell To Amaretto

A Farewell to Arms  (1929)

By Ernest Hemingway

Widely lauded as Hemingway's most accomplished work, A Farewell to Arms firmly established his spare, just-the-facts prose.  Little wonder:  before doing time as an ambulance driver in World War I, Hemingway was a junior reporter in Kansas City.

Much of Farewell draws directly from Hemingway's own life abroad, from mortar shell injuries to angelic nurses.  Nobody said was was easy but just when you think the narrative is gonna land nice and quiet in Switzerland, Hemingway throws a friggin' dead baby into the mix.

We salute Hemingway's complicated time in the Italian campaign with that country's own amaretto.   Take this one like a soldier:  sour but fighting.

* 2 oz. Amaretto

* 1/2 oz. lemon juice

* 1 tspn. granulated sugar

Combine the amaretto, lemon juice, and sugar in a shaker with ice.  Shake well and strain over fresh ice in a rocks glass.  

Best enjoyed after returning home from a stint overseas, with bonus points awarded if you get your girlfriend - or boyfriend - into a nurse's uniform.

Source:  Tequila Mockingbird.

Cocktails with a Literary  Twist

by Tim Federle

2022 Schedule

September

 3                     @Ohio St.                 L

10                    Marshall                   L

15                    LINIPALOOZA XII

17                    Cal (Berkely)            W

24                   @UNC                     W

October

 1                     

 8                    @BYU (Las Vegas)     W

15                    Stanford                    L     

22                   UNLV                        W             

29                   @Syracuse                W

November

5                     Clemson                    W

12                  @Navy                        W              

19                  Boston College          W

26                  @USC 

  

Wager

Winner winner, chicken dinner! 

Well, not specifically, a winner.  But we know, now, there will be a winner!  Perhaps even more than one. 

Huzzah!

Oh, and probably now is as good of a time to tell you we're not bestowing everyone participation awards.

Grow up.  

Wins	Quote	Domer
12	"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few..."	Brian M., John P., JP, Blayney
11	"Success is not final, failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts..."	Lini, Theo, Sloane, Dave M., Peter
10	"Diplomacy is the art of telling people to go to hell in such a way that they ask for directions..."	Bob J., Gutsch,  Jerry P., Bill, Bob S., Mike C., Pat B., Jim B., Tim S.,  Feif, Mike G., Phillip S., George, Mike B.,  Shea
9	"Never, never give in..."	Jerrence, Raz, Mark, Bryan, Matt, Jerry C., Daryl, Graham, John  Jim T., Alex, Randy, Pat C., Gerard W.
8	"History is written by the victors..."	Albert, Garrett R., Brian W.
7	"When you get a thing the way you want it, leave it alone..."
6	"The best argument against democracy is a 5-minute conversation with the average voter..."
5	"If I were married to you, Mr. Churchill, I'd put poison in your coffee. If we were married, I'd drink it..."
4	"He has all of the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire..."
3	"If you're going through hell, keep going..."

Schadenfreude of the Week

A week of near misses... oh, how glorious it would've been to see TCU, Michigan, even USC, go down.

Hell, even Texas A&M and Oklahoma won. 

So.  Not the greatest of Schadenfreude weeks.

C'est la vie.  I take solace in knowing the funnel will likely be full next week.

1) Tennessee.   Just when one started to buy into the "Tennessee / Hendon Hooker are this year's LSU / Joe Burrow" they go ahead and get 62 hung on them by (checks notes)... South Carolina?!    Ouch.

And lose the aforementioned star QB to injury for the year?  Double ouch.

And play Vandy next, whose riding an actual 2-game win streak?  Eek. 

 

2)  Florida.  Like last week, this is more about celebrating another Clark Lea win than caring all that much about the Gators.  Although seeing any of the Big 3 Florida teams lose is always nice.

3)  Miami.  Speaking of which, if this team stays a doormat for the rest of the century, their ultimate resurgence will be too soon.  

Added bonus:  getting crushed by Clemson, making ND's win vs. the Tigers look all the more impressive. 

Terry's Tools

This week, Tools have gone global!

One has to decide for oneself whether that's a good thing.

1) Qatar.   Whaddya mean 'no alcohol at the World Cup games?!'    The ultimate bait and switch.   Ouch.  Let me tell you - the British football supporter is not going to take this well.

2) Ticketmaster.  To be honest with you, I don't really know the issue - something to do with really effing up Taylor Swift's ticket sales for her latest world tour that apparently everyone in the world wants to go to (and tried to buy tix at the same time).    And in doing so, incurring the wrath of the aforementioned pop deity.

Oops.

Fun fact:  In a revelation that approaches the same level of incredulity as Ungie's "I've never seen an episode of Seinfeld" admission, I don't know a single Taylor Swift song.  I hear she's pretty popular.

3)  Phil Jurkovec.  I recognize that college is, generally, a safe space for making - and saying - some really, really stupid things.  And for those of us of a certain age, we thank God that social media wasn't around in the late 70's to memorialize our particular expressions of idiocy.

Unfortunately, young Phil doesn't have that benefit.  And if anyone should stop talking, it's him.  Hint:  Notre Dame stopped thinking about you two years ago.

4)  Kyrie Irving.  He's like the Freddie Krueger of social hot takes - he just. won't. fucking. go. away.   A couple weeks ago it was his seeming lack of grasp of why the world was a tad bothered by his support for a blatantly antisemitic film.

This week, it's his dare-to-dream proclamation for a social platform where he can express his views without fear of criticism or consequence.

Sure, Kyrie.  Excuse me but I'm due back on planet Earth now. 

5)  Speaking of stupid teenagers... 

Marcus, Mensa is also rescinding their nomination. 

Final Thought

One more time:  

Happy Thanksgiving to all in the Notre Dame fam-uh-lee, both immediate and extended... 

Week 10: Who Are You?

Blame it on Cain

Don't blame it on me

It's nobody's fault

But we need somebody to burn... 

Dateline:  Flint Lake, IN

Grandpa, this is why your brothers watch the game on tape delay, isn't it?

So there I was watching the game Saturday afternoon, start of the 4th quarter and The Granddaughter is looking at me with an irritated "You call this rubbish I'm seeing 'quality bonding time?'" 

...when what should appear on the TV but the new John Wick: Chapter 4 trailer.

Thank God - a diversion.

I, of course, launch into a thorough yet digestible summary of the franchise's brilliance for consistently delivering a sharp metaphor for a rapacious global consumer society that feeds off of planned obsolescence, essentially eating its own and in doing so destroying the myth of The Loner archetype, that iconoclast who in fact could be Society's savior.

Feeling awfully self-satisfied, it turns out Sloane found grandpa's take... lacking.  Her words - paraphrasing here -  "OK, Boomer, that analysis is both simplistic and derivative, and more than a little lazy… relying on worn out, hackneyed tropes and suggesting “you've been talking to Jerry Perez again, haven't you - BTW, whose latest screenplay was totally deserving of the recognition it received in the Austin competition - but honestly grandpa, at least TRY to have an original thought once in awhile."

Ouch. 

She continued.  "No, gramps, let me tell you what the John Wick oeuvre is really about:  a rallying cry against an increasingly intrusive Techno-Military-Industrial complex whose libertarian hero represents a  brave, silent majority, a segment often considered 'outsiders' and ostracized by a knuckle-dragging patriarchy who categorize those they don't understand with stereotypical-if-uncomfortably accurate labels like "psychotic" and "disturbed" or "armed and dangerous."  Decent people who otherwise just want to be left alone with their emotional support dog..."

Excuse me?  You're 19 months old.   And frankly, I'm not sure I like your condescending attitude. 

OK, agree to disagree. That both of us should end up in a highly confused and fatigued state - naps were taken by both parties immediately thereafter - only proves one can still find common ground on even the most complex and volatile of subjects...  John Wick, Notre Dame football. 

Quote of the Week

"Wise men say 'Forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza.'"

Michelangelo

Ninja Turtle 

                                                                   

Saturday took me a while to process. As in "what the hell WAS THAT?!"

Not good.  Like, biblically not good.  And yet, I think you file it under 'the 2022 roller coaster ride ain't over yet' and ask yourself, what were your realistic expectations for this year?

If it was BCS Playoff berth, I've got nothing for you and respectfully suggest you consider counseling.

If it was more like, "We're playing the long game here, with a high potential - but admittedly neophyte - new head coach and there's likely to be some 2-steps-forward-1-step-backward moments"... 

Then maybe Saturday's epic 2nd half no-show will ultimately register as another in a series of learning opportunities for coach Freeman that we wish we didn't have to be subjected to. 

But we are. 

I, for one, will be extremely interested in seeing what the off season brings.

Word of the Week

Used in a sentence paragraph:  Jerrence looked at his granddaughter and knew precisely what she was thinking. 

True, he felt compelled to tell her, this wasn't the team's finest performance.  If you'd only stayed up last week and saw how the Irish dominated Clemson...

Still, he understood the infant's incredulity.  The recrudescence  of Notre Dame's inept form in the 2nd half - hello, Marshall!  hello, Stanford! - had Jerrence similarly baffled.  Where was the team that put up 35 pts without a hint of ever having to punt?

How can this same O-line not be able to run AT ALL against this defense?  And how does this same defense get shredded by a 3rd string QB that runs an option-oriented offense?  

Honestly, the team's inexplicable disappeance drove one to drink.  And while his younger companion was pounding diluted cranberry juice pretty hard, Jerrence treated himself to something... more medicinal. 

Game 10:  Thoughts

Nothin' to do, nowhere to go home

I wanna be sedated...

Truth be told, there have been times in the past where I’ve thought “why not just re-post an old blog?” - there’s more than 230 of these now, I can’t even remember what I wrote last week.  Given that these posts have all of the intellectual nutrition of a Twinkie, I'm sure my loyal readership doesn’t retain the content either… plus, I was far more clever back in the day.  

So when the same sh*t on the field keeps happening, why not?

The Navy game - and our inability to put them away - represents one of Life’s great mysteries, (up there with 'why aren’t hot dogs sold in the same multiples as the buns', 'how the hell do you fold a fitted sheet' or 'how did Gallagher (RIP) ever make a viable career out of just destroying a watermelon?'

Some things are simply beyond the ken of this blogger's simple mind.  So with that, let's review the 'Occam's Razor' hypotheses - where the simplest answer is (probably) the correct one:

* Let down. After the Clemson win, totally understandable.  Just doesn’t quite explain a very good 1st half and then have the team pull a complete no show in the 2nd. 

* "It's f*cking Navy."  Their offense is weird, they've got a “no quit” attitude which, while laudable in the context of defending our country against enemies foreign AND domestic, is super annoying football-wise and their 'assignment sure' focus compensates for their lack of actual athleticism and skill while throwing into sharp relief ND's ability to be similarly disciplined.  

So why does no other team in the country seem to struggle with them like we do?

* “It’s the QB, stupid.” Look, it gives me no pleasure to dump on Pyne. And after the 1st half, he looked like a 1st ballot Buddy Award winner (spoiler: he's not). 

But it’s painful watching him process, at glacial speed, what the defense is doing, or going to do. Or subsequently, what his options will be. 

* Coordinators.  This game, particularly, deserves to point the finger at both guys.  I believe I read that Golden has never had a good track record against option teams - did Freeman not challenge his plan last week?  And Rees (who I actually like and wonder whether he often thinks, 'WHAT IF I HAD AN ACTUAL D-1 QB?')… he had to see immediately that Navy was going to sell out the entire 2nd half.  And yet, no seeming adjustments.  Hmmm.

Other thoughts

- Can we talk about DJ Brown? 4 PI’s or Holding in the last two games, half of which kept opponent TD drives alive.  Not good.

- Inexperienced LB’s.  My guess is that Golden’s options were fairly limited but playing freshman LB’s against an offense they’ve never seen - ever - where even experienced defenders struggle - in hindsight seems a tad questionable.

Giving new meaning to the concept of the 'reach around.'

- Braden Lenzy.  One might have noticed on his Catch of the Year, that he had the Navy DB smoked by a comfortable 5 yards. 

And Pyne couldn't get it there.   

The kid has taken a lot of grief for being a disappointment for much of his time at ND but has never complained.  

Would love to see him get his due as his career ends.  

But I wouldn't hold my breath.

Buddy's Buddy

If last week's award choice represented quite a challenge, what does that say about this week?

Do you give it to the QB who has a career game in one half but then completely falls apart (and not alone) in the 2nd?

One sure doesn't have to worry about putting forward a O-line nomination.

And how many weeks, Jerrence, are we going to overlook the special teams - who've gotten to the point where one is disappointed when they don't block a punt? 

Still, in a game where consistency by anyone wasn't a hallmark, The Committee wishes to respectfully call out the WR group:  much maligned (and probably deservedly so), they might be the one area that ND consistently dominated - even if the opportunities never came to fruition as often as they should've.

*  Who had Jayden Thomas as #1 WR on their scorecards?  Not me.

*  Let's talk (again) about Braden Lenzy.  If one went back and watched the season's tape that the coaching staff gets (i.e., not the TV telecasts), how often would we have found him open deep?  Quite a lot, one suspects.    

*  Even Lorenzo Styles caught a few passes. (I, for one, haven't given up on him but someone please take him to a sports psychologist - or a Haitian voodoo priest - ASAP.)

Will this group matter in the last 3 games?  I hope so.  They sure seem to be showing up at the right time.

As you walk on by

Will you call my name?

RE-PETE (A shameless, illegal lift of Pete Sampson's weekly mail-bag)

Time for another peak outside the echo chamber of the Notre Dame beat reporter.

Which is another way of saying that I don't think Pete Sampson is submitting a mailbag this week.

But The Athletic's Stewart Mandel is and, of course (because there always is), there's a Notre Dame question being posed.

And not an irrelevant one: how ya feeling about Freeman's first year?

Obviously, the Marshall and Stanford home losses are what most of America will remember about Notre Dame this season, but objectively, how should Irish fans feel if they win out (including another top-10 win over USC) to finish 9-3 in the first year of the Marcus Freeman era? — Lauren, Atlanta

I think you answered your own question. If you told a Notre Dame fan in the hours after the Marshall or Stanford losses that this team would wind up beating USC and perhaps even finish 10-3 with a win in a decent bowl (Gator, Cheez-It or Holiday), they’d have been overjoyed, right? It’s still a step back from where they were during Brian Kelly’s last five seasons, but it would be a Top 25 season with an extremely encouraging back half — and a potentially season-ruining win over your archrival.

Notre Dame is a good defensive team, but Caleb Williams, Jordan Addison, et al., are going to get theirs. You have to outscore USC to beat USC, and that’s not how Notre Dame is built. The Trojans’ defense is fairly awful — I expect them to give up 45-plus points to UCLA this week, win or lose. But you’ve got to have a quarterback who can take advantage. Utah’s Cam Rising and Cal’s Jack Plummer both threw for 400-plus yards on the Trojans; Arizona’s Jayden de Laura went for 380. Drew Pyne’s season-high to this point is 289 against UNC.

So the better question might be: How should Notre Dame fans view the season if the Irish go 9-4, without beating USC, but with impressive wins over ACC title game participants Clemson and North Carolina and against two teams, BYU and Syracuse, that were ranked at the time? It’d be disappointing, given the Irish started the season ranked in the top 10. But I’d say their improvement is still encouraging. Marcus Freeman wound up having more first-year head coach growing pains than anticipated, but the season did not deteriorate into a disaster as initially feared.

Source:  The Athletic

November 16, 2022

Cocktail of the Week

You'd think I'd be a big fan of William Faulkner - he's apparently the record holder for the longest grammatically correct sentence in literary history - something north of 1200 words. (Eat your heart out, James Joyce.)

And I even took a class at ND entirely devoted to the author.  I believe I came out of the semester even more confused than when I went in.   

In that respect, Faulkner is the perfect proxy for a book / cocktail for a Navy game recap:  I didn't understand what I witnessed there either.

Absolut, Absolut! 

Absalom, Absalom!  (1936)

By William Faulkner

Why tell a simple story if you can make it complicated? No worries - haters gonna hate (and Faulkner's gonna Faulkner).  A truly exasperating exploration of life in the author's beloved, fictional Yoknapatawpha County, MS - at least this story includes a 'map' of the area.  

If out-of-order flashbacks and a Civil War backstory don't sound like your idea of a good time, keep in mind that Faulkner won no less than the Nobel, in part for his efforts here.

This Southern sip is guaranteed to make you ramble incoherently. 

* 1/2 oz. Absolut vodka

* 1/2 oz. Absolute Citron

* 1/2 oz. Absolut Lime

* 1/2 oz. Absolut Vanilla

* 1/2 oz. Absolut Peach

* 5 oz. lemonade

* Club soda, to fill

* Lemon wheel and maraschino cherry, for garnish

Combine all the ingredients, except for the club soda and the garnishes, in a shaker with ice and shake for 5 seconds. Strain into a Collins glass over feesh ice and top with club soda.  Garnish with a lemon wheel and a cherry, and just try to form a complete sentence.

Source:  Are You There, God?  It's Me, Margarita.

More Cocktails with a Literary  Twist

by Tim Federle

2022 Schedule

September

 3                     @Ohio St.                 L

10                    Marshall                   L

15                    LINIPALOOZA XII

17                    Cal (Berkely)            W

24                   @UNC                     W

October

 1                     

 8                    @BYU (Las Vegas)     W

15                    Stanford                    L     

22                   UNLV                        W             

29                   @Syracuse                W

November

5                     Clemson                    W

12                  @Navy                        W              

19                  Boston College  

26                  @USC 

  

Wager

I believe the expression is, "They don't ask how, they ask how many."

For the still viable Wager players, it's 'survive and advance' time - even if we may not have the same assured swagger that we carried out of ND Stadium ~ 2 weeks ago.

On to BC, the last in a series of underwhelming home opponents that have proven to be ND's kryptonite this year.  (As if the Superman analogy even applies this year.)

Worse, the latest spread has ND giving 21 pts.  And we know how well ND performs as double digit favorites at home so far this year.

So perhaps we won't have a Wager winner...

It takes a leap of faith 

You gotta show some guts...

Wins	Quote	Domer
12	"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few..."	Brian M., John P., JP, Blayney
11	"Success is not final, failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts..."	Lini, Theo, Sloane, Dave M., Peter
10	"Diplomacy is the art of telling people to go to hell in such a way that they ask for directions..."	Bob J., Gutsch,  Jerry P., Bill, Bob S., Mike C., Pat B., Jim B., Tim S.,  Feif, Mike G., Phillip S., George, Mike B.,  Shea
9	"Never, never give in..."	Jerrence, Raz, Mark, Bryan, Matt, Jerry C., Daryl, Graham, John  Jim T., Alex, Randy, Pat C., Gerard W.
8	"History is written by the victors..."	Albert, Garrett R., Brian W.
7	"When you get a thing the way you want it, leave it alone..."
6	"The best argument against democracy is a 5-minute conversation with the average voter..."
5	"If I were married to you, Mr. Churchill, I'd put poison in your coffee. If we were married, I'd drink it..."
4	"He has all of the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire..."
3	"If you're going through hell, keep going..."

Schadenfreude of the Week

On almost any metric, last week was something of le grande dumpster fire, oui?

Nowhere was that more evident than in college football where no less than #6, #11, #12, #16, #17, #18, #21 and #24 lost.

Which would seem to explain how ND could look so dubious and still improve in the polls.  

But as the philosopher The Grinch once said, "One man's toxic sludge is another man's pot pourri..."  And that, my friends, is the true schadenfreude spirit.

1) Texas A&M and Oklahoma.   Let's call Notre Dame this week's winner of the Peyton Bowen Bowl, considering these two teams seem to be the options our 5-star safety commit is flirting with the most. 

Now with a combined record of 8-12, if the kid bails on ND, it isn't gonna be because of the quality of the play on the field. 

 

3)  Oregon / UCLA.  Take your pick. Or both. In any event, not a great weekend for the PAC 12.  Ever being the optimist, both these teams have USC as season making (or redeeming) games in the next three weeks.

4)  Kentucky.  I don't really have anything against you - this was just a convenient forum for congratulating Clark Lea on his first SEC victory.

5)  Mike Corrigan.  Someone bet their Philadephia brother on the Padres - Phillies series last month.  The wager?   I believe it was three martinis. 

Terry's Tools

If one judges by the interesting array of tools this week, one might think that this was Halloween week, such is the eclectic-bordering-on-the-bizarre nature of the representatives.

None of which are even remotely Dillon Hall caliber.

So I'd consider this a down week.

1) Pat Narduzzi.   Call this the equivalent of a recruiting Crystal Ball that I'm proactively placing on coach Narduzzi spontaneously combusting should 3/4 star QB Kenny Minchey commit to ND after having been a Pitt commit since August.  

A long time hater of ND for a variety of perceived reasons including a 'why won't they join the ACC' gripe, the potential to send him over the edge is strong.

Film at 11, as they say.

2) Elizabeth Holmes.  News flash:  This is sentencing week and Ms. Holmes doesn't think she should go to prison - but she's willing to accept, maybe, house arrest.  But it's gonna have to be a nice house, like, a really nice house.  

Naturally, with a chef, an acupuncturist, a personal trainer and her astrologist, Chardonnay.  

Basically, can you please just be nice to me, Mr. judge?

3)  Elon.  Given that Twitter is so commonly described as a dystopian hellscape, one supposes that giving Jesus the verified 'blue check' - and for a mere $8 / month - represents true value-added.   Well done, Mr. Musk.

Final Thought

Every November.  Final home game.   The Few, The Proud... 

We'll miss you this week, Tim.