Yes, I told you that the light goes up and down
Don't you notice how the wheel goes 'round?
And you'd better pick yourself up from the ground
Before they bring the curtain down
Dateline: Flint Lake, IN
The Corrigan family, of late, has been fond of using the battle vs. war metaphor -- which is to say, recognizing that winning an important legal battle is not the same as claiming victory in a broader war that is still yet to be determined.
The same can likely be said within the context of the sports arena, more specifically as it relates to Notre Dame's losses the last two weeks. We indeed took a couple "L" and yet, with 10 more games to play, the grander objective -- the BCS Playoffs, a natty -- are still absolutely in play.
Which probably results in a fair amount of cognitive dissonance for the lifelong Irish football fan who is used to a binary undefeated-or-nothing attitude about national championship aspirations.
Quote of the Month
In these troubled times, it's all about having your priorities in order.
Word of the Month
Nothing good was going to come from that exercise.
And yet, like a moth drawn to a flame, inexorably... he went there.
To be sure, it did not make him happy but reading the pablum from the know-it-all's did leave him with a certain sense of superiority, both philosophical and intellectual. Didn't they have anything better to do than rip players and coaches -- all whom they'd never have the stones to say to their faces.
He wondered if this is what maturity felt like.
Better late than never, he supposed.
Game 1 & 2 Thoughts
They reach for their moment
And try to make an honest stand
But they wind up wounded, not even dead
Tonight in Jungleland.
One game is merely a data point - and the vehicle for rabid overreaction (good or bad). Two games begin a trend and reasonable people can register certain opinions, knowing that things can still be considered work-in-progress.
With that as a starting point, here's what I think:
1. CJ Carr. He's good. And seemingly close to being really good.
Despite making a couple poor decisions in each game (that one could argue contributed to the losses), it's hard not to think that Freeman made the right choice.
2. RB's. Love hasn't been bad, and it sure looks like defenses are keying on him until Carr proves he can beat them passing... But it's also hard not to reasonably evaluate that Jadarian Price has been the better back thus far.
And for the love of God, we can we limit the Jeremiyah Love Wildcat play to, say, twice a game?
3. Play calling. I guess I expected more...creativity... from Denbrock. Is this a function of not trusting the young QB (he seems just fine)?
4. Transfers. Malachi Fields looks to me like the real deal. He's no Beaux Collins!
5. The Defense. Not just disappointing. They're actually bad*.
Is this a function of youth reading their own press clippings?
The way ND Nation is reacting, Chris Ash better not own a dog.
* With the notable exception of Leonard Moore.
6. The schedule. I wonder, is this gonna be the new normal?
With Big 10 and SEC inter-conference play taking up the back half of the year, will we be always be playing our toughest teams right out of the gate?
I'm prepared to believe Miami might be better than I thought they were.
I'm not prepared to think the same about A&M.
Nonetheless, lotta ballgame left.
7. Beer In Stadium. Surely foretold by the prophecy of 1977's Keg In Stadium operation.
Nice -- and surely very profitable -- move by ND leadership. But let me know, for nights like last Saturday, when there's whiskey-in-stadium.
Buddy's Buddy
For those who have had dogs in their households and have come to know, perhaps outside of my brother Tim, their impact on your life to be a uniformly positive one.
Their predominant characteristic? Unconditional love.
You can have the worst f***ing day and when you come home, they are pumped to see you. It really is quite amazing.
So as Jerrence processed the disappointments of the first two football games, he found himself in WWBD mode.
Pondering, What Would Buddy Do?
And it came to him: Buddy would befriend the guy who needed it the most.
Tyler Buchner, come on down.
But Tyler also didn't run away. He didn't sit on the bench and cover his head with a towel as many would've. He showed... what's the word that eludes me... oh, yeah... character.
He'll survive this I'm sure. And I'm also sure his teammates have his back.
That doesn't mean he couldn't use one more friend.
RE-PETE (A shameless, illegal lift of Pete Sampson's weekly mail-bag)
One would think there wouldn't be a lot of positivity emanating from Notre Dame beat writers after Saturday night's game.
One would be correct.
And yet, if last season showed us anything, don't quite give up the ghost yet.
Maybe, just maybe. From Mr. Sampson's column today...
-----------------------------------
Is there still a path for Notre Dame and Clemson?
The reality is, while Notre Dame has played arguably the toughest combination of two games of anyone in the country so far, its schedule the rest of the way appears forgiving. USC just cracked the AP Top 25 this week to give them one more ranked opponent. That game is in South Bend, and the Irish are still ranked one spot higher despite not having won a game.
The Irish will need the Trojans or someone else to step up to give ND a chance at a quality win. Of the remaining 10 games on the schedule, seven of those teams already have a loss. USC, North Carolina State and Navy are the remaining unbeatens. Looking to Navy for a quality win is the definition of desperation, but USC and NC State could be good.
At this point of the season, who knows, but Notre Dame does have a realistic path to 10-2, which would create quite an interesting resume come CFP selection time.
Source: The Athletic
September 16, 2025
Cocktail of the Month
Fun fact: The Woman In White was the first play I went to see when I started traveling to London for work in 1989.
I went, probably because I couldn't get a ticket to Les Miz on such short notice.
Spooky stories have always intrigued me, I just wish they wouldn't appear on the football field.
(No one wants to see the Ghost of Wretched ND Defenses Past.)
The Woman in White Wine Spritzer
"The Woman In White
by Wilkie Collins (1859)
The Woman In White is a complicated novel of switched identities, damsels in distress wicked counts and yes, a mysterious woman in white.
As you puzzle your way through the tangled webs of the story, you may find yourself seeking a simple pleasure to pair with the perplexing plot.
With just two ingredients, you can make a delicious foundation to dress up with your favorite garnishes.
You'll already be shivering from the cool cruelty of men wrongfully imprisoning women in asylum be sure to keep your wine and soda as cold as possible for the best results.
Yield: 1 serving
4 oz. white wine (e.g., sauvignon blanc or pinot grigio)
2 oz. club soda
lemon or lime wedge, for garnish
1. Fill a wine glass with ice cubes.
2. Pour the white wine into the glass.
3. Top the wine with soda water or club soda, adjusting the amount to your desired level of effervescence.
4. Gently stir to mix the wine and club soda.
5. Garnish with the lemon or lime wedge, if using.
Source: The Turn of the Screwdriver
50 Dark & Twisted Literary Cocktails
By Iphigenia Jones
Schedule 2025
The upcoming 2025 schedule draweth ever nigh...
August
31 @Miami L
September
13 Texas A&M L
20 Purdue Corrigan brother reunion!
27 @Arkansas Soooiiieeee!
October
4 Boise St. Alumni Hall Reunion weekend, Union Pier MI
11 NC State
18 USC "Lincoln, We Hardly Knew Ye" (wussy)
November
1 @BC
9 Navy
16 @Pitt
23 Syracuse
29 @Stanford
December
19-20 PLAYOFF GAME!
Wager 2025
Like a hot knife through butter, down go another 15...
Regrets, I've a few.
Then again, too few to mention...
Wins | ND Equivalence | Domer |
12  The Joker | "Do I really look like a guy with a plan?" ----- Ledger's Joker is mercurial, charismatic and a complete psychopath. Utterly unforgettable. Just as a Notre Dame undefeated, on-their-way-to-a-national championship-season would be. |
|
11  Otto | "Don't call me stupid!" ----- Ex-CIA operative Otto lives at the intersection of dangerous and moronic. An 'Otto season' for ND would be a rollercoaster -- a lot of fun with youth at some key positions, and likely more than it's fair share of 'that wasn't very clever' moments. | Gutsch , Sloane Daryl Jim S. Peter Tim Ted Bill Jim B Pat B George Alex, Feif Garrett Spit the Elder |
10  | "That's a bingo!" ----- Jew hunter Landa -- equal parts chillingly pathological and pragmatic, this character would probably represent a 10-win regular season that might make you sick to your stomach but ultimately pretty satisfied. | Jerrence, Mike C, Tim C. Mark U. Jerry P. Jerry C. Mike B. Brian W. Jim T. Mike G, Bose Jerry W Lini, Randy Greg Kyle W. |
9  RP McMurphy | "I'm a goddamn marvel of modern science." ----- What's the residual emotion from Cuckoo's Nest? Sadness. RP, a guy who sees things clearly but can't get out of his own way. When it doesn't end well, one is left thinking what could've been. Like a 9-win season.
| |
8  | "I don't know who I am. Or where I'm going. None of it." ------ An apt summary of an 8-win ND season. A lot of difficult questions ultimately unanswered. Still, the Bourne trilogy rocks and JB is The Man. | |
7  | "I'm thinking I'm back..." ----- For many, ND winning only 7 games would be akin to someone shooting their dog -- and requiring appropriate payback. And like with John Wick, rationale requiring very few words of explanation. | |
6  | "Are you not entertained!" ------Probably not, if ND only won six games... but that's not the point here: it probably says a lot about me that the final ranked character is the most moral, selfless one of the bunch. | |
Sports Imitating Art.
 |
| The Hermit (I| solitario), by John Singer Sargent, 1908 |
Schadenfreude of the Week.
The fact is there's always someone you can find to enjoy they're going down.
It's just tougher when your team is downn there with 'em.
1. Clemson. There was a point where I was beginning to re-think whether I should've cheered for Clemson vs. LSU (I did not) but now that they've lost again... to Ga. Tech... I'm "in for a penny, in for a pound." Keep losing, Dabo!
2. South Carolina. This is more a celebration as much for Clark Lea seemingly turning Vandy into a decent program.
Terry's Tools.
 |
| The few, the proud... |
With any luck, we're a mere week away from returning to a diet of football, or at least sports related, jiggery pokery (defined as 'deceptive or dishonest behavior')...
But this is not that week.
At least not entirely (for that, we can thank our eternal 'go to', the NCAA).
So, hopefully, consider this an amuse bouche for what surely will be a season's worth of head scratching, mind numbing decision making.
The kind that would make this section's poster children say, "Even by our low standards, what were they thinking?!"
-------------------------------------------------
1) Cracker Barrel. I'll never go down in anyone's Hall of Fame for marketers but I gotta say this: when your target market is actually in your brand name -- crackers! -- it doesn't take a genius to know that changing your logo and removing beloved uncle Herschel was not going to go down well with the constituency.
Oh the humanity!
Yet another CMO undone by a desire to expand their audience -- contemporize! -- while forgetting what the brand actually stands for, even if in this case, it's vaguely southern white trash. Their money is legal tender too!
2) Kaleb Johnson The first rule of Fight Club Kickoff Returner Club is... know the kickoff rules! Allow me to summarized what happened in the Pittsburgh Steeler - Seattle Seahawks game last Sunday:
 |
| "Wait, what? I gotta pick it up?" |
As Johnson ran toward the Steelers' sideline, apparently believing the play would be called dead, Seattle continued to cover the kick, and backup George Holani fell on the ball before it rolled out of the back of the end zone for a touchdown and a 24-14 Seattle lead.
To be fair, the NFL seems to change the kickoff rules every year these days. Still...
3) SEC refs It's a fact that one could probably call a penalty on virtually every play.
It's also a fact that with the game on the line, the refs will call the obvious ones.
And they don't get much more obvious than the holding A&M did on their winning play.
So much so that even the reffing community were outraged by it...
I always thought that Texas A&M's famed "12th Man" was supposed to be their student body...
4) James Franklin. They say "you can't fix stupid." You also can't fix low character. To wit: In Penn State's 2nd game this year versus FIU, they recover a fumble on the FIU 5 yard line with 1:19 left in game, up 27-0...
Do they take a knee? No they do not.
Instead Franklin puts preseason AA RB Nick Singleton out there to run it in.
Asshole.
Name of the Week
This one comes circa 2018 and while they never seemed to make it in the athletic field -- though truth be told I haven't checked the Canadian Football league, MMA or the professional Irish Curling circuit, they still need to be recognized:
Yo'Heinz Tyler
A WR for Ball State back in the day, it's not often that a name can double as a possible tag line for an ad campaign...
"Yeo! Heinz!"
(And sadly, no, his family is not from Pittsburgh.)
Though it would've been awesome if he was: imagine if mom had worked at Westinghouse?
Trivia!
Q. 1. Which famous songwriter pledged to be faithful to his wife in his biggest hit, only to record a song written by his mistress that became his other greatest hit?
A) Eric Clapton
B) Johnny Cash
C) Harry Nilsson
D) Bob Dylan
------
Final Thoughts
They say never meet your heroes...
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