Tomorrow we'll discover
What our God in Heaven has in store
One more dawn.
One more day.
One day more...
Dateline: Naples, FL
At all.
Every other decade birthday -- turning 30, 40, 50, even 60 -- has meant virtually nothing to me. Not this one coming up. Hitting the big 7-0 is just going to land differently. Something on my body always hurts at any given time -- and that was before I started mssing steps and falling down stairs. With shoulder replacement surgery on my autumnal calendar, Mr. The Sun Will Come Up Tomorrow! is looking to morph into Mr. Grumpypants very quickly.
 |
| Narcolepsy. The silent assassin. |
Howdy, neighbor Al!
And the last couple months haven't helped improve my outlook, what with stupid injuries, major surgeries and even death occurring around me.
So it has been an interesting, almost harmonic convergent-like happenstance that over the last six months many of the books I've been pouring through have had a memoir-like bent to them:
- Class Clown by Dave Berry
- The Uncool by Cameron Crowe
- Life And Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson
I mean, who knew they could even read?
But the authors all being at the Class of '79 age (or older) no doubt inspired a more introspective -- or retrospective -- attitude in their journaling.
And also, for this blogger, an incrementally greater sense of urgency. Do I have 10 good years left of ambulatory competence? Let's hope so. I've got stuff to see and do, like:
- Golf in Ireland with Lini, 2026
- F1 race in Budapest for Defarge's 70th b-day, 2027 (looking at you, Raz...)
- Knitting cruise w the Feifars and Maddens (don't ask)
- Angkor Wat
...and an ND football national championship.
Tick tock, Marcus, I'm not getting younger. Or cognitively facile.
Quote of the Week
"I'm too old, too tired and too talented to give a f*ck..."
Brian Cox
From the man who gave us Logan Roy and Hannibal Lector, Jerrence has found his new spirit animal. That said, one must practice moderation with such insouciance, especially around some Domers and all spouses.
A PSA...
Word of the Week
Used in a sentence paragraph: "Maybe in the state of Colorado but I'm doubtful about it's application in Florida -- have you seen some of the rulings here -- and certainly not in Indiana..."
Sloane looked at Jerrence askance.
 |
| But did you actually pass the bar exam? |
The two had recently agreed to keep each other's darkest secrets -- for Sloane, it was her twisted Scooby Doo fantasies while for Jerrence... well, he still couldn't figure out how she discovered The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives series on his Disney+ service.
Yet, he couldn't take the chance -- he would carry her secret to the grave.
May Thoughts
I could pay off my tab, pour myself in a cab
And be back to work before two...
At a moment like this, I can't help but wonder
What would Jimmy Buffett do?
It's May and football season, in earnest, is still 100'ish days away. So consider these the most random of off season thoughts...
1. Blue - Gold game. I used to watch this game pretty religiously. Not so much anymore. Is that a testimony to age or the fact that there are so precious few question marks on the team that one needs to see checked out? Yes.
 |
| Wonderful. |
2. Marcus. The college sport seems to keep evolving (or devolving) by the day as the NCAA grows increasingly ineffectual -- who thought that was even possible.
And yet, ND is an odds on favorite for a national championship this year and seems to, now, become a regular Top 5 recruiting class achiever.
As much as one has to give kudos to the school's administration for their support, it's the head coach remains the consistent reason cited by these 4/5 star recruits for signing on to the program's "choose hard" culture.
Allegedly, he's told a 2027 recruit he'd be there for his entire college career if he chose ND. Long may that last -- the guy is a unicorn.
3. NIL. For the record, I think the transfer portal is ruining college athletics more than NIL -- though they are clearly connected.
That said, the NIL money is getting ridiculous as each school lines up their respective high net worth benefactors to bankroll rosters.
Remember how Brian Kelly used to say that "ND shops down a different aisle"? He wasn't -- and still isn't -- wrong.
My impression is the difference today isn't so much about ND's far more limited academic qualification pool, though that surely remains a primary filter...
...but rather something more attitudinal: while money is undeniably a factor for the ND recruit, especially when everyone's getting something, it just isn't necessarily the sole, or primary, driver.
4. NCAA. The word 'corrupt' gets thrown around a lot these days. But with the NCAA, the descriptors are usually more like 'incompetent.' But why not 'corrupt' when referring to them -- something's gotta be going on:
So... the Hawkeyes get smacked with vacating games for being in contact w a kid outside the permissable windown of contact while Michigan actively cheats -- during the actual games -- and they get what? An incompetent coach suspended and a fine that took Larry Ellison an hour to recoup. Oh yeah, and they got a national championship.
Hmmm. That inconsistency seems to go beyond merely being bad at your job.
5. Men's basketball. We Hardly Knew Ye. With everything else going on in one's Life, tough to call the ND basketball program's complete implosion a tragedy. Not as difficult, however, is to categorize it as a humiliating embarrassment.
6. Lax. Finally, looking for something... happier... Notre Dane'ish to do this month?
Try following Kevin Corrigan's lacrosse team in the NCAA tournament. Arguably as good as any team left in the field and with, subjectively, a pretty favorable bracket.
Now, if they can just figure out UVA...
7. That gets you through May... what then? How about trying... literacy?
 |
| Available for ordering on Amazon now! |
Buddy's Buddy
A Rottweiler, a German Shepherd, and an Alaskan Malamute were having a drink together.
The Rottie said "God told me I was the most handsome, most powerful dog ever."
The German Shepherd looked up and said "God told me I was the bravest dog ever."
The Alaskan Malamute looked at the other two dogs, and said "I don't remember saying that."
-------------------------------------
"True dat," he would say.
In any event, a little 'mal' humor during a somewhat fallow time of the year to otherwise be celebrating great people and/or great efforts in college sports...
...our men's basketball is a dumpster fire, ND baseball is still in the wishful thinking stage and we're a few days away from knowing whether our men's lacrosse team can bring home the natty.
Which leads us to... the Iditarod.
Or an Alaskan malamute's Super Bowl. A 975-mile trek from Willow to Nome, this year won in mid-March by Jessie Holmes.
Key Details of the 2026 race:
- Finish Time: 9 days, 7 hours, 32 minutes
- Winning Dogs: 12 dogs in harness
- Key Achievement: Holmes became one of only five mushers in Iditarod history to win back-to-back championships.
And yes, by rights, I should be calling out Hannah Hidalgo's NCAA tournament performance, setting records and essentially carrying ND's team to coach Ivey's first Elite 8 finish with a team that few people thought was gonna do much.
Can't argue with that logic. But when is Buddy ever going to get to celebrate one of his own?
RE-PETE (A shameless, illegal lift of Pete Sampson's weekly mail-bag)
Finally, something to pay attention to.
Spring practice!
For those of starved for real information, still licking our wounds after getting shafted by the Committee (and the SEC), at least now we can turn our energies toward something more forward leaning and positive.
Like when is the last time we considered our Defensive Line a team strength?
And then there's the kicker upgrade...
-----------------------------
Pete Sampson calling his shot:
And it probably would have been for Brian Kelly, too. No doubt about Charlie Weis, Tyrone Willingham and Bob Davie.
Notre Dame has had some good defensive lines during that run, notably the 2018 group headlined by Jerry Tillery and Julian Okwara. The 2012 group with Stephon Tuitt, Kapron Lewis-Moore and Louis Nix was an elite fit for how the Irish played defense.
But in terms of talent at the top and quality depth, this one might stand alone by January.
-------------------------
Spencer Porath was a revelation during spring practice, basically hitting everything. He did it a week earlier in the jersey scrimmage, too. Saturday’s two field goals from 40-plus yards were more than Notre Dame hit from that distance all last season, when the Irish made just five field goals total. The whole season! In the past five years, only three teams made fewer field goals in a season than Notre Dame did last year.
Speaking of creative roster building, Porath’s “ghost transfer” is no longer allowed under new NCAA rules. He withdrew from Purdue in mid-January and enrolled at Notre Dame without ever entering the transfer portal. In the future, that kind of transfer will come with penalties of a half-season suspension for the head coach and a fine equal to 20 percent of the program’s operating budget.
Porath is good. But he’s not that good.
Source: The Athletic
April 30, 2026
Cocktail of the Week
Talk about a harmonic convergence!
An interesting book that I've never read (or even heard about) meets Jerrence's seasonal regimen: Martini Fridays!
And a cocktail served at only the most discriminating of weddings.
Woo hoo!
THE HOUSE ON VESPER MARTINI
The House on Vesper Sands
by Paraic O'Donnell (2018)
Brimming with wit, humor, and supernatural delights, this tale set in Victorian London offers some levity to a typically grim genre.
Following a mysterious suicide, before which a cryptic message was sewed into the skin of the deceased, a team of unlikely sleuths tries to untangle events.
Mix up a vibrant cocktail to help you guess who the culprit is.
Yield: 1 serving
-- 3 oz. London dry gin
-- 1 oz. vodka
-- ½ oz. Lillet Blanc (or Cocchi Americano)
-- Lemon twist, for garnish
-----------------------------
1. Place your martini glass in the freezer to chill.
2. Add ice cubes to a mixing glass.
3. Pour the London dry gin, vodka, and Lillet Blanc or Cocchi Americano into the mixing glass.
4. Stir the ingredients in the mixing glass using a bar spoon or stirring stick.
5. Remove the ice from the mixing glass, then strain the mixture from the mixing glass into the chilled martini glass.
6. Drop the lemon twist into the drink or garnish the martini glass with it.
Source: The Turn of the Screwdriver
50 Dark & Twisted Literary Cocktails
By Iphigenia Jones
Schedule 2026
September
6 Wisconsin @Lambeau Field
12 Rice
19 Michigan State
26 @Purdue
October
3 @North Carolina
10 Stanford Alumni Hall reunion weekend
17 @BYU
24 BYE
31 @Navy
November
7 Miami
14 Boston College
21 SMU
28 @Syracuse
December
TBD (after 2025, making no great assumptions)
Wager 2025
We know the 2026 football team is gonna be good. Like, really good. Frankly, outside of Albert and Garret Rasmus, I'll be shocked, nay disappointed, if anyone picks under 10 wins this coming year...
What we don't know is what the 2026 theme is... but we do have have a Final 3.
2026, The Year of...
Thoughts, anyone?
.jpg)
A taste of the qualitative possibilities:
- Who is generally viewed as winemaking's Father of Malolactic Fermentation process? (Hermann Müller-Thurgau)
Sports Imitating Art
 |
| Angel at the Tomb of Christ, by Benjamin West, 1813 |
Schadenfreude of the Week
One has to dig deep especially when there's really only one sport (football) that this blogger is deeply invested, emotionally.
Luckily, Jerrence has just such a resolve -- a reservoir if you will -- of far reaching sensitivity where one can find that soft underbelly of almost any team's misfortune and say, "Yep, that was a surprising choke. You're probably crushed. And I, for one, am ECSTATIC!"
It might be my only super power.
-----------------------------------------------
1. Duke. Recognizing that there's a significant percentage of the population that feels the same way about Notre Dame football as they do Duke basketball... this loss was spectacular! Up by 19 at one point and a brain dead, strategy-free final mess at the game's end... schadenfreude was created for moments like that.
Do I feel badly for the Duke kid -- a freshman -- whose panicked pass led to the turnover and deciding score? Sure.
Does it detract from my enjoying Duke's collapse? No, it does not.
Terry's Tools
Another person I don't hate -- perhaps one of the few things upon which Muffet McGraw and I disagree...
...is Geno Auriemma.
Early in life, my mother taught me this: tools are people too. (And that's even before I became acquainted with the myriad of Dillon Hall miscreants.)
He's a basketball coach. And a Philadelphian. Neither of which should, probably, be made too much of. Like genetics, they can't help it.
-------------------------------------------------
Which leads us to...
But there's no denying him his impact on the NFL and the level of coaching success he's had, likely never to be matched in our lifetimes. The very definition of a 1st ballot Hall of Famer.
So when one read how an anonymous Hall of Fame voter reported that Polian told his fellow voters Belichick should have to wait a year as penance for Spygate and Deflate Gate... that's some next level pettiness.
Polian, of course, had categorically denied it in the classic, Claude Rains-in-Casablanca-"I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!"-way but... c'mon.
Even by my generous allowance for grievance-based vindictiveness, that's not right.
2) Sign of the Apocalypse.
Released on bond, London and three other young men are alleged to have caused damage to 11 doors in a residence hall while participating in a viral TikTok 'door kick' challenge, as many other young people have done around the country.
At what point does the Athens Police Dept. say we've had enough of this bullsh*t? At what point does Kirby Smart say I've had enough of this bullsh*t?!
As the Brits used to love saying, "When pigs fly."
And filing vs. the NCAA, who doesn't think he won't win?
Failing that, he's off to the NFL -- just what the league office loves: a (apparently) talented QB with a penchant for betting.
5) Mohamed Toure. Remember when the "Animal House" line about 'seven years of college down the drain' was considered funny because of it's absurdity?
...and he's not alone in attempting this gambit:
- A judge with two degrees from the University of Tennessee granted a temporary restraining order to permit, for now, Tennessee's starting quarterback, Joey Aguilar, to continue training for an 8th season of college football.
- Subsequently overturned, Aguilar turns 25 this summer and will enter the draft
- Last month, a judge with a degree from the University of Alabama granted a similar order to permit an Alabama basketball player, Charles Bediako, to play this season despite him having left college and signed multiple professional contracts.
- Subsequently also overturned
So, what's the common denominator here?
Miami -- Tennessee -- Alabama. The South remains The Land of 'If You Ain't Cheatin', You Ain't Trying.'
6) Finally...
 |
| Too soon? |
Name of the Week
Who here has ever heard the Corrigan's "meet cute" origin story?
In 1982, Jerrence was playing in the Chicago 16" softball league, with Defarge being a recent new hire at his agency and her sister's friend inviting her to the Billy Goat for one of our game's standard after party.
The rest, as they say, is history.
What Jerrence tends to leave out -- it tends to become something of a distraction -- is the name of that Minnella family friend: Jeff Epstein.
No shit.
It follows therefore that one one can, for a variety of reasons, often feel like they know a lot about a person just by seeing their name.
Take another example, the name Markwayne.
It has a certain backwoods / Dukes of Hazzard / Steve Earle got a still up in the mountains with a thriving running hootch across state lines-before the ATF can nail my ass / business je de vive, yes?
I got nuthin'.
Thus I give you this month's award winner:
Oluwasemilore Olubobola
Before you can even say, "I'd like to buy a vowel, Alex," know that Mr. O is a) a New Jersey kid and b) a highly regarded high school football player -- in fact, considered a 5-star OT recruit drawing 35+ offers from the likes of Texas A&M, Penn State, Michigan, Miami, Rutgers (favorites), Nebraska, and yes, Notre Dame.
.
One can't help but think of the song, "The Name Game" and ask Shirley Ellis to try this name on for size...
…Oluwasemilore
Oluwasemilore, Oluwasemilore
Bo-bore, banana-fanna
Fo-ore, fee-fi-mo-more, Oluwasemilore
Just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?
Trivia
A) Henrik Ibsen
B) Thor Heyerdahl
C) Roland the headless Thompson gunner
D) Ungie
---------------------
(Last blog's answer: Mother Mccree’s Uptown Jug Champions was the first band formed by Messrs. Weir and Garcia. And as for which bands was Bob Weir a part, besides the Dead? Rat Dog, Bobby and the Midnites, Kingfish, Wolf Brothers and Ace all had Bob as a band member.
Daybreak.
Daybreak on the land...
I challenge anyone to work that fun fact into your next cocktail party conversation...
Final Thought
You're packing a suitcase for a place none of us has been
A place that has to be believed to be seen
You could have flown away -- a singing bird in an open cage
Who will only fly, only fly for freedom...
By rights, this being largely a Notre Dame football blog in it's orientation, one should be eulogizing Lou Holtz, bona fide ND legend and architect of the last national championship the program has experienced.
But everybody and their brothers did that. With all due respect to coach Holtz, he doesn't need another tribute from a 2nd rate blogger. And I didn't get to hang with him at Augusta National...
 |
| 1953 - 2026 |
But compared to Steph's rapier-like wit, the best of you had -- and I'm being charitable here -- a truncheon for a sense of humor.
Big and dull but still effective.
A ridiculously passionate Philadelphian -- honestly, is there any other? -- she was a huge fan of all Philly teams ("Santa Claus deserved getting hit with that ice ball. Bad Santa...").
One of my favorite memories of her was when she'd assail pro athletes of their rudimentary intellectual acumen -- the Packers of the 1980's were particularly easy fodder -- often talking of their difficulties with basic multiplication "and it's tricky friend, division."
About the only disparaging thing I could ever say about Steph was her passing along an overly-developed high fashion shopping addiction to her goddaughter, Ryan Corrigan. Thanks, Steph, we're still dealing with that psychosis.
The last couple years weren't especially kind to her, health-wise. And of late, her passing was more an inevitability than a surprise. But still, she is gone too soon.
And I know this to be a stone cold fact: the world is now a decidedly less interesting place.
Rest is peace, Steph.
No comments:
Post a Comment