Labor Day: Have A Cigar

"If an officer stops you, promise me you'll always be polite

And that you'll never ever run away

Promise mama you'll keep your hands in sight...

Dateline:  Chicago, September 1, 2020.  Villa Lini.  Again. 

Your building really needs  to beef up its security...	Well, suffice to say, Linipalooza was a little different this year... understandable in these uncertain times.   I didn't count numbers but attendance appeared down. But some things never change:  copious amounts of wine, tasty culinary delights, challenging conversations and inevitably the surprise guest. The question was, who counts as the surprise?
Gruley, the new Floridian who declared in a most Hemingway-Meets-DiCaprio-In-The Revenant fashion, he was here 'on his way north...' Hunting Big Game, Bryan?  Facebook would suggest, more like to Eating Big Pie.  Or Ungie?  Perhaps more accurately, the Reverend Ungashick, making a flyby on his way to officiating a wedding ceremony.  Excuse me? Halloween isn't for almost two more months. But, of course, it makes perfect sense upon reflection - who among us hasn't found ourselves attending a midnight service at the Church of Ungie?  Salvation may not be on the agenda but the sermons are fabulous!		"Not many people know, Mark,  the northern Michigan  blueberry is a wily adversary..."

What that evening taught me - and I learned many things - this football season figures to be a really interesting mix of the vaguely familiar (NBC telecasts!) and the very, very different (more on that later).  Buckle up.

Word of the Week

Used in a sentence paragraph: 

As young Jerrence stared into his wine glass - they're saying this 2016 Chateau Neuf du Pape was a good year... what was he doing in 2016... he couldn't remember what he had for lunch - he listened to the host expound on the future of education in America. He considered the trajectory of the man's career:  from campus government  leadership to CEO and CNBC industry influencer... and in a flash he saw the friend's ultimate apotheosis:   Secretary of Education in Kamala's 2024 cabinet.

Taking another sip of his wine, and meaning no disrespect to his pal, Jerrence thought 'if Betsy DeVos could get appointed, how far fetched could that be?'  Damn, this wine was good.

Quote of The Day

"The object of life is not to be on the side 

of the majority but to escape finding 

oneself in the ranks of the insane…" 

                                      Marcus Aurelius

.

Well, Marc, maybe in 180 A.D.  But that was before the SEC was formed.

One-Week-To-Kickoff Observations

"Have you seen the chart?

It's a hell of a start,

It could be made into a monster,

If we all pull together as a team.."

"And did we tell you the name of the game, boy?

We call it "Riding The Gravy Train..."

Okay, raise your hand - be honest - if you thought we were going to have a football season? And speaking of being honest, we still may not.  Or at least a full, uninterrupted season as we're used to...

But hey, money talks.  So celebrate while you can!

Whatever news of the actual team's preparation is fairly limited and of a level that you probably know.  Allow me to summarize:

• The offense should be pretty good, and should have Kevin Austin (broken foot) back by when the meaningful October games kick in.
• The O-line should be really good - be isn't that pretty much an annual proclamation?
• The defense, while not having the obvious studs of recent years, should also be very, very good.  Prepare to say byeeee to coach Lea after this year.
• In Vegas prop bets it looks like this: 

In more mundane news that you surely already know but allows me to fill up space... 

• Attendance will be limited to students, faculty/staff and families of the home and visiting teams for the first five home games. 
• For the sixth, a Dec. 5 date with Syracuse, there may be a chance for the general public to attend that game.
• Fall semester ends just before Thanksgiving, so there will be no students on campus and no campus bubble to protect. Hmmm.
• Can you say, "tailgater?!" Who knows the code to Sully's condo?

Should we ever get to that point - and looking to tailgate in December, in South Bend, could suggest a psychosis where perhaps COVID is not the biggest issue one needs to worry about.  That said:

• Tailgating, loitering and open containers will not be permitted anywhere on campus.

• Masks must be worn on campus at all times and are a requirement to enter Notre Dame Stadium (except for children under 2).

• Parking lots will open 2 1/2 hours prior to kickoff for ticketed guests. Parking will be complimentary, and game tickets are required to gain entrance to the controlled event lots on game day.

• Fans will be permitted to bring hand sanitizer (not to exceed 4 oz.) into the stadium.

• Stadium gates will open two hours prior to kickoff. For guests seated in the stadium bowl, entry times will be noted on mobile tickets. Ticketed patrons are encouraged to arrive at their suggested entry time and maintain physical distancing while waiting in line.

• Phone charging stations and the seat cushion program will not be available.

• Game programs will not be printed. Complimentary digital game programs will be available for fans to download on und.com.

• The Rally House is a new VIP* experience where fans can connect with each other and ND celebrities through exclusive online watch parties prior to / during each home game.

Fans can purchase a Rally House season pass for all six home games and postseason games for $49 or a single-game pass for $15.

* using the term loosely. 

Buddy's Buddy

	Permit me to talk out of both sides of my mouth, on Buddy's behalf: 1) I have great trepidation about blanketly having schools - at any educational level - open without there being better protocols / resources to manage the process. 2) I fully support ND giving it a shot and trying to maintain not only the football season but the on-campus experience for the student body. Do I think revenue stream is a factor?  Absolutely.  Do I think ND will be successful in keeping it together?  50-50, at best.   But at least they're trying.
		For as smart as ND leadership has historically been, it's always amazed me how conflicted they seem to be about the school's football legacy in relation to its elite academic (Catholic)  mission.   It's not like the two sides are mutually exclusive.  To me, they've actually, always, been symbiotic.   So to not try to deliver the game day, autumn Saturday experience - even in some mutated form - would've been a disappointment. Bravi a tutti, Fr. Jenkins and Mr. Swarbrick.  Fingers crossed...

Question of the Week

Speaking of Jack, rather than leverage (read steal) information from The Athletic, here's a Q&A with him on a variety of topics that may or may not be of interest to you ....

Q: Can you elaborate a little bit more about the Rally House experience and why this was created and what you hope it becomes?

Swarbrick: I challenged our media staff to develop ways in which our fans could feel as connected as if they were with us. I think that’s our primary responsibility.

We had to implement a policy where it was limited to students, faculty and staff. So all those fans, who have come for so many years and to whom it’s so important and can’t be with us, we have an obligation to make alternatives available to them any way we can.

Q: Is there anything about the game day experience on NBC that changes, since most fans will only be able to experience the game that way?

JS: I think the short answer is no. It should be a lot like what they’re used to, but it’s also why these additional elements that we’re building are so important.

I could not be more happy with the broadcast crew we’ve drawn. I’m so excited. Mike Tirico is the best in the business, but to have Tony Dungy with us for a season is really special.

Q: How difficult was it to make the cutoff on no season-ticket holders / public beyond students, faculty/staff and families of the home and visiting schools?

JS: Where it started was the notion that students ought to be able to watch their fellow students play. So the starting point was, ‘We’re going to make a commitment to allow every student who wants to attend a game be able to attend it.’

“Other factors came into play. With physical distancing, what’s the impact of that? Once we made the commitment to the students, before we fully understood that it would represent 80% of the stadium with distancing, you find yourself with a very small footprint for anyone else.

“And it was natural then to keep it to the (campus) bubble, to limit the additional seats to faculty/staff.”

Q: Where will the families and the visiting fans sit, so they’re not mingling with the campus bubble?

JS: “Obviously there are limits to avoiding that. There will be trips to concessions stands and restrooms, so you can’t insulate them completely. They’ll have their own entrance and they’ll have their own area in which they’re seated.

“Our parents will be seated similar to where they’ve been seated in the past.  The visiting team families will have their own section more toward the south side of the stadium.”

Q: Will any of the premium seating areas be in use?

JS: “Not for premium seating purposes. We’ll use some of that space for football families, spouses of coaches, etc. We’ll use part of it for football staff, which can’t be on the field because of the strict restrictions. 

“Father Jenkins and I will continue to have access to the upstairs area, but it’s just for very limited purposes.”

Q: How will concessions work?

JS: Fewer stands. Fewer stand-alone kiosks. Mainly pre-packaged. Cashless transactions.

Q: When the game is over, how do you keep there from being congestion with fans getting out of the stadium?

JS: We think that we’re OK, given there are only 15,000 people spread around that much geography, that it will happen naturally. We’re going to monitor it for the first few games. If we need to discharge people by sections, we would. But our instinct is it will happen naturally.

Q: How do you create the home-field advantage?

JS: As you might expect, at the conference level, they’ve adopted very specific rules on artificial crowd noise. There’s really not an opportunity to do anything unique with that. It’s limited.

There’s a limit on the decibel level. The intention is its background noise as opposed to being spiked up and down based on the play.

You hope our venue, in and of itself, creates a significant home-field advantage, just because it can be an intimidating venue to have to come in to play in.

But beyond that, you probably are able to produce less of a home-field advantage, but you’ll face less of a home-field advantage on the road, too.

Q: I would imagine at some point the ACC is going to come up with guidelines regarding a threshold to cancel/postpone a game in terms of overall players missing or a position group being wiped out? Where is the ACC with that process and what might that look like?

JS: We’ve just got to be vigilant from game to game. You could imagine a relatively small number of players being out causing a problem if they’re all of a similar position group, from a player safety standpoint.

You could also imagine another scenario where you have a relatively high number of positive tests, but they don’t impact your ability to play the game or the contact tracing doesn’t take additional people out.

There’s just no way to start to say, ‘If we have X number of tests we don’t play.’ And I’m so encouraged by our results to date.

Q: The NCAA has essentially given every active player another year of eligibility. But as teams start adding players through recruiting and the transfer portal, have you been given any guidelines about expanded roster sizes and how those would be calculated?

JS: None. Until you have some other rule to follow, you’ve got to continue to operate under the current one. I know there will be discussion about this, but it will be after the season. So I don’t expect any further instruction on it until after the season.

Q: Now that we’re less than 10 days away from the opener and on the runway for a fall football season, what do you feel most good about and what still worries you about what lies ahead?

JS: I’m most proud of our student-athletes. You had about 1% positive rate in testing. That’s happening because they’ve been so great about doing everything they’ve been asked and very vigilant. And they’ve prepared for the season really well.

I’m not surprised by it. That’s the nature of this place, but boy am I proud of them.

What am I most worried about? I’m worried about the things we can’t control. I have great confidence in our team. I have great confidence in our plan for home games. I have great confidence in the testing protocols that the ACC has put in place.

Are we going to run into communities that can’t host a game? Or states that adopt travel restrictions or things that are completely out of our control that could have a significant consequence on the season?

I think we couldn’t be better positioned for the things we can control.

Q: How will travel be different from past years — and let’s assume there aren’t travel restrictions?

JS: We’re really going to be locked down when we arrive. There won’t be any interaction with family or friends when we arrive at visiting sites. I hate that, but it’s the right thing to do.”

Q: When the student population experienced a surge in outbreaks shortly after arriving for fall semester and Father Jenkins quickly pivoted to remote learning, had ND not pivoted back to in-person learning, is there a chance we would not have had fall football?

JS: After 28 years as a lawyer, you learn never to answer hypotheticals. I’m going to pass on the hypothetical and say, 'I’m really happy, but not surprised, that our students responded to Father Jenkins’ call.'

Cocktail of the Week

Autumn in Scotchlandia beckons.  The days grow shorter, the boating opportunities fewer.   And similarly, the transition from light to dark spirits is upon us.  Like wearing white after Labor Day, how does one put brother Hendrick's or sister Patron on the shelf so immediately?   Or little Tito? Not today, Satan.

A Time To Swill

A Time To Kill (1988)

By John Grisham

With a meager initial print run as a debut novel from an unknown lawyer, A Time to Kill wasn't exactly destined for a hyperbolic success.  (Until, that is, the film adaptation of the author's second book, The Firm, stirred up an appetite for the All-American legal thrillers that would cement John Grisham as a household name.) 

With echoes of To Kill A Mockingbird, Grisham's story of a young rape victim in a racially divided South was inspired by a similar story he overheard in the halls of his local courthouse..  

A time to kill?  How about a time to drink.  Take a seat on the porch - or man cave, or kitchen, the bathroom is your spouse is being judgey - and serve up this spiked sweet tea. 

*  2 oz. tequila
*  1 oz. Aperol
*  1 oz. sweet Vermouth
*  4 oz. sweet tea

Pour all the ingredients into a shaker with ice and shake for 5 seconds*  Strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice and grab a gavel.  Verdict:  guilty - of awesomeness.

* Six shalt thou not count, nor either count thou four, excepting that thou then proceed to five. Seven is right out. Once the number five, being the fifth number, be reached, then, drinketh thou thy Most Special Sweet Tea."

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

by Tim Federle

The Season 

September

12            DUKE                    2.30pm      ET    / NBC

19            USF                        2.30pm      ET    / USA Network

26            @Wake Forest    TBA

October

3               Bye

10             FSU                       7.30pm      ET    / NBC

17             LOUISVILLE        2.30pm    ET    / NBC

24            @Pitt                    TBA

31             @Geogia Tech    TBA

November

7                CLEMSON          7.30pm    / NBC

14            @BC                      TBA

21            Bye

27            @UNC                   Thanksgiving Friday!

December

5              SYRACUSE            TBA    / NBC

12/19      ACC Championship

Wager 2020 - Taking the Leap..

"Come on aboard, I promise you we won't hurt the horse

We'll treat him well, we'll feed him well

There's lots of room for you on the bandwagon

The road may be rough, the weather may forget us..."

                                                        

In many ways this is the perfect year for a spicey wager - so many variables basically coming down to one question:  how many games will actually be played?  What happens, kin conference play, if one team plays more than another?  Unlike prior years, this pool will ask 'how many wins do the Irish have at the end of the 2020-21 season, regardless of whether a full season (including championship and bowl games) is played or not.

Suddenly, Alvin / Feifar's 6-7 win prognostications don't look so dystopian if there's only a half a season played. 

At any rate, I don't have to explain to any of you - certainly not the Business and Engineering majors - the concept of Jungian archetypes.  Defined as universal symbols that derive from the collective unconscious from the sum total of human history - no biggie - they help determine the degree of one's individualism.  

So, in this context, one might say, what does your prediction say about you?   

Wins	Archetype (Embodies)	Domer
12+	Marcel (Lunacy).   This construct, not officially Jungian... would surely exist had Carl met Dave.  New Jersey meets California with a sneaky, sly madness and a dollop of WTF.  The result?  A "he did not just do that" kind of guy. Yes, he did do that.  He'll go for 14 wins if you let him.	Gary (14) John (14) Moon (14) Raz The Elder (13) Peter (13) Gutsch (12) Bob (12) Jim S (12) Bryan (12) Marcel (of course)
11	The Magician (Power).    "Dreams really can come true" albeit in somewhat unfathomable ways, defying common belief... the Magician is a true Visionary where one sees ND running the table, at least to the point of making it to the ACC Championship and, likely, beating Clemson at least once.	Jerry Jerry Jerry Jerry Jerrence Bill Ted Randy
10	The Hero (Mastery).    Primarily motivated by proving their worth through courage and determination, this archetype suggests an ND season where nothing is easy and considerable success is achieved despite daunting, unforeseen obstacles.	Rev. Mark
9	The Ruler (Control).    This is all about Dominance through Intimidation.  Confident, in control. For ND, a solid year where an authoritarian mentality may not get them all the way to the BCS finish line.	Matt Sully Bose Mike G
8	The Jester (Enjoyment). Here, we're all about having fun and seeing the glass half full.  8 wins could mean an undefeated season in a truncated, pandemic affected season.  Or it could just be '8 more wins than any of those Big 10 wussies had...'  Either way, we had a pretty good time.	Alvin Jim T
7	The Creator (Innovation)    With a desire to create something new and exceptional where there previously wasn't, does a 7-win season indicate some unforeseen growing pains w a new OC and several inexperienced skills position players.   A season where less than a full slate is played could still be a successful one, setting up a great '21 campaign.
6	The Explorer (Freedom).   Manifesting a palpable inner drive to push themselves outside their comfort zone - it's a "we understand the risks we're taking!" attitude.   Unfortunately ND can't overcome them all, whether they're internally or externally driven.
5	The Sage (Understanding).    Seeker of Truth, Knowledge and Wisdom, this archetype may suggest a 'I told you it was a bad idea to play a contact sport during a pandemic'  scenario.  The 2020 season gets cancelled halfway through. "But, still, we were 5-0..."
4	The Outlaw (Liberation).   This figure digs anarchy, with a "you not the boss of me" disdain for rules. For the ND season that may suggest a 'go for it' mentality where the wheels ultimately come off - either from a team meltdown or a season's premature cancellation.
3 or less	The Innocent (Safety).    A positive personality that craves safety while wishing for all to be happy.  Honest and with no ill-will... no agendas... they believe everyone has the right to truly be who they are. Unfortunately, in an ND football context, The Innocent sees virus spikes with students back on campus and by the end of September, feels prudence demands that the plug be pulled on the football season.	Mike C

                                                          

Schadenfreude of The Week

	ON HOLD FOR ONE MORE WEEK...

Terry's Trolls

It has become clear, to me, that in this day and age, idiocy has increasingly become in the eye of the beholder. And until football cranks up in a significant way - or the other sports* leave their behavioral bubbles, it is on very shaky ground that one can play the 'this guy is a tool' game. That said, can we recognize our own ND students for IMMEDIATELY acting like college students and IMMEDIATELY partying the very first chance they got - and jeopardizing the football season?  Sure!  Woo hoo!  Not that any of us would've done any different. *BTW, José Altuve now hitting .224.

1.  Keeping with an academic thread... I have newfound respect for my academician brother / sister-in-law.  Not that they've ever come across someone this moronic at Penn.  Oh, wait...  On the other hand, Wills / Maher / Behrens may have - allegedly - written something akin to this at my Personal Finance final senior year.  Of course they were at a disadvantage - having a) not been actually  enrolled in the course and b ) drinking at The Linebacker the prior 7 hours.  Rumor has it they scored similarly. 2. And then there's Lori Loughlin, the actress who paid $500k to secure their daughters admission to USC.  Sentenced to 2 months in prison (hubby got 5 months), the couple will collectively pay $400k and serve 350 hours of community service.  Our long national nightmare is over.

Final Thought

All lies and jests

Still a man hears what he wants to hear

And disregards the rest... 

Written over 50 years ago. 

August: Positively No Dancing!

"In this world I lock out 

all my worries and my fears

In my room..."

Month 5 of the Great Quarantine:  Is it safe yet to come out?

--------------------------------------------------

Dateline:  Chicago, December 29, 2011.

The Feifars and Corrigans are being feted at the Dearborn Street Villa Lini - in recognition of both Tom and Terry's recent birthdays and the occasion of the ND-FSU bowl game.  One doesn't need to tell this audience that the largesse of the Castellini's know few bounds.  And this evening it was being manifested through the seemingly endless bottles of Italian varietals that kept appearing before our persons. Name a region - Tuscany?  Piemonte? Veneto? - and bam! let's crack that bad boy open...

"Top that off for you, Tom?"  

"You have to ask..." 

Through the course of the evening and with the desultory performance of the Irish coming to a close, the evening's conversation turned to other topics, some more surprising than others. Jerry: "Who's up for seeing REO Speedwagon in concert with me next week?" Awkward silence. Judy (and I'm paraphrasing): "Not if it were the last f***ing thing on this earth..."

It was at that point - the hour was pushing midnight and the Corrigans plan to see a midday matinee was feeling more like a late afternoon affair - when our host, after extolling the many under-rated virtues of REO, indicated that he had a CNBC talking head gig the next morning - and that he'd be making three REO references, in proper market context, within his segment. Terry (processing): "Excuse me.  You're on CNBC in, like, 8 hrs... and you have to make full sentences 'n stuff?" Tom:  "Is there any more of that Brunello left?"

"I made FOUR," read the text the following morning.

For those of you who are doubters - I know you're out there - I went to the CNBC website and pulled up the clip.  Sure enough.  Although the 4th reference smacked of just showing off.

------------------------------------

At any rate, it was with REO showing up on the Netflix series, Ozark, that I found myself thinking recently of that evening - and with current world events being what they are, the clearly underrated abilities of the band's powers of prophecy: 

• Riding The Storm Out
• April.  "Auntie Em! Auntie Em!  It's a biological twister!  Everyone to the cellar..."

• Roll With The Changes
• May.    Okay, maybe this pandemic thing-y is more than just a passing viral squall.  But Twin Anchors is still open for take out, right?

• Keep Pushing
• June.  "I used to be lonely 'till I learned about living alone.  I found other things to keep my mind on..."

• Time For Me To Fly
• November. "I make you laugh and you make me cry..." Whomever wins the election a significant portion of this blog's readership are going to be contemplating flight.  (Daryl, you might want to consider holding a lottery for any spare space in the house.)

• Keep On Loving You
• Prophecy foretold of a young Econ major / future Chief Investment Officer... and The Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name for SCOTUS' baddest ass, Notorious RBG.

REO.  Were they oracles?  Future Fed economists? Or wannabe political campaign managers?  No wonder they're his favorite band.

The time has come for you my friend

To all this ugliness we must put an end...

Word of the Week

Used in a sentence paragraph: 

As young Jerrence contemplated his new lakefront life, he began to ideate on the potential for a late stage career path change... one that would dovetail with his newfound commitment to never again having to actually wear pants. Q1. What was his favorite job, ever? Bartender.   Q2. What doesn't my lake have?  A bar.   Bingo!  Scotchlandia Meets Waterworld in the form of an Old World shebeen.  Brilliant!

Boats and liquor - what could possibly go wrong?  Especially when the max speed for any vehicle on Flint Lake is 10 mph.  Now if one had suggested a liquor + fireworks emporium concept (this is Indiana, after all), now that would be reckless.   Not to mention super illegal.

On the other hand, there does seem to be a market...

Quote of The Day

"Your life or mine?" 

Whitey Herzog

...when offered a lifetime contract by 80 yr. old Cardinals owner, Gussie Busch

A sadly relevant question these days. 

"It's necessary to be slightly underemployed 

if you are to do something significant." 

James Watson
(co-discover of DNA)

If that's the case, we are sitting on the mother lode of innovation in 2021...

Off-Season Observations, COVID edition

"I got tired of being good
Start missing that feeling free

Stopped acting like I thought I should 

And went back to being me.

Funny how falling feels like flying for a little while..."

One man's COVID / quarantine thoughts - hopefully you're not expecting anything football related.   If not, may I suggest...

TV 1 Ozark.  I can't recall which episode it was where Lisa turned to me and said, "I want to live like that!  Except without the internecine heroin and Mexican cartel war complications." I looked her in the eyes, soulfully, and replied, "I will be your Jason Bateman. Just please don't be my Laura Linney - she terrifies the living shit out of me." And now we live on a lake. 2 What We Do In The Shadows.  Funniest show on TV and I will brook no disagreement.

\ Jackie Daytona, regular human bartender.

Film 1 Seven Psychopaths. Not, in fact, a Dillon Hall documentary ('The Rasmus Years') but an underrated 2012 dark comedy that merits revisiting - with a remarkable cast incl. Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Christopher Walken, Woody Harrelson. 2 Muscle Shoals. This one is a documentary, paying tribute to a small recording studio in Alabama where an amazing (and surprising) number of iconic songs were cut - and the unlikely musicians who made it happen.  A few different insights, not the least of which involves race relations.   Worth watching just to see Mick Jagger, in full Carnaby Street garb, come out of his local Motel 6 - yeah, Mick, you blend.

Muscle Shoals got The Swampers They've been known to pick a song or two Lord they get off  so much They pick me up when I'm feeling blue...

Books Say Nothing. If one is a world history buff (Ungie) or simply keen to better understand this particularly bloody chapter in their Irish lineage (Lini), check this out - a re-telling of The Troubles in Norhtern Ireland as told by the actual participants.   Lucky strike extra:  you'll gain another reason to dislike Boston College. Last Days of Night.  If one is fan of historical fiction, ala the Erik Larson /  Devil In The White City genre, consider the story of the 1890 'current wars'... Edison v. Westinghouse, with Tesla as key chess piece.  Nice read.

Okay, a little football talk... on the heels of learning today of the 2020 ND stadium protocol:  only students, faculty, player parents and, 400 visiting team fans in the Stadium this Fall. 

No exceptions.

And by 'no exceptions,' they mean 'no club class, no 1842 Club.'  

Um... WTF?!   Take my US Postal system but not 1842...

ND partnership with Guinness?  Yes, please.    Can my purchases qualify as charitable contributions?  Theo...
Recruiting.  This seems to be a particularly high risk time to be making any sweeping proclamations about ND recruiting during a period of such social volatility.   There was my Springtime "God must hate ND" period - why else would He undermine the potentially greatest recruiting weekend in 30 years by throwing down a biblical plague?  (Really?  You couldn't wait two freakin' weeks?) Now ND seems to be on a roll and there's even a school of thought that says kids are gonna bail on those programs whose conferences have cancelled their autumn season (the logic of which escapes me but kids, whaddya gonna do, right?)...  It's worth celebrating something positive right?  The verbal commitment of 4-star OG Rocco Spindler capped a productive couple of weeks. During an 11-day span from 7/29 - 8/8, ND received verbal commitments from 3-star RB Logan Diggs, 3-star TE Mitchell Evans, 4-star LB Prince Kollie and Spindler, which lifted the Irish to #12 in the 247Sports composite team rankings. Of ND’s 17 verbal commitments in the Class of ‘21, 9 are listed as composite 4-stars and eight are 3-stars.  Of the eight 3-stars, five have 4-star upside:  CB-Ryan Barnes, S-Justin Walters, RB-Logan Diggs, OT-Joe Alt and DB-Chance Tucker

Buddy's Buddy

	When is the last time Buddy - God rest his soul - actually saw a fellow canine as a nominee to be his pal?  I believe the Flaherty dogs were last to see such recognition - and that took them having to fly to South Bend to be vetted.  (Hey, no one said this honor was lay up.) Well, today is that day - again.  While Terry awaits to receive his end of the "Lisa gets a lakehouse, Terry gets a dog" agreement (can you say 'bait 'n switch') the Corrigan girls have been hard at work adding to the brood.  Meet: Denali, Granite and Jade (the latter two rotties local Valpo rescues) Jack (chow rescue via Houston) Welcome to the family.  Still waiting, Lisa.  Tick tock...

Question of the Week

It appears, based on admittedly scant anecdotal (and self-serving) evidence... that many of you are now subscribers to The Athletic - an accomplishment that I take no credit for, or sadly, receive no financial participation.  Be that as it may, I feel less guilty of outright journalistic theft if I choose to believe many of you have already read this.  So, from Pete Sampson's Aug. 13th 'what have we learned so far' article about ND's preseason camp in a COVID world - a couple snippets re players who may of high interest:    

Can Bennett Skowronek be the exception?

When Notre Dame took Northwestern grad transfer Bennett Skowronek last winter it felt like the Irish had added receiver depth but not a player who would automatically slot into the rotation. That perception changed quickly during offseason conditioning, and circumstances changed when Kevin Austin underwent foot surgery, opening a spot at the W receiver position, where Chase Claypool played last year and Miles Boykin played a season earlier. Skowronek, who had 110 catches for 1,417 yards and eight touchdowns as a Wildcat, continues to challenge those assumptions into the start of training camp to the point that he might have run with the first team Wednesday.

How Skowronek established himself so quickly at Notre Dame began with quarterback Ian Book, who helped host the receiver on his visit last December. The two quickly connected, and Skowronek flew to California during the summer to throw with Book around his home base in El Dorado Hills.

“I think he’s gonna be faster than people expect,” Book said. “Long. Rangy. Soft hands. Tall.

“Is he Chase Claypool? No. But that long receiver, he brings that back. And he wants to be a coach. There’s nothing better than a player that wants to be a coach. He knows the playbook in and out. He’s done nothing but make flashcards and study harder than anybody. As a QB, that’s the best you could ask for.”

Notre Dame’s track record at receiver with grad transfers has been disappointing, with Freddy Canteen and Cam Smith playing only bit parts on the 2017 team, even though both started against Georgia. They combined for nine catches, 67 yards and one touchdown that season. For Skowronek, that might be his stat line in the opening week against Duke.

Will Chris Tyree be as advertised?

As a rule, freshmen don’t feature much in opening practices against frontline players. Still, if they have the athleticism to hack it at the college level, that shows somewhere during these early days, even if they’re dusting other freshmen. There’s a good chance running back Chris Tyree would have flashed that way, even though he may be behind Jafar Armstrong, Jahmir Smith, C’Bo Flemister and Kyren Williams on the depth chart for reps. Tyree won’t have to compete against Stanford grad transfer Trevor Speights for reps, though, after the running back announced his medical retirement without completing a practice in South Bend.

Tyree will wear No. 25 and is listed at 5-foot-9 1/2 and 179 pounds, dimensions that raised some concern about his durability at the college level following a senior season cut short by a severe ankle sprain. Around the Notre Dame program, however, Tyree has answered those questions during summer conditioning and might already be bigger than his listed weight. For a position that’s short on speed, a state champion sprinter could make a big difference in unique spots.

“The thing that we were not certain of was what was his physicality going to be?” Kelly told The Athletic over the summer. “Was he going to be a guy that was gonna get knocked off his feet? (Strength) coach (Matt) Balis is really pleased with where he is from a physical standpoint and what his workload capacity is just in these first three weeks. Did we have a guy we were gonna have to send out in the slot and reverse sweep him, pitch it to him, kind of finesse with him? It doesn’t appear that way. It appears that this is a guy that we can play as a single back and play him as a normal running back. Can he get 30 carries? No, he can’t. But he’s a guy that’s showed a physical ability that’s rating pretty high for us.”

Cocktail of the Week

Summer in Scotchlandia.  In these days of ever increasing tinder box-like racial tension, what better time than now to draw upon an author (and a set of characters) that did so much to shine a light on the topic in the '60s (and possibly confuse those same readers sixty years later). While comfortably bringing scotch into the equation!   (Counter-intuitive, yes - this is clearly still gin swilling season.)

Still, a win-win!

Go Get A Scotch, Man

Go Set A Watchman (2015)

By Harper Lee

A possibly too-good-to-be-true novel: Go Set A Watchman was published as Harper lee's "follow up" novel to To Kill A Mockingbird.   The real life story goes that a lawyer uncovered the unpublished manuscript in a safe deposit box, thrilled to discover the same characters (Scout! Atticus!) all grown up (and in the later's case, now spouting some arguably racist views).

It proved an instant best seller and sparked quite a controversy (these days, what doesn't) with some claiming the elderly Lee was being taken advantage of.  

Go get a scotch, man, and pull together some finely aged ingredients that are suspiciously delicious.

*  2 oz. scotch (choose your favorite, no prejudice here)
*  2 oz. Campari
*  2 oz. sweet Vermouth
*  3 dashes Angostura bitters

Pour all the ingredients into a Tupperware container.  Let the mixture age until you forget about it (i.e., 4 weeks or the first college football game, whatever comes first).  Strain into a rocks glass over ice.

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

by Tim Federle

The Season 

Scratch Western Michigan. 10 games, until further notice...

Wager 2020 - Taking the Leap..

"'Don't want nobody who won't dive for dimes..."

                                                        

To bet or not to bet?  That is the question.  

Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous forecast. 

(12-0? Really, Marcel?  They're only playing 10 games.)  

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles. 

(Whaddya mean the Big 10 and the PAC-12 has bailed, jeopardizing the entire season for everyone?).  

And by opposing, end them. 

(Just watch when those B10 players and recruits bail because YOU'RE PUSSIES!)

To sleep perchance to dream.

(Based on the amount of Bombay Sapphire ingested over the last few hours, I don't know about dreaming - but sleep is definitely coming in 3-2-1...).

                                                          

Schadenfreude of The Week

	Here's the rub with embracing a 'live your best schadenfruede' lifestyle.  You actually need some schade to 'frueden Sie sich, bitte' as the Deutschers might say. The accursed pandemic has even taken that away from me. And honestly, how many confederate statutes removed can one celebrate before it all gets a bit... blasè?
And without any games to meaningfully invest in - I'm sorry, I can't quite track w the NBA bubble and am not convinced one can take seriously a 60 game MLB season.  Even if they do make it through it, of which this writer remains skeptical. So let us hope that changes soon...

Terry's Trolls

	I know I've said this before but if idiots were an energy source, or the basis of an economy - wait, that is actually the basis of consumerism - we'd be in great shape... Except, of course, for the inevitable fallout from all the dumbass sh** those economic engines unleash on the world. As the popular expression goes, "ya can't fix stupid."  Accordingly, this week's submissions...

1)  Jose Altuve   Hitting .187 so far this year.  Just sayin'... 

2)  Dr. Stella Immanuel.  Even if you weren't POTUS's new favorite medical consultant, I'd still be a huge fan.  While your determination to 'out' all of the reptillian aliens in government was a bit of a non-story (I mean, duh, have you ever seen Mark Meadows?)... your blowing the lid off the dangers of astral demon sex was boffo!  My state, Indiana, always at the forefront of healthcare, has taken that and run with its obvious application to COVID-19 testing protocols.  Who needs a vaccine when we've got your out-of-the-box thinking?

 

2 out of 3 is good, right?

3)  Kanye West.  Running for president?  Sure, why not.  Because we can never have enough wealthy, self-absorbed delusional sociopaths on the ballot.

Now there's a stable genius... 

4) Kemah Siverand.  Who?  Exactly.   Arguably in the conversation, this week, for dumbest human on the planet (and that's saying something these days), he (was) an undrafted Seattle Seahawks free agent who got cut by the team - for trying to sneak a woman into the team's hotel.  Quarantine schmorantine! 

Apparently he thought that if she wore a Seahawks jersey, she could pass for a football player.  

I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt and suggest that it was a case of a phenomenally bad strategy - driven by extreme horniness - and not that she was actually of credible pro football physique. 

Regardless, the kid's career is now done. Hope she was worth it. 

5)  The Washington... Football Team?   The name just rolls off the tongue.  The Dan Snyder Ship of Fools sails on!  One can only hope they paid an obscene amount of money to a branding consultancy for that result. 

(It'd be an improvement from where they are now.)

6.  ESPN.  You punted the wrong Golic.

Final Thought

• Appropos of absolutely nothing, tell me this isn't reminiscent of Dr. McGuire (or Cincotta) in the 801 front room, on basically any Friday night, with the trusty Virty Bird poised ready for take off.

So I opened up my eyes

And I took a look around.

Saw written across the sky

The revolution starts now.

Sing it, Steve.