Day 4: The Tragic Brevity of Time

Day 4 came faster than it should have. Much like my entire life. One day I was 8 and running around in the hills of PA. Today I'm a part-time blogger, graduated from ND 10 years and with a baby on the way. And...wait, hold on. We're not going down that path right now.

DAY 4!!!! Game day baby! Yeah!

Day 4 was structured to replicate a gameday for the players, at least as close as was possible. We got over to campus a bit later today (thank the Lord, I needed to sleep in just a tad) and headed straight to the Gug for Training Table. The addition of a training table is huge for the program, and was one area where ND was just MISSING, big time, previously.

Training Table is Sweet

We had a sweet spread of breakfast foods for us: fresh-made custom order omelettes, breakfast potatoes, fruit, sausage, bacon, you name it. During the meal, I talked with some of the coaches about how the players benefit from having the table. While a lot of it is nutritional, it's also helpful from a scheduling standpoint. The guys have a ton going on, and having the convenience of a table right there in the Gug is huge just from a logistics standpoint. Forcing the players to head all the way across campus, just to come back again (often in cold weather, late at night) just wasn't efficient. Oh, and the food is solid.

After breakfast we had our final team meetings to go over our offense and defense, and then we headed over for the pre-game Mass. Father Doyle, our old Dillon Rector, is the Team Chaplain for the home games. He splits those duties with another ND priest who handles away games. Dillon, representin'.

Father Doyle said a great Mass, and I have to say that this was one of the highlights for me on the trip. Not to get overly preachy, but I had forgotten how Notre Dame gets you once you're there for a few days. You may not be overly religious, or you may be super-religious. But either way, something seeps into you when you spend a few days at ND, and this mass was the apex of that feeling for me. It felt good, but it also reminded me that I don't feel like this in my every day life enough.

After mass, we did the walk to the Stadium. Rather than 100,000 rabid ND fans, we were greeted with a few random folks strolling the quads, and a couple squirrels. But we were all really fired up, regardless.

When we got to the locker room, the Game Day Uniforms were in our lockers. Full attire, including pants, and authentic gameday jerseys. Our names were no longer on our helmets, or our practice attire. It was gametime.

After suiting up, we all had some time on the field with our friends and families. Some guys had their wives and kids in, some their parents. But everyone had a good time hanging out on the field, taking pictures, and trying to soak in the moment. I even got Mike McCoy to come over and line up. Uh, this man could destroy me:



But thankfully he didn't. He just put a sweet swim move on me.

Soon after, we wrapped up the pictures and went through warm-ups. As we went through FSA (warm-ups, stretching), Skelly, and STs, they pumped "Here Come the Irish", the Fight Song, and songs from "Rudy" over the speaker system. I was ready to take on any and all comers.

I WAS FULLY GEARED UP AND READY TO PLAY IN NOTRE DAME STADIUM PEOPLE! FREAKING RUDY MUSIC WAS PLAYNG! I DON'T CARE IF IT'S A SCRIMMAGE, I DON'T CARE IF IT'S FLAG FOOTBALL, WHEN YOU PUT ON THAT GEAR AND RUN AROUND IN THAT STADIUM? IT. IS. ON!

We regrouped in the locker room, lined up in the tunnel, and we got it going. Guys were jumping up and down, smashing pads, head-butting, and just generally getting fired up. They were now pumping in crowd noise (the ~100 people watching did their best, but this was needed) and announced each of us in turn.

Running out of that tunnel is incomparable. That's about all I can say about it.

After the national anthem, it was game time. We were split into two fairly even teams (yeeeeah GOLD TEAM), and it was a defensive struggle. We punted on the first possession, and held the Blue team on the next. Multiple turnovers occurred in the first half as our QBs struggled to defeat the Cover 3 defense implemented on both sides. I played a good number of snaps at RB, and broke into daylight a couple times. Once on a well-executed option, and another time on a delayed run where I followed our pulling left Tackle through a big gap in the DL. (good work Mayhem!) Those runs were awesome. I had always wanted to play organized ball and had wondered how that would feel, and it felt suh-weeeeeet. You make a cut, see green grass and take off. It's amazing how quickly things get small and tight on such a big field, even at the pick-up/flag football level, but I was still able to get a few solid gains in there. On the option run, I needed to cut it back just a taaaad sooner, and I would've been gone for 6. I looked up and saw the defensive flow, saw the big break between the LBs and the Safeties, and I cut toward it - just as I was tackled. Damn.

On D, I played Field CB, meaning I played out there on an island. Happy to say, the yards gained on my side were minimal, and I had a few solid breaks on the ball and a few tackles. For the most part, they didn't come my way though - not sure if that was because of the big field (and the therefore longer passes) or because of my wildly intimidating presence. Hmmmm, I'll go with the latter.

After those first few series, we hit paydirt. A long pass deflected off a defender right into the arms of our WR, who scooped it up and scampered in from the 10 for the score. TOUCHDOWN GOLD. 6-0.

Then, the second part of my goal: Kicking for the Irish. We lined up, good snap, good hold...WHOMP. Nailed that baby right through the uprights and I would've been good from 35 yards out. 7-0, and I was as fired up as a wannabe kicker could be. (I don't care if this sounds lame to you, it was fan-freaking-tastic). I jumped around and head-butted guys and celebrated like I'd just won us the MNC. Whatever, it was great! (DMQ, all those days holding for me in Loftus back in the day paid off brother! Yeah, it may have been in a PAT in a Fantasy Camp game, but we MADE IT BROTHER! YOU AND ME, TOGETHER....wait...) Okay, back to the game:

We played at that score for the rest of the first half and the majority of the second, when fatigue started to set in. I could see guys huffing a bit, and some plays started to break open on both sides. We got down to the 20, only to throw a pick at the 5. Blue went for it on 4th and 5, only to turn it over on downs. Back and forth, until with a few minutes left we fumbled on our own 30. There was some controversy about this turnover, but regardless Blue put together a decent drive and went in for the score with a few minutes remaining. My boy Miller took a 17 run (lateral run play around the edge) in from the 10 or so with a great downfield block from his WR. 7-6, Gold up by 1.

Blue decided to go for the glory and dialed up a 2-point attempt. Pass play.

QB scrambles right, looks into the middle of the field and lets it fly....NO GOOD! We retain our lead and take over at the 30. After a decent drive, we turned the ball over in Blue territory (around the 40) on downs. With just over a minute left, we felt pretty good. But Blue had the ball, all 3 Timeouts, and a renewed sense of purpose. They also had a clock that was stopping after every play for some reason. But hey, that's how things go in Notre Dame Stadium - crazy things happen!

Anyway, down they drove, with multiple passes across the middle. They got down to our 15 with 23 seconds on the clock, but a false start backed them up to the 20. On 3rd down, they decided against an early FG attempt and went for it all across the middle....PICKED!

And the game was over. Gold wins 7-6! Victory formation, take a knee, let's crack some beers baby! (oh, and yeah, remember that PAT I nailed? yeah, game-winner. not a big deal or anything, just the game-winning play. really, don't get too excited, it only meant the W. no, seriously...)

It was an exciting finish to a fun game where I think everyone got to fulfill their dreams. Both sides had a blast - and win or lose, everyone had huge smiles on their faces afterwards. Guys were congratulating one another, enjoying the moment. It was awesome.

After the alma mater, we headed back to the locker room to shower it up and crack a beer. Family and friends joined us once we were decent, and we had one last shot at pictures, both digital and mental. Before we walked out to the banquet dinner, I took one last look around the room. My adventure as an ND player was over.

The Banquet was as classy and as well put together as the entire week. Great food, more time with coaches and staff and family, and a great program hosted by Mike Golic. Mike was in his classic form and he did a great job MC-ing for us. Coach Lou Holtz also swung by for a short surprise speech that ended up running over 20 minutes. Seeing Coach Holtz is always a treat, and his wit and charm were as sharp and on point as always. Great food, some great awards for the players, and a fitting wrap-up to a week of insane experiences for anyone that's Irish Faithful.

With that, we ended our week, and headed out to the bars on Eddy Street - no longer ND Football Players, we were back with the lay people. Back with the common man. Back to our old lives.

But I can promise you that, to a man, each of us retains a bit of that ND fire in our guts. We chose to suit up, and get our out-of-shape asses kicked for a few days. We chose to get out there, regardless of age and experience, and to give it our all. We chose to live.

We chose to defy the Tragic Brevity of Time.

Note: There's a lot more that went on during the week that I'll fill in in subsequent posts as the summer ends and we get into the season, including video footage and some additional pictures. Hope you enjoyed the recap. Thanks for coming along for the ride.