Longform

The end result of watching all your hope crushed. (Screen capture via EPSN)

The Tragedy of Hope: A Tale from the Virginia Hillside

September 14, 2015 by Ryan Ritter

On a few occasions, I have made the journey into enemy territory to watch Notre Dame football. Typically, the locations are either incredibly hostile or full of fans that are certain that they would defeat the Irish. For reference, here is my away game history: 2004 @ Michigan State (ND win 31-24) 2005 @ Michigan (ND win 17-10) 2005 @ Stanford (ND win 38-31) 2006 @ Southern Cal (ND loss 24-44) 2012 @ Oklahoma (ND win 30-13) Virginia fell into a whole other category. If there was ...

Notre Dame and Michigan: The End

September 10, 2014 by Ryan Ritter

I'm not used to storybook endings for Notre Dame football. That might sound a bit strange for a program full of feel-good lore, legends, and even a movie about a walk-on that managed to record a sack on his only defensive snap. That was all "back then" as many people that love to hate the Fighting Irish will consistently remind me. Recently, the script for Notre Dame football ends in nightmares. The 2012 season, and the events that followed after it, serves as a perfect example. After an ...

Witnessing the Death of the BCS

March 3, 2014 by Ryan Ritter

This story has aged two months, but it's still worth telling. My trip to Pasadena was filled with insanity. Watching Florida State come back and defeat my sister's school was only a small part of it. Before the trip even happened, my sister came down with flu-like symptoms. Since she was home for the holidays, my father and then my mother soon came down with the same illness. Post-Christmas, that house turned into a quarantine zone. Every day was a wellness-check/race to purge whatever the ...

Not Quite As Planned

November 5, 2012 by Ryan Ritter

I'm sure that a triple OT victory against an unranked opponent was far from the plan that Brian Kelly had for Notre Dame. Losing the turnover battle 3 to 0 surely wasn't in there as well. Nor was having the QB rotation finally backfire in the form of a Tommy Rees interception that led to 7 points for Pitt. I'm sure Kyle Brindza's kicking woes had no place in there as well. With all that I had planned for this football weekend, I figured the actual game would be the least of my ...