Retro Fridays ... Bizarre Love Triangle

What's a retro Friday without a tune by New Order!

Ahhh ... Bizarre Love Triangle. This song sparks so many stories from my college days. Two in particular come to mind.

The first of which is the first formal dance we had in college ... which was a night that turned out to be a comedy of errors, all sparked by one gentleman, who we'll just call "J" (who thank goodness was not MY date).

His two most memorable actions of the night were as follows. 1.) serenading ME, and dancing all over me to the song Bizarre Love Triangle (did I mention that he was NOT my date). I just stood there thinking ... what ARE you doing?

And then 2.) pissing my friend T off on the bus ride home, so much so that she leaned over her date to punch J, missed J, and punched HER date instead. (Which caused me to spend the ENTIRE next day patching things up between T and her date, and clearing up the punching misunderstanding! But no worries, T and her date ended up getting married!)

(us circa 1989 ... lol)

Nice couch, huh?

The second Bizarre Love Triangle moment occurred at another dance Freshman year. This dance was affectionately referred to as a SYR dance ... Screw Your Roommate. You were supposed to set your roommate up on a blind date (and I guess you were supposed to "Screw Your Roommate" with a bad date, but we never did that).

So my friends set me up with this guy that I had a HUGE crush on! We had a great night, but the funniest thing happened. We are out on the dance floor (what is it with me and dance floors??) and Bizarre Love Triangle comes on and he starts dancing all crazy ... flailing his head around ... and he says "This is how we danced at my High School." Oh boy ... what have I gotten myself into!!

We still laugh over that today. Whenever Bizarre Love Triangle comes on, my friend K and I look at each other and say, "This is how we danced at my High School!"

Good times!

Okay ... enjoy a little New Order ... and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Cheers!

Retro Fridays ... The Waitresses

Seeing as this Friday is not only a Retro Friday, but also Christmas eve, I'm going to do a Retro Christmas song!

Who didn't love the 80's Christmas favorite by The Waitresses ... Christmas Wrapping?! What? You've never heard it! This is definitely worth a listen!

Christmas Wrapping is a fun 80's song, with a good story to it ... and great for dancing around the living room.

Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas! Couldn't miss this one this year! (Click here or on image to hear song!)


The Waitresses were an experimental new wave band from Akron, Ohio. The group was led by guitarist/songwriter Chris Butler, with lead vocals performed by Patty Donahue.

The Waitresses were best known in the UK for their holiday song Christmas Wrapping, which still gets airtime on the radio every Christmas. In the United States they had some success with the song I Know What Boys Like, from their 1982 debut album Wasn't Tomorrow Wonderful.

Here is I Know What Boys Like ... (Click here or on image to hear song!)

Cheers ... and may you have a simply wonderful Christmas! And in case I am off the grid next week, best wish for a happy, healthy, and blessed 2011!!

Throwback Thursday ... Catholics vs. Convicts

In light of the upcoming Notre Dame/Miami rematch at the Sun Bowl, my Throwback Thursday will be a look back at the 1988 Notre Dame vs. Miami football game, known to most as the "Catholics vs. Convicts" game. Both teams were undefeated when they met in South Bend, and Notre Dame won the fiercely battled game by a final score of 31-30.

The name "Catholics vs. Convicts" was created by an enterprising Notre Dame student, Patrick Walsh, who printed t-shirts carrying the slogan prior to the legendary match up between the two teams in 1988.

The two teams met on October 15, 1988, at Notre Dame stadium, with both teams being undefeated. Miami, the defending national champion, came in ranked #1 holding a 36-game regular season winning streak while the Irish were ranked #4. The game, which started out with a pregame fight between the two teams in the entrance tunnel, was named by USA Today as one of the greatest college football games of the period 1982-2002.

Near the end of this tight scoring game, Miami scored a touchdown with 45 seconds left in the fourth quarter to pull within one point of Notre Dame, 31-30. Instead of kicking the extra point and likely ending the game in a 31-31 tie, Miami head coach Jimmy Johnson decided go for the two-point conversion, later explaining that "We always play to win." However, Steve Walsh's pass on the play was knocked down by Pat Terrell, and Notre Dame snapped Miami's winning streak and won 31-30.

Notre Dame would finish the 1988 season 12-0, beating #2 Southern California 27-10 on November 26 in the last game of the season and #3 West Virginia in the 1989 Fiesta Bowl 34-21 on January 2, 1989 to win their 11th National Title. Miami would win the rest of its games and finish #2 behind Notre Dame in the polls.

And if you haven't gotten enough yet, check out some video highlights of the game here!

Comments (and memories) on the game are always welcome!

Cheers!

Scared of Santa?

Wordless Wednesday

Got a good caption for this one? haha

Cheers!

My Life as a Soundtrack

My apologies for all of the music posts as of late, but some days I think that my story can best be told through music, rather than through words.

I've been reflecting lately on Offspring #1's upcoming adventure into the realm of dating, and all of the excitement and heartache that goes along with that. Boy, I have no desire to relive those teenage years again. Even though it did come with a lot of memorable, exciting, happy, blissful moments ... it also came along with it's fair share of heartache and tears.

All of those boys/young men, that I thought were "the one" who turned out to just be a fleeting moment of happiness, and then a crash and burn of heartache. It was all worth it, truly it was ... but as a Mother, you want to shield your child from all of that heartache ... even though you know that that heartache is the path to finding "the one." It is still not the most pleasant of journeys, but necessary I suppose!

So I leave you with a little 80's, adolescent teenage heartache music for today ... So In Love, Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark.

So In Love ...

Talk to me,
don't lie to me
Save your breath

Don't look at me,
don't smile at me
Just close your eyes

I was so impressed by you
I was running blind
I would fall for every trick
Every twist of mind

Heaven is cold
Without any soul
It's hard to believe
I was so in love with you

Don't say your prayers,
don't build your hopes
Just walk away

Don't phone me up,
don't call around
Don't waste your time

You were so in awe of me
You were so divine
You would do just anything
To still be mine

Heaven is cold
Without any soul
It's hard to believe
I was so in love with you

All the things you said to me
I was so obsessed
You were always talking talking
God I did my best

Heaven is cold
Without any soul
It's hard to believe
I was so in love with you

Cheers!

Manic Music Monday

Did I mention how much I love music? I do. I absolutely love music. I love how a certain song can bring back a memory of an event, a person, or even a specific time in our life.

This particular song does just that. Fool in the Rain, by Led Zeppelin

I love the movie Almost Famous. Maybe that's because I can kind of relate to Penny Lane's characters ... as my "bestie" from college and I were somewhat groupies (Band-Aides) of this local college band that shall remain nameless.

The band was a pretty decent band. They played some of their own music ... and then a mixture of cover tunes from classic rock bands and some current music. They had a very unique sound, and they were a lot of fun to watch. Plus the guys in the band were easy on the eyes, and that didn't hurt either.

So I'm in the car the other day and Fool in the Rain comes on the radio ... and instantly this band we followed in college pops in my head ... because this is one of the songs that they used to cover. What a great time in my life this was. My Senior year of college. So much fun. So much promise for the future. It's funny how a song can conjure up such warm, happy feelings!

So enjoy ... Fool in the Rain ... light of the love that I've found!



And I'll also leave you with one of my favorite quote from Almost Famous ...

Penny Lane: You're too sweet for rock and roll.

William Miller: Sweet? Where do you get off? Where do you get sweet? I am dark and mysterious, and *pissed off*! And I could be very dangerous to all of you! You should know that about me... I am *the enemy*!

Cheers!

Firework

I have been cleaning house all day, as we're having a Christmas family gathering at our house tomorrow ... and I find that the time goes by much quicker with the radio blaring!

So I keep hearing this catchy song, and then figure out that it is by Katy Perry (which honestly, it does not sound like her at all) ... and, I really dig it.

And then I listened a little closer to the lyrics, and I dig it even more!

So here it is ... Firework. Here are the lyrics, and follow this link to see the video, which is pretty cool too!

Do you ever feel like a plastic bag
Drifting through the wind
Wanting to start again

Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin
Like a house of cards
One blow from caving in

Do you ever feel already buried deep
Six feet under scream
But no one seems to hear a thing

Do you know that there's still a chance for you
Cause there's a spark in you

You just gotta ignite the light
And let it shine
Just own the night
Like the Fourth of July

Cause baby you're a firework
Come on show 'em what your worth
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh!"
As you shoot
across the sky-y-y

Baby you're a firework
Come on let your colors burst
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh!"
You're gonna leave 'em fallin'
down-own-own

You don't have to feel like a waste of space
You're original, cannot be replaced
If you only knew what the future holds
After a hurricane comes a rainbow

Maybe you're reason why all the
doors are closed
So you can open one that leads you to the perfect road

Like a lightning bolt, your heart will blow
And when it's time,
you'll know

You just gotta ignite the light
And let it shine
Just own the night
Like the Fourth of July

Cause baby you're a firework
Come on show 'em what your worth
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh!"
As you shoot
across the sky-y-y

Baby you're a firework
Come on let your colors
burst Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh!"
You're gonna leave 'em fallin'
down-own-own

Boom, boom, boom
Even brighter than the moon, moon,
moon It's always been inside of you, you, you
And now it's time to let it through

Cause baby you're a firework
Come on show 'em what your
worth Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh!"
As you shoot across the sky-y-y

Baby you're a firework
Come on let your colors burst
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh!"
You're gonna leave 'em going "Oh, oh, oh!"

Hope you're having an awesome weekend!

Cheers!

Retro Fridays ... Blondie

Yes, I am a child of the 80's. I grew up in Los Angeles listening to what I guess you would call alternative music on KROQ, the ROQ of the 80's ... what some now call retro music.

In the mid-90's, there was a bar in St. Louis that did "Retromania" on Thursday nights, where they would play all 80's music all night. Totally. Rad.

And I have since discovered that you can listen to all of the great retro tunes on KROQ2 ... their HD2 Station that plays all of the ROQ of the 80's tunes! Even more totally. Rad.

So I'm going to start doing a blog post every Friday on my favorite retro tunes from the 80's.

Today's featured artist ... Blondie.

Oh how I love Blondie. All of their music was totally fun. Get up out of your seat and dance fun. Who doesn't love Heart of Glass, Rapture, The Tide Is High, Rip Her to Shreds, Hanging On The Telephone, One Way or Another, Call Me, Dreaming ... LOVE it! If you don't have any Blondie in your music collection, I highly recommend the Best of Blondie disc ... great stuff!

So there it is, my first installment of Retro Friday's ... hopefully there will be many more to come! Have a wonderful Friday folks!

Cheers!

The Early Bird Gets the Worm

Ahhh, mornings. My favorite time of the day.

Really, you ask? Okay, okay ... so I am not particularly a morning person, but as I've gotten older, I have really come to appreciate mornings. With all of the hustle and bustle that comes with being married, and being the Mother of two beautiful children, I have really come enjoy the peace and quiet that comes with early morning. I've always been the first one up in my house, but these days I make a conscious effort to get up at least a half an hour, if not more, earlier than the rest of the people in my house.

I have found that this makes such a difference for me. Just that extra 30 minutes to do a load of laundry, catch up on the news, check e-mails, or just sit quietly with my coffee makes a huge difference as to how my day goes. I find the mornings (usually weekend mornings) when I sleep in a bit, and am not the first one up ... I just feel so behind the eight ball. Like I am already behind on all of the things that I have to do during the day. And even though I hate getting up early on weekends, the day ends up going so much more smoothly if I do!

So here's to coffee ... quiet mornings ... beautiful sunrises ... and happy days!

Cheers!

With Childlike Wonder, Part 2

My first "with childlike wonder" post was in relation to my absolute love of Notre Dame Football. This one actually involves a "child!"

I try to expose my children to all sorts of diverse activities ... and the latest thing I've introduced them to (well, latest as in throughout the last year) is horse racing. For each of the three Triple Crown races, as well as the Breeder's Cup race, I invited the children to sit with me and watch the lead-up to the races, along with the actual race of course ... and gave them a little background about each race. They seem to have enjoyed it, especially my daughter. Heck, what little girl doesn't like horses!!??

So last Friday night I took my daughter and her friend to see the movie "Secretariat." Neither one of them really knew anything about the movie (my daughter did a little bit ... her friend not at all), and they weren't really all that excited about seeing the movie, but I just knew they would like it.

The movie started out a little slow, as far as 11 year olds are accustomed to, but once it really got into the story, they were all in. When Secretariat ran the first race of the Triple Crown, both girls were sitting on the edge of their seats, and my daughter was holding her breath!! After Secretariat won the first race she looked at me, smiling and watching her, and said, "You know how this ends, don't you??!!" And I said, "Yup!"

They both absolutely loved the movie!! How do I know this? The entire 25 minute car ride home they kept saying how that was "the best movie they had ever seen!"

I just love to see that "childlike wonder" ... it really makes me feel young again ... and renews me from the day-to-day grind!

What "childlike wonder" have you seen lately??

Cheers!

Real Fans?

So what exactly makes a fan ... a "real " fan?

An extensive knowledge of the sport? Or maybe an extensive knowledge of the sport AND of the team they pledge their absolute devotion to? The ability to argue intelligently (and to the bitter end) with a fellow fan of the same or opposite team? A mind filled to the brim with stats and win/loss probabilities? And I guess my real question is this ... is a guy more of a "real" fan than a girl??

Why is it that guys automatically assume that because you are a girl, that you could not possibly know as much as they do about said sport. That there is no possible way that you could be so devoted to said sport that you'd even follow recruiting. Recruiting? What girl follows recruiting?

All some guys see is a pretty face, dressed in a cute tee or jersey, and cannot wrap their brain around the fact that the girl in that cute tee or jersey may actually know more about said sport than they do.

All I'm saying is this. Don't just assume that a pretty face is just a pretty face. Just ask the guys that I play Fantasy Football with (*cough* ... first place), or the guys on the recruiting web site that I frequent ... "just a pretty face" assumptions can often end in embarrassing results.

Here's to all of the football mavens ... and Puck Bunnies ... who are WAY more than just groupies or trophy wives!

And boys ... beware!

Cheers!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I just wanted to take a moment to stop and count my blessings, and to say thank you to all of the wonderful people in my life.

This last year has seen a significant amount of change, but thanks to my wonderful family and friends, it has been a journey of joy, and not a journey of pain!

I am very much looking forward to the next year. My children are getting bigger and the journey just keeps getting better and better. I will have a milestone birthday next year as well, and I look forward to embracing and celebrating that ... and all that comes with it.

I am already penning my goals for 2011. There are things that I want to change and improve upon in my life ... because really, what fun is life if we just remain status quo?

I hope that you all have a happy, healthy, wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and friends; and I hope that the upcoming holiday season is a blessed one for you and yours!

Hopefully we will get to see each other in the next few weeks to celebrate the year that 2010 was, and to ring in the new year and all of the wonder and possibilities that it holds! But if not, may your holiday season be merry and bright!!

Take a moment today to say thanks and count your blessings ... each day is truly a gift!!

Cheers!

The Month of UN's

This must be the month of UN's.

Rocket's Pep Rally speech on Friday night was about UNbelief ... and the St. Louis Social Media Club's speaker last night, Scott Stratten, talked about UNmarketing!

Here are some fun takeaways from his "engaging" UNmarketing talk!

• People don't spread meh ... they spread awesome!


• Don't blog just to blog ... blog when you have SOMETHING TO SAY!


• The momentum ... of said blog, or other various medium ... carries through on social media.


• I don't care how people consume my product, I just want them to consume it!


• My best SEO rule: Write great freakin content! Create the awesome first ... then SEO!


• An engagement is more valuable than a click!


• Social Media success/failure doesn't exist ... social media just amplifies things ((makes bad things suck even louder ... or good things even better!))


• People do business with people they: Know. Like. Trust.


• What is my ROI on Twitter? Every time you ask this, you kill a kitten. And a unicorn.


• Twitter does not have ROI ... it's about building relationships. Business = Relationships


• DON'T sync Twitter and Facebook ... it's not efficient ... it's LAZY.


• Be Authentic. It takes a thousand tweets to build a reputation, and only one to ruin it!


• If you don't have time for your medium, remove yourself from the medium.


• Flamed on Social Media? People will stand up for you. People will know who the moron is.


• If the comment is damaging ... remove it. If it is constructive ... learn from it.


• Don't piss off the geeks ... we having nothing to do all day ...
  (sitting in front of computer in Mother's basement ... haha.)

Want to hear more of what Scott has to say? Check out his UNmarketing blog!

Cheers! ... and happy engaging!

With Childlike Wonder

Every Saturday during the College Football season is like Christmas morning for me! I can't wait to get up, turn on ESPN GameDay, watch the run-down of all the day's games, and then finally cheer cheer my Irish on to victory! (Photo Courtesy of Joe Coppola ... THANKS JOE!)

Lately though, there has not been much cheer cheering on to victory. It has been a tough year for myself and my fellow Irish fans. And as I wrote in a previous post, I predicted that ND will finish this Brian Kelly inaugural season 6-6.

That being said, I had two tickets for this past weekend's game against Utah. And though I am always absolutely giddy about heading back to campus, my feelings about the weekend were torn. On one hand, I was actually kind of dreading going back to campus, because I was envisioning sitting through a slaughter like my parents sat through earlier in the season against Stanford ... only this weekend it was going to be cold and rainy ... and not blue skies and sunny like they had versus Stanford.

And then there is that childlike wonder of mine. That inner voice that says ... What if?

What if this is the weekend they finally get it together?? What if this is the weekend they pull off the big upset. What if this is the game that we'll be talking about years from now?? But, I decided not to share any of these "what if" thoughts with anyone ... thinking that if I DID ... I might jinx myself!

So we made our trek up to Notre Dame, just like any other past year. Pulled into campus just in time to attend the Pep Rally. And stood through all of the necessary cheerleader dances and marching band songs, to get to what we REALLY wanted to hear ... ROCKET.

So Rocket takes the stage and starts .... There's a thief in the house! And he's been hanging out in our house far too long!

Listen! Listen! Listen!

His name is "Unbelief."

His speech centered around "Unbelief.” That guy that cheers for the Irish but when something goes wrong jumps off the bandwagon. He challenged the Irish fans to shut those voices up, and he challenged the Irish players to do the same.

“Unbelief is gonna be at the party. Unbelief's gonna be at the restaurants. Unbelief might even try to sneak up into your hotel. Unbelief might even try to sneak up in your dreams. You tell that son of a savage, 'Get the hell out of my room.'”

And the crowd went WILD!!

((View the whole speech here!))

All night and all the next day we kept joking around about "unbelief." It became the focal point of our weekend. And then ... the unbelievable thing happened! A passionate, determined Notre Dame squad came out, took advantage of their competitor's mistakes, took control of their destiny, and upset the highly ranked Utah Utes.

I'm not sure how much of an impact Rocket's speech had on the players, but it sure did have a huge impact on us.

And yes ... the KoolAid ... errr, my childlike wonder ... was really great this weekend!

Bring on Army!

Go Irish! Beat the Black Knights!

Cheers!

And Then There Were Two!

11 years ago my second child was born … a precious, baby girl. After my son was born, I did not think I could possibly love another child as much as him, but of course, I proved myself wrong. With my first child … I was SO sure it was a girl, and my husband was SO sure it was a boy … but once I saw him, it didn’t matter whether it was a boy or a girl, he was just SO perfect!

Having a little boy was such a joy. With my great love of sports, I was overjoyed to have a little boy to share that with. When he was two years old, we sat on the couch together and watched Mark McGuire hit home run number 70 … and he could not have been more excited. My son has red hair, loved baseball, worshiped Mark McGuire and loved spending time with his Momma … what more could I want? But soon enough we decided we wanted to add on to the family.

When I got pregnant the second time, we wanted to find out the gender before he/she was born, but he/she was having NO part of that. When they did my ultra sound, the umbilical cord was right in between the baby's legs, so that we could not see a darn thing! (Shades of who this child would become! Haha)

Then, I went into labor at 29 weeks, Labor Day weekend in fact, and was on bed rest for 8 weeks, taking medicine every four hours to keep me from going into labor. And once they took me off the meds, she was born within 48 hours, and hit the ground running … and has not stopped since!!

My daughter is definitely a “second child”. She is very competitive by nature, head strong, opinionated, is always testing the boundaries and goes full speed ahead, all the time! She is the child that does not require much sleep. The last one to bed at night. The first one up in the morning. This child, absolutely, will give me a run for my money when she hits the teenage years … that I know for sure!

Motherhood has been quite a ride, I must say … and it has lived up to every bit of what it was cracked up to be … the good and the bad! It’s really difficult for me to believe that my children are 11 and 14 already. It sure has flown by fast. But I could not be prouder of them both!! They do well in school, sports, extracurricular activities. They are polite young adults. And they are both a joy to be around.

I would just like to pause for a moment to tell my beautiful, enchanting, creative, smart, talented, competitive, sassy daughter … how much I love her, how much of an absolute joy it is to be around her, and to wish her the happiest birthday ever!! I love you KK!!

Cheers!

The New Notre Dame Nation

Looking for a community of Notre Dame fans where football can be discussed without all of the negative energy? Then please check out my friends "The New Notre Dame Nation" on Twitter!! @thenewNDNATION

Here are a few rules to keep the community fun!!

Rule 1. Stay Positive! We all get mad, angry, frustrated with the Irish, but we will stay positive. No ND Bashing, No FIRE BK, No that player sucks, No we are going to lose this or that game. Just stay positive leave the negative to the haters!

Rule2. You MUST follow ALL NNDN OFFICIAL members! they will be listed on the full profile in the list section.

Rule3. There will be "challenges" to complete. Nothing hard just tweeting certain people and things of that nature. Please complete them in a timely manner. Some might be time sensitive. If you cannot complete a challenge then contact me and let me know so I don't boot you out. Also, along with "challenges" there will be "must follow". these will be certain ND people to follow. Most of them you will be already following!

Tweet with you soon!

Cheers!

Bridget ... on behalf of @thenewNDNATION

No Kool-aid Here

Here I am, in all my goth finery (it is October after all!) to present to you my doomsday predictions. I had high hopes for Notre Dame at the beginning of the season. Maybe not the 10-2 that some of my friends were predicting (sorry JB!), but high hopes all the same. But now, midway through the season, my hopes are not so high. And unlike so many people who seem to be drinking the kool-aid, I am not.

So here they are ... my predictions for the rest of the season. I figured I might as well put them in writing, so that I have something concrete to look back on, and either praise or criticize, later!

October 16 vs. Western Michigan @ Notre Dame ... Win

October 23 @ Navy ... Loss

October 30 vs. Tulsa @ Notre Dame ... Win (though in reality, this could be a loss!)

November 13 vs. Utah @ Notre Dame ... Loss (that's not a shocker, is it?)

November 20 vs. Army @ Yankee Stadium ... Win (though Army probably won't be a pushover either!)

November 27 @ USC ... Loss (after their tremendous performance against Stanford, and our lackluster 4th quarter performance versus Pitt, I see NO WAY we go into USC's house and beat them. No way.)

So that brings us to a 6-6 season. Really ... did we honestly expect more than that? It's Brian Kelly's first year at Notre Dame. He's not working with his players yet. It is a rebuilding year, right? So we should not be happy with 6-6 ... but we should not be surprised either!

So there they are ... in writing for all to see! What say you?

Cheers!

Monday's Lunchtime Rant

Stanford 37 - ND 14

We all went into this season with high hopes in regards to Brian Kelly … and trust me, I still think he is the right guy to lead the Irish onward to victory … but I have a few things I'd like to get off my chest today.

Here are my (brief) thoughts after watching four games.

Notre Dame handled Purdue nicely … but is that because Purdue isn’t that good? Or because no one had seen Brian Kelly’s offense yet? They are 2-2 right now ... but have they really played anyone of substance? I guess the verdict is still out on Purdue. 1-0

Michigan came in, with a rookie, Freshman QB and ran all over us … but we still were able to hang in there … EVEN with Crist going down and Montana playing for almost the entire first half. But our second win evaded us. 1-1

But by the time Michigan State came in, they had two games worth of tape to watch on Notre Dame, and clearly they were ready for us … but again, we were able to hang in there … and lost to Michigan State on a trick play that in my mind we SHOULD HAVE SEEN COMING. Yet another loss. 1-2

Now onward to Stanford. Lets face it, and I said this numerous times before the game, we were totally outmatched against Stanford. Which is apparent in how Stanford completely stopped our offense from being the slightest bit productive. Yes, another loss. 1-3

And lets look at our offense a bit closer after the Stanford game. Is our offense capable of running anything besides the spread offense, with our quarterback set up back in the shotgun?

When you are 3rd and 1, why in the world would you put your quarterback in the shotgun? By doing that you have totally ruled out a quarterback sneak, and the defense has one less thing to worry about. Why? Why would you do that?

Our offense is so one-dimensional it’s not even funny.

And if you look at Notre Dame even a bit closer, we look like every other team in the Big East … all offense. No defense. High scoring games (when they are not outmatched) in which you pray that your score is higher than your opponent's score.

Is this what we signed up for with Brian Kelly. No defense? Vanilla offense?

Trust me, I have not written Brian Kelly off yet … and won’t until he has a few years to get HIS players in there. But unless he wants mutiny on the bounty … he had better do something with that offense other than what he’s done so far.

And that is my rant for a Monday!

Cheers!

Change

If you don't like something change it; if you can't change it, change the way you think about it. ~Mary Engelbreit

I'm not really sure what it is about fall that prompts me to make changes in my life, but something about it certainly does! Last fall I made several changes, some planned and some unplanned. I lost my job last fall, which was an unplanned change. And though when you are in the midst of such an event, you can never see the light at the end of the tunnel, or the silver lining, I certainly can see it now.

I have a wonderful new job. I have met so many new people through all of the networking that I was forced to do. And I have a much greater appreciation for all that it takes to run a small business after watching all that my previous boss went through. And yes, she and I are still good friends!

The other change I made last year was to my hair. I got some burning desire to change my hair color, so I just walked into the hair salon and told her to make a drastic change. I went from blonde to RED. Red really wasn't the color I had in mind. Brunette was really more what I had in mind, but my hair had a mind of it's own and the brown ended up being this beautiful, auburn red .... which I loved, but apparently no one else in my family loved, so it was only a 6 week change ... but a change never-the-less.

So here we are, back to fall, and I did it again yesterday! I walked into the hair salon, told the girl that I can't do a dang thing with my hair, and to please FIX IT! So she chopped a HUGE amount off my hair and styled my hair into this cute new "do!" I love it, but I must say it is quite a shock. I have never EVER had my hair this short in all of my life. And of course the love of my life is none to happy about the short hair either, but like I told him, it will grow back!

Is there a certain time of the year that inspires change in you? If so ... embrace it!

When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. ~Victor Frankl

Cheers!

Hate State Week

After having several days to reflect on the loss to Michigan, I would like to get a few things off my chest.

With Dayne Crist in the game Notre Dame is 24 - 7. With Crist out Michigan is 21-0. Notre Dame wins that game if Crist doesn't go down.

Notre Dame had 535 yards of offense, made Michigan punt 10 times, and they still lost. I'm just saying.

NBC announced this week that Saturday's Notre Dame - Michigan game was the most-watched Irish-UM game on the network in 16 years with 7 millions viewers. (Win or lose, you've got to admit, it was one heck of a game. I definitely feel like I got my money's worth!!)

Tight End Kyle Rudolph's 8 catches for 164 yards vs. Michigan earn him the John Mackey Tight End of the week award.

Kelly at his presser today: "We'll play hard, we'll play physical, we'll play with great enthusiasm" at Michigan State. "We have to execute better." (Amen brother!)

And ... "ND practices Hail Marys every week." (Oh really?)

Okay, now onward to State. State. Grrrr. All that comes to mind when I think of State is that awful flag planting shenanigan that they pulled on us a few years back. Seriously?

So here's to our boys, giving 110% for 60 minutes on Saturday, and playing the best hard-nosed, smash-mouthed football of their lives!

ONWARD TO VICTORY!

GO IRISH! BEAT SPARTANS!

Cheers!

ONE

Here we are ... One. ONE day til Notre Dame football! Geesh was this a long time in coming.

Today's blog is about the old timers.

One of the best parts of being a female alum of Notre Dame ... is listening to the "old timers" tell stories about what Notre Dame was like before the women got there. I love hearing the stories, and let me tell you, they love telling them!

Reunions are a great place to hear these old timer stories. College reunions at Notre Dame are as follows. They hold "Reunion Weekends" ... and every class that falls in that year's five year interval come back for said reunion weekend. I graduated in 93 ... so all classes that end in '03 and '08 come back for reunion weekend. Friday night they have the individual "class" dinners, and then Saturday night they have an "all class" dinner where we are all together. There are lots of fun events all weekend, including some workshop/lecture type classes that you can go to on all different topics.

At my last reunion, I saw that author Jim Dent was talking at one of the lectures, about the book he had just written, "The Undefeated: The Oklahoma Sooners and The Greatest Winning Streak in College Football." When I tell my friends that I want to go see his talk, they all pretty much look at me like I'm crazy. Not to say that they don't like football ... they just don't like it as much as I do.

I get to the lecture hall/classroom ... and I am one of three girls in the room, but I settle in for what is an amazing talk. He has eight guys from the class of 1958 at the talk, and he walked us through the book, up to "the game" where Notre Dame broke Oklahoma's winning streak (sorry ... spoiler!). Then he let some of the guys talk, and then he played the game film. It was awesome. After the talk, he was selling his books (of course) and autographing them. So I wait in line to buy both of the books that he is selling (he also wrote "The Junction Boys") ... and when it was my turn he said, "Darlin, I am so happy to see a beautiful lady here, who is interested in football!" We had a delightful conversation. He signed both books for me, AND he introduced me to the '58 guys. It was SO worth going to this talk by myself!

Flash forward to 2009 ... I see that Jim Dent has a new book coming out about Ara Parseghian ... and seeing as my Dad (and I) enjoyed the first two books so much, I ordered the new book for my Dad for Father's day. He was so excited to get the book, and as it turned out, the book takes place during my Dad's Senior year in college (he managed to be at Notre Dame during the very beginning of the Ara Parseghian era). So every chapter, he would call me on the phone and give me the summary, and then give me his personal experiences of the same time period. It was really cute.

What really made my day though, was the forward of the book. It turns out that when Jim Dent was at my Notre Dame reunion pitching the Oklahoma book ... he was researching the Ara Parseghian book ... and apparently he didn't get much sleep that weekend! I guess the old timers spent quite a bit of time bending his ear! I was pretty excited that I got to meet him/hang out with him the weekend that he was writing the Parseghian book. Very cool.

I could go on and on with the Notre Dame stories ... but I'm afraid by now that I am boring you ... so I guess I'm going to wrap this up.

This has been a fun week, walking down my memory lane of Notre Dame football. I have seen some great games ... and look forward to seeing many more in the future!

Here's to Brian Kelly's inaugural season ... let's hope it's absolutely smashing!

Go Irish! Beat Boilermakers!

Cheers!

Two

Two ... two days! I can hardly stand it!

For today's blog post ... in the countdown to football with blog posts ... Girls Who Love Football.

I've always enjoyed sports. I am an only child, and my Dad loves sports, so I really had no choice. My sport of choice was softball, but I never really got good at it until college. I also always loved to run (and still do), which is important in most sports.

When I got to Notre Dame I played softball and flag football for my dorm. 99.9% of Notre Dame students not only go to the Notre Dame football games, but most of them also play on their dorm's football team if they're not on THE team, so it helps (in almost all social circles) if you know a little bit about the game and what is going on.

I never thought all of those years of watching Notre Dame football games with Dad would eventually pay off. I very quickly learned once I got to college, that if you were a girl ... and you knew, really knew, the rules of football ... you would have a lot of guy friends. Then add on top of it a little athletic talent. Golden.

My softball career was cut short my Sophomore year in college when I got hit (hard) with a line drive to my collar bone and it snapped. My coach told me that I was fine and I pitched the rest of the game with tears running down my face. We won the game and they went on to the playoffs without me. Bummer.

I proceeded to walk from that game, to dinner, and then to the computer lab before I decided to go to the infirmary. After they took me to St. Joe's Hospital and had x-rays taken, and found out it was BROKEN, they asked me ... what took you so long to come in?

One other side note on this broken collar bone story, they can't put you in a cast when you break your collar bone. They put you in this crazy immobilizing brace so that you can't move it, and that is how it's supposed to heal. So forget carrying a tray in the dining hall, or your books to class, or ... a lot of things! Not gonna happen.

So the day after I break my collar bone, one of my good friends is carrying my dining hall tray to the table as I am getting something to drink. This guy comes up to me and asks, "Football injury?" And I say, "No, softball injury. I got hit with a line drive and broke my collar bone." To which he replies, "You gotta catch those ... I'm the pitcher for the Men's Baseball team." Aghh.

Besides playing softball, my friends and I also played flag football for our dorm. I was a nose tackle of all things, and we were pretty good, but until our senior year we couldn't really seem to get it all together. Our senior year though, we were on fire. We had this amazing little quarterback, and the team could not be stopped. We listened to "Eye of the Tiger" before every game, and we did it. We made it to the championship game, which we got to play IN Notre Dame stadium. Not only did we get to play our championship game IN Notre Dame stadium, it was the day after the Notre Dame/Penn State "Snow Bowl" ... so this made an otherwise amazing weekend even MORE amazing!

We had the game of our lives that Sunday. We could do no wrong. I even sacked the QB, and my Dad got it all on film (he happened to be in town that weekend for the Penn State game). Outstanding. And as a result of winning the championship game, we got the opportunity to buy letterman jackets, just like the football players got, but only ours would say that we were the flag football champions. Duh ... that was a no brainer!

We got our jackets in January and I could not wait to wear it to class!! I am sitting in Advertising class, that first day after getting my jacket, and I hear the two guys sitting behind me (one of which is a soccer player, and one of which is a football player) talking amongst themselves ... "Who is she dating?? Whose jacket is she wearing??"

To which I turn around and say ... "it's MINE!" Now *that* was quite a moment!

As the years have gone by, I am still amazed and how many guys are pleasantly surprised when I open my mouth and start talking about football, and actually know what I am talking about. I have played Fantasy Football with my husband for years, and I am the only girl in the league, and boy do they get mad when I'm doing better than they are!! And I am teaching my daughter all about football now ... because, at 10, she has already figured it out for herself that boys like girls who play sports and who are knowledgeable about sports! And she is a budding athlete already ... soccer, volleyball, and cross country. She is gonna be just fine!

Here's to all of the girls who love football!

Cheers!