Neither Jim nor I was what you’d call in great physical shape. We curled around the south side of the stadium and sprinted west across campus. I crossed myself as I passed under Touchdown Jesus. The Notre Dame marching band approached the north end of the stadium, snare and base drums echoing across the campus. I tripped over the foot of a sousaphone player. We were forced to walk around the procession as opposed to through it, the forearm of an Irish Guardsman—a six-and-a-half-feet-tall, kilted beast of a man—nearly decapitating me. I patted Number One Moses on the head. I saluted Fair Catch Corby. I crossed myself again at the steps of the administration building, smiled at Our Lady atop the golden dome.
By the time we descended the stairs behind Sacred Heart, Jim was hyperventilating. We reached the bottom of the steps. Jim hunched over, panting. “I sure…hope…this was worth it.”
Evidently in a little better shape than my roommate, I patted my front right pocket. “Some things just have to be done.”
Tucked in a small hillside just behind Sacred Heart Basilica, the Grotto is a one-seventh scale replica of the original Grotto of Our Lady in Lourdes, France where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to St. Bernadette. Dozens of white votive candles are perpetually lit inside the cobble-stoned sanctuary, with that number climbing into the hundreds on gameday—and the thousands if ND happened to be playing Michigan, USC or Miami. Boston College was not necessarily a big rival, but the fact it was a fellow Catholic school inflated the numbers. “The Holy Cross Brothers versus the Jesuits,” Dad would say, always putting these games in their proper context. It just wasn’t Notre Dame football unless Dad and I were deluding ourselves into thinking God gave a shit. Mom even made sure not to clean the house in the days leading up to away games. She knew she had a captive audience and that Dad and I would be up by the crack of dawn Saturday, vacuuming and dusting with the firm conviction the Lord frowned upon a dirty house on gameday and every good deed would be rewarded by an additional Irish first down.
Today’s BC game was the first Notre Dame game I had ever attended without my father. He lost his life in an automobile accident one month prior.
I lit a candle, dropped a dollar in the collection box. A kneeler and a wrought-iron fence ran the full width of the Grotto. A kid with a maroon and gold BC sweatshirt—translation “heretic”—crossed himself and backed away from the kneeler. I took his place. I pulled the rosary out of my pocket.
The rosary once belonged to Grandpa Roy, my Dad’s father. He carried it with him during the war. Oxidized brass links connected fifty-nine beads of black onyx. Fifty-four of the beads converged into a brass Sacred Heart pendant, from which hung the remaining five beads and finally a brass crucifix. It smelled old and metallic—like your hand after you stuff it in a jar of pennies, like your father’s blood when you saw him in the emergency room that one last time.
I wrapped the rosary loosely twice around my left hand. Using my right hand, I held the crucifix in between my index finger and thumb. I recited “The Apostle’s Creed.” I grabbed the larger bead just above the crucifix. I recited the “Our Father.” I grabbed the second, smaller bead. I said a “Hail Mary.” I grabbed the next bead, repeated the “Hail Mary” a second and third time. I moved to the fourth smaller bead, threw in a “Glory Be.”
I stopped. That was all I had in me. I shoved the rosary back into my pocket. I know people who make it through a full rosary every day. And not just one time around the horn. We’re talking the full three rotations. It comes out to seventy-five Our Father’s, one-hundred-and-fifty Hail Mary’s, and another seventy-five Glory Be’s. Grandpa Roy tried making me sit through one of those once when I was a kid. I made it about a third of the way in before my knees went numb and I started doing the pee-pee dance. Thank the Lord Jesus Christ for eight-year-old bladders.
“Ten minutes ‘till kickoff,” Jim said. He stood behind me, arms folded.
“I’m ready,” I said. I jumped up, gave my kneeler to another insipid BC fan.
The Young Republicans talked us into bratwursts in front of Doyle Hall. Jim handed me the mustard. “You know,” he said, “for someone who isn’t the biggest fan of religion these days that was quite a show back there.”
“Notre Dame football is the closest thing I have to religion at the moment.” I talked with my mouth full, my resentment perfumed with the odor of bratwurst and too much mustard. “Now let’s go watch the Holy Cross Brothers kick some Jesuit ass.”
We made it to our seats right before kickoff. But we missed all the pageantry: the gold helmets pouring out of the tunnel in the autumn sun, the band’s high-step routine to “Hike Notre Dame,” the “Notre Dame Victory March,” even the national anthem and “America the Beautiful.” A former Irish drum major, my father would have been pissed.
At 6-1-1, Notre Dame was ranked #8 in the country. Their two missteps were the tie versus Michigan back in September and the loss to Stanford the Saturday after Dad was killed. Boston College came in with a 7-0-1 record and a #9 ranking. This was the highest both teams had ever been ranked when facing one another. I noticed someone in the stands holding up a poster that said, “The Pope needs four tickets.” Notre Dame won the coin toss, deferred to the second half. Boston College chose to receive. The Irish defended the south goal. I expected a good game.
So much for my expectations.
Two Boston College fans arrived late to the game, towards the end of the first quarter. There was a TV timeout on the field, so the teams were huddled on opposite sidelines. The two BC fans sat down next to us and one of them complained, “We didn’t realize there’s an hour time difference between Chicago and South Bend. The last thing we heard when we parked the car was that BC had just kicked off. What’d we miss?”
“Guys, I don’t know how to tell you this,” I said, casting a nod up at the scoreboard.
At the 4:22 mark of the first quarter, with more than three-fourths of the game still left to be played, the scoreboard read “Notre Dame 21, Boston College 0.”
Jim volunteered to drive the first shift home back to Indianapolis, at least until my Jim Beam buzz subsided. “Where’s the president’s Doomsday Plane?” he asked.
“Grissom Air Force base,” I said. “It’s farther south, in Peru.”
“I thought Peru was the Circus Capital of the World.”
“Is there a law that mandates it can’t be both?”
“Guess not,” Jim said. “Some game, huh?”
“Impressive,” I said. “We scored the first four times we touched the ball.”
We didn’t say it out loud, but the highlight of the game was halftime. The “Rudy” camera crews rolled out of the tunnel. A bunch of extras in vintage 1975 Notre Dame and Georgia Tech football uniforms stormed the field. They executed about a dozen plays. We were given cues to cheer. Dad loved the Rudy story. He had circled the BC and Penn State games on the calendar back home on our refrigerator. He hoped he might get on camera. I cried when they carried Sean Astin off the field. Like the moment in “Field of Dreams” when Kevin Costner asks, “Dad, you want to have a catch?” this was the scene in “Rudy” that would forever reduce me to a puddle.
The final score was Notre Dame 54, Boston College 7. Coach Holtz called a fake punt when the Irish were up 37-0. I still couldn’t get that fake punt out of my head. “That’s not Notre Dame football,” I said to Jim in the stands. “That’s crap.”
Jim and I switched drivers at the McDonalds in Rochester. I noticed the billboard on the way into town: “Home of the 1987 IHSAA Football 2A State Champion Rochester Zebras.” I attended that state final in the Hoosier Dome. The Zebras beat Cardinal Ritter 23-20. That was when Mom taught at Ritter, back when we lived on the Southside of Indianapolis. It was something like a 45-minute commute for her. Just curious, what the hell does a backwater town in northern Indiana have to do with a freaking zebra?
“You want anything?” Jim said. He handed his money to the McDonalds cashier.
“Maybe,” I said.
Jim handed me a five spot. “My treat.”
I ordered two cheeseburgers and a large Coke. I pulled out my wallet to dig up some change. My ticket stub fell out, fluttered down to the floor.
“I got it.”
He was a middle-aged man, close to my Dad’s age, or possibly a lot younger—his multiple chins, pudgy fingers and bad complexion telltales of a life given over to fast food. He picked up my ticket. The ticket was white, with an embossed Golden Dome logo on the left. The number “150” fronted the Golden Dome in blue script, with the words “1842-1992 University of Notre Dame” in smaller type beneath the number. The middle-aged man eyed the ticket. A look that bordered jealousy without quite getting there. The food must have been distracting him.
He handed me the ticket. “Great game today,” he said. “54-7. I didn’t see that coming.”
“Me neither,” I said. “The fake punt though, that was low.”
“’All is fair,’ they say.”
“Maybe,” I said. The cashier handed me my burgers. “But stunts like that always end up biting you in the ass.”
I had saved all my Notre Dame ticket stubs going back to the Georgia Tech game in ’78. I was six years old when I watched Vegas Ferguson rush for a school-record 255 yards. The streak ended at the bottom of a McDonald’s trashcan in Rochester, Indiana. I missed my father, and throwing the ticket away just seemed like the thing to do.
A little over one year later, Notre Dame got bit in the ass. Boston College kicked a last-second field goal to shock Notre Dame 41-39 a week after my Irish had defeated Florida State to claim the #1 spot in the polls. All I kept thinking was, “Lou, why the hell did you go for that fake punt when we were leading 37-0?” Little did I know as David Gordon’s 41-yarder split the uprights that it would be the last time Notre Dame would be ranked #1 in the country.
Fast forward to 2009. It’s been sixteen years since that bitter defeat. Sixteen years since Notre Dame really mattered on college football’s biggest stage. With Boston College looming once again on the horizon, the Irish have a chance to make yet another so-called statement game—a chance to prove that the Notre Dame we saw in the last 13 minutes of the USC game is for real.
Compared to some of my ND peers, I’m not as ambivalent and certainly nowhere near as pretentious when it comes to the BC rivalry. They’ve handed us our lunch on a Communion plate for the better part of a decade. And between our shared Frank Leahy ties and our status as the only two Division I-A Catholic schools, there’s an undeniable connection between Notre Dame and Boston College. I don’t want to argue whether BC deserves to be called our rival, I just want to soothe my post-USC wounds.
I just want to watch the Holy Cross Brothers kick some Jesuit ass.
(Author’s note: a tip of the hat to UHND poster “NDavenue,” whose story about the two BC fans I admittedly borrowed in describing the ’92 ND-BC game.)
D better make BC go 3 and out! If not we’re in trouble!!!
We’re showing the world what ND is all about!
I remember well the 54-7 win AND the goal line stand win of 31-26 at “Chestnut Hill.”
I also remember the pain of the 41-39 loss -the last play of what SHOULD have been the National Championship–( Or at least shared with Florida State) as the Irish beat Bobby and Company 31-24.
As ND most likely ( definitely) will not be playing in A BCS bowl, it is time to get the highest possible bowl and do what it takes.
Fake punts, BLOCKED FIELD GOALS( oh how I wish that would have happened in 93) and defending against the pass.
No close game guys, keep the ball, run it, stuff it and stop the “new age”
Theology school whose teachings, in part, resemble, the likes of Bishop Spong more than that of St. Paul and Christ.
Theology aside, BC is 5-2 in a year where anything can happen.
I wish for EVERYTHING resembling the 54-7 stomping in 92.
WE are ND and THIS is the time to SHOW it with each and everything possible.
GO IRISH!!!!!!!!!!!
kid, you nailed it! I feel l,ike weare related, I believe you wseemmlessly
sit at our thanksgiving table with my 6 brothers and 1 sister and you would never have an uncomfortable moment.
Kevin P. Archbold
new york, N.Y
subway alumnus ’88
Off topic, is anyone else disappointed with scheduling Western Michigan and Tulsa for next year? We seem to be putting alot of patsies on the board lately. The sad thing is we arent beating them alot of the time. I think we should at least try to put some teams on our schedule that have some kind of football tradition.
I think next years schedule will be very challenging contrary to some people’s belief. After opening with Purdue they have Mich, at MSU, Stan, at BC, then PITT. All those teams are up this year and will be improved next year as well. This is a very tough stretch and they don’t have a bye until Nov 6!
You might have a point about Western Michigan. I’m not sure how that game came to pass.
But, I’d say Tulsa’s a good game to schedule. Since 2005 they’ve had 9,8,10 and 11 wins. They might not be BCS crashers, but they’ve recently been a decent team.
I’d rather have either of those teams on the schedule than Washington St.
As a sidenote, I was too young to have watched Vagas Ferguson, but I did work with him at Richmond High School from 2005-2008 and have known him longer. We talked football on a regular basis, and he always presents himself in a humble manner, never boasting of his achievements. Sad that his NFL career ended so quickly.
Great article but my question is why did they play in south bend 2 years in a row? Anyone?
Well done, Mac. Another good one.
I grew up in a Baptist household, with a father who is a minister/pastor of a church. However, I grew up as a child in the 80’s glued to the Irish every Fall afternoon on TV. I spent nearly 5 1/2 years as a sportswriter in Kentucky and before that 5 years calling games on the radio. I had the opportunity to cover many sporting events, even following The University of Kentucky to 2 National Championships in basketball, yet my dream to this day is to be able to cover a game from ND Stadium.
I’ve had the opportunity to go to only one ND home game (thanks to my wife, who bought tix for me for our wedding gift) the Pitt game in ’04 which was Ty’s last game. Though a bitter loss, I will never forget the sights and sounds of that day. ND’s campus is as beautiful as seen on TV, but to truly appreciate one most go there. It was even a pilgrimage for my wife who was raised Catholic, though not an ND fan, (she grew up in the South and went to Ole Miss, God help her) she shed a few tears with me at the sites at ND. I hope to make it back to campus in the near future, as life has got in the way too many times for me to do so recently. Though not a grad my love for ND is as solid as any grad (Though my undergrad and grad school advisor Jeff Dennis is a grad and former professor at ND) I feel as though I am by proxy like so many around the country. I too long for the days of ND being relevant on the national stage, but the stage has changed greatly as well. Here’s to getting six more wins and great bowl victory. GO IRISH!
C-dog and Bill, you do realize you’re proving, not disproving, my point, right?
hmmmm… I think I could have been verbose as to why I think BC should have our attention or focus, but not necessarily our respect.
They should have our attention in the same fashion that Oregon St. should have USC’s attention this week. (OK, bad example, maybe the Pac-10 should have USC’s attention/focus, but OSU’s done it more often than most).
Make no mistake, we have paid dearly for not giving them the attention or focus that they warrant. Some might even argue they deserve respect. Some would say they’ve ‘earned’ it over the years.
But I don’t respect their school and I don’t respect their fan base (I do respect their inspirational LB).
For starters, I grew up in CT, and why they left the big east for the ACC I will never understand or forgive. Why they fired a head coach for being considered for an NFL job I will never understand. And why their fans seem to take pride only being capable of ruining seasons I will never understand. Their mentality reminds me of a bum: He might be the lowest form of life 95% of the time, but man when he reaches out and has the money for that booze He sure is going to enjoy it and is probably going to get belligerent.
I guess what I’m trying to say (to quote my father) is “one ‘Oh $#!+’ can wipe out a thousand ‘ataboy’s”. Yeah, they have some features worth respecting, but as a whole, they just don’t deserve it.
Some would argue the same about the Irish, that’s fine. You could probably make a convincing argument. I’d say we need to earn some respect too.
I personally, I’d rather respect teams like Purdue or Stanford. Either way, you can bet your bottom dollar BC has my utmost attention, and I hope they have the team’s attention too.
McSweeney, Teo, et. Al.,
In the last ten years, sports talk has gotten into absolutes. It’s become unfortunately like politics with black and white, yes or no. Digital.
I am in no way saying we shouldn’t respect BC. What I am saying is it’s not a rivalry. BC is a worthy opponent. Frankly, I’ve never felt a loss to BC as some statement by them. Miami became a rivalry ONLY after Jimmy Johnson rolled up points on Gerry Faust in his last game. Army did that against a team my unlce played on back in 1945. The US hasn’t won a war outright since. The ND/Mimai rivalry was shortlived but blood boiled between the teams and the fans. ND / USC has been a tradition with something on the line for both schools much of the time. We have no other rivals. When you go to Pennsylvania, they talk about the ND Penn State rivalry. What rivalry. Even when we played them it wasn’t a rivalry. A rivalry is something you look forward to during the enitre year leading up to the next game.
BC is a worthy opponent. So is Pitt. GaTech was when we played them. MSU is too. Michigan may be approaching rivalry status.
But there is a difference between opponents and rivals. And God help Notre Dame is they can get up for EVERY game. Some have suggested here that the team has to “get up” for certain opponents. Well show me a program that only gets up for “rivals” and I’ll show you a program that isn’t very good. You have to respect every opponent and get up for every game becauses you play to achieve your own personal and your team’s best.
The word “rivals” has been misused in the last 10 years. It’s as bad as texters who put “lol” on everything. I stand by my repeated claims that you get one or maybe two rivals a season, based on tradition. Traditions have to have many years of history to become traditions. Also, both sides need to feel something special, good or bad.
This BC /ND thing is very one sided. Also it won’t renew for at least 10 years. If ND wins great. If BC wins, I’m not going to say, “Oh they got us again.” I’n going to say, “ND played down to a lesser team again.” USC always means something more. Michigan is starting to mean something more. Miami meant something more. For all other opponents, I just want a Notre Dame victory. That should be enough.
Well, I don’t think BC is as big a rival as SC,
or MSU, or UM, but they are still a rival. If
we treat them as anything less, they will continue
to beat us. Ever since ’93 at least they have deserved our
respect as a team that will always play us hard and
give their all against us. Given our history
with them, I can’t see why we shouldn’t consider
them a rival. That’s my two cents.
Go Irish, Beat Eagles!!!!!!
I think you made a typo.
They’re a team that deserves our ‘attention’ or ‘focus’, but respect? no.
Bill,
Well they’ve beaten us 6 times in a row. I don’t like BC that much either, but still I think you have to “respect” their consistent level of success against us. As I said in another post on another story here, I think that ND and BC should have a more respectful rivalry as the “fredo” crap that we spew all the time and a lot of the crap that their fans say about us should stop. In my opinion, it’s getting to the point of being childish and its unbecoming for the only two Catholic schools in D-I to treat each other that way. If you don’t agree that’s fine, but I think the story’s point above about the fake punt speaks to how a lack of respect for your opponent can come back to hurt you when it really matters (1993).
I definitely think they deserve our respect. Definitely. They are a decent football program and they have simply outhustled, outclassed, outplayed us since the early 1990s. Their program, at least recently, has been better than ours.
Sure, CDog, SC is a great program and it’s a great rivalry. But, BC cannot be overlooked. Their fans may be drunks. Their kids may be less talented than ours. Their coaches may be inferior than ours. But, their program gets up for big games. They consider our game a big game.
As such, we have to get up for this game the way that we got up for Southern Cal. If we want to improve and we want to win regularly and compete for national titles again, we HAVE to get up for BC. We have to treat them with respect — but look to destroy them from the first moment until Clausen is downing the ball as the last seconds tick away.
We can’t pick teams we want to get up for. That is the Davie/Willingham (and Weis) method. We have to get up for every single team. This is college football. Every game is a championship game.
Definitely want the Irish to win. But here’s my take. The sports writers and some in Boston want this to be some big rivalry game. Well it’s not. Rivals have meaning. ND Michigan is not a rivalry in my eye except that both schools have tradition. Similar tradition, although ND has several more National Championships. USC is THE traditional rival for ND. Two nationally prominent programs. USC also has rich history. But BC is like Michigan State. In fact Michigan State has more tradition. But both are sort of that pesky kid on the block that is a pain in the backside. I never felt, “Oh those dirtbags beat us” like with the Cocaines. It’s always been more of why did the Irish let that one get away. The drunken punks from Chestnut Hill can claim otherwise, but they can’t change that feeling. BC’s just a school with a football team.
If they strung together some inspiring seasons and had say 4 or 5 Flutie moments, or went really bad like Miami, well it could become a rivalry. But BC’s never stood out in my mind for anything special so it’s hard to look at this other than a game for the Irish to win.
I will say it would be interesting if by winning on Saturday the team establishes the next cycle of greatness. Rebounding after USC and not swooning could be the mark. That would be ironic.
ND could be on a twenty some game win streak and 2 national titles and BC could be a cellar dweller, and i would never rest easy whn they play these guys. BC seems to play the irish at the wrong times, this weekend is as bad as any, I hope the boys have mentally recovered, because this is a must win game after a very tough loss. I think its close for a half, but the irish pull away after recess. or maybe Micheal Floyd is ready to go and the irish roll from the kick-off ?
Go Irish!
Great post. Thank you. It brought me back to my home parish, in Connecticut, when our priest would update us on the Irish. It’s great stuff.
So, the fake punt. Yes, I do recall that — but don’t recall being all that troubled by it. I should have been. It was 37-0. But, at the time, Coach Holtz was this brash super-human super-coach. If he thought we should fake a punt and pick up a fist down, we should fake a punt and pick up a first down.
I don’t have nearly as much faith in Coach Weis as I did in Coach Holtz, but with a few key wins that may change.
On to the Saturday. I think it’s critically important for the defense to make some big plays early in the game. That would take some pressure off of Jimmy Clausen, who should be able to handle BC’s defense. But, then again, he is 0-2 against BC.
One final note is this: over the years — especially since Coach Holtz left — too often we have overlooked BC and some of the other schools in the second half of the schedule. This is foolish. How we played in the last 13 minutes against a decent Southern Cal squad is IRRELEVANT to how we have to play in the entire 60 minutes on Saturday. BC is a good team. If Charlie doesn’t appreciate that, we’ll get beat again at home. And, that would be inexcusable. We need to come out, play like we’re capable of playing and take control of this football game early.
As usual, another well written and touching article Mac! Well done. See you at the Navy game my friend.
Wow! I’ve always thought the same thing. That fake punt was low and “jinxed” us against BC. I was raised “Catholic” (which means I was baptized, received first communion, and was later confirmed). I won’t elaborate on anything else religious about myself so as not to offend JDH. Being raised Catholic in my day meant you were an ND fan. I can still recall the old Irish priest tell us all about the ND game from the day before, prior to starting the Mass. I also recall the hour-long highlight show called by the late, great Lindsey Nelson and Paul Horning ( “We pick up the game after an exchange of punts….”) on Sun. after Mass. I didn’t know about BC and wouldn’t have cared if I did. It was all bout ND football! How I miss those days! While I don’t believe God (or His Mother) care about the outcome of a football game, I won’t discourage any of you from saying a few prayers before the BC game. It’s time to do whatever it takes!
Seriously? You’re still at it? I’m hoping you’re just joking. I was never, ever “offended” by your religious and political comments. As we’ve discussed ad nauseum, I made two requests of you. Those were: 1- to not engage in the same childish namecalling as that BC idiot. (i.e. Represent who we are as ND fans with class.)
2- Tone down the theological and political rhetoric which has absolutely nothing to do with a football blog.
It then degraded into the argument between us. And once that occurred, I was never mean-spirited about it- I was truly having fun.
You just can’t quite seem to grasp the reason, the motivation behind those requests of mine. (Or perhaps you just don’t believe me.) They were not personal, nor were they motivated by political correctness of any kind.
As I’ve already mentioned, I AM A CATHOLIC. I went to private, Catholic schools my entire life. Not that one has anything to do with the other, but I could not be farther away from the PC, “delicate sensibilities” type of person Steelfan. I promise you.
But really, if you tell me that was a joke then I will commence piping down regarding this.
______________________________
Now, back to football. I miss those days too that you just described Steelfan, miss them like crazy. I want to see a royal butt-kicking tomorrow. Like always, I will pray for our boys to play to the best of their abilities, for our coaches to do the same. And I will pray that both teams stay safe in their efforts.
See, I pray too! : )
I’m anxious to see how Allen is utilized this game. I’d defintely life to see more screen passes this week.
JDH,
Take a chill pill. Yes, I was joking and being ironic! You say you’re not “PC” or “delicate”, but, bro, the whole tone of the first part of your post belies that point.
As per point 1, you’ll note that our collective lambasting of the so-called BC fan, including our name-calling, seems to have driven him away. Sometimes, just sometimes,JDH, the ends justify the means.
As for your second point, I was giving some personal background to give context to my comments. Just like you just did. I wasn’t trying to be theological per say.
I think we all miss those days. Let’s just revive them starting Sat. against BC!
GO IRISH!
Hold on now my man! I said I would pipe down (or take a chill pill as you said) as long as you confirmed for me it was a joke. So, I am indeed piping down now! : )
Your point is certainly taken about the first part of my post “contradicting” my saying that I’m really not “delicate”. But you know how the internet is. We don’t know eachother. We can’t see the other person’s expressions, hear voice intonations etc. So it’s easy to draw the wrong conclusions. I think that has alot to do with why we got off on the wrong foot to begin with. But I PROMISE you, if you ever hung out with my friends and me, “delicate” and “PC” are not words that would come to mind. Our foul mouths rip that hell out of eachother- nothing is off limits. But it’s just to get laughs- not mean-spirited at all.
Hey seriously- glad our hatchet is buried. I will know from now on that you are joking, and know the same about me. If I give you shit, it is truly in good, honest fun. And PLEASE FEEL FREE to do the same to me. Believe me, I laugh at my own very un-perfect self aaalll the time.
As for our BC friend, seems he tired of us and us of him! But I would like to see an ND asswhooping all over BC tomorrow. Maybe he’s a masochist and would want to come back for a while? I promise I will no longer try to filter what you or anyone else has to say to him. No more suggestions from me! haha
GO IRISH!
THE STORY BEHIND THE 1992 BC BEAT DOWN AND THE FAKE PUNT
The night before the 1992 ND – BC game at the Pep Rally, a contingent of BC fans took over a section in the upper ring of the JACC. As I would later learn in life (17 years later, I now reside in Boston), their actions were typical. During the Pep Rally when the players and guests were speaking, the BC fans were yelling, stomping their feet, and generally destroying the festive atmosphere of a collegiate gathering. To his credit, Holtz interrupted the speaker at the podium with a stern lecture to the rowdy fans. This was seen by all.
What wasn’t seen was that immediately after the Pep Rally, Holtz gathered the team in the locker room of the JACC, and in classic Holtz fashion, went ballistic. He was completely enraged at how disrespectful and tasteless the BC Fans had been. He told the team that no matter what, WE (ND) were going to have our payback tomorrow.
In my mind, BC got what they deserved. If I were the coach I would have done the same thing. Holtz knew how to punish his opponent.
That is interesting. Yes, people forget that Holtz, while a man of honor is not the wussie sensitive loser American of the 90s. He’s old school. To those who were raised in the recent culture of PC, feelings, metrosexuals, and otherwise turning of the American male into a womean, understand this. You can be honorable and still kick the crap out of someone who insults your mother, girlfriend, sister, OR the Mother of God. And yes, sports only fans, Notre Dame is the University of the Mother of God. Holtz was fanatical about that. So I can understand when a bunch of drunks from the Boston area, remember what’s worst abotu our ancestors from Ireland not the best, that Mr. Holtz would defend the honor of Mary.
Didn’t think he’d pull that fake punt without provocation.