Wrap-Up

You know there is something wrong with the world when despite the baseball playoffs, conference championship races, heisman conquests, and the NFL, we only have ND/USC to talk about. But, maybe, it was just that great. The perfect place, the purest rivalry and a field cluttered with more than a handful of low-round draft picks caused Joe Pa's last stand and an Axe to take the high road.
Whether you saw the game amongst the gold cluttered fans under the watchful eye of Touchdown Jesus or saw the close in a below-average dinkytown bar, it was something you'll remember forever. As a lifelong Notre Dame fan that also happens to be St. Paul's most famous Notre Dame reject, I almost felt at the crossroads throughout the whole game. I mean here I am spending twice as much as I do in Madison on beer, trying to savor a great unexpected win that skyrocketed the Badgers' Big Ten chances into atmospheric levels, watching Charlie Weis give almost the greatest halftime recruiting video of all time and wondering how ND gets away with it? I complained about the Coach K AMEX commercials during March Madness, but this was much worse. Here was CW making ND out to be bedlam in front of what could've been ND's largest NBC viewing audience since 11/13/1993 (when Lou Holtz and Co. put an end to Charlie Ward's 16 game streak). And no wonder a solid group of prospects have passed on So Cal in favor of So Bend (20, to date). But, in the end, it was heartbreaking. All burdens aside, it was one that I just wanted to see ND win. I new a win would put them right back to where they were on 11/13/1993. Granted, CW might have them back there by next September when Brady begins the next great ND Heisman chase, but it would've been fun to seem them get right back there on the grandest stage: in front of the USC Trojans and Fredo himself (Thanks, Bill Simmons). Sure, Reggie Bush could have ran a marathon inside the hashes at Notre Dame Stadium Saturday and should probably thank ND for handing him the Heisman (much like it did for Leinart). But the setting was reserved for Leinart. Whom I'm not going out on a limb by calling him the NCAA's playboy, but also one of the greatest performers our generation will witness. Throughout our childhood, stars were riddled with pasts resembling rap sheets (Randy Moss, Peter Warrick, Warren Sapp, too name a few) and here was this kid who passed up the comfort of an NFL contract defining himself while rolling into the endzone. He might have mixed it up w/ Simpson and Lachey, but he didn't fail a drug test, kick someone in the head, or get about $10 grand in free stuff while headlining his competition. Sure, Notre Dame has a right to be disappointed for falling inches and a Reggie Bush push short. But, it proved there back to being respectable. No more Willingham's, Davie's, or option quarterbacks running a west coast system, just Charlie and his bag of tricks with the hearts of Irish faithful and perhaps God himself in the wings.