Pep Rally
Friday night, I snuck into the pep rally. (I won't say how, to avoid copycat crimes, but let's just say that Sarah isn't the only tall person in her family.) I like the new leprechaun - he's very fired up about football. So much so, in fact, that he replaced Chuck Lennon as pep rally MC. Don't worry though - Chuck Lennon was still able to make a cameo appearance to raise the roof and shake down the thunder.One of the highlights came during Dan Santucci's speech. Santucci was talking about the highs and the lows the seniors had been through. Then he mentioned the "tragic loss" that they faced - and the crowd went dead silent. The tragic loss, of course, was the closing of Boat Club.
Women's Soccer 3, Colorado 0
The women played Colorado in the third round of the NCAA tournament Friday night. I only caught the first half, but the Irish were on the attacke most of the time, with the ball rarely crossing the midfield stripe. I also had a great view of a corner kick that was headed in for the second goal.Hockey 4, MSU 1
Tried to go to this one, but it had been sold out since noon Friday. I hear it was a great game, though.Drummer's Circle
At the circle, a random Class of '74 alum spotted my band jacket and struck up a conversation that lasted the entire 45-minute "set" played by the drummers. He wasn't in the band, and neither were many of the people in the impressively huge crowd that showed up that night.Saturday Pregame
Our pregame tailgate was brought to you by Enterprise Rent-a-Car. I kid you not.Last Hurrah
As the Irish came out of the tunnel before the game, Rhema McKnight trailed the pack. He was snapping pictures of anything and everything as he jogged in. Bob Morton did a little haka-like dance for the student section. Before ND's final possession, as the offense loitered on the field, the band began to shout "Brady! Brady!" Quinn gave a sheepish smile and wave. McKnight ran over to Quinn, looked at the band, and pointed as if to say, "Is this the one you want?" McKnight then pushed Quinn forward and raised his arm like a referee does for a victorious boxer. The band then changed their chant to "Rhema! Rhema!"Saturday Postgame
Coach Yonto was in good mood following the game. He joked that you could have taken any 11 midgets off the quad and won that game... or any 11 trombones, even.Women's Basketball 87, Western Michigan 67
Each section of the stands was assigned a player, and given an appropriate homemade sign. Our section was given Charel Allen, so we were given signs that said "A+". I used this as an opportunity to heckle the band and grade their performance, even though they were half an arena away and had no chance of hearing me.The team had its good moments and its bad moments. Freshman Ashley Barlow is a tough player. She dove after loose balls and forced several jump balls and turnovers. In the end, she was credited with 6 steals. At one point, I joked to Sarah that there may be a few times this season when Barlow finishes with more steals than points scored. And then Barlow started shooting. She finished with a team-high 17 points on 7 of 10 shooting, including 3 of 4 from three-point range.
Like I said, the team had its ups and downs. Melissa D'Amico could teach the men's team a thing or two about boxing out. The continued to shoot free throws well. They also displayed great ball movement and great cuts to the basket at times - but those things don't do any good when you miss 10 easy layups.
It's an exciting young team, but still a work in progress.
Celebrity Sightings
I always seem to see one or two famous faces. This time, Yonto, Jess and I were almost run over by a golf cart carrying Don Criqui as we walked by the stadium on the way to Concert on the Steps.If he counts as a celebrity, I was sitting down the aisle from irishoutsider and introduced myself. Unfortunately, it didn't look like Trev was able to make the trip.
