South Bend, Indiana: Air Force vs. Notre Dame

 

Although it’s been a few months since I went on this trip I figured the statute of limitations of me getting in trouble for taking a day off work will be null and void by this time.  In November I was fortunate enough to ride the coat tails of Sir Patrick “Where’s the team store?” Sweeney all the way to South Bend, Indiana to the hallowed learning institution known as Notre Dame.

The basis of this trip drew me into a sports quandry and a question of sports morality was brought upon me.  I’m a huge Michigan Wolverine fan and I tend not to stray from cheering for them, especially on the grid iron.  But in my current head space I’m much more apt to see and experience huge sporting landscapes thus making my inclusion on this sports odyssey an easy decision on my part.

The trip was planned to perfection by the Sweeney brothers Pat and Ken.  They had worked out all the travel details and accommodations.  We were able to secure Pat’s van for the 6 hour trip to South Bend.  It was more than adequate and spacious for the journey.  In total there were four of hombres heading for the border.  Myself, Pat Sweeney, Ken Sweeney and Mr. Dougie Doyle. 

The ride to SouthBend wasn’t that eventful other than the great banter that was on display by all of the guys.  I was wowing the fellas with my display of obscure sports knowledge and on more than one occasion I was urged to try out for STUMPED BY THE SCHWAB, the ride seemed to take a little longer than expected.  The anticipation of getting to South Bend was brewing, as was the Dougie’s stomach from an earlier stop at Wendy’s where he made short work of some burger like substance. 

Ken had already set up the accommodations in South Bend through a colleague and he was also able to secure us four tickets for Saturday’s game that pitted Air Force vs. Notre Dame.  We had already been on the road for some 5 hours and the boys were getting restless (me included as I dearly wanted to break into some adult beverages).  Ken being the elder statesmen (this was evident not only by his age but the influx of grey hairs on his nicely coiffed doo) of this foursome was the leader and was able to keep myself, Doug and to some extent his brother calm.  This Zen like focus was on display during a moment of frustration by his younger brother Pat at about the 5 hour mark when Pat found out we still had a few hours to go “A FEW HOURS!!! F#$%!!!”.  Ken urged Pat to pull over and we had our first sips of watery American beer in a Wendy’s parking lot somewhere in Michigan.

All the highjinx of the trip aside we finally rolled into South Bend at about 9:00 pm (Not bad considering we left at 10:00 am, some minor miscalculations on the ol’trip ticker…but I digress).  The housing that Ken had set up was fantastic.  Ken had found a whole house for us to stay in for about 60 bones each via http://www.gamedayhousing.com/.  Ken had some colleagues in the house as well and it total there were about 15 of us.  A gong show to be sure.  It was almost like an scene out of Animal House.  It was fantastic.

After getting settled into the house on Corby street and getting acquainted with our house mates we decided it would be appropriate to get into town and hammer down on some adult bevvy’s.  The demographics of all the guys in the house varied, as did our relative levels of maturity, but for the most part we all got along.  Friday night consisted of drinking many adults bevvy’s and visiting some of the popular watering holes made famous in the movie Rudy. 

One thing that I found interesting was that the cab system in South Bend was whacked out.  The cabbies charged per head no matter how far you were travelling. We spent some quality cash just getting around the little university town.  One cabbie in particular was a favourite of mine.  He and his wife pulled up to get our crew in some type of hybrid vehicle.  I’m using the term hybrid but not in the environmental concerned type of way.  I mean hybrid because it was two different type of vehicles put together with some kind of amateur welding kit.  Turns out this cabbie only rolls with his wife by his side.  Because I was getting increasingly annoyed with the rip offs that the cabbie were providing me thus far in our journey I was running a verbal circus around this cabbie’s mind.  He and his wife were so confused by my banter that I think I even signed an autograph for them.  I had them convinced that we could produce a television documentary and parlay them as a Dog the Bounty Hunter type of cab driver.  Anyhow Friday night came to a close and were able to make it home without incident.

We woke up early on Saturday morning because we were told by Ken’s colleague, PJ, who was a Notre Dame grad, that we should get on campus early and hit the bookstore so we could get all of our gear.  Also PJ said that we should hit the mess hall to have the all you can eat breakfast.  We headed his advice and got to the bookstore nice and early.  Good thing we did.  It was packed pretty quickly.  We all got decked out with the Notre Dame gear, some of us bought a little more than others (Check out Paddy’s hat.  Original Four Horsemen leather)  Dougie had hit the bottle rather hard the night before and he was a little overwhelmed by the whole shopping experience.  There was a moment when he shut it down.  There was absolute confusion written all over his face.  Once again Sweeney the Senior saved the day and walked Dougie through the gruelling process of getting his credit card out and paying for his items.

After eating a wonderful breakfast at the mess hall we headed back to the homestead and prepared for the game by getting our gear on and drinking a few preparatory beverages.   PJ told us that we should head back to the campus to get ready for the game.  At 11:00 the players would be coming out of mass and they would be led out to the grotto to say a prayer and then the marching band would lead them back into the stadium.  We didn’t end up making it to see this, just missing it by a few minutes.  But as soon as we got on campus you could hear the band and see the golden dome.  Also in plain view was touchdown Jesus.  It instantly transformed me into a little kid like most of these sport odysseys do.

As you can tell by the banner at the top of this blog, I was able to interfere in the band line long enough for Paddy to get a few snaps of me.  This picture is in an instant classic for me.  The guy behind me looks as though he might want to dance and tumble with me.  So if he happens to read this long winded account I’d like to thank him for using his manners and not making a scene.  As great as being on campus and millying about with 100,000 fans was, hearing the band play the fight song was greatest part of the day.  Being a Michigan fan I shouldn’t probably admit this but it’s such a blast to hear it let alone watch the band march us into the stadium.  All four of us were transformed into little boys and we were calling our families leaving messages on their phones.

We entered into the game on a huge high.  There was no alcohol allowed in the stadium.  This seemed to suit us fine.  We were all just soaking up the atmosphere.  This was my first occasion at a NCAA event and I was so impressed with all the pageantry of the college experience.  Hearing the crowd cheering and knowing all the cheers was such a foreign sight for the four of us to see.  Being all graduates at McMaster University we’d never been privy to such a sight.  In the Canadian university it would appear that cheering and actually cheering for your school and showing pride in it’s athletic department is reserved for only a select few.  It’s not always en vogue thing to do.  But I digress and I’ll get off my soapbox for another rant at another time.

Air Force dominated the game and NotreDame was exposed in all areas.  Our seats were fantastic and we were even lucky enough to chat with some long time supporters of the program.  There was a jerk behind us who tried to rile us up by making some anti-Canadian statements but his family kept him in check and they were embarassed enough for him and his verbal diarhea that we were able to quickly get over it.

When the game ended we were still on a high.  At any time you could hear anyone of us humming the Notre Dame fight song.  We ended up getting onto the basketball court which was located in the fieldhouse.  This seemed to be of great importance for my three travel mates.  They are all ballers.  We snapped some cool photos at scorers desk.

The evening portion of the night was great.  However we were down one when Paddy took ill at Buffalo Wild Wings.  He must of eaten some a piece of fowl.  He turned an even pastier shade of white than he already sports on regular basis.  Undaunted Paddy took a cab home and told us to keep the faith and have a good night.  So the three of us, Ken, Doug and I went out to this Irish pub and drank silly until 3 in the morning.  The bar owner was nice enough to let us put the Notre Dame fight song on juke box and let us dance out to the sounds of the band.

The rest of the trip consisted of a 7 hour car ride home and the glory of finally getting to see a mecca on the sporting landscape.  Paddy was still rather sick and he was hanging out in the back of the van.  I bit the bullet and drove the whole way home.  The trip was a great success for all of us.  We are already planning something for the upcoming year.  Some of the things tossed out were a basketball game at Duke and being with all the Duke crazzies and another suggestion had us going to the Big House in Ann Arbor.  I’m hoping for the latter to gain back some of my Michigan street cred.  No matter where we go it will be a totally different experience, but if I travel with the same 3 dudes, it will be a great one no matter what.  Thanks guys, see you next year and remember  to “Play Like Champions Today”.