Enjoy the now.

Enjoy, enjoy the last third of this season not with feelings of disappointment or frustration, but with the vision of the carrots left in front of us.  What is dangling out in front of us that will make this season a success or at the very least, enjoyable?  What will keep the Irish faithful tuning in each week, cheering and following her loyal sons?  It may not be a run at the National Championship, a BSC Bowl or even a meaningful New Year’s Day game, although it may, so let’s start there.

After Wake Forest, most are picking the Irish to beat Boston College and Maryland before facing Stanford, where the same following are picking Stanford to beat the Irish, resulting in a regular season record of 8-4.  Along with the Notre Dame history and following an 8-4 record should land the Irish on a decent bowl, the other half of the equation would be their opponent.   Last year’s match up with their arch nemesis the Miami Hurricanes cannot be duplicated, but there could be several intriguing match ups.  The season will have to be played out and followed to see it come to fruition.

Although he owns every important career receiving record at Notre Dame, we only have a handful of games left to watch Micheal Floyd play in an Irish uniform.  Remember Tim Brown, Rahib Ishmial, Jerome Bettis, or any other Irish great?  They live now in our memories, so savor the plays this year. There is not much time left to see Floyd do what he does so well.

Traditionally I don’t bet, and I surely don’t root against the Irish, but I would bet the farm (if I had one to bet) that Notre Dame will lose to the Stanford Cardinals on Saturday, November 26.  However, there is a reason they play the games.  I don’t like the idea of one game makes or breaks a season but this is close.  Beating Stanford at this point won’t put us in a position to win a National Championship or a BSC Bowl, but if we win out, it definitely would put us in the top 25 at the end of the season. 

As we have dreams of future seasons that don’t come with disappointment or frustration, we can look at our underclassmen and speculate how great they can become.   Austin Collingsworth with his athleticism, George Atkinson III with his speed, and the defensive studs like Lynch, Tuitt, and Hounshell with their unlimited potential are like dreams of sugar plums dancing in the heads of children on Christmas Eve.

Of course, there are all the things that happen each game that makes the hairs on the back of my neck sand up.  When the players take the field and you hear “here come the Irish.” When the Fight Song Plays after a score.  Every first down and every touchdown.  Every interception and every big tackle.  Every big run and every big block.  Talking to Greg at the corner of the bar at Shamrock Jacks, hearing Mo scream YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!  Hearing Chuck go “na na na na na na na na” after each score, having Mark and Mike offer my tab up to buy shots if the Irish score, and then doing them to swing the momentum in Notre Dame’s favor (usually offering the shots up to the football gods for a turnover).  Talking to Pete and Keith at the YMCA about the good the bad and the ugly of the previous game while looking to the next.  Yeah there is enough to keep me cheering her loyal sons onward to victory.