A modest 1-man show without Wing Man Dr. Rick Behler and the Shukis Brothers
Should be a beautiful Fall day for college football with sunny skies and 63 degrees. The Cardinal are favored, but many people feel the “must win” status will be extra motivating for the team and staff. No one wants to consider a 1-3 start heading to BC.
A somewhat “light” blog this morning. Most of the action has been at the tailgates (Tony Rice, Greg The Bull Luzinski, Jennifer Montana and her husband, Walter Groathaus—never lost a game while playing for Frank Leahy,
Mike McCoy, etc.)
After a 9:45 hour drive from Philadelphia with good friend John Flaherty (’73) on Thursday, an incomparable extra-large pepperoni and sausage pizza at Rocco’s + a couple of cold boys tasted mighty good. I could have saved a step afterwards to have my hair cut by Armando right at the next table.
But instead, went for my usual Friday 9:00am pre-game cut at the “Stylist to the Stars.” I was not sure if I would be attending the Stanford game, but it was 3 weeks since my last haircut…so I was due. It was worth the drive.
Within minutes, Armando Allen came in and then Kyle Rudolph. While I know Kyle (lives across the street here from me), I had never met young Armando. He was soft-spoken, very polite and personable. I asked him for his thoughts for Senior year and he was very sincere in stating,
“I just want to win so bad…we have such a great group of guys and the coaches are special. I will miss this and that is the regret about being a senior and having to leave.”
I followed to ask the difference between the coaching approaches this year. He was diplomatic to say that,
“The communications are very different now. Last year the coaches would put something on the board for you to read and tell you the plays or what to do. This staff shows you. They are teaching more and we are learning more.”
Since I did not want to interrogate a 22-year old, I concluded to ask if the team was better this year. He grinned and said, “Oh yeah. Way better. But now we have to prove it.”
As previously reported, Kyle’s paw is bigger than my foot. He catches footballs the way most people can easily grab a tennis ball. He is big in every proportion. He is the All-American Tight End and the All-American Boy…”Yes sir…no sir. Thank you.”
I was only disappointed to learn that the Junior has a girlfriend. That eliminates my daughter Clare, a junior at Villanova.
As we left, Armando (Allen) withdrew his hand from under the smock to extend and say, “It was very nice to meet you. We will be ready tomorrow.” I believe him.
After picking up PJ Stapleton (The Chairman) at the South Bend airport, I treated my pals to their first look at the actual Knute Rockne grave in the Highland Cemetery. Someone had left an ND shot glass with a couple of remaining drops of whiskey on his headstone to toast the legend.
Off to Eddy Street Commons and Kildare’s Irish bar…
On the corner waiting for the light to change was a large entourage led by the fashionable and charismatic Jennifer Montana. She immediately broke into a large smile, grabbed my forearm and elbow and said, “Jeff! Haven’t seen you since your Purdue tailgater!” (which was true). I shot a quick look at Joe to make sure he was not jealous. It was hard to tell, but he seemed pretty accepting.
I asked Jen if she was coming to our tailgater Saturday and she said it was up to Joe. I guess I will learn today whether he is really either angry or threatened by me.
Heard on the street:
Stanford has the only 2-way starter in the country as fullback and linebacker—Owen Marecic
“theorists” contend that Stanford Coach Jim Harbaugh is miffed for being passed-over for the ND job
There will be a number of H.S. recruits on the sidelines today
And separate, but proud—my Senior niece Julie Scheidler has started almost very game on Defense for the #5 ranked Irish Women’s Soccer team. As an experiment last night, Julie played Offense for the first time ever and scored one of ND’s four goals vs.Cincy. Cool.
Will try to update this later.
Abe