So Friday morning we traveled to South Bend from Chicago, which takes a little over an hour, all the while traveling through some of the most beautiful rolling farmland you'll ever see. Once you get outside lovely industrial Gary, Indiana, that is.
We got into the South Bend area (actually Elkhart, Indiana) and checked into our hotel.
After that, we drove over to the campus and made our way to the bookstore--and it was waaaaay colder than the weatherman told us it would be. The store had about triple the amount of customers it had two years ago when I was last there--it was literally a madhouse--amazing in itself for a team that was 1-8. I dropped a couple of hundred on the merch and then we headed over to pick up some tickets for the pep rally.
Again, considering how lousy the team has been, the pep rally was a pretty amazing affair. It was totally packed inside the Joyce ACC, and the crowd was very supportive of the team. The surprise guest (they have one at every rally) was Allen Pinkett, who left the school in 1985 as the school's alltime leading rusher. Quite frankly, it was kind of a letdown.
After that, we walked across the campus to the Grotto, where Rene & Johnny lit a candle for their daughter Scarlett, who got some worrisome news earlier in the day.
We're thinking of you Scar!!!
After a bite to eat at a Roadhouse Grill with about 200 other N.D. fans, it was in for the night in preparation for the game the next day.
We got up Saturday to a light frost on the ground and a total fog blackout around the hotel. It was interesting--we literally couldn't see more than 2 car lengths in front of us for almost the entire drive...and right as we got to the stadium, the fog lifted and the sun just shone spectacularly. We took it for a good omen.
Well....so much for omens. The Irish pretty much laid an egg on the field against Air Force and lost 41-24. About the only good thing to come out of the game was that QB Jimmy Clausen looked pretty damn impressive in the 2nd half, throwing for a total of 3 touchdowns. Other than that...well, the weather was nice, ya know?
After the game we went out for dinner, all of us got a little bit loaded, and enjoyed each others company. The game was bad---but the trip itself was great.
The next morning we made our way back to Chicago for the flight home...luckily forus, no weirdo's....although the flight attendants were a little strange. But that's another story for another day.
Later,
Jeff
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