Kickoff

FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL.

I'm so jittery. Notre Dame's season starts tomorrow evening, and I'll be at a wedding during the entire game. I'm TiVoing it so I can watch the SECOND we get home. It's torturous, but I'm happy for the couple getting hitched, so there's that. It's kind of churlish to be mad about missing a game for a reason that romantic.

All the hype, which has basically been building since we got smacked by Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl, is starting to drive me mental. I'm not somebody who believes Notre Dame handles hype well. We tend to do better when we sneak up on you with our smart coach and our hot, hot quarterback with the dreamy biceps. Load on the press, the praise, the predictions of an undefeated year, and things tend to go awry.

The problem is, this is the year. It's not that we won't ever have a shot again, but we have more graduating seniors at the end of this year than we do returning starters (I believe that number is 9... so low). We have a great stable of recruited QBs to fill Brady Quinn's delicious void, but they'll be rookies and they'll have a relatively inexperienced line in front of them... basically, this is our year to reward the veterans for riding out some rough times before they ride off into the sunset. The team takes a brand new shape after this.

It's just... the suspense is SERIOUSLY killing me. It's driving me mad. I can't wait to see them run out on the field. I'll get misty, even though it's not a home game. My pulse will race. I'll tense every muscle in my body for probably the entire three and a half hours, relaxing only long enough to fast-forward through halftime. I'm a nut. I'm captivated. I can't help it.

I'm SO GLAD fall is here. I say it every year, but it never stops being true. Fall and winter are my favorite seasons, and that has a huge part to do with football. I'll be up late watching ND, then I get up early Sunday for the first of two fantasy football drafts that day. Perfect.

Comments

[Katy]

I know exactly how you feel. Whenever my team, LSU, is ranked high I get a little nervous. We seem to do better when people don't expect as much.

[Carrie]

Brady Quinn is seriously dreamy. I'm interested to hear your assessment of the game once you get a chance to watch -- it was a good one.

I was so excited to watch college football today that I teared up at a really good play (and it wasn't even my team, that isn't until Monday). Yep. I'm a girl, all right. A GIRL WHO LOVES FOOTBALL.