Flashback

This morning on my way to Starbucks, I had a flashback to Junior High, and it was a tad concerning, although many years too late. It had to do with academics and Notre Dame. And then my single flashback had a snowball effect.

I should preface this with the fact that I basically spent my Saturdays during the fall at Notre Dame...or least it seemed. My brother Terry attended ND, so we spent many Saturdays in South Bend. My brother and I have a nine-year age difference between us; that means he was there for some pretty glorious games. The days of Rocket, Rick Mirer, Chris Zorich...the list goes on. This age difference means that when my brother was a freshman, I was nine years old (4th grade? 5th grade?). I quickly earned the nickname "Midge" from his friends in Alumni Hall and I also learned that football tickets CAN buy happiness.

I'm getting off track here.

Back to the story. Let's just say that I wasn't the most motivated student. (I was the youngest, after all.) As a result, my science grades were a bit sub-par. It just so happened, however, that my science teacher was a HUGE ND fan. While other science teachers had the periodic table hanging in their classroom, he had the Golden Dome. The man had his priorities straight. I must have told my parents this, because I was quickly offering him tickets to the coming week's games. And this wasn't a one-time occurrence. I knew what my parent's were doing, and I fully supported it. Report card time rolled around and...voila! Wait...what?!?!?!? a C?!?!?!? I quickly approached my teacher and said "Mr. Krecja...a C? You gave me a C? How could I get a C???!!!???" He pulled out his little book that teachers keep track of their grades in and showed me how I earned that C. I looked at him in disbelief and said "But my parents gave you all those ND tickets!!! For FREE!!! And you gave me a C?!?!? Thant's not how it works!" I bet my parents were more upset than I was. What a waste of tickets. Such a shame. You're probably waiting for a "lesson learned" quip here. Well, you won't get one. Because that's how the world usually works. I did learn, I suppose, that I won't risk wasting tickets on my kids' teachers. That's what I learned.

Now, lets fast-forward to high school. Although my first round of ACT scores were actually quite decent, we all know that no one accepts their first offer. I was all set to retake my ACTs on Saturday morning...until ND v. BC 50-yard line, nearly front-row tickets fell into my dad's hands.

Dad: "Sara, call a friend and see if they want to go to Notre Dame on Saturday."

Me: "But Dad, I have my ACTs!!!!!"

Dad: "I thought you already took them."

Me: "I did! I have to retake them."

Dad: "Why? What did you get on the first round?"

Me: "xx"

Dad: "out of how many?"

Me: 36

Dad: "Oh, you don't need to retake those! Lets go to the game."

And so we did.

Today's lineup highlights:

Notre Dame @ Michigan State (Go Irish!)

Wisconsin vs ASU (at Camp Randall-biting my tongue about academics on this game! Too bad it's not brains vs. brawn.)

USC @ Minnesota (hilarious)

Ohio @ Ohio State

Texas @ Texas Tech

Iowa @ Arizona