MASTERY IN SPORT • Notre Dame. Ohio State. Both teams participate in the championship game of the first 12-team playoff. How did the PSC get so lucky?
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• If luck is the residue of design and the CFP committee’s plan was to end the season with two blue-blood schools, so, yes, luck has something to do with it.
After all, there are about a dozen football programs in the country that qualify for blue blood status, leaving a good chance that at least one of them will reach those heights this year. But two? Yes, it’s a chance. Fortunately for those of us who have memories stretching back to the mists of seasons past.
We have them about the Buckeyes. And the Irish. In fact, our first college football memory involves Notre Dame. A loss that marked the history of the school. And ours. This happened in 1964, around the time of the Beatles infestation in the country, as Captain Sunshine, aka our father, called him.
But at my Catholic elementary school, St. Rita’s, the Beatles weren’t a big deal for 8-year-old boys. How was Notre Dame football doing? That was it. It was the first year of the era of Ara (Parseghien). Early modern Irish history.
Parseghian was hired that year by Northwestern. Hired to turn around Notre-Dame’s languishing fortunes. He did it. In one season. Game after game, the Irish found a way to win. After starting the season unranked – they were 2-7 in 1963 – Notre Dame arrived at its annual showdown with USC in late November ranked first. Nine matches. Nine victories. Those of us who had been indoctrinated our entire lives that Notre Dame players were not just athletes but crusaders were stunned. And it didn’t hurt this Southern California boy, both Notre Dame stars, quarterback John Huarte (Mater Dei) and Jack Snow (St. Anthony’s), were area high school products from Los Angeles.
A win over the hated Trojans and Notre Dame, who weren’t bowling at the time, would end this Rudy story more than a decade before the little guy stepped on campus.
Except they couldn’t finish off the Trojans 6-3 at the Coliseum.
Little Vince Grippi listened – I don’t remember watching the game on TV, but I still clearly remember hearing USC announcer Tom Kelly’s voice in the house – while the Trojans took the field at Olympic Stadium as time expired. They trailed the Irish, double-digit favorites, by four after trailing by 17 in the first half. Quarterback Craig Fertig had caught fire. USC was ranked Irish 15. It was fourth. And everyone in the Grippi household was holding their breath or muttering Hail Marys underneath.
Fertig stepped back and threw the ball into the air. It fell into the hands of Rod Sherman, who attended the same Pasadena high school, John Muir, Jackie Robinson and, before the war intervened, my father.
Sherman held his ground, the Trojans resisted the last breath of the Irish and Notre Dame’s perfect seasonnational championship dreams and Parseghian’s hope of being elected the first Presbyterian pope were over.
I was inconsolable. Crying, this child returned to the empty porch, shivered in the 50-degree cold, found a quiet spot in the corner, and asked questions that people have been asking God since the days of Job. For what? Why the Irish? Why me? For what? All I wanted was one more victory.
There was no response. Okay then. This 8 year old child made a wish. Never again would he support Notre Dame. Losing a bet to that loud USC fan in class might have had something to do with it, but he could find a coin somewhere to shut her up. It was more than that. Was it the idea that he could pray all week for a victory at Notre Dame and that was the answer? A last-second defeat? His faith was not only shaken. It was gone. Not at the big guy upstairs. In the Fight the Irish.
And this 8-year-old’s wish still stands. He’s still guiding who he’ll support for tonight’s national title game (4:30 p.m., ESPN) in Atlanta.
As much as he hates Ohio Statehis Cinderella-like alma mater, he hopes the Buckeyes will come away victorious.
• The epilogue to this story? A decade later, I walked into the UC Irvine athletic offices for the first time. I got a starting spot on the baseball team. And I met with assistant athletic director Rod Sherman.
Yes, the same Rod Sherman who ruined my 8 year old life.
Turns out he was a great guy. I laughed at my story of getting angry at his grip. I enjoyed it a little. It was USC/Notre Dame, after all. Yet he welcomed me among his supporters.
Sherman led the UCI Fellowship of Christian Athletes Bible study. Became a mentor. Got me a job and almost led me to another. Helped me make a fateful decision that resulted in a change in career path. And, tangentially, it played a role in my realization that the right person to spend my life with was walking the same halls of the department every day. It helped us come together.
A play. A catch. A child. Mysterious ways indeed.
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WSU: Around the Pac-12 (current, former and future) and the nation, if the Buckeyes win tonight, it will not only disappoint Notre Dame fans everywhere, it will make Michigan’s future positively rosy. After all, Ryan Day will be cemented in Columbus. And he hasn’t found a way to systematically defeat this northern school. … Ohio State it’s almost everyone’s favorite. …Jon Wilner deviated a bit from the rules today, listing in the Mercury News the 25 people he says have greatest influence on college football. With one major caveat. It’s the people behind the scenes, not the coaches, athletic directors or anything else. …John Canzano takes us behind the curtain in Atlanta. … A Arizona Assistant realizes that he is part of a long list of exceptional coaches who have held the same position. … Among future Pac-12 members in the Mountain Westt, the new Fresno State football staff is almost finished. … In basketball news, Oregon women make a last-second shot And defeated visiting Iowa. … Oregon State played quite a few games in overtime. … THE San Diego State the men are already lamenting the loss of their homes to UNLV.
Gonzaga: The Zags are historic this season. And not in a good way, especially on the defensive side. Theo Lawson took some time on Sunday to do some research, then dive into a bunch of long-standing brands and the records this group has seen end a little more than halfway through its season. … Elsewhere at the WCC, it was a strange weekend for some of the best teams in the conference.
EWU: The Rams lost yesterday in the snow and cold of Philadelphia. It’s not just the end of their season. It’s very good could be the end of the Cooper Kupp era In Los Angeles. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, Montana State’s win Saturday against Weber State was Coach Matt Logie celebrates 300th career anniversary. Most of them came to Whitworth. … In football, Tim Plow, UC Davis coach shared his thoughts on the recently concluded season.
Sea Hawks: It’s funny, when the first season of Mike Macdonald started, Ernest Jones IV wasn’t even in Seattle. Now, keeping linebacker is a top priority this offseason. …Sunday’s two winners, the Eagles and Bills, did so, in part because they were at home. Only one, Philadelphia, will host next week. But both will play familiar enemies, Buffalo at their playoff roadblock, Kansas City, and the Eagles hosting fellow NFC East Washington to the City of Brotherly Love. …once again Lamar Jackson was disappointed by his Raven teammates.
Sailors: Yes, the M could face even the terrible offseason. But does it matter? With a chance to retain fans with a few well-placed moves, the franchise decided to go cheap and ignore a closing window. … We will find out tomorrow if Ichiro is unanimous and if Felix Hernandez remains on the ballot. Our friend Tim Booth explains why he voted for both.
Kraken: Sometimes a single move is enough for a team to win.
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• You don’t know how hard it is for me to even consider hoping Ohio State wins. But being Sicilian, resentment lasts a lifetime. As much as I wish Notre Dame would lose, I won’t shed any tears if Ohio State doesn’t win either. Being the type of optimistic person that I am, I decided that whoever lost would be a win for me. Sorry, Vince, 8 years old. See you later…