We can both agree that children are our future.  The next Bill Gates or Steve Jobs is in kindergarten right now plotting how to take over the world in the digital era.  I bring this up because of how I spent my holiday weekend.  I invested my heart in a group of college dudes. I was a nervous wreck in anticipation of the Notre Dame (ND) college football game played Sat. night against the University of Southern California (USC) in the Los Angeles Coliseum. 

As any ND fan will tell you, the love of Notre Dame football goes back generations in families.  I was raised to be a Fighting Irish fan since I was a little kid growing up in Canandaigua.  Being raised in an irish catholic family is one thing, having your oldest brother attend college at ND raises the stakes.  Since I was 7 years old, Notre Dame was in my blood.  My father was a devoted Irish fan. We set our schedules around what time, when and where ND was playing that weekend.  Our only family vacation was an annual trip to South Bend Ind. to visit my oldest brother Tom at college for a ND football game.  Our roadtrip was planned to the second, our gas and lunch stops expertly determined by my dad on the route from NY, through Pa., into Ohio and finally ending up 10 hours later on campus at Notre Dame.  My mom would be instructed to make our sandwiches and we were not allowed to touch them until given the directive from my pop.  On our very first trip there when I was 7-years-old, I immediately fell in love with the beauty of the campus and the historic Golden Dome, the spirit of the aura of Notre Dame and the feverish pitch on campus during a game weekend.  Needless to say, I was brain washed, and since my bro continued at ND for law school (considered a Double Domer for 2 stays of duty on campus) I was treated to 7 roadtrips for games as I grew up.  That love and devotion has carried onto this day.  Some would call it an obsession, I call it pure love.  This college football season, ND dodged every opponent, getting some very lucky breaks along the way.  This led to being ranked number 1 entering their final regular season game against USC, their hated rival.  All ND needed to do was win and they would be guarenteed to play for the National Championship, a title that has alluded the Irish for decades.  So with those facts as a backdrop, I was an emotional, unsociable wreck as I gathered with 100 of my friends at the Green Front bar & grill (an awesome spot) in my hometown Sat. night.  Every play seemed to be bigger than the last, and I was living and dying with each call.  Long story short, the Irish held on to win and my prayers were answered!  I must publicly apologize to anyone in Canandaigua who I may have ignored while watching the game.  I was just too deep into the passion, some would say obsessed with how college kids were playing a game.  I was completely drained by the conclusion and got to thinking of how invested I am in how 20-year-olds play a sport.  My whole world on a holiday weekend revolved around how these kids dealt with the pressure of playing in front of millions on a national TV stage.  I really should consider getting counseling because I would have been emotionally crushed if ND had lost a simple college football game. But the hell with the counseling...this one was for my dad who I'm sure was watching on a black-n-white TV up in heaven with the other Fighting Irish fanatics.  I owe a lot to my parents, including this deep seeded love and passion for Notre Dame.  As they say on campus, Onward To Victory!  And you know I'll be an emotional disaster when they play for the National Championship the first week of January.  All because of 20-year-olds. And I will love every second of it!  God bless Notre Dame and our troops who fight the battle everyday.