The Top 3

So 48 hours later I'm halfway recovered from Saturday's ridiculous football marathon ending with a five mile walk home from IHop down the Charles at 7:30AM. On that note, the top 3 BC football moments of my era.

3. Notre Dame v. BC, 2001. It was the only time BC played Notre Dame at home in my college career so naturally the hype was huge. Neither team was highly ranked, BC was 5-2, Notre Dame just 3-3 but the rivalry still garnered as much attention as any meeting, especially in Chestnut Hill. My team (swimming) had a meet the next day so weren't "supposed" to drink. Oops. Willie Green had his best day as an Eagle, rushing for 195 yards, including a 71 yard touchdown, and had 262 yards of total offense. BC took the lead for good at 21-17 early in the 4th but tried mightily to lose with Green fumbling and the defense allowing the Irish to move to the BC 16 before standing tall and running out the clock. The game may not have meant as much as other meetings in terms of the standings but it was the most impressive atmosphere at BC in my time there.

2. Tie. BC v. Stanford, 2002. I almost didn't go to this game, I don't think a lot of people did. It was one of the most beautiful days for BC home game I can remember. For some that would guarantee a trip to the stadium, for us it just meant that we spent more time outside tailgating instead. From what I remember I don't think it was supposed to be close, Stanford was starting a freshman quarterbak and hadn't really been competitive recently. It ended up being the only buzzer beater I've seen at Alumni. BC was down 27-17 going into the 4th. Derrick Knight scored with 12 minutes to play, they got a field goal with just over 6 to go, and then with 36 seconds remaining Knight scored again from 12 yards out to seal it. It was one of the few truly exciting games that I can remember coming down to the last play.

Tied with the Stanford game is BC v. Rutgers, 2002. The game itself was unmemorable, a predictable rout 44-14 by the Eagles. I remember it because it was the last home game of our undergrad career. That day we did something that I don't think I did more than 3 times in 4 years, we stayed until the very end of the game and heard "Alma Mata". It's incredibly cheesy but it was a great moment watching the players salute the fans and vice versa knowing that it was the last time we would do as actual BC students.

Okay, wipe the tears and on to number 1.

1. BC at Notre Dame, 2002. As if there was any doubt. This was the second best sporting event I have ever seen live (2004 ALCS game 7), but it was the weekend as a whole that made it the climactic event that it was. Unlike my first ND pilgrimage in a Chevy Blazer Sport, this time we flew to Chicago and spent the first night (Halloween) with a roomate's friend from high school at Depaul. During the day we were shameless tourists, going to the art museum, the Sears tower, etc. The night invovled one of the best meals I've ever had at a Brazilian steak house called Fogo de Chao (they bring you meat on a stick...as much as you can eat), some of the highest comedy at a friend's expense when an unnamed roomate had substantial stomach problems and spent the majority of the night running for the border, and one of the worst nights of sleep of my life on a love seat about 2 feet shorter than I am.

The next day (Friday) we took the train the South Bend. After a stop at a great ND sports bar called Corby's we headed back to the bar I mentioned in the blurb about the first Notre Dame trip the Boat Club. (Why in the middle of Indiana would you have a bar named the Boat Club?) In the two years since I had visited things had changed very little, although now when you entered you had to sign a waiver asserting that you were 21 and that the bar was not liable for anything for any reason. That should have been a sign. The pitchers were a dollar, the shots were a dollar, every freaking thing was a dollar. Much drama and madness ensued. On the walk home we got jumped by townies and two of my buddies took pretty good shots to the face. To celebrate one went home and made out with a St. Mary's girl while sleeping on the floor, with blood literally on his face. She was a classy lady.

The next morning the St. Mary's ladies who housed us, (who were so incredibly awesome the entire time we were there) woke us up at 7:30 to start drinking. I think we went to bed at 5:00. They are so hardcore I could barely handle it. Finding the BC tailgating area was a nightmare, they stuck us in a field about 2 miles from the stadium and didn't tell anyone about it. What happened on that field is still one of the greatest times of my life. A few thousand BC fans of all ages on a sunny cold day just going crazy, there is no way to describe it, it was just amazing.

The game itself should not have been close. Notre Dame was 8-0 and the Irish fans were thinking national championship for the first time in decades. Most everyone assumed that the Irish were going to roll over BC and head into their matchup the next week with USC at 9-0 with a legitimate chance to knock off the Trojans. The entire world was basically looking past the Eagles. Then, in quite possibly one of the worst coaching moves of all time, they came out in the green jerseys. The Irish had not worn green since 1985 when they changed into them from the blue at halftime of a rout over USC. What was Ty Willingham thinking? Everyone at ND been saying all weekend that BC wasn't a real rival...but the green jerseys were supposed to be a rallying point for a team that needed a little something exra to get a victory. Notre Dame should not have needed anything extra to beat BC, they were the better team. Not on that day however. They fumbled 7 times losing three of them, prompting NBC to send a sideline reporter over to the ND bench to feel the jerseys to find out if they were more slippery than the blues (worst job ever). With BC leading 6-0 in the second quarter, in what was likely the greatest moment of Josh Ott's life, the ND backup quarterback Patrick Dillingham tried an ill advised shovel pass to his left which hit Ott in stride and he was gone for a touchdown. It proved to be all that BC would need, they won 14-7.

We won't discuss the fact that I threw up twice on the train back to Chicago the next day. It was one of the best 4 day spans of my life capped by best moment of my BC football patronage.

That's my list, I'd put the Florida State, Gameday scene this season on a sidenote, but they should have won that game and I'm still disappointed.