Happy Hour

My previous post on the personnel changes in the Office of Residence Life at Notre Dame generated a few comments. Some reminded me that the folks at "Res Life" are good Notre Dame people who are just trying to do their jobs enforcing the rules. That's fair enough, but while I am not questioning the good intentions of the recently departed, I do reserve the right to question the manner in which they exercised their discretion and their authority.

Other comments were more in the nature of dancing in the streets. The recently retired Notre Dame Leprechaun (no, really) asked if students got "res-lifed" in my day? In "my day"? What the heck is that supposed to mean junior? I'm not THAT old. Am I? Get off my lawn you dang kids. By the way, you should check out the Leprechaun's new blog, Irish Creed, when you get a chance. Great perspectives from a couple of newly minted ND graduates and one current senior.

But seriously. Yes, students did get "res-lifed" back in my day. But you had to try just a little bit harder than today's students to get in serious trouble back in the early eighties. The story below should help contemporary readers understand where I and my peers are coming from when we bemoan the draconian approach the Administration has recently taken toward discipline generally, and alcohol in particular. The story is taken pretty much verbatim from a post I wrote several years ago over at Verminnet.com, a web page for Carroll Hall alumni. I'll admit that our experiences in Carroll Hall were not necessarily in the middle of the mainstream back then, but we weren't that far out of the norm either.

The story is called "Happy Hour":

I arrived at Notre Dame and Carroll Hall in August of 1982, having come all the way from California, alone. The bus from O'Hare dropped me and my trunk at the main circle, and I needed some help to find out where Carroll Hall was. I had seen it on the campus map the University sent me, and it seemed like it was sort of far from the rest of the buildings on campus. I didn't know the half of it. I was literally living a dream being able to attend Notre Dame, but I was a little bummed with the dorm I got.

No worries. I carried/dragged my trunk from the main circle all the way to Carroll, and the RA's greeted me and showed me to my room. It was a big cube of a room on the first floor, right across from the rector's office. My roommates were three New Yorkers (geeeeeez). John "Basil" Hayes and Jock Brody Mutschler were both from the Rochester area, and Scott Kiley was from Long Island. Basil, Jock, and myself were Navy, Army, and Air Force ROTC respectively. Scott was not the military type. Neither was Jock for that matter, but that's another story.

The most striking feature of our room was the plush wall-to-wall whorehouse-red carpet that we had inherited from the previous occupants. Those previous residents had dubbed the room "The Love Palace" and the name stuck, although I'm not sure we really deserved the tag. With four of us living there, and the rest of the Vermin wandering through because of our central location, it wasn't really a quiet place for getting to know that special someone. It might have been called the Insomnia Palace. I swear we never got a wink of sleep before 3:00 a.m. that whole year.

At any rate, I settled in with my new roomies. Before long, a couple of big bruisers came through the door and started demanding money from each of us. Turns out these were some seniors in the dorm, and they were collecting cash for the Happy Hour set for that Friday. I don't recall exactly, but they wanted $5 or $10 from each of us. At the time, that was a lot of money for me. My parents had me on a $50 per month allowance, and I hadn't been picked up on my ROTC scholarship yet. Plus, I wasn't much of a drinker, and I wasn't sure I wanted to go to some party. How naive I was. But these guys weren't taking "no" for an answer. After the shake down was over, some other dorm vets clued us in on what the Happy Hour was all about.

Here's the premise: On weeks of home football games, all during the week in classes, etc... you invited every desirable (or near-desirable, or at least breathing) girl you met to come on out to Carroll on Friday afternoon for our Happy Hour. Good music, free booze (and lots of it). A good time to be had by all. Chicks come, chicks drink, chicks get happy, maybe guys get lucky. The Carroll Happy Hour had a good reputation in some of the girls' dorms, and amazingly enough come Friday afternoon, the dorm was rocking! When you walked back up the drive to Carroll after Friday classes, the music was blasting across the lake. Inside (and often out on the front lawn as well) the kegs had been tapped and the beer was flowing. Inside, there were at least two bars set up. One was usually serving blender drinks (Sea Breezes made with ice, vodka, 7-up, and some sort of juice concentrate), the other was something else (I can't remember because I was usually working the Sea Breeze bar, and performed quality control as well.). These parties started at maybe 3:30 or 4:00 in the afternoon. They would die down a bit as dinner hour came, and then as people left for the pep rally. But they usually went on at least at a low level until about 2:00 a.m. on Saturday morning (I think Parietals kicked in at 2:00 a.m. on the weekends, so the ladies had to leave at that time). Although the first floor was the epicenter of the action, the Happy Hour really encompassed the entire dorm. Some partied in big groups downstairs, other partied in more intimate groups on floors two through four.

I remember vividly one scene from my first Happy Hour. I was standing in the party room on the first floor, just down the hall from my room, talking to one of the RA's. He was drunk off his ass, leaning against the wall to hold himself up. He was looking a little ragged, and was quite a bit overweight. And he was passing on a little bit of wisdom. "I used to be like you. In shape, great high school athlete. But before long, you'll look like this too." He was commenting on the crop of young, naive, fresh-faced, super-fit freshman that had just joined the Hall. We thought the guy was pathetic and crazy and bitter. Little did we know.

The Happy Hour was the focus of social life in Carroll Hall, and it gave us our identity. It wasn't always pretty. Lots of guys (especially the freshman) got way too drunk and out of control or sick. Hijinks were common (water drops? Pizza heists? Often post-Happy Hour entertainment). Nicknames were earned. The best example of this from my group of friends was Steve (Last name withheld to protect the sloppy drunk), who was from Texas. One Friday afternoon, during a particularly good Happy Hour, a group of us decided that we wanted to go to the pep rally, and Father Steve was going to take us over to Stepan Center in his van. At any rate, sometime between leaving the dorm for the rally, and returning afterwards, Steve got very sick and blew chunks everywhere. Chunks. The name absolutely stuck. While people later meeting him might assume that "Chunks" got his name from being kind of chunky (he was a big guy), we all knew how he really got the name. Do you remember the show Cheers? When Norm walks in? "NORM!" everyone shouts. Everywhere Steve went for four years, his fellow Vermin would greet him with a chorus of "CHUNKS!"

Many of the stories posted on VerminNet have some connection to the Happy Hour. Of course, nowadays the University would consider our behavior reprehensible. Well, they did then too, but we were pretty much out-of-sight, out-of-mind, and Father Steve was very lenient with us.

I believe it was in my Junior year (1984-85) (Father Steve's last year as rector) that the University killed the Happy Hour. New University policy that year essentially prohibited any alcohol consumption by students under 21 (although they would tolerate drinking in your room behind closed doors if you didn't draw attention to yourself). Alcohol consumption at dorm parties was limited to 21 and older, and was relatively strictly enforced.

It was the end of an era. We held a funeral for the Happy Hour. Father Steve let us borrow some vestments, candles, etc.. from the chapel. We had a last party, and then we laid the Happy Hour to rest. We had a funeral procession, some words were said. And a couple bottles of booze along with some mementos were buried in a hole out behind the dorm. We even had a headstone with "R.I.P." on it. I don't know if the headstone or the grave is still there. I doubt it. But I know there are people out there in cyberspace with pictures of the event, and I think I've got a commemorative button in my trunk somewhere (the same trunk after all these years).

Irish Bloggers Gathering - All Hallows Eve Edition

This Halloween edition of the Irish Bloggers Gathering is hosted by the crew at Charlie's Nasties, A blog for the Weis Guys helping to put the Nasty back in Dynasty. Click on the link to see the post that kicked off this week's IBG, as well as to find links to the posts of all the other Notre Dame bloggers partaking in the Gathering this week. Let the Trick-or-Treating begin!

1. A loss to Washington would have been spooky, but we were able to pull it out. What was your favorite part of the victory?

Well, the game itself was not very exciting, having been pretty clearly decided about 30 seconds into the first quarter, so the enjoyment had to come from some of the small things. It was fun, but kind of creepy, to listen to Boob Davie on the broadcast talking about what a great job Charlie Weis is doing at Notre Dame, as well as about how the Washington program has eroded under Coach Willingham. I have been annoyed by Boob Davie for so long, that it was weird to hear him heaping praise on Coach Weis and the Fighting irish like that. I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone, or maybe on Candid Camera.

It also got a big kick out of watching Sam Young pulling to his right and perfectly executing the kick-out blocks on Notre Dame's first two touchdowns. We haven't seen that in a while, and I don't think I've seen Big #75 so mobile before. Michael Floyd's opening TD was also the first time this year, that I can recall, where an Irish receiver gained significant yardage on that quit-hit horizontal pass down the line of scrimmage that Coach Weis used so effectively with Brady Quinn and the Shark.

But my favorite moment came late in the game , during Washington's last drive. Notre Dame was emptying the bench and playing third-teamers in the secondary, including acclaimed former-walk-on-gunner-extraordinaire Mike Anello. There was a play on that drive near the sideline where Anello came flying into the play and just destroyed a Washington ball carrier. I can't remember if it was on a running play, or after a pass reception. But Anello absolutely crushed the guy. Not only was it a great hit, but I remember thinking to myself at the time "Damn, our third string walk-on players are beating up on Washington's starters."

2. Charlie's Nasties does a Duds and Studs segment to reflect on every game. Name one player/coach that could have done better against the Huskies and one player/coach that stepped it up.

Dud. The beat-down that the Irish put on the Huskies was a pretty comprehensive effort, so it's hard to really find a lot of fault. The one area that concerned me, and it's because I've seen this issue surface before, was Jimmy Clausen's accuracy. Once it was clear how the game was going to go I didn't expect Charlie to really pile it on so that Clausen would have huge numbers, but it looked to me like JC got sloppy about setting his feet and delivering a firm, accurate throw. He threw one interception, and had another one called back because of a questionable pass-interference call. He also missed badly on some wide open throws, and forced a few balls into coverage when he had other less risky options available. With an extra week to prepare, and playing against a woeful defense, I expected Clausen to look much sharper. Hopefully he will this week against Pitt.


Stud. I was awfully pleased to see James Aldridge assert himself at the running back position. #34 ran for 84 yards on 13 carries (6.5 ypc) with two really nice, powerful touchdown runs. It has been a long road back from the injuries that plagued him early in his Irish career, but he looked a very studly 100% against the Huskies, and may have moved past Robert Hughes on the depth chart to the 1A position behind Armando Allen. I really think all the competition at that position has caused that entire group to elevate its level of play. Honorable mention studs on the day were freshman running back Jonas Gray who had the first carries of his career and looked very promising with 61 yards on 9 attempts (6.8 ypc), and the entire offensive line who opened up all the holes for Aldridge & Gray.

3. Halloween involves people abandoning reality for awhile to dress up and imitate something that they are not. Pick one Halloween costume with traits you would like to see from the Notre Dame football team the rest of the season.

I would like to see the Irish shows us a little more of their "Conan the Barbarian" side. One of my all time favorite movie quotes:

Mongol General asks Conan: "What is best in life?"

Conan replies: "To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women."

Of course, some Irish players already have their "Conan" on. Offensive guard Eric Olsen is well known for playing with intensity and a little bit of nasty, and it is those traits which have given us the greatest image from from the 2008 season so far. I swear in the image below that Eric looks like a conquering Viking marauder, driving his enemies before him and listening to the lamentations of the Wolverine women. I'm guessing that Mr. Olsen likely has some Norwegian blood in him and therefore might really be a viking!





4. When trick-or-treating as a kid, there always seemed to be at least one house that handed out apples. What aspect of the football team this year is the biggest apple in your candy bag (aka biggest disappointment)?

Well, it would be easy to say that I'm disappointed in the Irish power running game, at our inability to "pound it." But numerous other members of the IBG have already chewed that apple, and besides, the running game looked great against UW so I'm going to be charitable and go another direction.

Notre Dame has had 36 kick-offs in their 7 games so far this season. Take a guess how many of them resulted in touchbacks? If you guessed "zero" you win the apple! Notre Dame kick coverage has been very, very good this year, but I am still befuddled that Notre Dame doesn't have a player on the roster who can consistently kick the ball into the end zone for touchbacks. It won't hurt us against the Purdues and Pitts of the world. But against teams like USC or LSU I would sure like the automatic option of having the opposing offense start at the 20 rather than risking a big return that leads to much better field position and possibly a touchdown. If you've ever seen USC play and watched their kicker blast kicks beyond the end line over and over again you understand my frustration. Why can't Notre Dame find some reasonably bright kid with a big leg somewhere in the country to handle this duty?

5. This year, October 31st is coincidentally also the opener for ND's Mens Basketball team (preseason against Briar Cliff). Say a few words about one player that will make have the biggest impact on the success of the team this season (apologies to non-bball fans, but I couldn't resist).

Well, this is a no-brainer. I'm going with the big 2-0, #20, junior guard Jonathan Tremaine Peoples. He will be the spark the Irish need coming off the bench to inject some urgency and some energy when the front line guys are having an off night, or when injuries force Coach Brey to rely on his depth. You just keep an eye on #20.

Purdue Presents Match-Up Problems for Irish

It's Purdue week. Whenever we play Purdue I think back to my Junior year at Notre Dame (1984) when over 6,000 Notre Dame students piled into 147 charter buses for the trip down to Indianapolis so that the Fighting Irish could "host" Purdue in the first football game played in the Hoosier Dome. At the time it was said that the excursion set a Guinness World Record for "longest bus caravan." I'm sure it must have been galling to Purdue fans and alumni that Notre Dame was the "home" team and had top billing for the dedication of a new football stadium in their own backyard. Despite Purdue's victory that day, Boilermaker nation has long come to accept that Notre Dame is the Big Dog in Indiana, and the most they can hope for is to steal a little kibble from the Irish bowl when the Dog is taking a nap on the porch. The Irish lead the all-time series against Purdue by a 51-25-2 count, and Notre Dame's 51 wins against Purdue are the second-most against any opponent -- 69 against Navy is the highest.

Yet when I look at the meeting with Purdue, I see some real problems. A young team, brutal early season schedule, and difficult match-ups of styles have created a perfect storm of bad news for Notre Dame fans so far this season. We have all been waiting for that softer part of the schedule where match-ups and team styles would work more in favor of the Irish. I don't think this is the week. As you look at Purdue in detail, it becomes obvious that although Notre Dame matches up well in some areas, Purdue has greater all-around depth as well as some potent weapons that the Irish simply have no answer for. I'll break it down by units.


The bands. In the trenches, Notre Dame has the "Band of the Fighting Irish." Purdue answers with the "All-American Marching Band." Both bands have solid tradition, good size and excellent sound. But upon closer examination - it's really a mis-match. Purdue traces the history of its band back to 1886:

The Purdue Band was first formed as a drum corps for the Purdue Student Army Training Corps, a predecessor of ROTC, which would begin just before World War I. In October of 1886, almost a year after the student newspaper noted the purchase of a bugle, the same paper noted that the band "as thus far organized, consists of Floyd and Lutz, cornets; Hicks, baritone; Remster, alto; Butterworth, tuba." From those five musicians attached to the military training came Purdue University Bands.

The drum corps played sporadically during the early years, depending upon whether anyone qualified to drill the group happened to be on the university staff. There was little or no musical training available.

So Floyd, Lutz, Hicks, Remster and Butterworth got together and played "sporadically" depending upon whether or not there was anyone on staff at Purdue who had a clue. That's the heritage of your All-American Band.

Notre Dame's band, on the other hand, had more auspicious beginnings:

The earliest reference to the band is in 1846 when it played at the first graduation ceremony. The importance of music on campus also caused a Music Hall/Auditorium to be built as the third major building of the new school after the classroom/dormitory building (The Golden Dome) and the Church. The legendary football coach, Knute Rockne, played flute for Notre Dame, and former Athletic Director Edward (Moose) Krause spent some years studying music before putting his clarinet on the shelf and devoting himself to athletics.

The University of Notre Dame Band is the oldest college band (in continuous existence) in the United States and was honored as such by being declared a "Landmark of American Music" by the National Music Council, the Indiana Music Educators Association and Exxon Corporation during the 1976 U.S. Bicentennial.

The Band of the Fighting Irish has a long tradition of providing music and pageantry for the Notre Dame football games. It was on hand for the first game against the University of Michigan in 1887 and has not missed a single home game since. It should be noted that the Notre Dame Band was celebrating its forty-first anniversary when that historic first game was played.

Thus, when Purdue's band was first formed in 1886, Notre Dame's band had already been performing for 40 years.

Purdue's claim to fame is the Block "P". Notre Dame counters with the much more dynamic and recognizable interlocking "ND".

Of course, when it comes to marching bands, at the end of the day it's all about the music. Purdue's band cannot seem to make up it's mind and has three different fight songs (Hail Purdue!, Fighting Varsity, and For the Honor of Old Purdue), none of them memorable. The Band of the Fighting Irish counters with the most famous and stirring of all college fight songs - the Notre Dame Victory March! Advantage: Notre Dame.

Auxiliary Units. Notre Dame's band is accompanied by the world famous Irish Guard. The members of the Guard are big, tough, and nasty (especially on a Saturday morning when they are hung over). Man for man and pound for pound they match up very well against anyone. But there are only ten of them. Purdue 's first auxiliary unit is the twirlers, a group of eleven seasoned veterans led by the flashy, brassy Golden Girl. The Golden girl is joined by the Girl in Black, the Silver Twins, and seven other accomplished twirlers. Certainly the Irish Guard would be a heavy favorite against the twirlers. But this is where Purdue's depth really starts to make a difference. The twirlers are backed up by the 20 members of the Golduster Dance Team AND the 16 members of the Golden Silks Flag Corps. All told, the Purdue auxiliaries go at least 47 members deep! And they are armed with batons and flag poles and many, many sequins. The Irish Guard are badasses, but they are also Notre Dame men, and the twirlers, Goldusters and Golden Silks are, after all, female. Advantage: Draw (with lots of regret in the morning).


Mascots. Purdue Pete is not really the official mascot of Purdue University. But to most college football fans, this wild-eyed, freak-show melonhead is the face of Boilermaker football. He will be lined up against the Notre Dame leprechaun. Pete has the advantage of being higher than a kite (thus the crazy eyes) and wielding a dangerous blunt instrument. But his over-sized head hurts his athleticism, as he can't change directions quickly or bend over without falling down. The leprechaun has a big advantage in quickness and agility, has a long history as a brawler, and is aided by leprechaun magic. Advantage: Leprechaun.

Drum Majors and Cheerleading Squads. Both Universities are well represented by their drum majors and cheerleaders. One would surmise that as an engineering school Purdue's cheerleaders might be below average, but my research indicates otherwise. There is no real statistical difference to exploit here. Advantage: Pick 'em.

Specialists. So to this point, Notre Dame has the advantage in Marching Band and mascot, and is able to keep things even in the Auxiliary and Cheer categories. You'd think we ought to be feeling pretty good about our chances. But you'd be wrong, because Purdue features of couple of specialists of unique talent and ability, for which I don't think the Irish have any answer. I am speaking, of course, of the Big Bass Drum and the Boilermaker Special.


The Big Brass Drum has at times been claimed as the World's Largest Drum. It's big, eye-catching, and totally preposterous. Yet, Notre Dame has nothing that can match up with the drum. Touchdown Jesus? The Grotto? Maybe, if this were a home game. But TD Jesus and Mary aren't getting on the bus on Friday. The drum will be totally uncovered and it will kill us. The same goes for the Boilermaker Special (which is the actual, official Purdue mascot). The Fighting Irish have nothing that can compete. No car, truck or horse. No cannons. Nothing. The Dome? The "Play Like a Champion Today" sign? Maybe at home, but they don't help us on the road. Advantage: Purdue (Big!).

Bottom Line: It will be a very good match-up on Saturday between Notre Dame and Purdue, but because of Purdue's astounding depth, you have to believe that Purdue will out-perform the Irish during the half-time show.

As for the football game: Who the heck knows? Purdue is a very different team than those we have played until now. All four of our opponents to date have been run first, pass second (if at all) teams. They have had big offensive lines and strong running backs and have just overpowered us at the point of attack. Our secondary has not been really tested yet, but they have given up an astonishingly high ratio of of TD's per pass thrown. I expect the Irish offense to build on last week's success on the ground, pounding away with Aldridge and Hughes to move the chains and keep the ball away from Purdue. If we can soften up the Purdue defense and make them respect the run, then we'll take some shots in the passing game. Purdue's defensive line and pass rush should not be nearly as formidable as those we have faced to date, so I would expect that at times Jimmy Clausen will actually be able to set his feet in the pocket and make some throws. I would expect Notre Dame to improve upon last week's 14-point offensive outburst. On defense, the key question will be: Can our allegedly improved secondary really cover anyone? I was excited to see two effective young pass rushers for Notre Dame last week in Kerry Neal and Brian Smith. Unless Purdue runs more effectively than usual, I hope to see Neal and Smith get a lot of action putting early pressure on Purdue QB Painter and thus protecting our secondary from the big play. If we can cover and pressure, then we will have our best chance yet at a victory. Purdue is waaayyy overrated, having defeated three absolute cream-puffs and one near cream-puff. For the first time this season, Notre Dame will enter the game as the more athletic and more physical team. The question will be whether we can execute. If we execute at a high level, we win. If not, we lose. My pick? Notre Dame manhandles Purdue and gets its first victory of the season, 31-27.

"Fighting Irish" and the Leprechaun Under Review?

Mark Layne filed a rather disturbing story today claiming the the University of Notre Dame is reviewing its use of the "Fighting Irish" nickname and leprechaun mascot in order to stave off potential NCAA legal action. You should read the whole story, but here are some excerpts:

A mythical figure from Irish folklore, the leprechaun is a small male faerie known for his feisty, ill-tempered, and mischievous nature. Said to be possessed of magical powers, leprechauns can supposedly guarantee wealth and protection to any who might capture one ....

The irascible, elf-like creature first appeared in a cut-away green suit, Irish country hat, and shillelagh at the start of the 1965 football season. He has since become a fixture at all home varsity sporting events. Prior to the leprechaun, the University’s official mascot was an Irish terrier named Clashmore Mike, and prior to that, an artichoke.

Surprisingly, though a seemingly benign if not embarrassing symbol, the familiar leprechaun does not enjoy the support of all Notre Dame fans and faculty.

Notre Dame alumna, Eileen Shanahan, is disgusted by what she considers an abuse of elfin iconography. “I mean – leprechauns are people too, aren’t they? So is it fair to stereotype them all as odd, nasty little men always begging for a fight?”

As I said, if you care about this issue, you should read the whole article. Thanks to Mr. Layne for bringing this issue to our attention.