My Grandfather followed the Irish from the Days of Rockne when he was a teenager. I'm sure he didn't see it this way, but Notre Dame and its football team engendered all that was good about being Irish, Catholic and American. It was something for him to look forward to and be proud of in an otherwise tough world for Irish Catholics.

My grandfather told me that he wished he could have gone to college at Notre Dame. And he told me that someday maybe I would. And I did.