We Are Officially in “Not Football” For Notre Dame... Now What?

Not Football

Well folks. We have officially reached my least favorite time of the year, where the weather is shit and the football is.....gone (I know XFL....we are talking regular football, though I have some optimism). I have found myself wandering around, searching for answers, watching highlight tapes, following draft boards, stalking recruits, reading message boards....and so on. Something that shapes so much of our identities as humans has been stripped from us, and routines are completely out of whack.

Now What?

I am here to offer some solutions as well as get some feedback on how all of you out there cope with the impending doom of Not Football.

Significant other “Penance”

This is the time of the year to make up for all the Saturday’s and Sunday’s where you’ve had to schedule around football. My wife says it’s “sad” that we have to plan events during the fall around both Notre Dame and other big games. I consider that a fair assessment, but also....Come on! Now that it is Not Football, say, “yes” to nearly all of their suggested activities. For example, I am happily going to look at and purchase/set up new accent curtains this weekend. By doing all of these things, you are building your resume so that next football season can be filled with as many couch and bar hours as this past one. If you were unsatisfied with the amount of couch/bar hours from this past season, now is the time to build it up. Fall is for me, Winter/Spring/Summer is for her. All is fair in love and football.

Hobbies

I am a proud new homeowner (see the installing accent curtains line from above) and I am trying to become more “handy”. I guess this isn’t really a hobby, but more of something I am attempting to do so I can have some real dad strength/knowledge once I reach that phase in my life. Some suggestions could include: woodwork, brewing your own beer, knitting, painting, learning an instrument (hard pass), among others. Essentially, try to find something to fill the void and pass the time.

Career Advancement

This one can be tough. You can suddenly commit to working harder and focusing more during the day as opposed to reading articles for the upcoming matchups, watching highlight tapes, and scrolling twitter for updates. However, this is VERY risky. You are setting a precedent that this is going to be year long type of work. Be cautious that if this carries into the fall, you might have some “performance” problems.

Reading a Book?

Just in general. Pick up a book, shit, pick up a series! Re-read the Harry Potter Books to pass the time, then watch all the movies. This passes the time and makes you sleepy. More sleepiness=less time awake=football is here faster. It’s simple math folks.

Ignore it all and pretend football is still here

You could spend hours watching old games pretending that it is a Saturday in the fall. You can watch every recruits highlight tapes multiple times and know every prospect in the class of 2023. You can emotionally invest in the XFL and find Notre Dame Fighting Irish players that are playing in the league.

This strategy can dangerous because you might find yourself losing touch with reality rather quickly. Suddenly you are waking up on a Saturday and replaying Game-Day, tailgating in empty parking lots, and staying up way too late to watch re runs of Pac 12 after dark. You wake up on Sunday, hungover, confused that it is Spring and not in fact a crisp fall morning. Before you know it you are wandering into bars on a Wednesday hoping for MACTION and your family stages an intervention. Whoa that got dark, but here we are. Also here is a pump up video for all the degenerates out there.

Flee the Country

I wish this was a theoretical, but one of my friends is taking a 5 month “sabbatical” to travel the world with his wife. He started 2 days after the Superbowl and this is not a coincidence at all. He will come back to the states cultured, and much closer to football season. Well played Sean, well played.

Your Suggestions/ways of coping

Now it is in your hands folks. I would like to think of the comment section here as more of a support group than anything else. Share how you plan to get through the dark days. Fortunately, we have Spring Ball to slightly help us cope, but until then....God Speed.