Maybe it’s a sign of our times — or maybe it’s just me — but our world these days too often seems to move quickly onto the next thing, the next event, the next moment, without taking time to savor and be thankful for the experiences that have marked our lives in the preceding days, months and seasons.
That reality has surfaced again in the wake of the national championship football game between Notre Dame and Ohio State on Monday night.
In less than 24 hours after the game, ESPN had shared its Top 25 college football rankings for next season. At Notre Dame, football coaches have had to look ahead to a big recruiting effort this weekend, when high school juniors from across the country arrive on campus.
Even in the minutes following the national championship game, younger Notre Dame players, amid their pain, emphasized their resolve regarding the future of the team.
“Really the only thing I can think about is the red and white confetti coming down to the ground,” wide receiver Jaden Greathouse said. “Just thinking about how I need to dominate next season.”
Linebacker Drayk Bowen noted, “You saw where we could be, even with the margin after the end of the first drive in the third quarter. We made it a one-score game. Coming back next year, we’re gonna be a force to be dealt with.”
Their words reflect the resolve, commitment and brotherhood that motivated this year’s team to pour their hearts into creating a wondrous season after the loss to Northern Illinois in early September. As much as their viewpoints show the essence of the football program now and going forward, it’s captain Jack Kiser’s perspective that makes me want to slow down and savor what this team has done.
As Kiser sat in the postgame press conference with head coach Marcus Freeman and quarterback Riley Leonard — all three of them devastated — it was heart-wrenching to see the sadness in Kiser’s tear-streaked face. For six years, he had given everything to Notre Dame, yet now that his time as a player was over, he focused on everything that Notre Dame had given to him.
“I think when you look at the six years I’ve been here, what I remember is the people,” Kiser said in response to a reporter’s question. “From when I was a small underclassman just trying to learn the ways, looking at a Drew White, Bo Bauer, to being a guy running with my boys in JD (Bertrand) and Marist (Liufau), and then this year coming back and feeling like I had a chip on my shoulder and getting to meet amazing guys like Riley coming in and just kind of going on the journey we went on.”
He choked up as he added, “To have Coach Freeman — yeah, it’s about the people. It’s the people that’s made this place different. It just shows where this program is heading. The people in this building are the best, absolute best.”
Kiser’s words reflect the essence of Notre Dame, not only for its football players and other athletes, but also for nearly everyone who has gone to school here, and for millions of other people who have embraced the University as their own. The essence of Notre Dame always has been sharing the journey with people, with one-time strangers who become friends and family forever.
I’ll always be grateful to this team for that gift. I dare say the team’s remarkable run brought many of us even closer to friends and family with Notre Dame ties, a sentiment echoed in a text from one member of our group before the national championship game: “It’s been fun sharing the journey of this amazing season with you, my friend! Now, Let’s Go Irish!”
That shared journey has given us so many memories to savor.
Seeing Marcus Freeman charging the team up before the start of the game against Texas A&M.
Visiting campus and watching the crucial win against Louisville with our daughter.
Rejoicing in the core group of one of my sons and his friends from Notre Dame, now fathers who shared a pilgrimmage to the Grotto with their children before a game.
Jumping up and hugging my wife after Christian Gray returned an interception for a touchdown against USC, and again when Xavier Watts did the same thing moments later.
Getting texts every Saturday from an older friend from our Notre Dame days, one of the people who took me under their wings and gave me hope during those years — a hope that was now shared weekly in the ways he thought the Irish would always find a way to victory.
Receiving a call from another close friend from Notre Dame, offering two free tickets for the playoff game against Indiana — a game in which Jeremiyah Love’s 98-yard touchdown run electrified the stadium and countless fans in front of their TVs.
Listening on the car radio to the second half of the playoff game against Georgia, savoring the emotional call by announcers Tony Simeone and Ryan Harris — “Believe, Tony!” — and then shouting in unbridled joy as the Irish defense, Riley Leonard and kickoff returner Jayden Harrison made that dream a reality.
Wearing my late father’s Notre Dame baseball hat into the grocery store the next morning and being greeted by smiling strangers who offered pumped fists to share as they exclaimed, “How about those Irish!”
Wondering if all the injuries that decimated the team had finally caught up to them in the first half of the Penn State game, and later pumping a fist when Christian Gray picked off a pass with 33 seconds left and Mitch Jeter hit the game-winning field goal — leading me to call friends from across the country, just to hear the joy in their voices.
Believing that the Irish still had a chance when they narrowed the score against Ohio State to 31-15, because this team gave us every reason to believe.
And even when the disappointing end came, the immense gratitude for Freeman, the coaching staff and the players didn’t waver — for the way they played on the field and the way they represented Notre Dame with pride, class and dignity.
As the world ever more strives to make us move at a fast-forward pace, stop for a long moment to savor a team to remember.
Stop for a long moment to savor a team to love.
John Shaughnessy’s four books include The Irish Way of Life: Stories of Family, Faith and Friendship. He is assistant editor of The Criterion, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.