The one thing I will not miss about college is the pure joy we all had when we first saw eachother, and that we kept all weekend.
Since my junior year my buddies and I have run an annual Dudes Weekend. For this weekend we have all of our dads, brothers, friends etc in town for a weekend of good food, good sports, a lot of drinking and the chance for the guys to be guys with their old man. This year we decided to have our Dudes Weekend in Chicago for the ND game! (We actually made a video about it for class which I posted at the bottom of this write up)
While the official weekend didn't begin until Friday, I showed up to spend the night with the Chicagoians on Thursday night. We figured we'd go to the bar, get a few beers, watch the FSU-UNC game and relax for the weekend. Instead, we went to my friends bar where we ripped free shots, dollar beers and partied till 3am when we were forced out of the bar.
You could say we were a little banged up on Friday when we got up and embraced one of the best parts of Chicago - Deep Dish Pizza. Though it took a while and our pounding heads wernt happy about it, we finally got through the whole thing. The rest of the day was spent with slow entries of our friends, where they were all greated with a jump up and down hug, some yelling and a few tears.
Friday night, the real party started. After going to MARKET, Kenny William's new restaurant/bar in downtown Boston, we hit up the Lasalle Power Company and were greeted with recent grads, newly seniors and even the occasional 21 year Junior (and plenty of those that wern't quite 21 yet). The open bar event (which cost a cool 35 bucks) went from 10-1 with wild dancing, beers, mixed drinks and a lot of "how have you been's." With a smaller group of friends (some part of the "crew," though many couldnt last the night) and plenty of others we added along the way. Finally, at 3:15, we decided the night needed to be ended as we had a 9am train meeting the next morning.
After a rough morning, a long shower, and slowly getting dressed, we headed out in the rain and freezing cold, to meet our train to head to the stadium. Though we took a bus last time, we tried a new package led by Dodds Athletic Tours that gave us open bar and food on the train both ways, and a bus inbetween with open beer and snacks. Most trains, my bartender told us, were filled with quiet fans sipping on a few bloody marys and bagles and reading the paper... not ours. We were ripping drinks, shotgunning beers, dueling against fans (a drinking game that involves shotgunning beers and throwing them at ur opponent) and having just a good ole time. The same thing continued on the bus until we arrived at ND at around 1:00. Giving us 2 1/2 hours to gametime.
The tailgate came and went, multiple trips to the bathroom, more beers, brats, burgers and, more trips to the bathroom. There were "Lets go Eagles" chants followed by boos, beers being thrown at us, and the occasional guy that would get in our face, as if we actually wanted to fight.
Then, it was finally time to enter the famous stadium. The "home" of college football. Where legends of the 40s and 50s played and Jimmy Clausen reigns (?) now. We were entering College Football Heaven.
We had awesome seats, directly across from touchdown Jesus, upper deck corner where you could see absolutely everything. In the freezing cold and rain we sat through a tough BC loss after a drive that almost led us to victory.
For most people that would devastate you, I think on any other trip it would have done the same to me. Instead, we got back on that party bus, had a few waters, only to lead to the train with more mixed drinks, beers and even some wine (?). One friend got so drunk he passed out on the train and had to be brought back to his room, where he was then put to bed.
That night was just as wild as the others. I turned 23 :( at midnight and proceeded to announce that I was "no longer college age" as I was bought shot after shot from my dad, friends and people I didnt even know. Having all the guys and girls I spent the last four birthdays with at this event made the whole thing absolutely amazing and an experience I am happy about. For the third year in a row my birthday happened on a big weekend (See BC-Virginia Tech 2007) and I am very greatful. By the time the disaster finally subsided we headed back and got into our rooms at 4:00 that morning.
As I woke up in pain all I could think about was the awesome trip I had and how we had, once again, done it right. Dudes Weekend was a success!
I hope you enjoyed this recap of my trip to Notre Dame for the 17th Annual Holy War. Hope you follow me again for my next journey. Make sure to follow me on twitter @sportsbound, for up to the minute updates on all my sports ventures.
DUDES WEEKEND FROM 2007 - WEEKEND TOOK PLACE WHEN BC WAS #2 FACING FSU. ENJOY!
No comments:
Post a Comment