I suppose I should update with something, huh?

It was a great weekend. What I like about college football is not just the games and rooting for Notre Dame to win and hoping it can still make it to the national championship game. Even with Notre Dame losing, there are still enough interested alumni who want to make the trip out to South Bend, or to a relatively local city, to visit with their classmates and families and see the Irish play. It's not just about football and drinking. There's a reason college football games are played on weekends (and there's a reason some are played on weeknights ��ESPN). It's so the students who play the games can travel across the country to play. And it helps all their fans make the trip too.

Similarly, tailgating is not just about getting lit before kickoff. It's a chance to catch up with old friends and spend more time with close ones. It's about turning around to see a familar face you haven't spoken to in years and you had no idea was going to the game � someone you never thought you'd see again even ��and having an opportunity to catch up.

My new job this fall, which allows me to have weekends off, and Notre Dame's schedule has allowed me to see people I haven't seen in years. I spent Labor Day Saturday at the Meadowlands for the Kickoff Classic. I went back to Notre Dame for my first home game in three seasons. And this past weekend I got to visit Baltimore and Annapolis, the latter of which I'd never seen before.

I have barely missed a minute of Irish football this fall, something that I haven't been able to say since my days as a student at the games ended in the fall of 1997. Working for a newspaper covering high school football games on Saturday afternoons, I'd often have to rely on a Walkman with me on the sidelines for in-game updates. Then I'd get my post-game quotes and run to the car to catch the final minutes, or the second half, on the radio as I drove into the office. In 1999, I listened on the radio as the Irish held Boston College out of the end zone on four consecutive plays from inside the 5-yard line. Another Saturday that fall, I watched on the office TV as the Irish got their first (and only, to this date) overtime win, against Air Force. In 2000, I couldn't sit still in my chair there as Notre Dame went on to beat USC on Thanksgiving Saturday and likely clinch a spot in a prestigious BCS bowl.

The blessing and curse of Notre Dame is that it is a medium-sized national university, one that draws students from every state in the nation. In a class of 2,000, you make good friends yet when graduation comes, you're all scattered again across the country. But because of football, I've seen some of those friends again sooner than I would have without the chance to go to Arizona for New Year's in 2000. Or to Baltimore last weekend, or with friends coming to New Jersey over Labor Day. And of course, there are so many who go back each year, even each weekend.

There's just something about this season that has strengthened the friendship I have with Heather. She was able to come to the Purdue game in South Bend on Sept. 7 and we've talked several times since, during great moments of ND victories and once, on the night of Nov. 2, after a heart-wrenching loss. That chat was catharsis, a conversation that helped ease the sting of defeat. We've always had a great bond, and I had no complaints before this season started at the end of August. But knowing what I do now, it's nice to see how it's gotten even better. If there's one regret I have in regards to Heather, it's that she's yet to meet Casey. The more I talk with Heather, the more I'm convinced those two will hit it off tremendously, and the more anxious I get to figure out a way to introduce them. (And it probably doesn't help the situation that I keep mentioning this to both parties and risk raising one of them too high in the other's mind, making it impossible for one to meet the other's expectations. But that's just my own ridiculous paranoia.)

One of the most ridiculous phrases to me is "It's only football," or whatever sport you choose to insert. Sometimes, it is only football, like when it's the Super Bowl. You can root for a professional team, but you're not a part of it. But when it's your alma mater, it's more than just a sport many people cannot understand or care for. It involves memories and history and friendships. There is a social and historial importance to our games in America, and I find that as fascinating as the play itself.