Pot ‘O Gold (2023 Notre Dame Football Fantasy Camp) (6/4-6/8/23)

(Photo courtesy of ND staff)

“The greatest resource is time and you can’t buy back the clock.” – Macklemore

Before I start into this blog, I just want to mention that this post will be a bit different. For years, I’ve gone into a lot of detail on everything related to that post. For this particular one, there are large parts that I’m not going to focus on. For the simple reason that I believe going through every single detail spoils the special aspect of this experience.

Also, there are several public items that I will reference:

[1] Mike Drosieko’s Day 1 Recap, Day 2 Recap and Game Day Recap. There should be one final video in the channel at some point soon (full wrap up).

[2] North American Golden Domers Season 2, Episode 1

[3] TD run — you’ll need to scroll down a few posts.

[4] Camp Information (this is now showing the 2024 version, but from memory the prior detailed 2023 one mirrored the compressed 2024 view).

To get a good overview of what went on in more detail, please take a look at [1] and [4]. The two combined, along with the below should give you a really good idea of what you’re in for if you can make camp work in 2024!

As I’ve mentioned in the past (and shared during camp), I first found the Notre Dame Football Fantasy Camp (NDFFC) in 2006. At that time, it was run by Global Football (Patrick Steenberge — who I learned during camp was a former ND player). At that time, it wasn’t feasible. 17 years later and multiple false starts, it finally all came together. And I’ll be honest that there was a portion of time in there that I feared my ‘borrowed time’ of vision would run out before I could attend at least once.

During that 17 year time span, conference realignments added an unexpected wrinkle to attending. So before I could share the news about being able to attend the 2023 NDFFC publicly, I had to talk with several people privately. It was out of respect and along the lines of ensuring that they weren’t blindsided when they saw the posts — or later on when they saw the changes during the season.

During the 2 months between when I registered and when camp unofficially began, I sent the information they requested, made sure the coaches knew about the vision issues (I learned the hard way that it’s best to tell them up front… rather than when they see me losing track of footballs in an indoor facility), and asked a lot of questions. The biggest fear during this whole time (and honestly until we walked in from practice #2) was running out of the tunnel and onto the field. I know that we all live in a digital world and people love ‘train wrecks’. So I was concerned about not seeing something as I ran out, tripping/falling, and creating a viral video for fans of Notre Dame’s rivals to use. Olivia was extremely helpful with information and assured me there would be someone to run out with me and ensure safety. That all helped immensely, and I was grateful for all of her help. 🙂 Mike was also extremely helpful with information to answer questions I had, which I really appreciated.

One of the requested pieces in late April or early May was a photo and bio for the camp media guide. I had no idea exactly what to write, but I know my draft made mention of the vision issues. What I saw in the final version didn’t mention any of that. At the time, I thought it was odd — later on, I think I realized why it was done that way. And in the end, I agree with the edit choices. 🙂 IMO, it was along the lines of ‘you may have a disability, but we’re viewing you as a camper/player first. We know about it, but the other pieces are what we’re going to focus on.’

They weren’t the only ones who had that view during the week. Another group was the cart people at the local golf course… As part of the unofficial start to camp, I joined one of the foursomes to spend time with guys. I was running late, so I had to get assistance from the cart staff getting out to the first hole where the last group was waiting to tee off. As there were 5 of us and only 2 carts, they kept wanting to give me a cart to drive. I tried to politely decline it; I tried pointing to the cane in my bag. However, neither of these worked. I had to go to ‘Is your liability insurance fully paid up’ before they finally got it and rearranged the carts so I could ride and drink beer while the others focused on golf. Even though I have some vision in bright daylight (my estimate has always been 50-60% of normal vision), it would not have been a good idea for anyone involved for me to be trying to drive a golf cart.

Camp started on Tuesday with a circuit between Equipment Fitting, Photo Shoot, time in the locker room and paperwork. While I’ve seen photos and videos over the years of other campers going to their locker during the first session, those didn’t compare to the experience of doing it myself. Day 1 also included the first practice (skills), a dinner with the current team and the Golden Standard piece that Mike mentions in his Day 1 video (see Chris Zorich reference).

Day 2 included two practices, team meetings and presentations from coaches. It also included installation of plays and the team draft. / captain vote

Before the final practice on day 3, they revealed the team captains. I was honored to be chosen as one of the team captains for the Gold team! Pre-game also included a meal, a couple of talks from Coach Freeman, Mass, the walk to the stadium and warm ups. Prior to the intros, it was mentioned that you’d run through the players after running into the stadium. I assumed this meant the first one or two out would start the line that we would all run through. What it really meant was ND players being out on the field, with Coach Freeman at the end, which was amazing. One of the ND staff ran out with me, and it all worked out fine.

After doing the coin toss (which Blue won) and the National Anthems (Canada, Mexico and US), the game started. While I had done both RB and DT position practices throughout the week, I primarily played as a DT. The coaches helped with calling plays in general, and with positioning when I was on the field, which helped immensely.

I believe the score was 19-7 Blue at half, and 19-13 Blue late in the 4th quarter. The game used a running clock outside of the last minute of each half, so it went by quickly. With under two minutes, the Blue team was driving and the defense had gotten them into a 4th and long with about 50 seconds left. The Blue Team decided to go for it, and if we’d held them, there may have been enough time for a score. But they converted it, and had a first down at about the 25.

It was at this point I heard my name being called from the field. At the time I went out onto the field, I assumed that the Blue team was running one final play and my team wanted to get me in on it from the defensive side. In reality, it was an amazing act of kindness and brotherhood. I’ll let the video and the podcast comments ([2] and [3]) speak for themselves.

One other piece that I want to pull out of the podcast is the story about Coach Freeman saying to one of the 4 guys that ‘we were his recruiting tool’. I didn’t know about this until I heard the podcast, and laughed the first time I heard it. But when I went back and thought about it, it made more sense — and reflected things that I’d seen from him and the entire staff the whole week. What I took away from the second listen was ‘look at the support you’ll have from the fans — these are guys that love the school and program so much that they’re giving up money and time to be here.’ And I believe that there’s a very valid point to that.

As I said before, we all live in a digital ‘train wreck’ world. If you as a recruited scholarship player miss a play, an assignment, a catch, etc., you’re going to hear about it from every asshat within 24 hours. IMO, being able to show that there’s a lot of support helps counter some of that negative BS that’s invariably going to occur.

After the game, I cleaned out my locker, making sure to have others double and triple check things for me. I walked out of the locker room carrying my helmet (which Freshman get to keep) and the ball I’d scored the TD with, and headed over the awards banquet. Before the end of the night, I had a 2nd ball (Boss Hogg award)!

I am extremely grateful to all of my ND brothers who helped me out throughout the week. The Judge helped out tremendously, and I know that there were several others. I am also extremely grateful to Coach Freeman and the entire ND football program (current and former players) for an amazing and special week.