Suzi and I had the pleasure of hosting my older brother Matt this past weekend, as he was one of the lucky alumni to get tickets to the Penn State game through the annual lottery. Over 66,000 people applied for the 30,000 seats available to Notre Dame alumni, the most requested game in all of Notre Dame football history. And if that’s not impressive enough, the second most requested game is this weekend, Michigan! I’d say Charlie Weiss is holding up his end of the bargain.

Although Matt did get tickets, he got his first general admission seating experience while Suzi and I were in the student section for the first time. It was great. If you’ve ever watched a ND home game on TV, the students are the lifeblood of all stadium activity. We’re still learning the cheers but will have them down pat when the Wolverines come to town. The most exciting part was getting the nearest half dozen students to toss a willing, but preferably lightweight, student in the air every time we scored. Number of tosses equaling the new score. Putting 41 points up against Penn State was tough for everyone.

Outside of some tailgating and football on Saturday, we relaxed most of the weekend. Matt and I did check out the new Jordan Science building on campus. It’s the newest one at ND, completed a few weeks ago, is enormous and very impressive. It’s scheduled to be dedicated on September 16th, but of course the University wants it open for the crowds on football weekends (I’ve taken these pics down to free up server space). There are some pictures of our Saturday activities, which you can access here. Thanks to my buddy Kyle for sharing some nice shots from a more capable camera. If you’re looking for some really sweet pics, check out these two links; Irish Illustrated and SI.com .

We had a great time with Matt and sent him on his way early Monday morning. It’s Tuesday and people are already talking about Michigan. No wonder the Fall semester passes so quickly. Go Irish!