What a Week It Has Been

Wow, what an incredible week that it has been for the Cubs, Notre Dame, and the Chicago Bears. Let’s start with Saturday. Saturday was one of the best days that I have ever had as a sports fan. Early that morning while I was still in bed, I heard my phone go off multiple times and had no idea why. I look and see that I have multiple texts from my friends saying that the Bears had just traded for Khalil Mack who is one of the best defensive players in all of the NFL. So, naturally, I went to Twitter to verify this before I got really excited. I saw that it was true and, I thought, what a way to wake up early on a Saturday morning. With the Bears getting Mack, this is the most excited I have been for a Bears football season in a long, long time. To make this even better, we play Green Bay on Sunday night.

Via ChicagoBears.com

Then around 3:30 on Saturday afternoon, the lineup for the Cubs game came out for that night's game against the Phillies. Batting in the 5th spot and playing third base, Kris Bryant was finally back. This was a huge boost for a team that had already been playing very well. In his first game back, Bryant went on to have two hits and Kyle Hendricks pitched a great game.

Later that night, Notre Dame Fighting Irish played one of their biggest rivals the Michigan Wolverines. This was hyped up to be one of the biggest games of the entire year with two historical programs playing head to head on the opening weekend of college football. College Gameday was in South Bend for the matchup. A game with two defenses that were supposed to be the real deal and they both showed why. Notre Dame got out to a very early 14-0 lead in the first quarter and it looked like it would be smooth sailing for the Irish. Then the Michigan defense showed what they were all about by shutting down Brandon Wimbush and the Irish offense. Right before the half, Notre Dame was in firm control of the game, but then the Wolverines returned the kick off 99 yards to make the score 17-10.  Notre Dame scored one more time to make it 24-10. The Irish defense now had to live up to its preseason hype. They made multiple stops in the fourth, and then with about two minutes left, the Wolverines score to bring it to a one-score game. The #12 Irish seal the win after recovering a fumble. My first reactions from the game were that Notre Dame’s defense is the real deal and I think they can do a lot with that this year. The offense, on the other hand, is questionable. I think Brandon Wimbush needs to be big for the Irish this year and I believe he can do it. This win over #14 Michigan moved Notre Dame up to #8 in the country this week. They will take on Ball State Saturday.

Via NotreDameinsider.com

To top off this Labor Day weekend, I went to the Cubs game on Monday up in Milwaukee at Miller Park aka Wrigley North. It has that name because of the amount of Cubs fans that are in attendance every time we play up there and boy our fans not disappoint.  It truly felt like a home game for the Cubs. The game was a sellout and it was probably 70-30 Cubs fans to Brewer fans. Cole Hamels started for the Cubs and he also did not disappoint. The Cubs took the lead in the first when Javy Baez was Javy Baez and scored from first on a single by Anthony Rizzo. The Brewers took the lead in the 6th and things started to not look so good. By the time the 8th inning came, Josh Hader, the Brewers prized bullpen arm, was going on his third consecutive inning of work. Anthony Rizzo came to the plate with Ian Happ stealing 2nd during the at-bat. On a 2-1 count, Rizz absolutely smashed the ball to deep left center to give the Cubs the lead 3-2 with his at-bat being a home run. The stadium went absolutely nuts. A person not paying attention would not have guessed that a visiting team just took the lead. I felt like I was at Wrigley and it was an awesome moment. I've been to quite a few Cubs games in my life and that might have been the best moment that I have witnessed. Josh Hader, who was pitching, had never allowed a home run to a left-handed hitter until then. Sadly, the Cubs went on to lose that game because their bullpen absolutely folded in the 8th and 9th. Walking home the tying run in the 8th, the Brewers walked off the Cubs on a fielder's choice by Christian Yelich. Watching your team lose on TV on walk-off sucks, but being there and seeing your team lose is 10x worse. Yet, the Cubs are still in first and we are still better than the Milwaukee Brewers.