Shenanigans
Shenanigans will feature humor about Notre Dame's trip to West Point in 1913. When Dorais turned out for football in his freshman year in 1910, it was the custom of the players to warm up for practice by kicking the ball back and forth. But Dorais was the exception to the rule. He threw the ball instead, and this caught the attention of Coach Shorty Longman. The coach approached Dorais and tried to give him some advice : "You throw the ball pretty well, but you don't hold it right. You'd never be able to handle a wet ball like that. It'll slip out of your hand. " But the cocky Dorais thought that Longrnan was wrong. "Sure I can," Dorais insisted. "Soak one in the water bucket, and I'll show you." The ball was soaked in water, and Dorais made good on his claim. It was this confidence that made him an exquisite field leader. Rockne agreed. "Without his encouragement and execution, I would never have been able to carry out the forward pass idea." Rockne had great admiration for Dorais, perhaps because the two players were very much alike in style and temperament. "Like myself," Rockne explained, "Gus had to fight for everything he got. Neither of us was very big, and the fellow with the small build has to be so much more clever to hold his own against the bigger boys. He has to know all the tricks. He can't depend on brute strength, but must be foxy and a will-o'-the- wisp. And after a while these mental manuevers become second nature to him." * * * * * * By the way, the one story you always hear about this game is true. After Army's defeat, an officer was seen near the sidelines, snarling at his wife: "Well, you've been hollering about why don't we play some decent opposition. Now, dammit, are you satisfied?" * * * * * * An incident before their arrival back in South Bend put the giddy Notre Dame players in an even giddier mood. "Upon alighting from their Pullman in Buffalo on the return ride, they were greeted by a railroad agent who asked them if they were the football team. Upon discovering that they were, he told them breakfast was ready in the station. As they boarded their day coach for South Bend they noticed another husky bunch of young men singing the blues about the breakfast they did not eat. It turned out they were the Syracuse University eleven, who had just come from a 43 to 7 trouncing at the hands of Michigan. The bountiful repast which Notre Dame's boys had devoured had been intended for Syracuse. " * * * * * * To read previous versions of Shenanigans click below:
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