Her Loyal Sons: A Notre Dame Football Podcast

Well, I thought about stretching this thing out until after the national title game, but considering how the Fiesta Bowl ended, it seemed like this would be a more fitting end to HLS. Shane & I hold one last therapy session in talking about what went wrong during the Fiesta Bowl and what hopes we have for the future. Be sure to stay around post-credits for Eddie and I to pick the national championship and send off the HLS podcast in quite literally the most fitting way possible. Enjoy our final show! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/herloyalsons/message

The HLS Sim was born from my desire to do something different. In the vast sea of Notre Dame podcasts, I wanted to do more than stand out. I wanted to do something fun but also avoid our show being seen as a parroting of more popular Irish podcasts. So I sent a message with a wild idea to Shane: let's go on Twitch and stream a CPU vs CPU matchup of the week's Notre Dame game using a decade-plus old video game as our "preview". To my knowledge, no one was doing this (at best, they were playing NCAA '14 themselves) so I figured it was worth a season to experiment. The next thing I knew, the sim created a string of running inside jokes and we had people that legitimately made the sim appointment live viewing. Even though there were days I came to the stream completely exhausted and/or fighting a severe bout of depression, the sim always kicked me out of it. Something unbelievably stupid and hilarious would happen without fail--multiple times. Whether you watched live, on demand, or listened to the podcast, I can't thank you enough for making this a thing. The joy and laughter you heard was always geniune...as was my utter disgust when virtual Notre Dame lost. The Fiesta Bowl sim was a perfect send off. I couldn't have asked for anything better. I hope you enjoy the final entry as well. Five Wide. DRINK! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/herloyalsons/message

After this episode, there will be only one more game to pick with Eddie: the 2021 National Championship. It's hard to believe this crazy picks journey is coming to an end--even crazier, we are still doing a damn good job. Despite opt-outs and COVID cancellations, Eddie and I went 7-2 last week, bringing our bowl totals to 13-10 and 12-11 as I keep my one game edge. Overall, we are 112-80-4. Yes, this means that we've hit the point in which we couldn't even screw up going over .500 if we tried! But like Notre Dame getting a good draw with Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl, it'd be silly for us to lose a bunch now. So come enjoy your last large batch of winners! #HAILGAMBLOR --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/herloyalsons/message

The only thing rougher than week one of bowl picks was whatever in the hell happened to me and my family before recording this show. There...was a lot. However, the show must go on despite my lack of research. With that in mind I came up with some, uh, "creative" methods to pick these games. I'm particularly proud of what I came up with for the multiple bowl games in baseball stadiums, personally. Oh, and we have some fun with bowl sponsors too, including me trying to chat with a bot during the show as pictured below: #HAILGAMBLOR --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/herloyalsons/message

It's the most wonderful time of the year: bowl season. After a ridiculously incredible regular season, Eddie and I are ready to ruin it all by throwing darts at bowl season. As we won't be recording until next Thursday, we have 14 bowl games to pick. More importantly, Eddie also has a list of bowl gifts ready to go. Even more importantly, we visit some of the websites to figure out what some of this stuff is and do we ever make some discoveries. Oh, and hang on past the closing song because you will hear Eddie and I try to figure out some confusing reference material only to find out...well, you will have to listen for yourself. #HAILGAMBLOR --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/herloyalsons/message

Yeah, yeah, Eddie won the $200 Extra Life bet. I will pay up once I finish the FFXIV: Endwalker main story/marathon on Friday (I hope!). Make sure to join that on my personal twitch channel. Thankfully, I realized that I run this show. I changed some rules. Gotta keep this interesting. After all, this isn't about the money now. It's about walking off this thing with a W. After taking some liberties with the Army/Navy pick, I go over this year's tiebreaker: our 2021 futures. Spoiler alert: they were real bad! #HAILGAMBLOR --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/herloyalsons/message

College football's playoff and NY6 Selection Sunday came and went mostly as expected. Notre Dame has landed in the Fiesta Bowl and will face Oklahoma State. Shane and I do discuss our initial thoughts on this game, which has never happened before; however, the beginning of the podcast focuses on the wonder that is Marcus Freeman. Shane gives his thoughts on the hire for the first time on the digital airwaves. We are both very excited for the beginning of a new era for Notre Dame, even though we won't be here to cover it in the uh...unique...way that we do. It's great to see the Irish face turn and we are ready for it to start with a victory in 2022. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/herloyalsons/message

Eddie and I were, understandably a little distracted by other things in this episode. We were ready to rant a lot about Brian Kelly abandoning the Irish, but we were blessed with news that was well with Marcus Freeman taking over the helm, along with several other assistants. Enjoy the picks, as well as me breaking in continuously to list of yet another assistant staying on board and not fleeing to Baton Rouge. I'm still three games behind Eddie in our annual Extra Life bet and I need to make up at least two here to make the Army/Navy game worth something. It all comes down to this. I'm not sure if I made the right picks, but I know I'll be able to sleep at night. #HAILGAMBLOR --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/herloyalsons/message

Yep. Title says it all. Shane and I work through the most shocking news of college football in...well, forever. I'm not worried about SEO. This is all the description you are getting. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/herloyalsons/message

Another week, another victory recap episode in which there is very little to complain about for the Irish. The performance, especially in the first half, was as dominating as you will see in college football. Sadly, the no touchdown November streak died, Jack Coan had a bad interception, and the turf monster probably robbed us of a long TD or two. Despite all that, Notre Dame did what they needed to do to make their case to the playoff committee. Shane and I spend the second segment of the episode talking about the playoff picture, what we think needs to happen in order for the Irish to find themselves at the #4 slot (as well as what absolutely doesn't need to happen), and how we feel about this 11-1 effort by ND. It's hard to believe we've come to the end of regular season recaps, but we have at least one more to do! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/herloyalsons/message

It's hard to believe this day has arrived, but this our final regular season sim in HLS history. Thankfully we have (at least) one more sim to go, but Shane and I put a bow on the 2021 Sim Notre Dame Season with a visit to Stanford. All I will say is that the sim (hopefully) managed to be the most accurate thing ever--all the way down to David Shaw doing some bullshit. Oh, and I hope you weren't expecting serious play-by-play the whole way through in this one because you won't get it. The second half contains many an exquisite detour and Irish Elvis provides multiple sim updates from around the nation from the HLS studios (via Twitch chat). --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/herloyalsons/message

It finally happened. I had a massive week and tied things up with Eddie in our $200 bet for Extra Life. This brings us both to 86-60-3 on the season. Talk about going out with a bang in the last year. In fact, I'm so proud of the record, that I did a bit a math at the beginning of the episode to let you know how much money we could've been making you this season. Granted, we have now tempted fate with the brag, plus picking games on a Tuesday morning, but GAMBLOR stops for nothing, including Thanksgiving. Neither Eddie nor I have no plans of stopping our hot streak now and, by the end of the week, we should have a new leader in the clubhouse. #HAILGAMBLOR --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/herloyalsons/message

Once again, Notre Dame has blessed us with a dominating performance that leaves little need for anything beyond gushing. Believe me, Shane and I are completely happy with how this is unfolding. Sure, gushing is fun, but we get to spend the majority podcast having ourselves a ball with a host of other topics. We talk preparing for a heel turn when the College Football Playoff Committee inevitably shoves ND into the top four and plan a literal marshmallow war for the senior section next season because, with NBC highlighting it, the University's efforts to halt it are now completely hilarious. In short, the theme to end the season is to lean in to being the obnoxious, arrogant college football heels. I can think of no better way to go out! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/herloyalsons/message

Apologies for the day delay on this one. Believe me, I was in no condition to even attempt the live broadcast on Thursday night. Thankfully, I feel better, even though I'm sure you can hear some fatigue in my voice. However, I had to push through to get the last home sim in the books in HLS history. It's been a long, crazy ride, and, hilariously, this felt like a football game. Don't worry, there are still wtf moments, but overall, the sim stayed sober for senior day. We have two (maybe three?!) more sims to go. With next week being Thanksgiving, we are coming at you with a special sim Tuesday, November 23 9 PM CST / 10 PM EST for the final sim of the 2021 season. Enjoy them while they last! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/herloyalsons/message

It's that time of year again, when teams across the nation run and hide behind some hilariously week games to prepare for their biggest games of the year. Thankfully, this year the concentrated FCS flood has been lessened than in previous years, giving us a rather solid slate of twelve games. Eddie still holds a two game lead over me in our Extra Life bet and he's still giving me hell for passing out during my 24 hour stream failure (and rightly so). I'm determined to catch up, but I'm running out of time! We have only a couple more regular season picks pods remaining. Come join the fun while it lasts! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/herloyalsons/message

Let's be honest, when a game is played so well, there is little more to do than gush over the performance. While fun, there is only so much gushing that can be done and still have an insightful show. Thankfully, Notre Dame was forced to play more of the depth chart than we've seen all season thanks to injuries and illness this week. With that look at the future of the Irish, Shane and I spend the second half of the pod talking about what we see as the big picture for this season and beyond. Oh, and there's a story about how I blacked out for charity and completely missed this game live. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/herloyalsons/message

I know I say this every week, but I'm absolutely positive the sim, and all technology, knows that we are wrapping this thing up soon. Troll job doesn't even begin to descript this mess. There are more turnovers than third downs converted by both teams. This game might have set a record for combined sacks. Neither virtual coach seemed to care to manage the clock properly nor call anything resembling a coherent gameplan. And, to top it all off, Shane's audio dies right in the middle of the sim. I'm not sure if I've ever laughed harder and had more despair than in any other sim. Enjoy the clusterfucks while they last. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/herloyalsons/message

It's hard to believe that we are now halfway into the month of November. The season is quickly coming to a close and there are only a handful of regular season picks pods remaining. Eddie still has a two game lead on our Extra Life bet (which, by the way, I'm doing a 24-hour stream on Friday night starting between 6-6:30pm CST--fun stuff is happening!). Both of us went 6-6 in the previous week and there is a solid slate of games, along with a couple true sicko matchups tossed in. There aren't many of these left. Enjoy each one! #HAILGAMBLOR --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/herloyalsons/message

There's no fancy/funny title this week. This was very much a Notre Dame/Navy experience for the most part. Boring as hell to watch, ending (thankfully) was never in doubt. Yet there were still some incredible highlights, mostly centered around Navy not scoring a touchdown which might be one of the wilder things we've seen in this series in some time. Apparently this was driven by Marcus Freeman making sure the scout team made life hell for the defense, which is some next level coaching evil. The offense largely did their job against a bad defense, leading to one of the shortest recaps of anything all time. Not going to lie: will not miss covering/recapping this series ever again--and it's going to keep going for at least another decade. Y'all have fun with that! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/herloyalsons/message

It's rare that I can say that a sim is a quick listen, but when virtual Navy comes into town, the clock bleeds at a glorious pace. Unrelated, my eyes may have also bled at the same pace by watching...well, whatever this was. It was a sim. It was a Navy game. It felt dirty even though it was a good result. Perhaps the sim found a way to capture Catholic guilt in video game form. We'll never know the sim's ways, but we will enjoy it while it lasts. After all, we've hit the last month of the regular season and these little events will be coming to an end soon. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/herloyalsons/message