In a game with two Notre Dame interceptions returned for touchdowns, an LSU kickoff return for a touchdown and a last-minute game-winning touchdown drive, it was the avoidable play that stuck in my father’s memory.
I don’t give him enough credit when it comes to sports, partly because that’s secretly how he wants it. He knows and remembers a fair amount, but if there are lower expectations, he gets to surpass them more often. So when I called him Friday to confirm a vague childhood memory, I opened with, “I’m going to test your memory.”
“Go ahead,” he replied, in the last hour of an 11-day road trip.