From the Associated Press: SOUTH BEND,
Ind. -- Charlie Weis doesn't usually let anyone else
call plays on offense. He made an exception for
10-year-old Montana Mazurkiewicz.
The Notre Dame coach met last week
with Montana, who had been told by doctors weeks earlier
that there was nothing more they could do to stop the
spread of his inoperable brain tumor.
"He was a big Notre Dame fan in
general, but football especially," said his mother,
Cathy Mazurkiewicz.
“ He said 'What are we going to do?' I
said 'We have no choice. We're throwing it to the
right'”
- Charlie Weis, on what he told Brady Quinn before the
Irish' first play.
Weis showed up at the Mazurkiewicz
home in Mishawaka, just east of South Bend, and talked
with Montana about his tumor and about Weis' 10-year-old
daughter, Hannah, who has global development delay, a
rare disorder similar to autism.
He told Montana about some pranks he
played on Joe Montana -- whom Montana was named after.
Weis and former Irish running back Terry Eurick shared a
suite, where Montana would visit.
"I gave him a chance to hammer me on
the Michigan State loss, which he did very well. He
reminded me of my son," said Weis, whose son, Charlie
Jr., is 12 years old.
Weis said the meeting was touching.
"He told me about his love for Notre
Dame football and how he just wanted to make it through
this game this week," Weis said. "He just wanted to be
able to live through this game because he knew he wasn't
going to live very much longer."
As Weis talked to the boy, Cathy
Mazurkiewicz rubbed her son's shoulder trying to ease
his pain. Weis said he could tell the boy was trying not
to show he was in pain.
His mother told Montana, who had just
become paralyzed from the waist down a day earlier
because of the tumor, to toss her a football Weis had
given him. Montana tried to throw the football, put
could barely lift it. So Weis climbed into the reclining
chair with him and helped him complete the pass to his
mother.
Before leaving, Weis signed the
football.
"He wrote, 'Live for today for
tomorrow is always another day,"' Mazurkiewicz said.
"He told him: 'You can't worry about
tomorrow. Just live today for everything it has and
everything you can appreciate,'" she said. "He said: 'If
you're (in pain) today you might not necessarily be in
pain tomorrow, or it might be worse. But there's always
another day.'"
Weis asked Montana if there was
something he could do for him. He agreed to let Montana
call the first play against Washington on Saturday. He
called "pass right."
Montana never got to see the play. He
died Friday at his home.
Weis heard about the death and called
Mazurkiewicz on Friday night to assure her he would
still call Montana's play.
"He said, 'This game is for Montana,
and the play still stands,'" she said.
Weis said he told the team about the
visit. He said it wasn't a "Win one for the Gipper"
speech, because he doesn't believe in using individuals
as inspiration. He just wanted the team to know people
like Montana are out there.
"That they represent a lot of people
that they don't even realize they're representing," Weis
said.
When the Irish started on their own
1-yard-line following a fumble recovery, Mazurkiewicz
wasn't sure Notre Dame would be able to throw a pass.
Weis was concerned about that, too. So was quarterback
Brady Quinn.
"He said 'What are we going to do?'"
Weis said. "I said 'We have no choice. We're throwing it
to the right.'"
Weis called a play where most of the
Irish went left, Quinn ran right and looked for tight
end Anthony Fasano on the right.
Mazurkiewicz watched with her family.
"I just closed my eyes. I thought,
'There's no way he's going to be able to make that pass.
Not from where they're at. He's going to get sacked and
Washington's going to get two points,'" she said.
Fasano caught the pass and leapt over
a defender for a 13-yard gain.
"It's almost like Montana was willing
him to beat that defender and take it to the house,"
Weis said.
Mazurkiewicz was happy.
"It was an amazing play. Montana would
have been very pleased. I was very pleased," she said.
"I was just so overwhelmed. I couldn't watch much more."
Weis called her again after the game,
a 36-17 victory by the 13th-ranked Fighting Irish, and
said he had a game ball signed by the team that he
wanted to bring to the family on Sunday.
"He's a very neat man. Very
compassionate," she said. "I just thanked him for using
that play, no matter the circumstances.”
I read this and thought it would put a nice perspective
on our weekend entertainment.
This week at your local multiplex: (10/14/2005)
Stay: (Drama)
(Cameron Diaz, Toni Collette, Shirley Mac Claine, Mark
Feuerstein)
Plot: Two sisters stop speaking to each other when
one sleeps with the other’s boyfriend. They learn to make
amends with the help of a grandmother they never knew they
had.
Buzz: This movie is getting a lot of advertising time
and expect to see advertisements for this film all over the
place just before it is released on the 14th. With these
stars, the distributor will be pushing the hell out of it,
and this is the only weepy, female, tearjerker coming out
this week. So, if you are into this kind of thing check it
out.
Elizabethtown: (Romantic Comedy)
(Kirsten Dunst, Orlando Bloom, Susan Sarandon, Jessica Biel,
Judy Greer)
Plot: A local patriarch’s death and memorial brings
together an entire family together, with comedic results.
Buzz: Cameron Crowe’s first film since 2001s Vanilla
Sky. Cameron Crowe has a pretty loyal following after films
such as Jerry Maguire and Almost Famous. You can’t help but
expect him to keep up his track record of good films.
Domino: (Action/Thriller)
(Keira Knightley, Mickey Rourke, Mena Suvari, Delroy Lindo,
Lucy Liu, Christopher Walken)
Plot: The kinda sort of possibly true story of Domino
Harvey, bounty hunter.
Buzz: Tony Scott’s newest action thriller. Judging by
the trailers and all of the buzz this movie is going to be
full of hot Keira Nightly, plenty of explosions, and an over
the top Christopher Walken. I have been so looking forward
to this movie. Tony Scott+Keira Knightley+action and
explosions+crazy Christopher Walken= 8 dollars out of my
wallet.
The Fog: (Horror)
(Tom Welling, Maggie Grace, Selma Blair, and Rade Sherbedgia)
Plot: An old legend of the death of a crew of sailors
one hundred years ago comes back to haunt the town in the
form of a fog.
Buzz: A remake of the 1980 John Carpenter film of the
same name, this is the only horror film this week, and if
you are looking for a pretty good scare, this is your only
option. But it will probably get lost in the shuffle with
such big name movies hitting theaters this week.
This week on DVD: 10/04/2005
Stumblebum Studios Archives