While the weather outside is still warm and very few trees have started changing color, Labor Day is only a week away, and that means the unofficial start of the best season of them all - fall.
Here are some reasons to love the fall:
1. It has two names.
Fall is the only season that is called by two different names. Some call it fall, after the leaves which FALL from the trees. Others prefer autumn, which is poetic-sounding. Fall is the season so nice, they named it twice!
2. Nice weather.
This may not be immediately apparent to some readers. After all, you say, isn't fall the season when it starts to get cold outside? Yes, it is, but who doesn't want relief from 90 degrees with high humidity and thunderstorms all the time? I'll take the 70-degree days of September and the crisp mornings of October, thank you.
3. Falling leaves.
Along with the changing weather come the beautiful changing leaves. Oranges, reds and yellows light up the quads, making our already pretty campus stunning. (Note to students from other parts of the country: changing leaves are not, as you might suspect, a Notre Dame phenomenon. They are actually a yearly occurrence in the Midwest and Northeast. See what you're missing when you don't have four seasons?)
4. Back to school.
While during our childhoods, back to school was something to be dreaded, in college it's the best time of year. You finally get to be done with that boring summer job, get out of your parent's basement and come back to see all your friends under the Dome. Plus, school work isn't nearly as bad this time of year because you're motivated and ready to get good grades. Of course, this feeling will disappear by the Michigan game, but you won't find it at all in any season but fall.
5. Football.
Of course, fall means football season, and the return of our beloved Fighting Irish. But Notre Dame home games aren't all there is. There are also great away game Saturdays when you turn the TV on at noon, and there's college football until 2 a.m. There's pro football games on Sundays and Mondays, and there's even those Tuesday night Middle Tennessee State vs. Central Michigan games where you know you should be studying but you can't help trying to figure out which team you should be rooting for to help Notre Dame's BCS chances.
6. Baseball.
Baseball may be a summer sport, but it really doesn't heat up until fall. That's when the pennant races really heat up and Bostonians, New Yorkers, Chicagoans and Cardinals fans (who come from all over for some reason) start to argue in the hallways while people from towns with losing clubs wonder what the big deal is.
