Dancing With the Stars vs. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish

'Tis the season to take one for the team! Nope. I'm not talking about football or football widows here. I'm talking about a new season of "Dancing With The Stars." And maybe I might make some parallels to football.

My wife Lori is a huge fan of the show and consequently, I get to watch it with her. I have to admit that I get into it as well. I enjoy watching good dancing.

Lori is the dancer in the family. So is my daughter Erin. Lori is a world-champion country dancer and enjoys teaching line dance lessons on Tuesday nights at the Moose. Erin has danced since she was four and continued with it through her career at Notre Dame. Me? I play the songs so people can dance.

Lori watches DWTS with the same enthusiasm I have as I watch the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. However, Lori is more subdued about it. She's not like me. I love to stand in front of the TV and scream praise or criticism of the last play. Lori critiques each contestant on DWTS from the comfort of the sofa and then votes for as many contestants as the show allows. She does disagree with Len Goodman frequently, using language that I can actually think about printing.

On DWTS, Lori points out that the couple is performing a triple two, which has the same effect as when I tell her the Irish just ran a screen.

When we watch the Irish, we sometimes go to Buffalo Wild Wings. I'm into the game, she's into the nachos. When we watch DWTS, it's from the comfort of our sofa, having supper.

On DWTS, Lori enjoys eye-candy like William Levy, the Latin heart-throb who was a contestant this past spring. Never mind that Green Bay Packer Donald Driver was last season's winner of the coveted mirror ball trophy. I secretly think that Carrie Ann Inaba, one of the judges on the show, is hot. Especially when she showed up for the Halloween show last year as Catwoman.

This year it's an all-star cast. Stars who have been on Dancing With The Stars previously.