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| ARROGANCE Arrogance is the hallmark of Notre Dame. One can find Notre Dame's arrogant attitude by listening to their fans claim title after title, even though one can reasonably claim they were the best team in 3 years. Or their administrators, who claim that Notre Dame doesn't redshirt players, and coincidentally only ever offer students who happen to accept their offers. After all, nobody would ever reject a scholarship at Notre Dame. To wit: What happened to the Notre Dame-Michigan State football game? The above story indicates just how arrogant Notre Dame is. Granted, Michigan State planting the flag at midfield in plain view of 4th 'n' short Jesus is pretty classless, but the reason for that action was because Notre Dame didn't bring the rivalry trophy, the Megaphone, with them to the game. To not bring a trophy because you are under the deluded impression that you will beat MSU is plain arrogance, especially when you only beat Michigan State twice in the previous eight meetings. And for Weis to claim that Michigan State will never beat Notre Dame on his watch is pure arrogance, especially since he is winless against the Spartans and Notre Dame has only won two of the past nine games against Sparty. And for Weis to claim he doesn't talk to anyone over the summer? Please. That's arrogance, and anyone who doesn't believe that would believe Weis' claims. Abstain from storming the court Today, the Notre Dame men's basketball team has a very important game against Boston College (or "Backup College" as Justin Tuck prefers). When, and I do mean when, our embattled band of Irishmen defeat number five, undefeated and overrated Boston College, I strongly urge my fellow students and fans to not storm to the court in celebration. Normally, a victory at home over a top 10 team warrants a court storming. However, in the case of Boston College, normal conventions must be set aside. As Notre Dame Students we must be defiant and not storm the court as a display of our common despise for that institution. Let us not forget that this is the same school that greedily and hypocritically stabbed Notre Dame and the rest of the Big East in the back when it fled to the ACC not long ago. They left the conference scrambling just days after denouncing similar moves made by Miami and Virginia Tech. This is also the same school that claims to be our rival in football based solely on four consecutive last second wins over two of our program's worst head coaches. Let us also not forget the disrespect their football players have shown to Notre Dame by ripping large clumps of grass out of our hallowed stadium in celebration. This is the same school that also claims to be our academic counterpart in the world of higher education for reasons that I cannot comprehend. The point is that Boston College wants desperately to be Notre Dame, to be our rival and be our peer both academically and athletically. The truth is that they aren't even close. I therefore urge all students to defiantly abstain from storming the court following the Irish victory. Such an action only legitimizes their claim to be our rival. Backup College deserves an "overrated" chant coupled with a few "We are NDs." I'd rather save the storming for Oct. 15. Bill Coffey Writhing Irish Explaining why the University of Notre Dame is in South Bend, Ind., Lou Holtz loves to tell this story When a small band of Catholic priests was moving across the country with the intention of establishing Notre Dame in California, they were stopped by a horrendous blizzard in South Bend and the leader of the group declared, "We'll move on just as soon as the weather gets better." One-hundred fifty-four years later, they're still waiting. Indeed, seeing the weather in northern Indiana for what it is--which is to say arguably the worst in the United States--is something Notre Damers always have been good at. It's lousy and they know it and they admit it. But seeing Notre Dame football for what it has become--which is to say sanctimonious and deceitful and full of itself without peer--is something Notre Damers always have been ppoor at. It's arrogant and self-serving and heavy-handed, and they won't admit it. Even normally astute former coach Ara Parseghian muses that he doesn't see the school as sanctimonious, but rather as a place that sometimes generates criticism because of "the normal feelings of jealousy that accompany success." Phooey. Notre Dame and its football are sanctimonious and, worse, everyone knows it, and that's the end of that. (more)Notre Dame no dream job, after all This would be the low point, Rockne bottom, a time for all those arrogant men who run Notre Dame football to hang their heads and realize they aren't special anymore. They fired Tyrone Willingham for the expressed purpose of hiring Urban Meyer, who viewed the Golden Dome as his "dream job" and went so far to place a Notre Dame out clause in his Utah contract. Then, of course, he snubbed them and signed with Florida. (more) ND becoming all it once was against That Tom Zbikowski fight at Madison Square Garden was quite a show. Well, not the fight. But the buildup! He entered the ring through a gauntlet of his teammates in their Notre Dame jerseys. His warmup read, "Fight Like a Champion Today," playing off the famed Irish football sign "Play Like a Champion Today." And gospel singer BeBe Winans sang the Notre Dame fight song. This is certainly something new, Notre Dame football cross- promoting with the world of professional boxing. That's Irish football, the tasteful example of U.S. amateur football, in the same world with Don King. Or, in this case, Bob Arum. (more) Golden doom: Notre Dame's a lost cause Chances are, a 17-year-old football star thinks the Four Horsemen are a nerd band from the 1950s. He assumes the Gipper is a pro wrestler, never has heard the voice of Lindsey Nelson and may have noticed Rudy" in a back bin at Blockbuster. In his world, Notre Dame is the team with gold helmets that plays Saturdays on NBC but never seems to make anyone happy. All of which is revealing when assessing the Fighting Irish and their teetering place in 21st-century life. The ND mystique -- a heavenly idea that a plot of grass beneath Touchdown Jesus' gaze is the most special place on our sporting earth -- has faded into an ambiguous haze the last decade. In the ever-evolving landscape of college football, this program is on no higher footing right now than Northern Illinois. (more) |
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