College football reached a golden milestone this week. Barack Obama made fun of Notre Dame.Hail to the Chief.
After giving the commencement speech at the school, Obama went to an Indianapolis fundraiser and addressed the controversy surrounding his visit. He said all that pro-life, pro-choice hubbub "paled in comparison to what to do about the football team."
"That's an issue we may not resolve within my four years," Obama said.
"Eight!" a spectator shouted.
"All right, well, maybe in eight we might get it done," Obama said.
How about never, Mr. President? Concentrate on saving the banks or GM or Rosie O'Donnell's career. We want Notre Dame to fail.
By "we", I mean anyone who believes you should earn your place in this world. The Fighting Irish have remained a member of college football's aristocracy. Could somebody please tell me why?
Yes, they were once an empire to be feared. So were the Ottomans, but you don't see them signing an exclusive deal with NBC.
You can't really blame the network for televising every Irish home game. As many people want to see them lose as watch them win.
I'd like to see them lose 219-0 every Saturday, which isn't very journalistic of me. We're not supposed to get emotionally involved with our patients. That objectivity is what separates us from fans who at this very moment are composing comments that I:
A) Don't know anything about college football.
B) Am hopelessly jealous of the Irish.
C) Am a moron.
I'll plead guilty to B and C. As for A, I know enough to know the Irish have never had to live by the rules governing the rest of football society.
This view started forming 1966 when unbeaten Notre Dame tied unbeaten Michigan State 10-10. The Irish actually ran out the clock instead of trying to win. For that they were awarded the national championship over the Spartans and 11-0 Alabama.
Then came 1977, when No. 5 Notre Dame beat No. 1 Texas in the Cotton Bowl. Third-ranked Alabama beat Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl, but the Irish jumped all the way to the top and claimed another crown.
Think that would have happened if the roles had been reversed?
I recognize the Irish have "mystique," but just because Knute Rockne coached there and Ronald Reagan played The Gipper doesn't mean Notre Dame should be able to job more deserving teams.
Now along comes the Anti-Gipper. Notre Dame is a perfect comedic target for Obama, since he is out to redistribute the wealth and cut fat cats down to size. I don't expect the government to take over NBC, but it would be nice if Obama would impose a new rule:
In order to have your own network, teams must have more than one top-10 finish since the year "Cheers" went off the air. Notre Dame has just one cameo appearance in the AP top 10, in 2005, since finishing second in the last poll of 1993.
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The Irish have NBC, their own MSNBC Web site and a special BCS status. Give those weapons to Urban Meyer or Pete Carroll and they would rule the universe. Give them to Notre Dame and you get one more top-10 than Bemidji State since '93.
Notre Dame hasn't won an actual championship since The Gipper was in the White House. At some point, perhaps after losing nine straight bowl games, as the Irish did before their epic Hawaii Bowl win in December, you'd think the fascination would subside. You can only live off the Four Horsemen for so long, right?
Wrong. The mystique is a trust fund and Notre Dame is the brat who keeps living off Daddy's money. Instead of wasting it on Dom Perignon, the Irish throw it away on Charlie Weis.
Whoever thought he'd be the next Rockne? Weis did, of course, as did the usual adoring media. It's the same delusion that made Ty Willingham the savior, Ron Powlus a Heisman shoo-in, and every recruit a double blue-chipper with a cherry on top.
And wouldn't you know it, on the heels of a seven-win season and an Aloha Bowl win, the Irish are back!
Word is that Jimmy Clausen is ready to become Joe Montana. Weis has shaken up his coaching staff. Spring practice was phenomenal. Expect an 11-win season.
Given Notre Dame's cushy schedule, it just might happen. If ACORN is in charge of voter turnout, the Irish will probably be elected to the preseason top five. If they beat USC, they'll probably be awarded the Sears Trophy on the spot.
That would depress me so much I'd need to see a priest for grief counseling, but that's okay. All I want is to live in a country where you get what you deserve.
If the Fighting Irish ever truly awaken the echoes, I'll buy the first leprechaun I see a green beer.
Until then we should follow the lead of our Commander in Chief:
Consider them a joke.
Comments (Page 1 of 3)
You weren't kidding about the jealousy part.
Cry me a river Whitley.
Your example of one way the Irish don't follow the same rules as the rest of CFB is the 1966 championship. I'm sorry, but didn't two teams without a flawless record play in the Championship game when Utah had a perfect record? Didn't Texas beat Oklahoma (straight up not a tie) during that season? Also could you please explain to me why you compare Pete Carrol and Urban Meyer (both coaches last time I checked) to a COLLEGE? Also I fail to see how a MSNBC homepage would help a team win games.
where are you located? I'm betting it's NOT northern Indiana! How hard is it to recuit players to play in the winter months in Florida or socal. Also, how come those two schools and also teams like Oklahoma, Penn State, Nebraska, pretty much everybody can have bad years where they disappear for awhile and noone calls them on it? How about Miami? It's so easy to kick em when they're down, why don't you get a real job?
who is the joke here? this school that turn's out our fine students and ball players, or this I cann't get my self to bend that low to say it but this joke of a president that the demo-traitors tell what to do and say like a puppet on a string. he is going to redistribute the money of the rich, I did hear any where he was going to spread killer kennedy,s money around or that family's money. did you huh. but yoour's and mine they want too. let him try. they are waiting joker. voters are waiting. by the way I am not a fan of that school, but they are great.GO FIGHTING IRISH.
Funny, there is no discussion of graduation rate on your radar. College football is challenged by the lure of money and instant fame. Some of the best schools have programs that have ups and down. I wouldn't be too worried about ND or the service academies or Columbia or MIT. Oh yeah, most of their students are there for sheepskin and not a career in Pro Football.
How old are you Whitley? 11? Try 11 national championships in football, you moron. And, I don't care if the last one was in 1986. Athletics are cyclical and a couple of bad season's do not equate to squat in the history of the Notre Dame program.
ND recruits quality kids and holds them to high academic standards. Notre Dame athletes do not major in remedial, disjointed nonsense, like many of their counterparts at other universities.
Look at the overall program for the last 100 years or so and comment on the standard of excellence on and off the field. Few programs come even close to the year in and year out consistecy of the IRISH.
What has happened recently is an anomoly and surely will pass. So, Mr. Whitley get ready to kiss our Irish asses and also get ready to shake down the thunder.
Who is this a**hole Whitley? Some people will do anything to get some kind of attention. I just read where someone likened a certain criticism as a mosquito biting the ass of an elephant. Mosquito Whitle, keep working on the Notre Dame elephant's rear.
Nice objective column. If you're so concerned about having to actually earn everything you get, perhaps you should revisit how Obama, with no track record at all, managed to defeat a proven American hero in John McCain. The real reason ND football has gone downhill is the administration's decision to de-emphasize the sport in their admissions standards while continuing to schedule a Top Ten slate of opponents. ND hasn't had a first round level draft pick in years, and they are playing glorified pro teams in USC, LSU, etc.
Who is this moron? Is he trying to make a name for himself by tearing sown a fine institution with one of the highest graduation rates in the nation. It is easy to "hire" a bunch of thugs to play ball for you and win when you can keep them out of jail or from dropping out of college.
How about this, if he criticized Grambling for their football tradition (when did they win a national championship) everyone would jump him for criticizing African Americans. Why is he allowed to trash the Catholics? That is where the real hate for Notre Dame comes from, you are allowed to hate Catholics and get away with it.
I hate Notre Dame with every fiber of my being, and I still can't bring myself to try and agree with anything Whitley writes. Fanhouse is the new depository for sports writers whose only talent is writing crock to get people annoyed and generate hits. Whitley's primary impact on the site is that when I start reading a whiny, self-righteous article, I'm no longer certain I'm reading Jay Mariotti or not.
I agree with Whit. ND is given a bowel game, has contract without producing. They do not have to play a conference schedule, or play a conference championship. ND is given too many oppertunities that others do not recieve.
As for how the MSNBC web page helps ND win, it creates interest to the program and in recruiting. Yes ND has a high grad rate, but that is not the topic of this story. The topic is sincr the last 10 years or longer ND football has sucked, yet NBC has contracts with them.
The difference between a Notre Dame Grad and our token leader is that a Notre Dame Grad can readily prove he went to college
you hit it right on the head
David Whitley??????
David Whitley??????
You can tell a ND fan by their lack of a grasp of reality. USC, Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Florida, Ohio State, Penn State -- even Boise State -- are real teams. Notre Dame is a myth perpetuated by the media. At one time Yale and Army were big teams. You can throw Notre Dame on the trash pile of former legends like those two. No one wants to play there unless they get turned down by the aforementioned real teams. Give up the ghost you losers. Signed: a USC fan.
brncall.. please.. Obama did not beat McCain because he's the better man. He beat John McCain because of all of Acorn's Voter fraud. When American falls again financially... which it will, and harder then the first time people like you will wake up and realize it was the Democrats who controlled congress in 2006 that caused the problems and that Obama, Peloisa and the rest of the monkeys in Washington were not and are not the answer.
David Shannon, history speaks for itself. You and all the other USC fans would be doing yourselves a favor and stop being so cocky. USC has a long ways to go before they have a history like ND's.
Not to mention that when Pete leaves or retires, then you better pray to your god that everything doesn't fall apart.
right...the question of a woman's constitutional right to control her own body and a university's potential hypocrisy in regards to the country's commander-in-chief whose political view of abortion is opposite that of the school, all that is less important than the tinkerings of an overrated and overesteemed college football team. good luck with your new priorities, america, i hope you learn to speak korean and iranian and chinese quick.
D. I don't give a damn about the Irish or Nortre Dame