In the wake of the Michigan loss, I was going to post another thread trying to persuade people to understand where Notre Dame is in the real world now. Instead, I decided to push this thread back to the front and encourage people to re-read the first post I made here. Then, come back and read this post.
As an Irish fan, I used to wonder early on why there was so much widespread hatred toward the Irish. Why was it people felt true joy and optimism at seeing their losses pile up, their futility where there once was perfection on the grid iron. Then, a long time ago, I figured it out: As with all mighty programs, jealousy creeps in from the outside as others want what the big boys have. But, that couldn't be the only reason, right? It couldn't just be simple jealousy that fueled people's burning desire to see the Irish constantly in the college football dumpster, could it? As I stated with the first post in this article...it's not really them, it's us. As fans, we care a lot about the Irish football team. A LOT. But, as fans, we're also completely unrealistic about expectations and irrational when we win or lose.
We win a bowl game for the first time in decades and somehow we're supposed to be in the Top 25? Granted, that's the media's fault for voting us there, but the perception from the outside world is "Oh here we go again...more Notre Dame bias." Then, we go out and we lay an 0-2 egg on the season and the world delights in our misery. With as unsettled at QB as we were heading into this season, as well as numerous other changes and unknowns that needed to be sorted out, was it really a surprise we struggled a bit? As much as we have, yes...but struggled? Not really to me. Perhaps there should be an option for the school that gets voted into a preseason ranking to decline it on the grounds that "We're just not good enough. Not one person in this room is good enough, including the coaches." Surely that would assuage the hatred by the Notre Dame haters...wouldn't it?
But then another aspect of this is...well, us. We lose two games, one we probably should have won (USF) and another that we definitely should have in Michigan, and suddenly it's Weis 2.0 all over the internet. "Oh, Kelly sucks!" "Fire Kelly!" "This team is terrible!" I wouldn't want to be counted as an Irish fan myself with fellow fans like that, nor would I want to play hard for fans like that if I were on the team. Today's athletes are very internet savvy...they know the pressure the Golden Dome is under and what people say about them night after night. They go out and give it what they have, and just like normal humans, they screw up at times. But, better not have a bad game in an Irish uniform because the lynch mob will be on your lawn with ropes and torches at the ready. Would you want to go play for a school with a fan base like that? Never mind the fact you have to be exceptionally bright and academically focused to succeed in the classroom and remain eligible TO play, unlike other big name college programs.
I believe it does us no good to second guess or bemoan the hiring of Brian Kelly. Or really, any coach at this point. What's the difference? Just like when the Boston Celtics had to come to grips with the "Larry Bird is NOT walking through that door!" speech, so to do we have to come to grips with "It doesn't matter who's walking through that door...we will not instantly become a nationally relevant powerhouse overnight." Bob Stoops, Urban Meyer...Hell, Knute Rockne...could be at the controls and we'd still get the same results we're getting (albeit with different play calling, but I digress). The problem to me is the perception of what we have, who we are as opposed to who we think we should be, and what is realistic in this day and age.
Since we don't have a playoff, in college sports it's pretty much a game of opinion. This team is better than that team. This team's fans will "travel" better (i.e. spend more money at the host city) so they get a bid to a bowl game. Even back in the old years of glory for Notre Dame, her national championships were always decided by "opinion". We haven't even had a real, #1 vs. #2 game until recently...and even that games' participants are voted in by opinion. So, the point here is, I feel we as fans should learn to temper our expectations. Where we go and how we are perceived in the college football world is formed by opinion. Right now, the world sees the Irish (and their fans) as whiny, rich, elitist, snobby and resting on the cobweb covered memories of well faded past glory. To make matters worse, we are the only team with a clause to get into the BCS games (when in some seasons, there are teams much more deserving of a shot at a big time game than we are). And when it all goes to pot? We bitch, moan and call for the coaching staff's heads no matter how little or long they've been on the job. We also come off as the ultimate bandwagoner...nearly breaking our own ankles in such a hurry to jump down and throw our fan hood into the ditches. Real fans hate bandwagoners.
So what's the answer for games like Michigan...or seasons like this one is shaping up to be? The same it's always been: Man up or stop being a fan. If you don't like what you see, stop watching. Notre Dame doesn't owe you anything, and despite what it looks like, they are trying to put a quality product on the field. Unfortunately, this isn't 1933 anymore. Since then, other schools have caught up and passed the Irish in many, many phases that they used to outright own (like recruiting, television coverage, etc.) Today's game is really difficult for a small, religious based school with high academic standards (and no bones about them) to compete with NFL football factories that loosely regard the rules until they get caught (and then pretend they care about them anyway). I've often considered our plight to those of the Ivy League schools...with the exception being that the Ivy League knows just who they are. They don't pretend to take aim at the "BCS National Championship" because to do so would be delusional. Yet, even though we employ some of the same academic standards, we still do. How arrogant do we pretend to be? Are we really arrogant enough to believe we can pull off both, year after year?
What I think Notre Dame nation needs to do is become comfortable in our own skin. We are not Texas, OU, Florida, Ohio State and Alabama. We are not a football factory with a springboard to the NFL. However, unlike those schools, we don't have to worry about skeletons being discovered in our closet because we cut corners to become a football factory. We are who we are...a classy school, bent on keeping it's morality in an increasingly murky sport, which prizes academics before winning (even though winning is important). We should care more about players that come to play for the Golden Dome herself, and not the NFL. If we win some games in the process, win a bowl game here and there, then so much the better. But, if we lose some games, or don't get invited to the bowl opinion series, then we should take pride in the fact that our players graduate, earn a respected degree, and stood for something. Sure, Notre Dame football is important...we all want to win. But, at the expense of looking like short sighted, arrogant and entitled fools? No. I say, stay classy Irish fans. Stay the course on this coach or whomever the athletic department feels is worthy and always, always...support the players who suit up and hurt for your entertainment.
. I just don't expect us to be a shining example if academia and an every season national championship contender at the same time. I think that's part of our problem...trying to be everything at the same time and it's a Herculean task.
