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July 29, 2009
May Day
by LOU SOMOGYI
Senior Editor
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When ESPN college football analyst Mark May noticed this spring the brouhaha and protests involving whether pro-choice President Barack Obama should be the speaker and honored at Notre Dame’s commencement exercises, he couldn’t resist sending a text message to good friend and colleague Lou Holtz.
“Do you think now I’ll be only the second most hated black man at Notre Dame?” May asked in his text to Holtz.
The former Irish head coach (1986-96) shared that story amid laughter during the weekend of his enshrinement into the College Football Hall of Fame this month. May, the 1980 Outland Trophy winner at Pitt who was enshrined into the Hall in 2005, joined in while attending the events honoring Holtz.
May believes the offensive line is the key to Notre Dame's success this fall.
The May-Holtz debates are ESPN’s version of the World Wrestling Federation. It is supposed to incite reaction from a national audience and promote taking sides. To Notre Dame followers, Holtz is “the good guy” who always predicts double-digit victory totals (even in 2007 and 2008, plus 11-1 this year), while May is the anti-Christ who has the audacity to pick against and pick on Our Lady’s school.
Unfortunately to Irish followers, nobody has been more on the money the past two years regarding Notre Dame than May, who prides himself on doing meticulous research on each team while also watching DVDs of their games. He predicted 3-9 for Notre Dame in 2007 not for shock value but because of 1) a treacherous schedule, 2) vast inexperience along the offensive line and 3) uncertainty at quarterback. Indeed, the Irish finished 3-9.
Last year, May projected 6-6 because he thought the schedule was more favorable and the offensive line and quarterback play would be a little better — but not significantly. Indeed, Notre Dame finished 6-6 before routing Hawaii in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl.
Consequently, May is often labeled “a Notre Dame hater” by Irish partisans, a notion he and Holtz feed for entertainment purposes. In reality, May said he was an Irish rooter growing up and has even participated in fundraisers held by former Irish head coach Ara Parseghian (1964-74).
“Fans don’t understand that I want Notre Dame to be good,” May noted. “I want Penn State to be good. I want Alabama to be good…because I think those major teams, like a Texas or USC, were the foundation of college football when I grew up in the 60s and 70s. I loved them to do well, and when they don’t, it’s frustrating to me.
“There are very few things I can think of that I hate. I hate olives and anchovies…but as far as football teams and football players, I don’t hate anybody. I hate to agree with (Holtz), but I think that levels it out because if we both sat there with pompoms on, why would you watch?
“A long time ago Howard Cosell said, ‘If you can get 50 percent of the people to like you and 50 percent of the people to hate you, as long as they’re watching, you’ll always have a job.’ ”
This goes back to the WWF feel when it comes to Holtz and May making predictions. It’s part of the shtick, though May said they won’t always disagree just for the sake of conflict.
“I’m going to give a counterpoint to Coach’s point,” May said. “Obviously, he’s going to favor Notre Dame and I’m going to favor what I think is right or wrong. Sometimes I agree with him, other times I disagree. People always think that if you disagree one time you disagree every time.
“We just tend to disagree at times about Notre Dame and if they’re going to win or lose — and it makes for great television. We don’t believe in rehearsing that because if you do something eight or 10 times before you do it live, there is no spontaneity and you don’t really feel a passion about it. We just sit down and we pick a list of games and we’ll say something like, ‘Okay, you want to go with Michigan State in this game, I don’t need to know the reasons why. Let’s just wait until we go live.’ ”
How much hate mail does May get from Notre Dame people?
“I used to get a lot of hate mail, but my e-mail storage can hold only like 3,000 at ESPN, so I just don’t even go in it anymore,” May smiled. “It’s just not worth it. I’ll get some hate letters, but not that many. I get more letters from people who will just disagree.
“And then it’s great that a lot of times people who disagree early in the season, I’ll get another letter from them in midseason that says, ‘You know what, you were right about that — but I still don’t like you.’
“I’ve walked through airports and I’ve been not attacked but approached by grandmothers. It’s really funny, but it’s a great reflection on college football because it shows how passionate people are about it.”
What does May project for the 2009 Irish?
“I haven’t gone into it extensively yet, but so far, a minimum of nine wins,” May said. “I think a key game people aren’t realizing is Nevada right off the bat. Nevada will come in with their ears pinned back. They’ve got one of the best running attacks in the nation, a quarterback who can run and throw the football…the only problem in that game is their pass defense is one of the worst in the nation. It could be a shootout.
“I think they’re going to have a very tough time against USC, Michigan State — and I want to see the Nevada game … Michigan is going to be a much improved team.”
As a former All-America and All-Pro offensive lineman on two Washington Redskins Super Bowl champions, May’s first assessment of any team centers on the offensive line and its cohesion. He believes Notre Dame will go from six wins to at least nine this year because of the schedule and a potentially prolific passing attack … but how many more victories it will get after that will be predicated on an offensive line that features four seniors and one fifth-year senior.
“Any team that has four offensive linemen that are returning from last year — and they were mediocre last year — how do you expect them to be that much better this year?” May asked. “If you return a line with four starters that were among the top teams in least amount of sacks or maybe in the top 10 running the football, you know they’re probably going to get better the following year. And if they have the same talent or even lesser talent than the backfield, they’re going to get better because they’re going to execute as a unit.
“Everyone counts all the starters coming back. Well, you have to be good too, you have to get better, you have to progress. Until they can show that on the field, then I can step up and say, ‘Okay, we saw them play against fairly good competition … now we’re going to move them to the next step, to 10 or 11 wins.’ ”
Either way, May and Holtz promise to provide more entertainment.
BlueandGold.com // May Day
I enjoy this article. Obviously Mark May disagrees with Holtz for entertainment, but I have never hated the guy for his predictions, because hell, most the time he has been right. Think, for all the ND fans that hate May day for his predictions, the non-ND fans prolly hate Holtz even more for is ND predictions. All in fun IMO.
May Day
by LOU SOMOGYI
Senior Editor
Printable VersionPrint Version | Discuss this article |Digg!Digg This Story
When ESPN college football analyst Mark May noticed this spring the brouhaha and protests involving whether pro-choice President Barack Obama should be the speaker and honored at Notre Dame’s commencement exercises, he couldn’t resist sending a text message to good friend and colleague Lou Holtz.
“Do you think now I’ll be only the second most hated black man at Notre Dame?” May asked in his text to Holtz.
The former Irish head coach (1986-96) shared that story amid laughter during the weekend of his enshrinement into the College Football Hall of Fame this month. May, the 1980 Outland Trophy winner at Pitt who was enshrined into the Hall in 2005, joined in while attending the events honoring Holtz.
May believes the offensive line is the key to Notre Dame's success this fall.
The May-Holtz debates are ESPN’s version of the World Wrestling Federation. It is supposed to incite reaction from a national audience and promote taking sides. To Notre Dame followers, Holtz is “the good guy” who always predicts double-digit victory totals (even in 2007 and 2008, plus 11-1 this year), while May is the anti-Christ who has the audacity to pick against and pick on Our Lady’s school.
Unfortunately to Irish followers, nobody has been more on the money the past two years regarding Notre Dame than May, who prides himself on doing meticulous research on each team while also watching DVDs of their games. He predicted 3-9 for Notre Dame in 2007 not for shock value but because of 1) a treacherous schedule, 2) vast inexperience along the offensive line and 3) uncertainty at quarterback. Indeed, the Irish finished 3-9.
Last year, May projected 6-6 because he thought the schedule was more favorable and the offensive line and quarterback play would be a little better — but not significantly. Indeed, Notre Dame finished 6-6 before routing Hawaii in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl.
Consequently, May is often labeled “a Notre Dame hater” by Irish partisans, a notion he and Holtz feed for entertainment purposes. In reality, May said he was an Irish rooter growing up and has even participated in fundraisers held by former Irish head coach Ara Parseghian (1964-74).
“Fans don’t understand that I want Notre Dame to be good,” May noted. “I want Penn State to be good. I want Alabama to be good…because I think those major teams, like a Texas or USC, were the foundation of college football when I grew up in the 60s and 70s. I loved them to do well, and when they don’t, it’s frustrating to me.
“There are very few things I can think of that I hate. I hate olives and anchovies…but as far as football teams and football players, I don’t hate anybody. I hate to agree with (Holtz), but I think that levels it out because if we both sat there with pompoms on, why would you watch?
“A long time ago Howard Cosell said, ‘If you can get 50 percent of the people to like you and 50 percent of the people to hate you, as long as they’re watching, you’ll always have a job.’ ”
This goes back to the WWF feel when it comes to Holtz and May making predictions. It’s part of the shtick, though May said they won’t always disagree just for the sake of conflict.
“I’m going to give a counterpoint to Coach’s point,” May said. “Obviously, he’s going to favor Notre Dame and I’m going to favor what I think is right or wrong. Sometimes I agree with him, other times I disagree. People always think that if you disagree one time you disagree every time.
“We just tend to disagree at times about Notre Dame and if they’re going to win or lose — and it makes for great television. We don’t believe in rehearsing that because if you do something eight or 10 times before you do it live, there is no spontaneity and you don’t really feel a passion about it. We just sit down and we pick a list of games and we’ll say something like, ‘Okay, you want to go with Michigan State in this game, I don’t need to know the reasons why. Let’s just wait until we go live.’ ”
How much hate mail does May get from Notre Dame people?
“I used to get a lot of hate mail, but my e-mail storage can hold only like 3,000 at ESPN, so I just don’t even go in it anymore,” May smiled. “It’s just not worth it. I’ll get some hate letters, but not that many. I get more letters from people who will just disagree.
“And then it’s great that a lot of times people who disagree early in the season, I’ll get another letter from them in midseason that says, ‘You know what, you were right about that — but I still don’t like you.’
“I’ve walked through airports and I’ve been not attacked but approached by grandmothers. It’s really funny, but it’s a great reflection on college football because it shows how passionate people are about it.”
What does May project for the 2009 Irish?
“I haven’t gone into it extensively yet, but so far, a minimum of nine wins,” May said. “I think a key game people aren’t realizing is Nevada right off the bat. Nevada will come in with their ears pinned back. They’ve got one of the best running attacks in the nation, a quarterback who can run and throw the football…the only problem in that game is their pass defense is one of the worst in the nation. It could be a shootout.
“I think they’re going to have a very tough time against USC, Michigan State — and I want to see the Nevada game … Michigan is going to be a much improved team.”
As a former All-America and All-Pro offensive lineman on two Washington Redskins Super Bowl champions, May’s first assessment of any team centers on the offensive line and its cohesion. He believes Notre Dame will go from six wins to at least nine this year because of the schedule and a potentially prolific passing attack … but how many more victories it will get after that will be predicated on an offensive line that features four seniors and one fifth-year senior.
“Any team that has four offensive linemen that are returning from last year — and they were mediocre last year — how do you expect them to be that much better this year?” May asked. “If you return a line with four starters that were among the top teams in least amount of sacks or maybe in the top 10 running the football, you know they’re probably going to get better the following year. And if they have the same talent or even lesser talent than the backfield, they’re going to get better because they’re going to execute as a unit.
“Everyone counts all the starters coming back. Well, you have to be good too, you have to get better, you have to progress. Until they can show that on the field, then I can step up and say, ‘Okay, we saw them play against fairly good competition … now we’re going to move them to the next step, to 10 or 11 wins.’ ”
Either way, May and Holtz promise to provide more entertainment.
BlueandGold.com // May Day
I enjoy this article. Obviously Mark May disagrees with Holtz for entertainment, but I have never hated the guy for his predictions, because hell, most the time he has been right. Think, for all the ND fans that hate May day for his predictions, the non-ND fans prolly hate Holtz even more for is ND predictions. All in fun IMO.
