ND's Talking Heads ... The good, bad & ugly

[NDohio]

To be fair, he also said this:

Enough doom and gloom. I’ll be eternally thankful for the community we built here—mostly because of you.

I’ve met plenty of wonderful people because of this blog. I’ve even had people stop me on the streets of South Bend, a head-shaking occurrence still to this day, with the question, “Are you Keith Arnold?” Thankfully, it was for a good reason. Mainly, you read the blog.

So thanks to everybody who has played along—especially those who have lived below the fold. There is a large community of you that I will sincerely miss, even if I’m unwilling to single out any individual reader (other than my mom) for being better than the rest.

We’ve had some wonderful characters in the comment threads. Daily participants. Some who have come and gone. Some who have been banned and re-appeared. Even crazy disbarred lawyers with conspiracy theories.

The live blogs were fun. The tight finishes of the 2009 season were made even crazier when you saw the thousands of people feeding CoveritLive with their every thought. So were the (way too) occasional mailbag. Thanks to all for participating.

For as rough as I was above, there are so many people doing great work writing and podcasting about the Irish. Interesting, intelligent people who I am glad to call friends. There are too many people to single out, but whether they be premium websites that get by with subscribers or blogs run by people with a full-time job, there are too many people to single out, but it’s all really well done. Speaking as a daily-consumer of an unhealthy amount of Notre Dame coverage, it’s a wonderful time to be an Irish fan—4-8 season aside.

If you read the entire article it's fairly evident that he is calling out the bad (NDNation) fans.

 

[Rocket89]

Well, I think you're wrong. He's clearly talking about the broader "fanatic" sect of our fanbase. Which guess what? We are sitting here on an Irish football board, so that includes us.

Again, I'm the biggest hater of ndnation on here. I started the thread on them here. They banned me. There is no love lost. But I'm not foolish enough to think that it's okay for a professional journalist to completely lambaste us and then point his finger directly at them as an example. None of us can rebuttal. Nobody can defend themselves. It's a cowardly act that wreaks of unprofessional behavior.

Also, and I can't stress this enough, it's pretty rich of him to blast the very same people that paid his bills the last eight years. He could have left with grace. With a hopeful note. But no, he chose to bite the hand that has fed him for so long. He chose to shoot an arrow at us as he ran away. Fuq Keith.

Again, he was talking specifically about NDN.

Also, you enormously overestimate the amount of money involved in running Inside the Irish. It's a hobby run by someone half a country away for mere pennies. "Bite the hand that feeds him?" That's exactly what NDN says

 

[ulukinatme]

Wooly, you're reading too much into this. All he's saying is "fuck the haters" and that he appreciates those that enjoy Notre Dame for all the right reasons. Again, he's an alum (I seriously had no idea), and he's always been fair towards the university. If anything he's been on the positive side of things, less likely to spin news in a bad light like other reporters would.

 

[IrishLion]

Yeah, that was a direct shot at NDN.

Keith wasn't shooting an arrow at the fan-base at large, just the vocal section of fans that can't take any joy in the sport at all anymore... which is NDN.

And even if it's not just NDN, I still agree with him... why be a diehard ND fan if you aren't going to enjoy anything about it? That's what he was saying.

And he also wasn't saying that ND will never be great again in a literal sense. He's saying that it won't be the ND of old, where ND runs college football as the king of the mountain just by lining up a fullback and running the damn ball. But for some reason, there is a group of fans that think ND should and can still be the emperor of CFB just because they are ND, and they only need to run the right offense and hire the right coach to dominate everybody on a yearly basis, which is foolish. And that group with the unrealistic, take-no-joy attitude then takes it out on everyone: reporters, other fans, players, coaches, AD's, etc. And Keith dealt directly with that miserable group.

He was a member of our community for a while, and seemed to me like a good fit as one of our own. So good luck Keith, thanks for being a reasonable voice for eight years, and bless you for putting NDN on blast. Those guys will be in an uproar for a while, and they deserve it.

 

[koonja]

I had no problem with the article. Although I get a little depressed whenever you hear people much closer to the program than us, reiterate that ND will never be ND again, even if we know it's true.

 

[dublinirish]

He was a member of our community for a while, and seemed to me like a good fit as one of our own.

any idea why he does not post anymore?

 

[IrishLion]

any idea why he does not post anymore?

Not sure, but I'm guessing he wanted to jump ship before more people started to realize he wasn't joking when he labeled himself as Keith Arnold.

 

[ulukinatme]

Not sure, but I'm guessing he wanted to jump ship before more people started to realize he wasn't joking when he labeled himself as Keith Arnold.

What was his username on here? Or is that classified information?

 

[dublinirish]

What was his username on here? Or is that classified information?

ME2SouthBend

 

[Irish#1]

What was your favorite part? When he said tried to draw a parallel between our fanbase and why politics is so toxic? Or when he said we would never be good again?

These type of "mic drop" responses, especially from professionals, are both unprofessional and cowardly. It boggles my mind how our own fanbase seems to be eating it up.

As far as I'm concerned. His article was the equivalent of him telling me he hated writing for Notre Dame, he thinks we will never be good again and that he personally thinks I'm a dickhead. That's not exactly a message I'm going to applaud him for.

This

"I’ll never understand that. How people who have all the enthusiasm in the world for Notre Dame football have gotten it so twisted that they’ve forgotten that this is supposed to be fun.

It’s sports.

I won’t miss this part. The hard-liners who hold kids and coaches to a standard so far outside the one that they have for themselves, or the ones who fail to understand that every Saturday one team leaves a winner and the other a loser—and sometimes that loser wears blue and gold.

I am one who does believe we can be good again and have a shot at a NC. Our path is harder than most schools, but it's still within reach.

 

[IrishLion]

What was his username on here? Or is that classified information?

ME2SouthBend

Who knows, he might be a primary contributor around here still. Perhaps he just changed his username?

Would have to find some of his old posts to know for sure.

 

[ulukinatme]

ME2SouthBend

:jawdrop: Don't think I ever knew that, or my memory is bad. Looks like he did shut it down, all his stuff shows as Guest now. I remember him though.

 

[IrishLion]

:jawdrop: Don't think I ever knew that, or my memory is bad. Looks like he did shut it down, all his stuff shows as Guest now. I remember him though.

I don't think many people believed it or picked up on it. The majority of his posts were linking and then discussing Keith Arnold's articles, and people used to comment about it and he would play it off as a coincidence or that he had a preference for Keith's writing... then one day, somebody straight-up asked if he was Keith Arnold, and he kind of played it off as a joke, but then it got kind of meta and he joked about the joke, basically acknowledging that he was Keith Arnold.

 

[Ndaccountant]

The problem with Keith is not unique to Keith, but the notion that he/the beat writers cannot take off the gloves b/c they need to preserve connection to the program. I would say he was on the more optimistic side of things, sometimes it was warranted, other times it was not. I will agree 100% with Wooly tho, that was not the way I would have expected someone like him to go out. Dick move IMO.

 

[IrishLax]

He scrubbed his account fall of 2015. I remember because it had to get run up the flag pole all the way to Pham for it to happen.

I was never 100% sure that he was in fact Keith Arnold... I never really understood what part of that was kidding around and what part was serious haha...

 

[IrishLion]

He scrubbed his account fall of 2015. I remember because it had to get run up the flag pole all the way to Pham for it to happen.

I was never 100% sure that he was in fact Keith Arnold... I never really understood what part of that was kidding around and what part was serious haha...

I thought it was just a joke, and that the guy posting as ME2SouthBend ran with it and decided to act like he WAS Keith Arnold... but then I thought it became an unspoken truth at some point that it wasn't just some random guy joking and linking Keith, but that it actually was Keith himself.

I just figured someone at NBC/ND started snooping, and he either decided or was told to erase his persona for some reason.

 

[NDdomer2]

i had various private conversations with Me2SouthBend. Hell the man gifted me every vbuck he ever earned before bouncing.

I don't believe he was Keith at all. If he was he hid it far better in private conversation than he did in his joking around on the main threads.

 

[IrishLax]

i had various private conversations with Me2SouthBend. Hell the man gifted me every vbuck he ever earned before bouncing.

I don't believe he was Keith at all. If he was he hid it far better in private conversation than he did in his joking around on the main threads.

Yeah, I just went back to a few PMs and I definitely didn't think he was Keith at the time. I guess it'll remain an IE mystery...

 

[IrishLion]

i had various private conversations with Me2SouthBend. Hell the man gifted me every vbuck he ever earned before bouncing.

I don't believe he was Keith at all. If he was he hid it far better in private conversation than he did in his joking around on the main threads.

I had a convo with him one time that left me with the opposite impression, which is how I became convinced that he was Keith after seeing further jokes put in context haha

 

[ulukinatme]

Someone active on the Twitters hit him up, I'm sure he can disclose the truth now that he's no longer affiliated with NBC.

 

[Irish#1]

Yeah, I just went back to a few PMs and I definitely didn't think he was Keith at the time. I guess it'll remain an IE mystery...

Along with the Pyramids, Stonehenge and crop circles.

 

[woolybug25]

Along with the Pyramids, Stonehenge and crop circles.

and what DeVonte did...

 

[IrishLion]

and what DeVonte did...

Posted premium content on his dorm door, duh

 

[ulukinatme]

Posted premium content on his dorm door, duh

How much does premium content go for on the streets these days?

 

[dublinirish]

How much does premium content go for on the streets these days?

the first content drop is free, gets the kids hooked. then they jack up the price

 

[woolybug25]

the first content drop is free, gets the kids hooked. then they jack up the price

 

[dublinirish]

lol seriously did i not hear mike frank on his podcast the other day saying you could get a week's work of premium content for like a dollar? He's obviously aiming for the pocket money reliant market.

 

[Irish#1]

lol seriously did i not hear mike frank on his podcast the other day saying you could get a week's work of premium content for like a dollar? He's obviously aiming for the pocket money reliant market.

Demand for a Reliant has been down for a long time.

 

[dublinirish]

Demand for a Reliant has been down for a long time.

who does not want one of these babies?

 

[BobbyMac]

You are looking LIVE!

Not exactly an ND Talking Head but he's been college football's Big Game Bob since Keith Jackson retired. I strangely have vivid memories of his call of #1 Iowa beating #2 Michigan in '85. I know exactly where I was and who was there... like it was yesterday. And yes Chuck Long > Jim Harbaugh. I was always a Ronnie Harmon fan too. Love RB's that catch it out of the backfield.

Musburger was the sportscaster for CBS's Channel 2, WBBM in Chicago when I was a kid. Grown up and old with Mr. Musburger who is 77 btw.

Gettin' old. Happy trails. Thanks for the memories.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Brent Musburger is retiring from sportscasting at age 77 <a href="https://t.co/dHCrWuq5uO">https://t.co/dHCrWuq5uO</a> <a href="https://t.co/P0pcpOCO4L">pic.twitter.com/P0pcpOCO4L</a></p>— AP Top 25 (@AP_Top25) <a href="https://twitter.com/AP_Top25/status/824280080788652032">January 25, 2017</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>