Offbeat ND video

[Easton Pa ND Fan]

This link originated at NCAAfootball.fanhouse.com

YouTube - We Are ND

 

[IrishInFl]

This is the best video ever!!! (sarcasm)

 

[BearGB]

Don't worry, there is already a mild student uprising about the movie... haha. to put it mildly, we are embarrassed and feel half-castrated by the whole experience.

 

[FightingIrishLover7]

I saw this on youtube when they posted it...

I instantly slammed my head into my desk.. It's really embarrassing.

 

[Ben E.]

a comment of the facebook page says "this video converted me to pro choice"! hhahahaha

 

[rocket31]

yeah, the protest the video facebook group has over 2000 members, i encourage everyone to join. we have to do all we can to get rid of this massive turd of an embarrassment.

 

[justinpham]

WE Are ND

Read up.

IMO, it's not my favorite song by any measure. But read up on this before you form your opinion.

 

[WabashFalcon]

It made it to Deadspin.com.



AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I HATE THE FUNK!!!

 

[Irish4Life09]

i completely agree...this is an absolute embarassment.

 

[rocket31]

...check out this blog on the fallout of this hideous video...

Stars and Slights: Freekbass Is Not ND

 

[rocket31]

September 4th, I hope the students wear wacky facepaint, and crazy wigs, and dance, and sing, and rock Notre Dame Stadium, and party in the parking lot. And get all ‘70s again

and that is never going to happen ted. UGH!!!

 

[no.1IrishFan]

OMG....That is just......I don't have the words. God I hope my michigan friends don't get a hold of this.

 

[Jason Pham]

Folks, just a reminder that personal attacks on any member of the Notre Dame family, regardless of your disagreement with his or her musical tastes, is especially frowned upon here. Hate on the music and the video all you wish, but don't let what you perceive to be disrespect for some of Notre Dame traditions lead you to disrespect among the most important of our traditions: to look out for fellow domers.

 

[NeuteredDoomer]

Relax guys. I actually thought the video was fantastic. Loved it. Lovely ladies throughout. Loaded with energy. I thought it was great.

 

[bert2834]

The video wasn't bad and if it helps rock Notre Dame Stadium on Saturdays, I am all for it!

Read the We Are ND article. It's a nice little story.

 

[NeuteredDoomer]

I actually watched the video again. I absolutely love it. So much creativity and energy.

 

[Riddickulous]

This song is absolutely humiliating.

I hope this inspires the team to redeem the university by going 13-0.

 

[Steve]

This song is absolutely humiliating.

I hope this inspires the team to redeem the university by going 13-0.

BCSmith58

Whats so wrong with the new "We are ND" video.. ha i don't understand why everyone is ripping it.. someone enlighten me..

 

[HereComeTheIrish]

Definately not as bad as some of you make it out to be. In fact, I found it to be kind of good. Not to mention, it looks like the cheerleading squad "recruiting" has picked up in recent years. Nice.............

 

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

This sucks ass.

 

[Lou Holtz]

Bad video, nice story

 

[HereComeTheIrish]

This sucks ass.

Sucks ass how??? Like a suck ass clown??? Does that suck ass clown amuse you???

YouTube - Goodfellas: The Spider situation

 

[TIDROW40]

My first reaction was "OH MY GOD", but the more I watch the video the more I like it. I laugh every time I see it. The video is totally about having fun and enjoying your team. As fans we tend to get so serious and wrapped up in winning that we forget to enjoy ourselves. Prime example, Boston Red Soxs fans...win or lose the have a great time in the 8th inning signing along to "Sweet Caroline".

 

[BirdmanND06]

I threw up in my mouth a little when I saw this.

 

[GO IRISH!!!]

I wanna kick my own ass for watching that.

Video would be much better if it didn't show that Les Claypool wannabe so much. Cheerleaders look good. Just show the great crowd shots and a lot more of the cheerleaders and you might have a good video.

 

[Ironman8]

Big article from Bruce Feldman on the video:

Things have changed dramatically in the way stories -- and even non-stories -- take on lives of their own these days. In college football, anything that relates to the image of a program -- whether it's due to an offseason player arrest or a recruiting violation -- can be spun many different ways in a few heartbeats. A few days ago, a music video called "We Are ND" went viral. Among those appearing in the four-minute video are new Notre Dame Fighting Irish coach Brian Kelly, former ND lineman Mike Golic and long-time ND announcer Mike Collins. As the video spread and was passed around via Facebook and Twitter, it caused a lot of Notre Dame fans to cringe.

I first saw the music video early Friday morning. Soon, half of my Twitter feed was about the reaction to "We are ND" and the video's star, a musician called Freekbass.

The backlash from the ND fan base has been strong. A Facebook group started in protest swelled to over 3,000 members over the weekend.


"We as students of Notre Dame must take action into our own hands and show Freekbass, the Notre Dame administration and the rest of the world that this video does not represent Notre Dame or its students," it says on the group's mission statement. "In fact, it is the opposite of everything that is great about our beloved school. The video desecrates Notre Dame's famous fight song and makes us look like fools."

"It is offensive to ND students who see these two random people not affiliated with the university in any way desecrating all of our sacred traditions by remixing and "rapping" over the greatest of all university fight songs, and making a mockery of places that we hold in high esteem like Notre Dame Stadium, the JACC, and especially the "Play Like A Champion Today" sign -- all while wearing a combo of ND gear and punk/goth/hipster/freak attire that does not portray an image that comes anywhere near what ND stands for to its students. As a funny joke video, there is nothing wrong with it other than the horrible horrible music that causes ears to bleed, but as promo video officially sanctioned by the university it justifiably causes the students to feel betrayed."

My buddy John Walters, a pithy longtime SI writer and Notre Dame grad, conveyed his thoughts to the president of the university in a column that ran on AOL Fanhouse:


Dear Fr. Jenkins,
Hasn't the Class of 2010 suffered enough? Four straight losses to USC. Two home losses to Navy. The 3-9 season. A first-round NCAA tournament loss to Old Dominion (which, okay, if it were women's hoops, would not be so awful) before half the student body had even woken up that day. And now, just a week or so before graduation, this video, which we've also embedded later in this letter along with some other reviews of the thing. There needs to be an investigation. Isn't this exactly what the NCAA means by the term "lack of institutional control"? If I'm Lane Kiffin I open every press conference next season with this tune.

Seriously, how many verbal decommits will it take before Notre Dame disassociates itself from this unbearable whiteness of being? Even "Up With People" is laughing at this video. Suddenly "The Super Bowl Shuffle" doesn't seem so abominable. The Vatican just this morning released a statement that read, "We acknowledge, accept full blame and express the deepest remorse for decades of improper behavior regarding altar boys, but we had nothing to do with the Freakbass video."

On Monday, I spoke to the brains behind the Freekbass video, Ted Mandell -- who teaches film and video production at Notre Dame -- about the project and the backlash it spawned. He said it took about a year and half from his initial idea (when he saw "Reds Fan," another Freekbass project) to the moment "We are ND" came out.

"The video was intended to be played at the student awards banquet," Mandell said. "Most of the video is light-hearted, fun, parody commercials. We'd done the song. Coach Kelly and Mike Golic were kind enough to do a little cameo in it. It was just part of this fun, light-hearted music video that has taken on a life of its own, I suppose."

The music video was tested on a several different groups on campus, Mandell said. It was shown last Wednesday at the actual awards ceremony, where the reaction was very positive.

"The university's office of communication posts a wide variety of things on their YouTube channel," he said. "They asked to post something from the O.S.C.A.R.S. [Notre Dame's awards banquet]. I don't know if the interpretation that when it came up associated with the university website that people assumed that it was this marketing campaign or the new official Notre Dame song. Its intention was just to be a fun, get-silly kind of video that hopefully people think about when they're tailgating in the parking lot.

"I feel like I showed up at a funeral with a boom box."

Mandell, who has written op-ed columns examining pop culture and the media, kept saying how the music video was supposed to be fun. That is what college sports is about, after all, right?

"People are mocking it and having fun with it, and actually I think that's great," said Mandell, who played French horn in the Notre Dame marching band in the mid '80s. "I love reading the John Walters column [quoted above] who satirically blasted it. It's supposed to be fun. Obviously, it has angered some people. I definitely can see in college football where people have things so close to their heart and they're very passionate, it can upset them. I'm sorry they're upset."

In fairness, not all of the reaction has been negative. Former Notre Dame RB Darius Walker apparently is a big fan. "As a former student-athlete, I absolutely LOVE this video," he said in a quote on the Freekbass Blog:


"I understand that our great university is full of years of tradition which sometimes makes it difficult to change that way of thinking. We are living in a new age of 'entertainment' and regardless of own individual opinions, we have to take note of the changing world and try to position ourselves using the same values our school is built upon. This video is definitely 'non-traditional' which is especially good for the sports programs. I can't remember a time when I even heard an upbeat song or any type of music before a game. This song can be that tool for the sports programs. Ted is not reinventing the wheel, he just put some new tires on it."

My initial reaction: "If ND can land Manti Te'o in a snowstorm, Irish recruiting can survive this."

A lot of the sentiment is rooted in concern about how recruits may see the video. I can already hear some rival recruiter showing a prospect the video and asking the player to "count how many non-white faces you see in this thing." I remember interviewing Louis Nix, the blue-chip defensive line recruit from Jacksonville the Irish landed last winter. Something he said about his perception of the school came back to me. Here's the interview:


"I thought it would be a way different atmosphere. I thought the guys would be like "high-class" guys who wouldn't want to hang around with a guy like me. Or I thought everyone was like a nun or a priest. I saw a couple of priests. They were really nice guys. But I really thought it was a place I could fit in. Let's put it like that. After I met the players, this was a place I could adjust to and really appreciate it and have fun at the same time."

The key for Nix was to get him on campus and learn more about the school -- and that it could provide an environment where he might thrive. Still, the perception is one that obviously existed long before anyone had heard of Freekbass. Die-hard fans are sensitive. So are coaches. They're protective of anyone doing anything that could cast the school in a negative way that might turn off potential recruits or open themselves up to ridicule from rival fans. A friend of mine once wrote a story about a player on a team who had to deal with a hold-up attempt. No one was harmed in the incident and the player didn't actually end up getting robbed. Fans of that school were annoyed that such a story was published because it could hinder the school's ability to recruit; some might use it as an example of how athletes aren't safe at the school. And, I suspect those people are correct that some coach might've have tried to use that story against them.

Ted Mandell understands all of that, but doesn't want that mindset to trump all. "I can't speak for what's going in a recruit's head," he said. "The piece had nothing to do with recruiting. It had to do with what it's like to be a college football fan. I've written a 400-page book about great finishes around the country from Division I all the way down to Division III, and that's what is great about college football. You can be silly. You can look stupid. You can wear wigs. Have fun. That's what college football is all about. Have fun. Laugh at yourself."

"I got a lot of e-mails about how kids love the video. They play it over and over again. Maybe we need to be kids again. Kids aren't concerned about recruits. They're not concerned with people from other schools mocking them. They just like to have fun. Freekbass himself is a complete shock to what the traditional idea of the image of Notre Dame. That didn't surprise me. I thought he had that funky '70s feel and I knew that combining that image would be culture shock. I just loved his attitude and his energy. The idea that he has about being silly and wacky, I thought, matches up pretty well with college football. I happen to like it, but obviously there's a whole tsunami of people that don't like it."

Mandell acknowledged some of the e-mails he's gotten in reaction to "We are ND" have been pretty jarring. We talked about some of the comments posted online.

"It speaks to the passion that fans have for Notre Dame football and to be honest, how starved we are for a winner here. I'm hoping that we get a national championship and they can dance to whatever song they want to.

 

[]\/[GoBlue]

I hate that video for you

 

[BirdmanND06]

It's not the video I have a problem with, it's just that that song is one of the worst things I have ever heard. I love funk, but this song makes me want to start destroying albums disco demolition style.

 

[vinnymac2402]

I actually love the video and the song just need new singer i guess Nickelback or Shinedown out of the question.

 

[justinpham]

From B&G's Ryan O' Leary

My mother has never had a problem telling me when she thinks I’ve screwed up – whether it was “Hey, you got raspberry sherbet all over the couch” or “Congratulations on getting kicked out of Carroll Hall, you j------,” she has always called it like she’s seen it. When I broke my wrist in embarrassingly stupid fashion (dunking off a ladder like a wannabe NBA mascot), Mom was the first to sign the cast – “Next time, listen to your mother.”

It’s one of the perks of unconditional love – the right to be a well-intentioned critic.

Now that my beloved alma mater has decided to besmirch herself and everyone associated with her by releasing an apocalyptically horrible music video, I’m unleashing my inner Simon Cowell. Because I can’t let those that I love do such things.

Notre Dame's music video featuring "Freekbass" has not been received well by the masses.

Let me start from the beginning at the top of the list, though – because the video is merely the latest and most embarrassing symptom of a disease that has plagued the University of Notre Dame probably from its inception.

Two words: White. Bread.

When I enrolled at Notre Dame in the fall of 1992, my friends and I were often reminded – and not out of love – that we were supposed to “act white.” Pull your pants up. Get some clothes that fit you. And for David Duke’s sake, turn down that crazy jungle music. I matriculated during a time when the school cancelled a concert by Digable Planets – basically a jazz band that raps a little – because of “security concerns.”

These folks aren’t ashamed of their xenophobia, I’ll grant them that much.

Almost two decades later, it’s still the same old song. Notre Dame is still the one kid at the party who’s clapping off beat, blithely unaware that it’s being mocked by everyone else. We’re too dense to even notice. We’re like Andy Dick. Or the Tea Party. Or Major League Baseball’s drug policy. Clueless.

Which is how something like the “We Are ND” video happens.

Film, Television and Theater faculty member Ted Mandell has admitted to writing the song and coordinating the video project, which is a four-minute assault on at least three senses – sight, sound and common. Mandell’s love for the Cincinnati Reds – by coincidence, another once-proud franchise which has struggled through losing seasons and charges of institutional racism – led him to enlist the services of an Ohio-based band called Freekbass, which I am about to give some seriously undeserved free publicity.

Though made up of four guys, Freekbass is named after its lead singer, who has already been rightfully likened by more than one web site to a semi-obscure actor named DJ Qualls. (Perhaps that’s because Qualls starred in “The New Guy,” which centers on the lead singer of a funk band that does not possess any actual funk. It’s the accidental Freekbass biopic.)

Amazingly, Freekbass is being billed as a six-time winner of the Best R&B/Funk Performer by the Cincinnati Entertainment Awards, which will lead anyone who sees the “We Are ND” video the reasonable conclusion that Freekbass is the only R&B/Funk act in the greater Cincinnati area.

Mandell wrote on the University’s official web site that when the video debuted at the O.S.C.A.R.S. (Outstanding Student-Athletes Celebrating Achievements & Recognition Showcase) banquet on April 28, “the student-athletes loved it.”

With all due respect, Ted, we all know that people will clap for anything at a banquet. But polite applause should not be confused with love, especially since there has been no trace of love in the near-universal evisceration that this video has received since the university posted it on YouTube just hours after the banquet.

Even on campus, people cringed at the mention of this thing, terrified of being associated with the project.

The track is too busy to be catchy – it almost sounds like listening to two competing songs at the same time while holding your breath under water.

The video, despite some very professional production, redefines tacky. Had it lasted any longer, I’d have gone Oedipus Rex on myself. By the time the full four minutes were up, I was jealous of Helen Keller.

But hey, don’t take my word for it – go to YouTube and judge for yourself. Oh, and while you’re at it, count how many minorities appear in the video.

I don’t like stereotypes – which is why nothing irks me more than when people who are the targets unwittingly prove those stereotypes correct. How are we supposed to get rid of the stigmatization of Notre Dame as a lily-white, out-of-touch institution when the school’s official website is wholeheartedly endorsing a video that stigmatizes Notre Dame as a lily-white, out-of-touch institution?

Mandell wrote that the video is “not a contrived, underground marketing attempt to make ND look hip.” That’s good – because if it was an attempt to make ND look hip, it was an epic, Hindenburg-meets-Katrina failure.

Included in the middle of this disembowelment of my eyes and ears was a brief rap interlude from a guy who looked and sounded very much like someone who had never heard of rap before. In his honor, I’ve penned some alternate lyrics for a mini-rebuttal in rhyme form:

Somebody over here must have been drinking
But I still don’t have an inkling/What was he thinking?
Of all the dumb things I’ve seen this might be the dumbest
What? He’s an Iowa alumnus?

It’s still not clear to me/but it appears to be
Some sort of strange Big Ten conspiracy
Force the Irish to endorse this nonsense
Humiliate ’em ’til they join your conference

But here’s what’s frightening
The clip doesn’t show us anything that’s enlightening
There’s nothing that they show in that silly video
That’s out of touch with the school we already know

But out of touch is exactly what the school is
Clueless/So I’m not surprised they’d do this
It’s just more proof that Notre Dame doesn’t get it
The song’s pathetic/and you can tell them I said it...

...Because I had to. Out of love. Next time, Notre Dame, listen to your son.