Irish deserve Bowl Bid

[Guest SirJohn]

VERY WELLSAID

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From Atlantic City.com

Irish deserve BCS bowl bid

By RAY McNULTY, Scripps Howard News Service

Published: Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Updated: Wednesday, November 30, 2005

 

(SH) - For every college football fan who gets caught up in the legends of Rockne and the Gipper, who gets all warm and fuzzy when watching Rudy and Rocky beat the odds, who faithfully believes in the magic of Touchdown Jesus and the Golden Dome, there is another college football fan who cringes when the Notre Dame marching band belts out the most recognized fight song in sport.

 

That's just the way it is.

 

Few folks across our Fruited Plain are indifferent about Notre Dame football. Most of us have an opinion about the Fighting Irish, one way or the other. We have some kind of sentiment, probably for the same reasons we each have our feelings about the New York Yankees - because they were awfully good for a terribly long time.

 

So good, in fact, that they created an aura, a mystique, a fame that transcended the game.

 

And when that happens, a line is drawn: You either love 'em or hate 'em.

 

Those who love the Irish see Notre Dame as a special place, as a nostalgic reminder of better days in big-time sports, as a shining example of what college football is supposed to be. Those who hate the Irish would be torn if Notre Dame lined up against the University of al-Qaida.

 

The feelings are THAT strong, even after a decade in which Notre Dame was little more than a good opponent. But now that the Irish have climbed back into the Bowl Championship Series - now that a terrific coach named Charlie Weis has taught them how to win again - the haters are as loud and venomous as ever.

 

They say Notre Dame doesn't belong in a BCS bowl, pointing to the fact that the Irish beat only three teams with winning records, lost at home to Michigan State and played a schedule comprised of opponents with a combined record of 56-59. But their case is as weak as their hate is strong.

 

Truth is, Notre Dame is 9-2 after playing a schedule that included Pittsburgh, Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, Southern Cal and Tennessee - a schedule most experts last summer considered one of the nation's toughest - and defeating three ranked teams.

 

Truth is, Notre Dame's first loss was a 44-41 overtime dogfight against Michigan State, which always seems to play its best football in South Bend.

 

Truth is, Notre Dame beat top-ranked USC on the field, only to have the Pac-10 officials help the Trojans score the winning touchdown in the closing seconds - first with a favorable spot on the next-to-last play, then with a horrendous no-call as Reggie Bush clearly, deliberately and illegally shoved Matt Leinart into the end zone.

 

Nobody else has come so close to knocking off USC.

 

Those who despise the Domers, however, don't want the truth, especially when the truth is that Notre Dame deserves to play in a BCS bowl. They can't handle the truth. They're so blinded by hate they refuse to believe the truth.

 

Remember that wonderful-but-heartbreaking drama in which Weis kept his promise to 10-year-old Montana Mazurkiewicz? About Weis honoring the boy's dying wish by calling a risky pass play on the first snap against Washington? Notre Dame haters probably think the whole thing was staged.

 

The rest of us know better. We know about Rockne and the Gipper, about Rudy Ruettiger and Rocky Bleier, about everything that makes Notre Dame so special. And we know Weis is merely writing the next chapter in The Greatest College Football Story Ever Told.

 

It doesn't really matter whether you love or hate Notre Dame.

 

That's just the way it is.

 

(Ray McNulty is sports columnist for Scripps Treasure Coast (Fla.) Newspapers, The Stuart News, Fort Pierce Tribune and Vero Beach Press Journal. Contact him at ray.mcnulty@scripps.com.)

[Guest domehead]

ahhh...music to my ears..we are N.D.

[Guest SirJohn]

It is Domehead it is...I think the writer caught exactly how I now feel. When I first wrote "NOTRE DAME SUCKS" It was written from 10 years of repression and once we had a 'run to daylight' with Weis....sort of confusion why others can't cheer us on.

 

As time passed I realized they will never change. I would come across these 'haters' in chat rooms. They would spew and I would simply not respond in kind and say thanks. You are the other side of the coin. Every time you jump on us we are not ignored. To a 'how come Notre Dame is ranked above xxxschool? I would reply I don't vote neither do you fortunately whoever thinks we do belong in a BCS.

 

To a Notre Dame is a Media darling and their money gets them BCS. Well, I sure see alot of media bashing. But money and pwer do rule the BCS. America is Capatilism. A corporation with a bunch of money sure better have more clout then a small company tucked away in Kansas.

[Guest IrishTobey]

Nice article. It's amazing how the same "experts" who said ND would be 4-7 or 3-8 b/c there schedule was to tough are now saying ND doesn't desever a BCS bowl b/c their schedule was weak. They lined up the big boys and played them. It wasn't like ND was ducking anybody. It's not ND's fault those teams turned out to be bad. Besides has anybody ever thought about the fact that maybe Purdue and Pitt were bad b/c ND exposed them early?? I don't think you can overestimate how much ND caused Purdue and Pitt to go in the tank and if I'm not mistaken ND beat Tennessee who beat the 3rd ranked team in the country LSU. It's not like this schedule was that bad. Again I ask. Who did Oregon or OSU beat this year that was that much better than Michigan or Tennessee???