Rick Reilly DESTROYS Notre Dame in this column....

Finally someone with a voice heard widespread has said this....

http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/8264769/notre-dame-irish-relegated-insignificance

Excerpts:

I don't love Notre Dame football anymore. Notre Dame football has been living a lie, as Lou Holtz likes to say. Outlined against a blue-gray October sky, nothing happened. The echoes are in REM sleep. It has failed to advance the ball.

If I told you about a team that had lost 10 of its last 12 bowl games, had dropped nine of its last 10 to USC, had led the nation only in disappointment, you'd figure that team would be halfway down the Mountain West standings. But Notre Dame still gets perks and love from the NCAA and BCS as though the year is 1946.
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In short, until Notre Dame football starts winning again, it's Rice to me.

That hurts your feelings? Watch "Rudy" 'til you feel better.
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I hear what the Domers are saying. They're saying, "Notre Dame doesn't have to be in a conference. Notre Dame is unlike any other football power. Notre Dame is a national brand."

Sure, and girls are still wearing leg warmers.
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You are not royalty anymore, Notre Dame. Turn in your tiara.

When your NBC contract expires in 2015, do the right thing and don't renew. Lower some expectations until you can turn this thing around. And you're a Mars Rover trip from turning it around.

Wait, what? Coach Brian Kelly is the savior? Really? Because he looks to me like he's doing a very good impression of Bob Davie so far. He's opened with back-to-back 8-5 seasons. Wow. Give him a sitting ovation.
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Take the time to read the whole thing. You'll smile from ear to ear the whole damn time.

Go Blue

Like, WOW! Can't wait to my close friend Wolverine Historian, our
designated Notre Dame hater, reads that one...and from as highly-
respected a journalistic legend as Rick Reilly...

But Mr. Reilly's points are all valid and well-taken.

That. Was. Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I despise that golden dome as much as the next guy but in all fairness ND usually has a pretty tough schedule. They play some pretty good teams year in and year out so I'll give them that.

That said, with the recruits that they get and with the money that is given to that team they should be playing a BCS game year in and year out. South Bend and the Irish fan base really are in TOTAL denial.

At least during the Rich Rod era most wolverine fans could admit the situation was bad. For the most part, ND fans just don't seem to get it.

michmike wrote:

Like, WOW! Can't wait to my close friend Wolverine Historian, our
designated Notre Dame hater, reads that one...and from as highly-
respected a journalistic legend as Rick Reilly...

But Mr. Reilly's points are all valid and well-taken.

Yes they are. It's not often someone from the media actually calls Notre Dame out like that. Bravo, Mr. Reily.

With that said, I don't think this will change anything. ND is still going to be drooled over in the media if they beat a cupcake, they're still going to keep that contract with NBC despite doing nothing to deserve it the last 20 years and they're still going to get the special treatment from the BCS. Fine. I've made my peace with that. All that matters is they keep losing. That's good enough for me now.

Thank you, I shared this my Notre Dame friend and posted it on his facebook wall.

WolverineHistorian wrote:

I don't think this will change anything. ND is still going to be drooled over in the media if they beat a cupcake, they're still going to keep that contract with NBC despite doing nothing to deserve it the last 20 years and they're still going to get the special treatment from the BCS.

No doubt. It all factors back to their unmatched popularity, particularly among non-football fanatics.
And that, friends, is a direct upshot of their affiliation. Hope I didn't offend anyone with that assertion, but I don't want to lie.

I hate Notre Dame, but they are still one of the great programs in college football history.

A couple years ago this article could have been written about UM.

fishgoblue22 wrote:

I hate Notre Dame, but they are still one of the great programs in college football history.

A couple years ago this article could have been written about UM.

Yes in history BUT we are a society of what have you done lately. Things change and the CFB world has evolved. ND is no longer a college power. I scratch my head head every year when people start worrying about the ND game. Dont get me wrong I worry too, just not anymore than I worry about the Airforce game. I realize we were very lucky to escape with a win last year but we still won and have been winning against ND recently-3 straight/5 of the last 6.

I disagree about the article being written about Michigan. Yes we had our slide. No doubt but it has not been to the extent of ND's. Speaking of our slide- we still beat ND.

Rick's article is on point. It is about time some one took some of the luster off of ND.

fishgoblue22 wrote:

I hate Notre Dame, but they are still one of the great programs in college football history.

A couple years ago this article could have been written about UM.

It could have been written about the then-current, short-lived state of the program. But we won a NC in 97 and competed for most of the B1G championships between that 'ship and the beginning of the RR era.

But this article blasts Notre Dame for a 20-25 year run of complete mediocrity. I don't think you could do that with Michigan really in any 20-25 rolling years period. The 60's were bad, but weren't we winning 'ships at the end of the 40's and semi-decent in the 50's? Outside of that possible rolling tenure, I know there isn't another period you could possibly point to that would match ND's last 20-25 years.

Good point, but were we to get really, really meticulous to detail, it would be the last 19 years, since "20" puts us right on the cusp of 1993...and they were a great team that year. In fact, it was, most ironically, they who were screwed by preferential treatment (that once). Their 10-1 team, which beat Florida State and beat them soundly (in the trenches, though only 31-24 on the board), was denied a chance to play Nebraska for the NC thanks to the media-love given to St. Bobby and his Heisman QB Charlie Ward.

I said it then, and won't retract my statement now: remembering all the pre-season mags, etc, the media wanted Florida and Bobby to win the national title, and made damned sure they did. To the extent of putting them in the NC game ahead of a more-deserving ND team with the identical 10-1 record,
including head-to-head on its side.

Since that year, though, ND has had little to really smile about, and certainly nothing to brag about.

michmike wrote:

Since that year, though, ND has had little to really smile about, and certainly nothing to brag about.

And, boy, isn't that great?