Saturday, September 5, 2009

HatGuy's Core Belief: Popularity Above All

While watching Notre Dame demolish Nevada, I poked my way around NBCSports, only to find that our usual baseball whipping boy has a few things to say about college football and Notre Dame. To sum it up: he things that sports require famously popular teams to succeed.

I also discovered one of the more embarrassing things I have ever known: HatGuy is an ND alum. Not just an ND alum, but an ND alum with the exact same degree I have. Thanks to somewhat-loyal reader Kevin for pointing this out. I guess it doesn't make me any worse of a person, but the association is still bothersome.


College football needs Notre Dame to succeed

I keep reading about how this could be the year for Notre Dame andCharlie Weis, about how an easy schedule and a veteran team can put the Irish back into the BCS mix.

Fuck, I'm just surprised the guy reads. I'm pretty sure he's illiterate.

I hope what I read is right. College football needs the Fighting Irish to be a team worthy of its legend.

No. But for a brief flirtation in 2005-06, Notre Dame hasn't been that way since 1993. And college football is still in great shape.

It needs Notre Dame to be a team worthy of the devotion of its fans and the undying enmity of its foes.

No. College football has had some great seasons lately with some historically lousy Notre Dame teams.

This has nothing to do with my own attachment to the place. I’m a Domer but not a homer.

Bullshit. I hate you, HatGuy. You can't come over to watch next week's ND-Michigan game.

I could survive quite nicely if Notre Dame never wins another national championship — even the phony version foisted off on us by the BCS.

HatGuy, a man of the people, continues to complain about things that are popular to complain about, like the BCS.

Just the same, for the sake of the game and the fans and everything we love about college sports, it would be great if Weis shows that he really is a great college coach and ND shows up in the Top 10 again, maybe even lays down a claim for No. 1.

Why would it be great? Wouldn't it be great if a new Notre Dame established some kind of incredible legacy?

And you know, the fact that HatGuy mentions ND as maybe even laying down a claim for No. 1 is uproariously stupid. And he doesn't even have the 1988 national title to excuse his lunacy.

It doesn’t have to win a title. But Notre Dame should compete for them in the same way that the Yankees should compete for American League pennants and World Series rings and the Dallas Cowboys should compete for Super Bowl trophies.

HatGuy just wants sports to be a repeat of the 1970s. Actually, if HatGuy had his way, we would just watch all the old games on repeat. HatGuy probably loves ESPN Classic.

When you don’t have a national team, it’s like going into an ice cream parlor that doesn’t have vanilla and chocolate or a pizzeria that doesn’t offer a cheese pie.

Assuming, if you will, that Notre Dame is the only 'national' team, what has college football been lately? A Buffalo Wild Wings without the Wild Wings?

Every sport needs a team that transcends parochial boundaries, a team that inflames passions in ways that other teams can’t.

Why?

You can’t generate much more than a mild disagreement in Vermont by trying to debate the relative merits of the Florida Gators or Texas Longhorns. But you can get an argument anywhere just by saying the words: “Notre Dame.”


I guess. THis goes on and on with all this crap, about how college football is better if there are headlines to shout about, scream about, whine about.

And that’s why I want the Irish to compete.

Not because you went there. It's because it's good for college football.

It’s the same reason I want the Yankees, the Cowboys, the Celtics and the Lakers to compete. Their sports are always better

No. Baseball with an average Yankees team last year was great. A non-dominant Cowboys team over the last ten years has been equally great. I don't doubt that every non-ND college football fan has found the last sixteen years to be pretty damn great even though Notre Dame hasn't been that good.

and life is always brighter when the legendary teams are involved.

Jesus, HatGuy, get a grip.

They don’t have to win. But they can’t stink.

They're not going to stink this year. They're going to win nine games this year and I, dan-bob, am probably going to be mad about it.

Can you imagine the stories and the talk that a resurgence in South Bend would generate?

Yes, because it happened in the fall of 2002, and it turned out to be a complete sham.

On the one hand would be the loyal sons and daughters reacquainting themselves with that heady feeling of success on the football field.

You've already started that, HatGuy. Of course, the 35-0 lead the Irish are currently enjoying is doing its own part.

On the other would be endless rants from Notre Dames’ critics, of which there are several,

I see what he did there. Do you see what he did there?

complaining about the cushy schedule, the compliant voters, the media bias and all the other things they’ve been grousing about since Knute Rockne ran the show.

Doubtless those Notre Dame critics have just been acting out of nothing but jealousy and spite; they've never had any cause to suspect a pro-ND bias.

I know there are hordes of Notre Dame haters who would be delighted if the school never wins another game. They are like Yankee haters and Dallas Cowboy haters and Duke haters who are only happy when their mortal enemy is totally miserable.

Larry B is only happy when Boston sports teams are totally miserable.


I’ve never understood people like that. Sure, it’s fun to see the team you despise do a total face plant now and then, but if it happens every year, you’re not a fan, you’re a sadist. Nobody except a really demented sports fan wants to see lopsided victories every year. It’s like frying ants with a magnifying glass. What part of that exercise would an adult find entertaining?

It's the same sort of exercise that I find entertaining when I read that you've posted another article. Tearing you up is like ... frying ants with a magnifying glass. Still, I think this article has gotten awfully tedious.

It could turn out that Weis really is in over his head and should go back to being a coordinator somewhere. But if he turns it around — even if it’s thanks to an easy schedule — that, too, will be a darned good story. Redemption always sells.

No, big brand names always sell, because the college football world is a remarkably savvy corporate market that knows how to market big names to get more hits on their site/watchers for their games/followers of their Tweets.

Notre Dame's resurgence is such a wonderful human interest story! I hope Rick Reilly writes about it!

And both Weis and Notre Dame are due for some redemption. It’s been a long time since the Irish were an elite program. And someone needs to show that a school can have high standards — like requiring every undergrad to pass calculus — and still win.

Someone needs to do this. Someone needs to show that passing calculus is necessary. Someone needs to stand up for old fashioned education.

Someone needs to.

6 comments:

Venezuelan Beaver Cheese said...

True fans will care about the game regardless of whether a big-ticket team is doing well. Don't tell that to the media though. They're too busy catering to the fair-weather crowd.

Passive Voice said...

notre dame needs to do well because that's good for the parent company of the website i write for.

Tonus said...

Hey, did anyone notice that during the late 80s/early 90s, when the Yankees were doing badly, baseball had all kinds of problems? Steroids, labor issues, Marge Schott, Pete Rose... that wasn't a coincidence! Then the Yankees started winning again and Baseball has had zero problems since then.

It's like magic!

dan-bob said...

I miss Marge Schott references.

Jack M said...

I could survive quite nicely if Notre Dame never wins another national championship — even the phony version foisted off on us by the BCS.

Hatguy: blissfully unaware that national championships determined by AP Polls were just as contentious as the BCS system.

I’ve never understood people like that. Sure, it’s fun to see the team you despise do a total face plant now and then, but if it happens every year, you’re not a fan, you’re a sadist. Nobody except a really demented sports fan wants to see lopsided victories every year. It’s like frying ants with a magnifying glass. What part of that exercise would an adult find entertaining?

But at the same time, I'd like to see the Fighting Irish, Yankees, Cowboys, and Lakers win their sport's respective title ever year.

Anonymous said...

ironically, passing calc is required of all ND students.