Eh, Reilly did a better job imo. This guy comes off as a butthurt 'Bama fan, and what do they have to be butthurt about in the last 10 years?
1. Notre Dame AP Leapfrog - Hasn't happened in over 40 years, and thats not really in our hands.
2. Notre Dame fan arrogance - Yeah, it's out there. Not all the fans are arrogant, but I have a hard time accepting this coming from a writer thats a strong Alabama supporter. SEC SEC SEC is kind of the definition of arrogance.
3. Irish Refusal to Join a Conference - The writer's argument is that the Irish are independent in football because the football players can't keep the grades like the other Irish student athletes keep in the Big East. Last I checked we graduated 99% of our players, argument null and void.
4. 1966 - I don't think Alabama should be the upset team here. If anyone should be upset it should be Michigan State. Yeah, Alabama went 10-0 against Notre Dame's 9-0-1, but MSU was also at 9-0-1 and shared #1 and #2 rankings with Notre Dame since mid October. Alabama didn't even sniff better than #3 all season. If Alabama is going to claim '73 as a national championship, they can shut the hell up about '66.
5. Notre Dame BCS Rule - Can't argue, don't know why the Irish get favoritism in the BCS, but they weren't the ones that sent out the invitations.
6. Notre Dame Still Believes it's Super Important - Many fans didn't feel this way at the beginning of the season, although I'm sure that some jumped back on the bandwagon. In the grand scheme of things, they shouldn't be important after two decades of mediocrity, but they continued to hang around because of media wouldn't quit talking (good or bad), and the $ I would guess.
7. Notre Dame Can't Manage Money (and Makes Too Much) - This whole argument is stupid, I can't even believe he brought this up. His emphasis is that Notre Dame makes so much money from NBC and not sharing bowl money that it should be able to be #1 in recruiting and win championships every year. That, and Notre Dame stadium isn't cutting edge in stadium remodeling. For starters, Notre Dame expanded the stadium from 55,000 to 80,000 in '97 which is a pretty big investment. Yeah, they don't have a Jumbotron, but it hasn't been from a lack of funds, it's been more of a cock block by alumni (mostly the older generation). It was the same group that was against piping music into the stadium, which they finally starting doing last year. As far as the recruiting, you can pull in all the 4* athletes and better on a consistent basis and not produce on the field if the coaching isn't there. Plus you often need a lot of luck to win the big one. Irish haven't had coaching or the luck in some time.
8. Notre Dame Grows Grass on Field Longer to Attempt to Stop USC - This one may be as bad or worse than the last example. I was at the game, it was not as bad as they make it out to be. This is kind of a silly argument for college football fans to hate the Irish over though, unless you're from USC. It obviously didn't slow them down though.
9. The Phrase Return to Glory - No argument there, I'm sick of hearing about it myself. It needs to die, but now the media has latched onto it and it gets brought up all the time.
10. The Irrationality of the Fan Base - This was pretty much just rewording the whole arrogance argument, but I'll accept it. Can't really see this as just an Irish thing though, I've heard plenty of Michigan fans still talking trash and walking around South Bend like they own the place after they've been beaten. Michigan isn't the only one either, I can name a few others.
11. The Fighting Irish - Yeah, I don't like a double standard either, but society is a little too PC sometimes. Pretty soon all teams are going to have nothing but animals as mascots...until the animals find a way to protest it. Racism? There should be no inequality, but some topics are considered acceptable to poke fun of. It's kind of funny that it's okay to make fun of a white guy or a Catholic today, but other groups are off limits for the most part. If some of them have to be off the table, why can't they all be off the table in today's society?
12. They're Overrated Every Year - We at least started unranked this season, but the Irish don't make the polls. Blame the media on this one.
13. Why Won't They Just Go Away - $, would be my guess. Yeah, the Irish have been picked for bowls they didn't deserve to be in, can't argue there again. It's not like they're going to turn down a bigger bowl if it's offered though, thats like leaving money on the table. What team wouldn't do that?
14. His #1 reason is an article...that was also written for Bleacher Report regarding the hate and love for the Irish. It's a pro-Bama writer disliking a pro-Notre Dame writer...both on Bleacher Report. Both their arguments are invalidated as a result.
