My complaint was meant to be construed in terms of "deserve"....as in ND getting the invite over the ducks. Sure we could join the big 10 and have a chance at going via automatic invite. We could also join the big east and have the same opporutnity.
While winning the big ten would certainly be more challenging, it would get us the same BCS spot. In the words of one William Munny "....deserve has got nothin to do with it....."
and therein lies the deep seeded animosity of many towards the Dome... YES, ND was qualified to receive a BCS bid, but how DO they 'deserve' it? are they REALLY any more qualifed than other 'qualified' teams such as Oregon, LSU, Miami or Auburn? the fact is that Notre Dame DOES NOT deserve it any more than those teams, but get the bid because they are ND... ND gets exemptions because it's ND... no other team gets those breaks... it is not an equal playing field... add in to that the fact that next year ND gets a piece of the BCS payout- EVEN IF THEY DON'T GET A BCS BID- and people get even more miffed at the preferential treatment... everyone hates the teachers pet, and siblings always torture the 'baby' or the 'favorite.' it's a fact of life...
as for Ohio State fans hating ND, the collective Ohio State memory is still bitter about the '35 and '36 games and the fact that ND deemed itsself to be 'above' scheduling Ohio State, to the degree that despite being natural regional rivals, ND has declined all overtures from Ohio State to keep the series open... after the '95 and '96 games, Ohio State again attempted to keep the series going, and again the Dome refused...
Ohio State fans hates ND because they perceive ND's reluctance to schedule Ohio State as arrogance...
and i'm not even going to get into how annoying it is to grow up in Columbus and have to listen to all these obnoxious Irish homers blather on and on and on and on about how much better ND is than Ohio State without ever getting the chance to actually prove it on the field...Ohio State fans hate m*ch*g*n, but at least the Buckeyes get to play them every year... Ohio State fans' hate for ND just simmers and percolates and brews and grows because the Buckeyes don't get the chance to play the Domers... did i mention the part about it being a natural regional rivalry? the Dome plays the Sparties, and UM, and Purdue, and Indiana, and Illinois, but they won't play Ohio State... and Ohio State fans get bitter because they have to listen to all this crap, yet are never given the opportunity to see how they actually stack up...
it's like listening to the kids talk about how badass the one neighbor kid is, but never actually getting to knock his block off, because every time you ring his doorbell his mother lies and says, "Billy's not home."
ND's attitude towards Ohio State has traditionally been that of "you're not good enough to play us." Ohio State's attitude has traditionally been "well if you arrogant pricks would stop talking about how great you are, and actually PLAY US, then we'll knock your freaking dicks right in the dirt- or are you too scared?"
i hope that makes sense...
man, i can't wait for this game... i think i'm more excited about this game than i was about playing the Canes for the National Championship...