My position on the state of Notre Dame football ...

on this board ought to be pretty clear.

In fact, it's caused me to become a persona non grata around the athletic department.

It's got nothing to do with "deference."

It has to do with fans knowledgeable enough to realize that Notre Dame, despite wandering in the desert for 30 years, is worthy of respect as an iconic program.

That respect doesn't translate to points on the field, bumps in the polls, points on the betting lines or berths in the playoff field.

Obviously, I'm talking about fans and to a lesser degree, institutions, who have no ability to grant those things, even if they were inclined -- and they shouldn't be.

But we shouldn't be spending our time or money or giving the platform (ho-hum, another record crowd with "irrelevant" Notre Dame in town) to institutions and fan bases that are too fucking stupid to realize and appreciate who we are -- current state of the program notwithstanding.

I don’t agree with your position.

In fact I think it’s at the base of our current malaise.

To make your position explicit...

...Do you mind saying whether you believe that support for Notre Dame's historic position in college football, and for the idea that this particular part of ND's history deserves respect, is what is at the base of our current malaise?

Think harder. *

We're in such a weird time at ND. The respect earned

comes from that which kelly, jenkins and saucy are trying to distance us from...
Creating new traditions, dispensing with old traditions, attempting to make everyone thrilled with 9-3...sell everything in sight...among other crap... it's a total clusterfu** strategy. Throw in a program that was pulverized by the NCAA, a HC who isn't owed the respect of anyone and you've got today's ND.
Respect what we are today because of guys like Joe Montana's legacy... hmm, how respectful has this program been to him? How many lifelong generational season ticket holders were unceremoniously jettisoned without so much as a thank you for decades of support...
I could go on and on, but respect for this current program needs to be earned. We have great kids and failed leadership...
Peeking over the fence and in and looking at the existing regime please tell me where the respect should come from.

PS after Claypool made the play of the game ND started their drive and Finke got tackled and twisted up a bit. It was very sporting to see #26 offer his hand to pull Finke up. Well done.

Great post.

It’s so weird. We try to sell ourselves as, “we’re Notre Dame! We’re different!” while our actions try to standardize us to the way everyone else does it. We live off our history for purposes of branding/marketing/respect, but don’t seem to care whether our current product matches those standards as long as we were “in the conversation” or close or competitive or whatever.

We’re trying to have our cake and eat it.

"We're the new legends of old Notre Dame." 1-18 vs Top 5

teams since 2000.

"New legends..."

Where the hell do these people come from?

We've never won anything, but we're legends. The program used to be run by Giants. Now it's run by phony wannabes.

The Who vs Milli Vanilli...

I agree 100%. ND played an outsize role in the...

...history and development of college football as we know it today. It will deserve respect for that aspect of its football history for a long time to come. How much respect the recent and current operation deserves, and how such respect (or lack thereof) is allotted among the characters on the stage, is another question.