In reply to: The proper vernacular is ... posted by CJC
I was angry after watching us take the lead 31-28. First, I was not at all certain that that score would be enough. Second, it NEVER should have taken that. The moment was so tarnished by everything else that occurred.
What I also think is "pathetic" is that the link attached is the "best" moment of my 4 years at Notre Dame, which is to say that Notre Dame made a "nice" comeback against a mediocre team in a game that really didn't mean a whole lot.
To only have a Pat Terrell batting away a pass game at ND Stadium just one more time...
And it's the way that I look at it.
But as I think about whether there is any chance that my kids will experience the joy and exhilaration that I have experienced following Notre Dame football, I seize upon that moment not as a pale imitation (which it certainly is for me), but as a promise (better, hint) of what could be.
As I said to her last night -- I don't mean to diminish what she experienced for that brief moment at all. It's her life, that was her moment. But I assured her that a national championship would exceed that in ways she couldn't possibly understand.
And what an incredible thing that would be to share with her and her brother.
than it is now. It might even have been a tad worse. I had four years of Faust. We were 25-20-1 and never won more than 7 games in any single season.
But even then, we beat No. 1 Pittsburgh and No. 6 LSU, both convincingly, and both on the road. We also beat No. 10 MIchigan in the first home night game, crushed unranked Penn State 44-7, and beat Southern Cal three times (to start the 13-year unbeaten streak). Best of all, we hired Lou Holtz, although he didn't coach his first ND game until after I graduated.
I also enjoyed multiple national championships as a child growing up in South Bend, and of course the 1988 NC soon after I graduated. So at least I had the then-recent past and a promising future to look at, along with our other tangible if fleeting accomplishments during the Faust years.
The last 15 years have sucked beyond comprehension.
I don't think savoring that moment is pathetic at all. I think that moment is what keeps us all coming back, what keeps up our hope.
Your analogy is flawed, because we still get to play football this Saturday, the saturday after that, and so on.
Sure, we will play a game this Saturday and several Saturdays after that. The problem is the results don't really matter because Notre Dame is not among the elite and may never be again. We're like a kids soccer team where the score is not important but the kids can feast on fruit, granola and apple juice.
This board is proof of that. How many people are here discussing how much fun it is just to be involved? None. I take that back, the number is about 5...out of multiple hundreds. That loss was painful as were far too many over the past 15 or 20 years. It was painful to watch and it was painfully predictable.
And I think you're full of crap if you think the results don't matter. If they didn't matter, you wouldn't be on this board. You wouldn't watch the games on TV. The fact that you don't completely give up is proof that the results matter. Will the results birng a national championship this year? Not without some sort of miracle where we run the table and every team in the top 20 loses three times. But what if they do turn it around? What if we do run the table? What if those repeated, systematic "fluke" mistakes somehow stop being repeated and systematic? The results matter and you know it.
If I did not have a stake in NDNation, I would not watch the games. I'm forced to write about them because it's expected of me. Participation in this forum may be theraputic for some and a way to stay connected to friends for others (like me), but I feel sorry for those who actually believe there is good football around the corner. I don't think there are many such folks left and I'm certainly not among them.
I do not believe we will win or even play for another national championship in my lifetime. If I choose to make the 2000 mile trip to attend another game, it will only be to see my good friends and represent NDNation at a tailgater. The game, the team and the program are irrelevant. I value the people this site has connected me with, but the football connection is no longer what binds me to them.
I had thought about attending the MSU game but will play golf with my friends instead. I then planned to attend USC because I sort of promised Oldtown and Cash that I would meet them there. I can't bring myself to make the reservations while I search for a plausible excuse to bail out.
The results of our games don't matter because the program is not going in any particular direction. Wins and losses have no meaning in such an environment. Any talk about a return to glory is just silly. ND even stopped making T-shirts about it. At least kids soccer makes me smile.