That's definitely one way to look at it ...

That's definitely one way to look at it ...
by CJC (2011-09-14 10:37:11)

In reply to: But how do you tell posted by ShermanOaksND

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.

ND football while I was a student wasn't much better

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.