Yes it is.

By the way, not only am I fun and lighthearted, but I am extremely handsome.

Anyway, I share your sadness. Yesterday, I thought about how this fiasco impacts families as I went about undoing a plan to bring my daughter and her husband back here for the BC game in November. Neither is a ND grad, but they are loyal fans, and Nick has never been to South Bend. It was to have been a "two-for-one" weekend--Irish on Saturday, Monsters on Sunday (the only weekend this fall when both ND and Bears have home games). At this point, I cannot justify the cost, particularly since the entire family will troop out to California for Thanksgiving. We'll go to the Stanford game instead, sit amongst the wine & cheese people, and watch Luck pick the Irish to pieces.

I could go down for the game on Saturday, but why? The fun has gone out of it. I don't enjoy the 2-hour drive back to Chicago late in the evening, still steaming with anger, passing station wagons filled with families kitted out in Book Store clothing. "Hey look at my wife's pink ND sweatshirt. It only cost $67.95!"

We are lucky though, you and I. We had some great years. I think back to my undergraduate years and the Ara era. My God, that was fun. Then, Devine, then Holtz. There were some bumps along the way (Faust), but I never thought I would end my years watching a slow, painful slide into mediocrity. Yet, for some, this is all they know.

And this is the saddest thing of all. We're not the biggest losers. The ones who have lost the most are current students and young alums like my daughter. Eighteen classes have come and gone without having experienced real Notre Dame football. Imagine. The most exciting moment in nearly two decades--the one time when the intensity in the stadium was electric--was a loss.

I am in the same boat. One question though....

Does this make us fair weather fans? I say no, but my friends say I am. I have tried to explain to them exactly what you said above. I cannot justify spending $70 to sinane a bench and watch a mockery of a football game and drive 4 hours back home, miserable the entire trip. It is just not worth it to me anymore. Hell, it's not even worth watching it on the television.

Not at all

They make it easy. ND is on TV every week, therefore, why, in this era of austerity, pay $70 for a ticket? I never said I would not watch the game. It's just that I don't invest the same amount of emotional equity in Irish football as I used to. The returns are not there, and I need to save for retirement (preserve my health).

Could this change? Abso-fucking-lutely. Bring in a top tier coach, put a quality team on the field, and I would be quite happy to have a heart attack in my seat on the 40. Chuck and Andrew could simply tell the ushers, "He's napping".

Any chance your are going Saturday?

66 team is being honored. You know where to find them.

Will my old golf buddy, Nick Eddy, be there?

We used to meet on the first tee just behind my room in Pangborn and get a few holes in before the first class.

I don't have a ticket. These days, I feel like an enabler when I go down there. I'm afraid a couple admin types will see me and whisper to each other, "See, the fools complain, but they can't stay away. Like a moth to the flame".

Pangborn - basement room?

I lived in Pangborn my soph (your senior year) and junior years, the latter in a basement room. My ND roomate's brother, class of '68 as well, lived in a basement room. So, we may have crossed paths though two years apart.

Yep....'66 freshman year...and all the years that followed were certainly intersting days for ND football and all other things ND.

Yep...will never stop returning - whether it is for a game or not. I wish I wasn't 600 miles away!

BTW - I truly appreciated your post of the other day, as I do with most.

Yep, 43 Pangborn

The one at the end of the hall by the door facing south toward the old course. I was there my junior and senior year.

We lived in the next to last room my Jr. year........68-69

So you knew Tom McGrath? He is he brother of my former roomate.
We spent a few hours down there....especially during food sales!
Small world.

actually I recall now our room was 39 pangborn.. *

Tickets are around

I think we still have a pair available...and a pass too (I think)

My dad is emceeing the dinner for the team Friday night. He said a large group is expected

"The fun has gone out of it."

The second sentence of your second paragraph resonated with me. I said something similar to my wife as we watched the Michigan people celebrate at the end of the game on Saturday. There have been times in the past 15 years at moments like that when I would be angry. Interestingly, there was no anger Saturday. I think that is because that I never expected us to win, even when we were ahead 24 to 7 late in the third quarter. I hate to say it, but I've become conditioned to mediocrity or worse with ND football. I am really questioning why I watch when week after week, even when we manage to win, it is just no fun at all.

That's how I felt after the Tulsa loss

I had a seat in the stands pretty darn close to that final interception. When that play happened, I was filled with apathy. Four to five years ago, I would've been filled with rage/disgust.