Back in the day I used to do the “Wonder, Think and Know” columns. In an effort to correct an error I made when I first started them, I would assert, quite correctly, that celebrated Chicago columnist Mike Royko never said “some things you wonder, some things you think, and some things you just know”. I probably was misquoting Bernie Lincicome, another one of my favorites.

I was reminded of those columns this week, as I discovered that, as often as the quote is attributed to him, Albert Einstein never said “[t]he definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” That quote is most correctly attributed to Narcotics Anonymous’ Basic Text Page 23, but was later popularized by Rita Mae Brown in her book “Sudden Death”.

Why is this relevant to Notre Dame? Because a couple weeks ago, I introduced NA’s and Ms. Brown’s concept to my enjoyment (or lack thereof) of the men’s basketball program, as my wife and I renewed our season tickets for another year.

Insanity? Perhaps. Waste of money? Maybe, leaning towards probable. But as has well been documented in this space, I have loved this program for long and long. And after a long discussion between us, my wife and I decided we were not going to let what we hope is temporary malfeasance move us out of our fandom, not to mention our half-court seats.

It’s a Dire Situation, No Doubt

Yes, I can hear your howls over my enablement now. I’m under no illusions about what kind of shape the program is in. After all, I’ve read the same articles as you have: a terrible season followed by talent bailing out leading to a complete roster makeover hampered by a lack of NIL support that sits way below the perceived minimum, let alone average, leaving the Irish among the “transfer portal losers” with no relief in sight.

And it’s not like much, if anything, has changed since those articles were written. Biographies of the new players notwithstanding, the team’s summer media availability seems to have been met with a collective yawn. There are few stories about recruits planning visits, let alone players with Notre Dame among their leaders. And as of my renewal deadline, there didn’t seem to be any response by the administration to all this negative PR indicating it was affecting them in any way.

For his part, Shrewsberry certainly isn’t making it easy. Setting aside the on-court results, between charging Adam Flore after the Cal game to the post-Louisville rant about the fans, he’s become a really hard guy to defend. I’m sure following a guy like Mike Brey isn’t easy, but he knew what side of the bread the butter was on when he got here … or at least he should have.

Given all this nonsense, you ask, how can I support this program with my time and (more importantly) my money?

Why Did I Renew?

I doubt any of my reasons will end up being satisfactory to most, but they do remain my reasons. Let’s return to the opening paragraph and my historical columns and review the list:

I Know I remain a fan

I have been a Notre Dame men’s basketball fan for most of my life. There’s this book you may have heard about where I describe the trips my father took us to see mid-week games in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s (because getting weekend game tickets was a pipe dream for most outside of campus) and my experience at Notre Dame’s win over top-ranked North Carolina prior to my freshman year. This is not something from which one casually departs.

The Mrs. and I often make these games about more than the results. While the mid-week 7pm ET tip-offs can be challenging, the weekend games are an opportunity to get away, see South Bend friends, spend the night, hit the bookstore, etc. I realize a lot of you do that for Notre Dame football, but we’re geographically advantaged to be able to do the same here.

Besides, I first purchased my seats in 1994 as Notre Dame finally was leaving its independent status behind for Big East membership. Granted, that indicated a step forward, but it’s not like the first seven years of my participation were any kind of picnic. If I could handle that, I certainly can handle this … in theory.

I Think Notre Dame Does Care

As much as this may reek of naïveté, while there seems to have been little to no reaction to the negative PR this situation has generated, I’m not convinced it’s going to stay that way.

First, men’s basketball is the second-highest profile college sport. There’s no sin in your program not being good at it, but to not be good at it seemingly on purpose raises a lot of eyebrows. When your program is (a) historically one of the top 10 programs in wins and top 20 in win percentage in Division 1, and (b) in one of the higher-profile conference in the country (recent slowdown aside), not only do the eyebrows raise higher but people at a higher pay grade than ticket-holders like conference administrators and broadcast partners start asking uncomfortable questions. If they don’t like the answers….

Second, I don’t believe Pat Garrity, Notre Dame’s general manager, was brought here to sit on his hands. He’s a very proud alum, and I can’t fathom him looking at the state of the program and shrugging his shoulders. Everyone who has ever played or coached for Notre Dame realizes men’s basketball at best sits at the left hand of the football program, so the budget will not be equal as much as we’d hope it would be. But there’s still money to be found out there, and I believe Garrity is the one to find it.

I Wonder What the True Patience Limits Are

With everyone looking to the upcoming season, even with adjusted expectations, will Irish athletic director Pete Bevacqua remain sanguine if the desultory results continue? Maybe, maybe not.

Publicly, he seems laser-focused on the upcoming (and hopefully championship-bringing) football season, and there’s a school of thought that believes if Marcus Freeman and his charges can break Notre Dame’s 38-year national title drought, it’ll free up attention (and money) for the basketball program.

Personally, I find that position to be ridiculous, and God forbid it turns out to be true because my disappointment will know no bounds. That said, while Bevacqua likely was bowing to the fungibility of finances this time around, I don’t think a repeat would be in the offing next March. There’s only so far cans like this can be kicked, and we’re reaching the end of that alley.

It really would help if he was willing to give a “state of the program” to the ticket holders and alums/fans, since that would remove a lot of the uncertainty. Kabong’s First Law of Pressers, though, tells us the chances of something meaningful being said in a press conference are vanishingly small, so I’m not holding my breath. PB will be Shrews’ biggest fan right up until the moment he’s not, and like the Master’s arrival, we know not the day nor the hour. But it’s there.

Many Ways to Skin this Cat

Let me be clear — I do not in any way disagree with my fellow season ticket holders who made a different choice. I said above, I’m under no illusions about the current state of the program, and my reasoning may be pie-in-the-sky.

I can hope for more transparency from the admin and perhaps a more conciliatory attitude towards fans on Shrewsberry’s part all I want, but that and $2.25 will get me a good bus ride. I’ll either get it or I won’t, and there’s no control to be had.

What I do know is there will be another discussion next April, and if some of the things I hope for don’t come to fruition, I think that one could result in a different decision for us. I wonder which it will be?

Tell Mike what you think in the comments below