I decided to drag out a Mike Brey-ism for this one.

I realize things both on this blog and on Rock’s House and Cartier Field have trended very negative, especially since the Syracuse debacle and everything that’s happened since. I’ve contributed to it, both here and there, and have decided to take a mini sabbatical until things cool off. We’re in a slow news time anyway.

But before I go, my question to the readership: What do you expect us to do in this situation?

A commenter to Vannie’s entry from earlier this evening requested we stop being negative, saying he responded this way in the hopes that my fellow Ops and I would “read this message and those like it enough times you’ll quit crying and go back to being a good resource for those who love Notre Dame and its football program”.

The problem is, we’re trying to be a good resource, and we don’t think we’re doing our job by pretending everything is fine when it’s not.

Things are bad, and have been bad to varying degrees for the better part of 15 years. Plenty of people on campus want change desperately, including a lot of the players. We have yet to see strong leadership coming from under the Dome, or any indication they’re going to get this fixed. We’re left to hope for this and have faith in that and pray for the other, but have precious little evidence any of it will happen. It’s very possible we may be sitting here next year in the exact same position with the exact same problems. History has shown us that tends to happen.

We’ve warned of the dangers. We’ve suggested solutions. We’ve encouraged people to share their thoughts with the school admin. We’ve given examples of what other schools are doing and what we think needs to change. But all we’re getting in response is blow-back that we’re “whining” and “being too negative”.

You’re our readers, you tell us. What are we supposed to do here?