It’s been almost 24 hours since Notre Dame unveiled the uniforms the football team will wear for the 2018 Shamrock Series game in Yankee Stadium against Syracuse.

I still consider myself too young to be a get-off-my-lawn type, but I certainly will cop to being generally conservative when it comes to Notre Dame, particularly its football program. As such, the recent trend of wearing “alternate uniforms” tends to rub me the wrong way. Let’s be clear, I’m not wedded to the blue-jersey-gold-pants thing … my favorite ND uniform ever is the green-and-gold the team came out of the tunnel in for the 1977 USC game, and I wish that would be ND’s typical garb. Rather, I’m wedded to the “you have a uniform, so wear it” thing, so while the usual departure from the standard each season wears on me, this one wears particularly hard.

I know there are folks out there who love the “uniform fun” and don’t give a damn for the most part what ND wears.  And I’m all for the players enjoying themselves.  But I suppose what galls me the most here, outside of the general lack of taste displayed in this year’s effort, is ND once again abandoning dignity in an effort to pursue … I’m still not entire sure what.

Notre Dame, for me, has always been about winning the right way.  The “right way” certainly included following the rules and doing right by the student athletes, whether that be on the field by giving them the best available coaching (harrumph) or off the field by insuring they left the school with a degree and the ability to have a good life in return for what they gave in their ND career.  The “right way” definitely included a standard of conduct both for coaches and administrators (harrumph harrumph) and players, to which a lack of adherence would be a non-starter.

But for me, the “right way” also includes dignity, and between the pinstripes and the Lepretron and “upgrading your experience“, that seems to be in short supply under the Dome these days.  At the very least, it’s taking a back seat to the filthy lucre.

Notre Dame probably is the most recognized name in college football, and that recognition comes with plenty of benefits.  The program has fans all over the world, and those fans have never been  shy about supporting the program with their eyeballs and their pocketbooks.  Notre Dame isn’t an Oregon, who has to draw attention to itself with flashy gimmicks and over-the-top sartorial choices because it’s the only way the average fan (or recruit) is going to look at them twice.  They have the draw and all the accompanying positives.  Anything beyond is gilding the lily.

George Clooney doesn’t walk around in Ed Hardy gear.  You wouldn’t find Cate Blanchett doing performance art in Times Square sporting a Durkl ensemble.  Denzel Washington doesn’t have any YOLO shirts in his drawer, let alone on his person.  They know better.  They’ve arrived.  They know the value of their dignity and that it’s unnecessary for them to trade on it.

In a world where acting like you’ve been there is considered worthy, Notre Dame doesn’t seem to think there’s any “there” there.  Unnecessary barnstorming is a bad start, and the usual garish clothes accompanying the trip put the whipped cream on top.  But this year’s foray into bad taste truly is the sundae’s cherry.

What price a soul?  Apparently $89.99.