With Notre Dame opening fall camp on August 4th at Culver Academies, I had some deep thoughts while walking the yard looking for more moles to kill. After the walk of blind death, I had a hard time trying to put it all together to give you something to read that will, hopefully, allow you get some of the bullshit out of your system.
CHANGES. They’re happening. Hell, if you want to get technical about it, they have happened already.
What a beautiful sight #WeAreND #TurfWatch pic.twitter.com/AT0Fpc54rl
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) July 24, 2014
Take that turf pic, add a uniform deal with the newest “big boy” apparel company, and multiply it by the new Notre Dame Stadium renovation plans- and THEN use that sum and multiply it yet again with the fact that we now have a 4 team playoff system in college football with Notre Dame now a partial member of the ACC.
1993 just called and said, “WHAT THE FUCK DOG?”
I think it’s safe to say that the most outspoken critics of all of these changes are the ones that have this idealistic view that is rooted in the Era of Ara and The Holtz Dynasty. For years, I have gently tried to persuade that group of Irish fans to be more progressive and stop living in the past.
The past.
The past is a tricky thing with Notre Dame Football, just as our own pasts are tricky for us. There is something very proud and very righteous in wanting to maintain a “value” that one has held in their heart for a long period of time. The problem comes when that past holds you back from actually loving what you love.
Look, all of these changes that Notre Dame has made or will make over the next few years are important and necessary if the Irish truly want to compete every year for the national championship. To do otherwise, would basically be relegating Notre Dame to some type of glorified Ivy League school (albeit an immensely popular one). I mean, if you aren’t willing to do whatever it takes (within those gray lines) to win a national title at a school that has no real conference affiliation- what in the hell are you doing?
Contrary to some opinions, these changes would still be made no matter who was coaching the Irish. In fact, only a horribly complacent athletic director would allow any type of “coasting on tradition.”
This is not to say that everything is perfect. I don’t believe that for a second. I believe that there have been multiple things that have been done or proposed over the course of the past few years that could have been done better- if not differently all together. The thing is… the thing is… The thing is, is that this is football. No matter what is done surrounding the program, there is still a game to be played on Saturdays.
That’s what I took away from my mole walk of death. The time is for bullshit (well, most of it) is almost over. Fall camp is a few heartbeats away and soon after that, Notre Dame will take the field against Rice as a warmup before the last game (ever?) against Michigan. If the fieldturf and uniforms and Ozzy and whatever else takes that feeling away from you as a fan- man I feel sorry for you. I really do. This is too great of a sport to water it down with truly trivial matters.
I had wanted to include a poem or some type of wisdom that would personify what it means to move on and face the future with dignity, but the search left me feeling dry and self-righteous. Who the fuck am I to really tell you how to feel about all of this? Seriously. And then I had this strange feeling of empathy that quickly evolved into sympathy.
Nothing will stop this change. The coming of tomorrow is here. Any battles fought have been decided and the clock is still moving. So, go ahead and rage against the dying of the light. Fight- fight with whatever you have left and for however long you must if that is how you feel. Fighting, is what Notre Dame’s truest legacy really is. How can I ask you to do otherwise. My only wish is that when victory arrives on the field, a celebration in your heart arrives hand in hand.
Tomorrow has come, so keep fighting, and I will too. I don’t take any shit from anyone, and neither should you.
