Fandom is a rather strange thing. It is not something you can casually acquire. Several people have asked if I was really into the Phillies World Series run given how I now live here. I mean, this was the first time in my life that I actually lived within an hour of a city that won a World Series. You would think that this would be the perfect opportunity for me to spend my evenings in bars and celebrate with absolute strangers. But I didn’t because all I would be doing is going “Go team from my vague geographic location!” It’s one thing to cheer a team because you follow and believe in them. It is another to cheer for a team because you drive to their city to catch a flight out of town.
As a result, something like the Eagles loss today doesn’t bother me at all. In fact I can laugh at the entire comical nature of it. Donovan McNabb being benched for either poor play or the fact that he was wearing either hand warmers or those huge Hulk fists on the sidelines. A guy named Kevin Kolb being brought on to quarterback an NFL team. The Eagles giving up a 108 yard interception return in which the entire team, and several guys on the bench, missed opportunities to make a tackle. I can watch all this with a sense of bemusement much in the same way I look at the Chiefs and wonder what it must be like in Kansas City now that they have no professional sports.
But Notre Dame football is a different matter. Now I did not grow up a Notre Dame fan. In fact, I was pretty anti-Notre Dame as a kid. I know that that is a little shocking to most people, especially given that I’m an Irish Catholic kid from the South Side of Chicago, but it is true. My mom went to DePaul and I grew up watching and cheering for DePaul basketball and that meant booing Notre Dame. Then as I got older I couldn’t get myself behind a school that always seemed to arrogantly pride itself on being better than everyone else. So I became a fan of Duke indicating that I did not truly understand the concept of irony until I was well into my twenties.
But I did have a change of heart when I went to ND for business school and after two years there I truly became a fan. My fall is scheduled around Notre Dame games. I’ll sit on my couch and watch and cheer and I’ll make my way to a game or two every season. I even went to a road game this year as the Navy game was a short drive from me. It is what a fan is supposed to do. You support your team at all times.
But man, did yesterday’s game disappoint me in ways I never thought I could experience (and this is coming from someone who has been dumped in more cruel and diabolical ways than anyone else known to man.) We were up against Syracuse, which just has a horrible team. They were ranked in the 100ths in both offense and defense with a coach that had been fired and is now simply serving out his contract. Meanwhile, Notre Dame was looking for their seventh win and an opportunity to go to a bowl game that pays more than what the team deserves to receive.
So what happens? They play horribly. When turnovers give them the ball on the opponents twenty they have to settle for field goals. Their lone touchdown of the first half should have been called back for pass interference. They build a lead in the third quarter so I decide to watch the remainder of the game while on the treadmill. Thus I got to watch the team squander possession after possession until Syracuse wins it in the final minute. I’m happy that I was putting in three miles because that at least made the afternoon somewhat worthwhile. At least I accomplished something, which is more than the team did.
I’ll still support the team and cheer and do all the things that fans do. We are fans, all we know how to do is follow our team. But that was just a sad, lifeless showing by the team. It is not in the least the way Notre Dame is supposed to play or represent themselves. I’m really hoping that things can turn around but this is the first time in a while that I wanted to turn the television off in disgust.
Best of 120 Minutes: It is the holiday season and no better way to start off the week of Thanksgiving than a video by The Cranberries. Yes, I’m forced to continue with musical puns. I’m not sure if this band lived up to their potential or not other than at one point in time I think every guy on the planet had a crush on Dolores O’Rioreden. Watching this video again reminds me why.
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