turtleboy

November 26th, 2012 at 10:29 PM ^

Not really. ND fans I know have been talking about the National Championship game since back when we lost to them, as though they're destined to win it all every year. They all honestly believe crazy Lous crazy predictions. No matter how badly they're beaten by Bama, this year has been enough to feed the trolls through 20 more seasons of ineptitude.

kevin holt

November 26th, 2012 at 10:56 PM ^

Without major scandal... except, you know, Brian Kelly turning purple at quarterbacks, being a supposed racist, and negligently allowing a student camera operator to be killed.

MGoblu8

November 26th, 2012 at 11:27 PM ^

No chance I'm rooting for an SEC team. Living in south-central Florida, everyone who isn't a fan of UF/ FSU/ Mia seems to be either a fan of Alabama or ohio. I'm just tired of the whole thing. I would much rather see ND win that championship than another SEC team. UF fans can be unbearable too.

Ann Arbor Cardinal

November 27th, 2012 at 12:03 AM ^

I had to watch UM lose to Toledo at a BW3 in Alabama. Even though their Alabama/Auburn game wasn't on until after UM ended, they wouldn't put the game on anything but a tiny TV over the bar. We had 5 UM fans there, and the place was about deserted for most of the game (11am local start). Miserable game, my neck hurt from looking up a TV attached to the ceiling, and an OSU fan we passed on the way out got mad at us for UM losing, since it made the Big Ten look bad. Most of that has nothing to do with the SEC, but I still blame it all on Alabama. I spent three years in South Bend and about 6 months in Alabama and Florida, and I'd rather see ND win as well.

bighouseinmate

November 27th, 2012 at 12:46 AM ^

.......about the recruiting issue, UM and ND going head to head for prospects, and that if ND wins it will hurt us obviously have forgotten the 90's. ND won a NC and UM still got great talent. Enough to have pretty damn good seasons throughout the 90's, including our own NC.

That's not enough of a reason to root against ND.

And yes, many of their fans are arrogant bastards, but that isn't even a good enough reason to root against them.

Me? I'll root for ND since they will be going up against an SEC team. Mainly because I think the SEC is full of a bunch of pricks that use rules as mere guidelines, who pay players overtly and the NCAA does nothing, who think that football was invented in the south, who believe that football is, and has only been, good in the south. They believe a NC for any of the SEC teams somehow becomes an SEC NC, rather than the individual school (show me the last time someone from the B1G claimed a NC when OSU won it in 2002).

They believe that the entire SEC, top to bottom, is tougher than any other conference, and that teams from other conferences, or ND, when they go unbeaten wouldn't be any better than a middle of the road SEC team. And all that, while they schedule the cupcakiest of cupcakes throughout their seasons, giving the equivalent of three or four "bye" weeks between their tough games. Meanwhile, teams like Oregon are playing USC, Stanford, and OregonSt. in back to back to back weeks. And all other conferences play their cupcakes in the beginning, prior to their conference seasons. Weak schedules for weak minded pricks, and then claiming that their middle of the road teams could go unbeaten in other conferences.

And when they have a team like Arkansas, predicted at the beginning of the season to be one of their top teams, lose like they did, they don't talk about them. Not one bit. Anyone hear any talk from a Bama or LSU fan about Mississippi State recently? That's because they lost their last five games, after starting 7-0. By playing no one of any significance. 

No, I'd rather root for ND, even with their asshat of a coach. At least their school actually respects, you know, school. Learning. That sort of thing. They aren't just a pseudo-minor league conference of the NFL like the SEC is.

 

saveferris

November 27th, 2012 at 9:13 AM ^

I'm old enough to remember when Notre Dame last won the National Championship and was relevant.  This was before the internets, and blogs, and Twitter.  ESPN hadn't yet become the WWL and NBC wasn't the private network of South Bend.  And these people were insufferable then.  YOU DO NOT want Notre Dame to win the National Championship, they will put the SEC to shame in terms of hubris and asshattery.  Trust me.

gmoney41

November 27th, 2012 at 9:48 AM ^

I could never root for ND.  Growing up in Indiana has taught me to hate ND almost as much as Ohio.  The media hype machine, the ridiculous fans, make ND an easy team to dislike.  Plus I want to see Alabama embarass them worse than what they did to us, which is very possible.

dahblue

November 27th, 2012 at 9:49 AM ^

In my day, ND was a bigger rivalry (and Desmond's catch was my freshman year).  We hated ND (and I still do).  The pseudo piety of ND is what turns my stomach most and makes me want to beat them resoundingly, every year.  

To me, a homogeneous clump of white conservative folk doesn't make for a good transition to real world living.  ND is entitled to operate as a religious school, maintain a 35-to-1 white-to-minority ratio and sign up with NBC for nearly uwatchable coverage...but that's kinda the opposite of a large public, non-religious school like Michigan.  As a guy who thinks diversity is good, open-mindedness a virtue; well, fuck ND.

M-Dog

November 28th, 2012 at 10:36 AM ^

ND is like that spoiled kid in your neighborhood that you grew up with who's parents gushed and fawned over every thing he did, no matter how ordinary.  

In the meantime you and your friends were grinding through life, skinning your knees, getting up early to deliver papers, and working hard to get good grades.  And the reaction was . . . nothing.  That's what you are supposed to do.    

I don't recall live ESPN coverage from a Manhattan Kansas bar when KSU had a shot at going undefeated and making it to the NC.  They're just another team in the annual NC fray.  They're not our darling Notre Dame.