OT: Notre Dame's Irish flag cleats for their season opener in Ireland
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/campusrivalry/post/2012/05/notre-dame-irish-flag-shoes/1
Because aMAIZEing BLUE132 doesn't have enough points to post it himself.
Made to resemble the Irish flag for the season opener against Navy in Ireland. Let the comments flow...
EDIT: What will they do to the unis? One guy's idea, although it's an interpretation of national jerseys if American football were part of the Olympics.
I'd love to see them completely fail at getting support in Ireland for this game. Sadly, I'm not sure how popular a US service academy will be in the UK.
Well, the game is in Ireland, not the UK, so that should help a little.
But yeah, I think I know who most of the fans will be cheering for.
I think you're right though, ND will have all the support.
This is exactly why Notre Dame should not do a thing to their traditional uniform. Most of those people have never seen the team in person and should get the full experience. There's no need for a gimmic - the gimmic is playing in Dublin! Idiots.
is that they could possibly beat Navy again this year.
People in Ireland do not care about a Catholic school in Indiana founded by French priests. The only people in the stands strongly supporting ND will be Americans who traveled over for the game. Everyone else in Dublin will be laughing at them for thinking they are Irish.
Good luck to them finding any sort of support among the Irish. Having lived in Ireland for a year, I can tell you that the casual Irish sporting fan is generally less than flattered with the ND mascot as it simply perpetuates the common irish stereotype of them being a bunch of drunken brawlers. Also, I dont understand why theyre wearing these shoes, they're and American football team.
I'm certainly no fan of ND, but your friends really seem overly sensitive, especially considering they're Irish. Of course the mascot is hostile, it is a football mascot after all. I'm not sure how it has anything to do with being drunk; I'm pretty sure the mascot doesn't do shots of whiskey after touchdowns (though maybe he should). Most of my Irish friends revel in the drinking culture of Ireland. And, come on, you're really worried about them being so unpatriotic wearing Irish shoes? I hope you don't get upset when Americans wear shirts with the Irish flag on them as well.
There is a big historical link with Irish-Americans and the Navy, and so I think the Middies will enjoy some big support at the game.
in Cobh Ireland in 1989 (that is ex-Queenstown for you Titanic buffs), Greenpeace protested because we may or may not have had nuclear weapons, chaining themselves to the bollards. The the dockworkers went on a sympathy strike rather than remove the protestors.
We sat next to the pier in Cork Harbour for hours while the mess was worked out between the union, the police, the consolate, and the Mayor. Finally they cut the chains and hauled off the protestors.
We lost a whole afternoon of drinking after three long weeks in the North Atlantic. (The bar tenders and waitresses seemed to like us OK.)
Anyway, the real Irish are more likely to root for the domers.
Since ND is already pandering to Irish crowd here, I have a "great idea" so that they can really get the crowd behind them. All they have to do is make Navy wear black and tan.
I really like them [only the shoes before the OP edited in a jersey render]. However, I think they won't get the support they thought they would across the pond.
Those are hideous. They will also clash hilariously with ND's uniforms, unless they plan to unveil special "Ireland" uniforms.
If someone made me wear these, I would have to stick my foot up their ass just to improve their aesthetics.
What, brown to cover the green? Then they'd look like shoes for the Cleveland Browns.....
I think my first exposure to the Notre Dame green jerseys was back in the Ty Willingham era when they faced BC (I believe ND was undefeated at the time). BC stomped them in South Bend. It was hilarious. Those [Ireland game] jerseys are comical, but it's good branding/marketing for that game. I'm sure a lot of that fanbase will be all over that jersey too.
Those are just a guy's renderings of what an Ireland National Team jersey would look like if American football were part of the Olympics. It has nothing to do with the notre dame game. I just posted it because the color schemes matched and it still has the shamrock logo, which nd has used in the past (most recently in the UTL game).
Signed,
Billy "White Shoes" Johnson
The '70s had to leave a message because ND was already on the phone having the same conversation with The U.
and maybe it's the soccer / ultimate frisbee player in me, but those cleats are dope.
You've got to be freaking kidding me. Is there no athletic director or head coach anywhere with the balls to say "Go fuck yourself" to the Nike/Adidas clowns who propose this idiocy?
Unfortunately, I doubt whether DB is one of those people. If he thought he could sell cleats like that, he'd do it in a second.
Not gonna lie
I really want to see the facial expressions of the Irish in attendance (the real ones) as they wonder WTF is going on, especially during the Victory Clog.
Correct me if I'm wrong here, but isn't the 4 leaf clover (as opposed to the three leaf shamrock) an Americanized thing like fortune cookies and Cinco de Mayo?
The 3 leafed shammrock was used by St. Patrick as a Christian metaphor (Father, Son, & Holy Ghost). The 4 leafed clover was supposed to be good luck.
U-S-A! U-S-A!
In other news, Go Midshipmen.
corner in Dublin to find a phalanx of drunken American cops traipsing down the street. WTF, I asked? Dumb Yanks here for their annual St. Paddy's Day parade, I was told. Just ignore them and eventually they go away.
P.S. I like the shoes, but the unis bite. If your own uniform is pretty nice why degrade the image with something shite?
As long as we don't do something like this, I'm ok with it.
I'm sure they're fine for football... but how are they for cop-kicking?
....would we be offended if a bunch of foreigners playing a strange sport came over here and wore shoes representing our flag on it? Not just red, white, and blue, but really "looking" like it?
I tried a quick search to see if some of our Olympians ever wore Star-spangled Banner shoes, and couldn't find any...but even if they exist, at least it's your own country. Kinda seems like they're going to be stepping on Ireland's flag. Don't tread on me and all that.
Imagine an Irish rugby team called the Fightin' Americans with a stereotypical Uncle Sam mascot coming to NYC to play a game.
I'm assuming that's what Irish people think about ND coming to their backyard.
That hypothetical rugby team sounds awesome
Seconded!
I don't know a thing about rugby, but I would be compelled to watch that.
It's against federal law:
36 USC 176(d): "The flag should never be used as wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery. It should never be festooned, drawn back, nor up, in folds, but always allowed to fall free...."
I'm gonna have to get rid of my Old Glory thong before The Man comes a knockin'. Oh well, I hope I didn't taint an Amurican icon.
Too bad there is no "nasty" moderation or you my friend would be wearing that label for this post.
My understanding of that law is that an actual flag should not be used to make apparel, bedding, draperies, etc. It does not apply to a pattern being applied to such objects.
Undies made out of a flag? Illegal
Undies with a flag pattern? Legal.
Just as long as you don't cut up a flag to make a pair of shoes, you're ok.
And even if it IS "against the law," it would (could?) never be enforced. It's like Michigan's law that makes it a felony to "seduce and debauch an unmarried woman":
somebody threw-up rainbow sherbet on a pair of "White Shoes" Johndon's cleats.
Look at me, I'm the Prime Minister of Ireland.
You are so smart, S M R T.
A couple years ago, FC Barcelona came to Seattle and played a friendly against the Sounders. Although I got to see many of the great players on Barca at the time, like Messi and Thierry Henry, I was a bit disappointed that they wore a bright orange alternative uniform for the game, instead of the iconic blue & red vertical stripes. I can't help but thinking that some poor Irish ND fans will be disappointed that when they finally get a chance to see their team in person, the team will be wearing an ersatz Miami Hurricanes uniform and clown shoes. But to hell with Notre Dame fans.
Unofficial polling suggests half the posters love the shoes and half think they are the worst things ever. What does this mean? We should all be thankful we aren't athetlic directors.