The stories recently coming out of Notre Dame have been very different than stories which came out of Notre Dame in the past. Visitors to this site are familiar with them, so I will not repeat those previous articles here but only summarize the changes I am talking about: artificial turf replacing natural grass in Notre Dame Stadium, high-school castoff uniforms replacing blue and gold football uniforms, “student athletes” unable or unwilling to take tests or otherwise be graded as other students are graded.
Maybe it was a good thing to shake things up at Notre Dame particularly in the Fightin’ Irish football program. Yet the only publicly announced changes at Notre Dame all seem to involve money.
What is going on at Notre Dame? Bad Faith, who knows?
Besides the other things which have just been mentioned, a student recently died while filming the Fightin’ Irish in practice from a tower on a windy day. Let's be clear: No-one blames any particular person. Yet the “marketing” of a “brand” – selling the idea of the Notre Dame Football Team – was certainly a motivation for that young man to climb into that tower on the windy day the tower fell and he died.
Different values lead to different outcomes. The story of Manti Te’o was spun and unraveled all in one Football season, too. Mr. Te’o’s “win one for the Gipper” reputation at Notre Dame featured a dying girlfriend who told him to play football instead of coming to see her. The problem with that storyline was that there was no girlfriend and Mr. Te’o never met her in person, of course.
While this spoofing was going on, Mr. Te'o told the Notre Dame Football Coaching Staff and asked their advice about what he should do. We do not know exactly what advice the Notre Dame Coaches gave to Mr. Te’o about his nonexistent girlfriend. We do know that the “feel good” storyline about the girlfriend continued until the end of the football season.
Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun Times, Notre Dame Observer et al.: Feel free to ask these questions. And to publish the answers. The answers might reinforce our belief that Notre Dame values deserve to be maintained. Until the questions are asked, we may not know whether the answers will work to the good or not.
Between now and then, Notre Dame, FSU is in your future. See Mike McIntire and Walt Bogdanich, “Home Field Advantage / When Police Encounter Florida State Players, Football Clouds Justice” p. 1, col. 2 (New York Times Nat’l ed., Sunday, October 12, 2014). See also Tom Spousta, “Blitz Is On / F.S.U. Fans Galvanized Amid Blitz of Coverage” p. B9, col. 1 (New York Times Nat’l ed., Saturday, October 18, 2014); Brendan Sonnone and Iliana Limon, “Winston’s Allies Speak / Attorney Questions FSU Inquiry; Fisher Says Autographs Were Fine” p. C1, col. 5 (Orlando Sentinel, Wednesday, October 15, 2014).
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