Why People Hate Notre Dame Football

[CF DolFan]

Cathal had asked about this in another thread and since I didn't want to derail, I thought I'd post this appropriately timed article here. My biggest reason I don't care for them lies in their rivalry with the University of Miami. (You can add Penn State to this as well) Add to it that NBC felt compelled to give them tons of money to show their games, as if they are more important than any other team, and it just bothers me.



http://www.forbes.com/sites/rogergroves/2012/11/25/why-people-hate-notre-dame-football/

Notre Dame is going to play for college football’s crown jewel – The BCS National Championship. ND is the first to start the season unranked and end up earning a BCS birth. A movie will probably be made about this unimaginable rags-to-riches saga, complete with last-minute victories against all odds. Yet according to my informal unscientific poll of football fans, Brussels sprouts have an approval rating 74% higher than Notre Dame Football. The reasons are numerous tasty morsels for the haters. First, most in the US are not Irish. Most are not Catholics. And Notre Dame is the most famous school in America for both. During the intense rivalry with the University of Miami, a popular shirt at ND was “Catholics versus Convicts”. That was over 2 decades ago but attitudinally emblematic.

Then there is a human sporting instinct to root for the underdog. Despite this year’s early polls, Notre Dame would be the anti-underdog, the villainous overdog. While major conferences now have their own networks, ND is the only school to have its own joint venture with a national TV network. NBC televises every ND home game. It’s a relationship that has existed in one form or another for a quarter century, and will continue at least through 2015. While most schools are regional in fan-base, ND is international. While most football teams therefore recruit regionally, ND has a recruiting base without borders. And what galls many, ND is the only independent school that is a founding member of the BCS, the unincorporated association that determines who will perform in the BCS bowl games. Most disturbing is the undeniable fact that ND has remained part of that elite circle of influencers though it was mediocre on the field during the bulk of the BCS existence. No one likes unearned privileges except those who receive them.

And then for many it is easier to like the humble and dislike the snob. Until this year, ND chose to remain independent of other conferences, though wooed on several occasions by the Big Ten. Some would say it was because ND considered itself closer to heaven and Touchdown Jesus should not be polluted by the unsaintly. And even with ND’s future joining of the Atlantic Coast Conference, where other sports are all in, football is not to be fully shared. That could be considered code for, “Our other sports can share sweat with you, but our football is more special than yours.”

If I was on the ND defense team, I would argue, “If all that negativity was true we would not have such a large fan base, exclusive TV contracts and viewership, sold out stadiums, and multi-million dollar merchandizing of all-things-Irish.”

I would also remind the detractors that ND is a historic model of sporting excellence. ND has won 13 national championships, second only to Alabama among the top-level schools since 1900. Between 1988 and 1993 it won 88% of its games. No school has as many players winning the Heisman trophy (7) and no school has had as many consensus All-Americans (96). And it has have done it while maintaining high academic standards without major scandal. Those who rebel are lesser fans or just plain jealous or infected with some other malady in need of an exorcism.

Sometimes we try to understand humans without making a value judgment of whether they are right or wrong. One factor involves the role of media. If people view a school’s media coverage as over the top reverence, they start to resent the coverage and the team. They fail to distinguish between the authors of the hype and the team the media gushes over without asking for it. Exhibit A is Duke basketball push back. Regarding ND football, the gushing has already started. The day after the Southern Cal game that cemented the Irish in the BCS game, ESPN News already commenced its reverence-speak. They preferred the terms of endearment “relevance” to reverence. The script included, “Are they back?  Echoes fade…but relevance remains. And right now… the age [for the Irish] is golden all over again.”

Even if ND has an oversupply of detractors, are the Irish they good for the game? Are they good for college sports in general? Are they one of America’s best examples of winning “the right way?” I suspect in the private mental voting booth of even the haters, the answer is “Yes”.  But some in fandom root harder against their villain than for their angel. Would Sothern Cal, Michigan, Michigan State or Purdue boo as passionately against or cherish a victory over ND as much if ND had the same stature as some directional school – say Northwest Utah?  And there is an application to the age-old axiom “There’s a thin line between love and hate” – especially when you love to hate ‘em.

Roger M. Groves is a Professor of Law and Director of the Business Law Program at Florida Coastal School of Law and director of The Center for Sports and Social Entrepreneurship. Visit Roger at http://center4players.com/ and follow him at Twitter@rgroveslaw.

[Phishfan]

I cannot think of a less talented team over the last ten years getting as much media attention as they do. This year is an exception to the norm as we consistently saw them get preseason rankings they never deserved.

[Sunstroke]

Aside from completely agreeing with Phish... If this article proves only one thing, it proves that even law professors should use copy editors.

"are the Irish they good for the game?"

"Would Sothern Cal..."

"And it has have done it..."

Yeesh!

[Fins4ever]

Uh, because Lou Holtz still fawns all over them every Sat. morning. SICKENING.

They have the schedule of a high school team and the 1 game that is a challenge (USC), has the starting QB Barkley, holding a clip board hurt.

[el diablo]

Because they are Notre Dame. Nobody likes a self righteous group of blowhards.

[Phishfan]

They have the schedule of a high school team and the 1 game that is a challenge (USC), has the starting QB Barkley, holding a clip board hurt.

I have to disagree here. They had some pretty good talent on that schedule. Certainly good enough that I never thought I would see them run the table and get to the championship.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Stupid article. 

Why does anybody hate any team, be it Jets, Dolphins, Patriots, Notre Dame, FSU, Michigan, Heat or the high school team in the next town?

It is just the nature of sports, to like some and dislike others, otherwise sports would be boring. 

[BigDaddyFin]

There are still only two things that will outdraw Notre Dame playing for a national title. 

They are:

The second coming of Jesus (unlikely this year)
A Muhammad Ali fight (unlikely unless boxing comes out with a senior tour)

[Spider-Dan]

Notre Dame has a sweetheart TV deal (that their play on the field does not remotely merit) and thinks their football program is so superior to every other that they don't need to join a conference.

They are arguably the most overrated team in the history of college athletics, as evidenced by their NCAA record 9 consecutive bowl losses (read: every year, their "prestige" got them matched up with a team that was clearly superior).

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Notre Dame has a sweetheart TV deal (that their play on the field does not remotely merit)

TV deals.  All TV deals.  Are not based on the merit of play, but the merit of drawing viewership. ND gets good TV deals, b/c people watch them.  Either to root for them or against them. 

Their draw merits the TV deals.   

[masterfins]

Notre Dame has a sweetheart TV deal (that their play on the field does not remotely merit) and thinks their football program is so superior to every other that they don't need to join a conference.

They are arguably the most overrated team in the history of college athletics, as evidenced by their NCAA record 9 consecutive bowl losses (read: every year, their "prestige" got them matched up with a team that was clearly superior).

As Hoodie said they get the TV deals because they have a National audience that will watch them no matter how bad they are.  They don't join a conference so they don't have to share their TV money with the conference, also it doesn't limit their scheduling of opponents.

[Dave Gray]

I always hated that NBC had a deal with the Irish when I was a kid growing up.  They were on TV every week down in S. Florida when I wanted to watch our local teams instead.  I started to detest them from that point forward.

[el diablo]

Stupid article. 

Why does anybody hate any team, be it Jets, Dolphins, Patriots, Notre Dame, FSU, Michigan, Heat or the high school team in the next town?

It is just the nature of sports, to like some and dislike others, otherwise sports would be boring. 

Point of the day.

[bsmooth]

Besides the love-fest shown every year on tv, I lost respect when they went to a bowl game with a 6-6 record over teams with a winning record because they were Notre Dame.

[Thundergod]

Interesting. I was wondering why everyone hated them, too.