Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1017623
6 PRESEASON 2018 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED FAN FORUM SELF-DEPRIVATION Notre Dame's false treatment of its football national championship historical total is causing even Blue & Gold Illustrated to resort to rhetorical contortions to justify. This, in turn, impels false reporting. Incoherence such as seen on page 57 of the August BGI is the inevitable result of the incoherence propagated by Notre Dame's sports information department on the subject of football national titles. (1) If "either recognized by the university and/or NCAA" is the standard, then 1919 and 1964 must be included among Notre Dame na- tional titles because they are recog- nized by the NCAA — no matter what the school's sports information office says. Therefore, Notre Dame has 13 rec- ognized national football champion- ships, not 11. (2) Moreover, if NCAA recogni- tion is the basis for not counting the '27 and '36 Helms national titles in basketball, then, to be consistent, '19 and '64 should be counted for football. Apart from the curiosity of a school demeaning its own heritage by renouncing its generally recog- nized championships, a lingering question is whether this posture is sensible or not, right or wrong, good or bad. It is annoying enough that we are no longer allowed to count all of our football victories (the 21 that were "vacated" in 2012-13). For Notre Dame itself not to recognize all of its earned and established national championships is too much. Even worse, for Notre Dame to deny that the NCAA-recognized 1964 national championship sea- son counts as a true national title amounts to defamation of Ara Par- seghian and that year 's team. Like- wise with 1919 and Knute Rockne. For what? John F. Gaski, Ph.D. (ND '71, '73) South Bend WHO IS HUNGRIER? Remember Lloyd Carr complain- ing when Notre Dame decided to schedule Kansas in '99 to open at home, so as to be prepared for Michi- gan on the road the following week? I say we do the same thing with Ball State! Michigan, Jim Harbaugh and his players have a three-game losing streak, and they have done a slow burn for the past six to seven months since that loss to the South Carolina Gamecocks in the Outback Bowl. Simply stated: Michigan has a stron- ger need to rectify last year by win- ning its opener. I would thank God above for a Notre Dame win against Michigan! The circumstances work against it! Pat Gorman Toledo, Ohio FROM THE WEBSITE For the Sept. 1 opener against Michigan, the University of Notre Dame has been marketing a "Green Out," or imploring Fighting Irish fans in the stands to wear green. Head coach Brian Kelly has supported this venture. Does that mean Notre Dame will wear green jerseys for the contest? "I have not made a decision on that," a coy Kelly said this August. "My sense is there's going to be plenty of green in that stadium. Our home jerseys are blue. I love that tradition. "Unless something happens drastically in my thought process, we'll wear our traditional blue coming into that game." Here's a sampling of Notre Dame faithful reacting on BlueandGold.com: Grizz23: Who will be a little bummed if ND doesn't bust out green jerseys? The game is already hyped, two storied programs and both ranked with high expectations. Would be cool to see how modern technology and style would look like. Irishfanforlife1987: Just wear the blue jerseys and win the damn game. None of the gimmick BS. If they wear green and lose, every nut job out there will be complaining it was the green jerseys' fault. Charlestonrish25: Calling for a stadium (insert color) out and wearing a different color jersey makes no sense. Otherwise, on board completely with wearing the home blues and not adding a gimmick. Wearing an alternate shouldn't be considered much of a gimmick nowadays anyways, though. Cardinalirish: Penn State has a white out game every year — and they wear blue jerseys. Stevmonster: This isn't the '80s or '90s. Most sports have retro jerseys now, jerseys to support causes, etc. We have the Shamrock Series. The whole sacred jersey thing is in the past. FightinMike87: My favorite alternate jersey they've ever worn is the white/green from Michigan 2011. I went right out and bought it. Then they lost. Now it's a great-looking jersey that never leaves my closet. BigNDFan80: I don't think green jerseys should ever be a surprise gimmick. If ND is going to wear green against Michigan, they should have announced it already. GoldenJudge: The combination of field turf and now a Jumbotron together with another negative element, Green Jerseys, almost guarantees a loss. There has already been too much desecration of the Stadium. Did I mention the reigning in of the Irish Guard, VIP sky boxes … the list goes on and on. Silent Banjo: I'd be more than a little bummed if they did bust out green jerseys. This is the first game of the season and against a big-time, hated opponent. All that should be enough to get the team highly motivated. Save the green jerseys when a psychological boost might help later. BE HEARD! Send your letters to: Blue & Gold Illustrated / Letters P. O. Box 1007, Notre Dame, IN 46556 or e-mail to: lsomogyi@blueandgold.com The Irish have sported green uniforms several times during head coach Brian Kelly's tenure — most recently versus Boston College at Fenway Park on Nov. 21, 2015 — but never at home. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA