History means little for Irish
Ted Fox
Fox Sports ... Almost
I heard it way too many times this summer.
Being from Notre Dame and working as a producer at a sports talk radio station in Ann Arbor, MI, you can expect to hear just about everything from the supporters of the good old maize and blue.
"Nice season last year, Fox," chuckle, chuckle.
"We're glad you guys didn't join the Big Ten," snort, snort.
"Navy's getting pretty good, aren't they?" ha, ha.
Notre Dame's 5-7 football season last year didn't leave me with a whole lot to come back with. By the end of the summer, I, someone whose gridiron greatness stops at the crooked sideline of section football, even felt like I had something to prove.
Now just imagine what these last nine months have felt like to our classmates who put on the blue and gold every Saturday.
A losing season. No wins in November. 0-5 on the road. A coach being watched more closely than the final episode of "Survivor". An article in "Sports Illustrated" saying the Irish can't really compete anymore. Not ranked in the Top 25 heading into this season.
But, none of that should matter now.
When I told one of my friends in Ann Arbor that the last time Notre Dame wasn't bowl eligible (1986), they came back to win the national title two years later, he told me history doesn't mean a whole lot in sports. He's right.
And that's a good thing for the Wolverines and others. Otherwise, the fact that Notre Dame boasts more national titles and Heisman winners than anyone else might hang a dark cloud over Michigan winning its first national title in 50 years.
No, all that matters are the players playing now.
At the end of last year, then sophomore wideout David Givens said, "When you're on a losing team for a year, you get tired of it — you're ready to win."
You're an offensive line that has ditched the annoying adjective "inexperienced" from last year and now returns four starters with something to prove.
You're a sophomore running back who the country hasn't seen a whole lot of yet but will once a long line of would-be tacklers come up clutching nothing but the space you used to occupy.
You're a defensive backfield featuring a senior corner who had to sit out last season and a senior free safety who rejoins the defensive backfield after handling just about every duty but those of the kickers.
You're a place kicker who must inherit a recent legacy of more prayers than cheers whenever the field goal unit takes the field.
You're a senior tight end, one of the best in the country, the man who somehow saved us from defeat at the hands of some despised Trojans. Yet many feel you haven't been given an adequate chance to show you're full range of talents.
And you're one of the anchors of the defense, probably the nicest guy on campus, but a player who has been criticized for showing too much of that "niceness" on the field.
Givens said, "We've got the talent on our team [to win]. The other teams that we play don't have better athletes than we have."
The stage has been set for this 2000 Notre Dame football team, made up of many individuals united by a singular motive, to show the rest of the college football world what it already knows.
I'll concede that those out there who point to the difficulty of the early season games do have a point. Just look at it: Texas A&M at Notre Dame. Nebraska at Notre Dame. Purdue at Notre Dame.
I mean, that could be a pretty rough schedule. Especially when you're playing on the road.
The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
All Sports Stories for Monday, August 28, 2000
