Players, not history, will decide game
Andrew Soukup
Associate Sports Editor
Why believe?
Why believe in a team kicked around more than a soccer ball during the off-season, a team that should be talking about a winning season, not a national championship?
Why believe in players who watched The Associ-ated Press give them a meager three votes in the preseason poll, one ahead of toilet-bowl-worthy Bowling Green and Boise State and two votes ahead of Sun Belt powerhouse Middle Tennessee State?
Why believe the Irish seniors, who have endured two losing seasons in three years, can transform their careers, their tradition, their legacy from forgettable to respectable?
Why believe Tyrone Willingham can awaken the echoes, when Notre Dame insultingly appears headed straight for a level on college football's pantheon usually reserved for teams like Purdue or Ohio State — schools that are good, but that struggle to reach greatness.
Why believe this team has a shot?
Because when the Irish charge out of the tunnel Saturday night with gold helmets glinting under the glare of thousands of flashbulbs and the watchful eye of national television cameras capturing their every move, they'll captivate the nation.
Around 7 p.m. Notre Dame time, Irish fans will flip on the television, turn to ABC, see Brent Musberger waxing poetic, watch the Irish warming up in their white road uniforms and forget about every bad thing that has happened to Notre Dame during the off-season.
Instead, they'll remember the lore of Rockne, Leahy and Parseghian. They'll hear 7-11 and think Heisman trophy winners and national championships, not Slurpees. They'll think back to the days when the Four Horseman stood outlined against a blue-gray October sky and swept Army over the precipice at the Polo Grounds.
Notre Dame is a funny place. The saying, "Nowhere else but Notre Dame" is strikingly accurate. Few institutions receive criticism for failing like Notre Dame does. That's life as the deity of football tradition.
The American populace can be divided into two groups – those who love Notre Dame and those who hate Notre Dame. There's no gray area, no room for the faint of heart to straddle a fence. Pick your side and stick with it.
Those who love to hate Notre Dame have plenty of reason to laugh at the other group. NCAA sanctions, the Fiesta Bowl debacle, the coaching scandal, players booted for academic reasons, players booted for criminal reasons, players booting themselves to other schools — wonderful fodder for a Michigan fan. Pious Notre Dame had been caught eating meat on a Friday.
But find a die-hard who lost his enthusiasm for Notre Dame. Look for a fan that doesn't believe the Irish will return to greatness. Discover someone who isn't filled with optimism. Right next to them, you'll find Elvis, Amelia Earhart and good dining hall food.
Notre Dame teams can lose. They can fall short of expectations. But when the season is over, the Dome is still gold, Touchdown Jesus hasn't covered his eyes, Corby is still waiting for the punt and the date of the next game is already circled on the calendar.
That's when Notre Dame fans start clamoring "Wait `till next year." They wait, excitement coiled tighter than a spring, expectation waiting like a tiger for his prey.
And when game time rolls around, everything explodes.
Saturday night, Irish fans across America will buckle themselves in for a wild 12-game roller coaster ride. They'll analyze, criticize, hypothesize and say they can do a better job than Tyrone Willingham. They'll rip every aspect of the Irish team that stinks, call for the head of the position coach and bemoan everything about college football in South Bend.
But Saturday afternoon, those same armchair quarterbacks believe anything is possible. The family of four making its first trip to campus believes.
The 80-year-old Irish immigrant believes. The subway alum believes. The helmet-painting manager believes. The stadium-sweeping janitor believes. The Internet junkie believes. The campus believes.
Why believe?
Why not?
The opinions expressed in this column are those of the writer and not necessarily those of The Observer. Contact Andrew Soukup at asoukup@nd.edu
All Sports Stories for Friday, August 30, 2002
