Davie answers MSU pre-game criticism
By MIKE CONNOLLY
Sports Writer
Bob Davie addressed the recent criticism of Notre Dame's decision to remain in the locker room during the pre-game ceremonies at Saturday's game in his weekly press conference Tuesday.
"I think it's unbelievably ridiculous that this thing has taken on a life of its own," Davie said, clearly angered by the criticism leveled by South Bend Tribune columnist David Haugh, Chicago Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti and others.
Notre Dame was criticized for remaining in the locker room during the National Anthem and pre-game ceremony honoring America. Michigan State was on the field holding hands for the entire ceremony. Notre Dame took the field at its usual time just before kickoff.
"I am really disappointed that somehow this could be spun into a negative for one team or another team based on the way our University and our team handled this situation. I think it's totally ridiculous that this is even an issue."
In his most passionate remarks of the conference, Davie explained for several minutes that Notre Dame, Michigan State and NBC agreed that the teams would not be present for the ceremony before the game started. When the team entered the locker room following warm ups, Davie assumed that the original plan was still in effect and did not bring his team out of the locker room early.
Davie cited tight space in the tunnel as the main reason for following the original agreement.
"We had a group of [former] players to run through to get out. We had both bands. We had NBC. The logistics of it, there was no decision to make," he said. "We were staying in the locker room and make it as simple as we could make it."
Davie was especially angered because he felt his team and Notre Dame has been shining examples in their actions in the days after the tragedy. Davie said he canceled practice at 11 a.m. on Sept. 11 regardless of whether or not the team was playing on Sept. 15 against Purdue.
"I bet you can count on one hand the number of teams that canceled practice that day," he said. Purdue practiced on Sept. 11.
He also spoke about his players attending the Mass on South Quad that afternoon and Notre Dame's leadership role in canceling all college games that weekend.
He further pointed out that Father Mark Poorman had delivered a prayer at both the pep rally on Sept. 21 and the afternoon luncheon to put the game into perspective. Davie said he also did not attend the Dillon Hall pep rally on Sept. 19 because he didn't feel a rah-rah pep rally put the game into the proper perspective.
Davie said his team's actions outside the spotlight more than made up for his team remaining in the locker room when the spotlight was on.
"We handled this situation with nobody looking since the moment it happened," he said. "Now maybe if they would not have handled it or not seen it or we had not provided information to [the players] or [we weren't] on a campus like Notre Dame where they live it every day, maybe [having them on the field for a public showing] would have been tremendously important to me."
All Sports Stories for Wednesday, September 26, 2001
