I am not a big Notre Dame fan. I think it’s because growing up in Plymouth, I was forcefed a steady diet of Notre Dame hype my whole life. We all know what the NDU in WNDU stands for. So yeah, there was a severe bias toward Notre Dame on the television streaming into my home during my formative years. After I got a little older, I started understanding things a little better. And it started to bug me when Notre Dame fans became annoyed if their team wasn’t a national champion every year. Just like this past weekend when Notre Dame lost to Florida State. There was a “controversial” play at the end of the game. The ref threw a flag and Notre Dame quickly went from victory to defeat. I’m not sure why it was so controversial. Plenty of people who know way more about football than me said it was an illegal pick play. Rare, but illegal. But then again, I suppose, those fans should expect Notre Dame to win all the time. I mean, how can they not? They have a benchful of All Americans every year and they have a massive recruiting advantage. They’re on national network television every single week of the season. There’s a reason for that. People love to watch Notre Dame, no matter where they live. Notre Dame is the one team that truly has a nationwide fan base, hence, the massive national TV contract. So through all the hype over the years I came to find myself rooting for whoever was playing Notre Dame – and I’m a Roman Catholic. Having said all that, I must confess that while I am not a Notre Dame fan, I am a fan of Notre Dame. Confused? By that I simply mean I like the way Notre Dame takes care of its football business – because, let’s be honest, NCAA football is way more of a business than it is a sport. See, Notre Dame had five players this year – four likely starters – removed from its team in the midst of an investigation into academic fraud. These were guys that could have made a big difference on that team. But Notre Dame, to its great credit, did the right thing. They immediately removed the kids from the team. They could have stalled things to get at least part-way through the season. They could have covered it up. They could have made excuses. They could have obfuscated and rationalized. They could have done a lot of things to keep those guys on the team, but they didn’t. The NCAA didn’t force the issue. It was Notre Dame’s decision. Now let’s compare and contrast that with what happens around other football programs in the NCAA. Let’s talk about Jameis Winston, the quarterback of that very same Florida State that pushed Notre Dame around a little bit last weekend. (By the way, this guy was last year’s Heisman Trophy winner. You know, the college equivalent of a national MVP.) Seems around 2,000 items allegedly signed by him showed up on a sports memorabilia website – a clear violation of NCAA rules. Winston’s coach, affectionately known as “Jimbo” Fisher, characterizes his quarterback as a good kid who is just struggling to grow up and find himself in the glare of a big-time NCAA football spotlight. Besides, the kid didn’t take any money for the stuff. Uh-huh. Bottom line? Winston is still playing. He played last week. Florida State, despite some fairly incontrovertible evidence, is happy to allow their Heisman-quality quarterback keep throwing touchdowns as the issue is sorted out by the NCAA. And why wouldn’t they? After all, this is the same guy who is facing a university discipline hearing over allegations he raped a female student in December 2012. Yeah, almost two years ago. To be fair, Winston claims the sex was consensual and the local prosecutor ruled more than a year after the incident that there wasn’t enough evidence to file criminal charges. Whew! Dodged a bullet there. To be even more fair, a New York Times story reported the cops and university officials repeatedly failed to follow proper procedures during the initial investigation. The Times also reported Tallahassee and university cops investigating the incident were unduly influenced by officials from the FSU athletic department. “C’mon, man. We’re playing for a national championship here. We don’t have time for these distractions.” Yeah, of course Winston is still playing football. Seriously, if rape allegations and a botched investigation won’t keep you off the team, what’s hawking a couple of thousand autographs gonna do? A debate on the glaring hypocrisy of NCAA rules in this whole mess might be in order. The NCAA and the universities it serves make a bazillion dollars exploiting student athletes while simultaneously denying the kids any opportunity to exploit themselves. But that’s another colum. In the meantime, you know what? I might just have to re-evaluate my lifelong scornfulness toward for Notre Dame.
