Dad...I have no problems with ND. I'm still a big fan though not as big as I once was.
Little tougher to get in than some state schools but they have all types of "support" programs on the campus for the marginal athlete/recruit.
If you can speak a grammatically correct English sentence and you're a football player, they'll try to get you into the school.
Don't know why so many people criticized Paul Hornung...he of the old football helmet school...when he "told it like it is"...some time ago.
Just keep on scheduling hamburger schools and you'll be invited to a bowl game...More made-for-tv-bowl-games now than every before. 6-5 and your in a bowl game nowadays.
I remember when the Big Four were: Rose; Cotton; Orange and Sugar. If you didn't play in those games you s......d Now, they think it is some kind of "big deal" to be in a bowl game. I don't think so.
Everything is "watered down" because of the television dollar and need for programming. Virtually any kind of programming.
Was channel surfing earlier today. Why do you think they don't "pan" the "crowd" at Big 10/11 women's basketball games? Why? BEcause they have 500 people in the stands. If they can't convince people to go see their own teams on campus, how can they expect to have a television audience? Amazes me. Where are the marketing reps in the hsbaseballweb.com crowd? How does this happen?
Happy to see that there is now a college sports network unfolding. Pretty soon you're going to see competitive college badminton and skulling on tv. Wow! Can't wait.
Money feeds everything. As an earlier poster mentioned....When ND decided that they would sell their football telecasts to NBC, they created their own problems. Now, no one cares about ND and what they do in football. Same sentiment from about 20 former ND fans that I know in the Chicagoland area that had nothing to do with ND but cheered for them. As fans, they are gone and ND will never get them back.
Rechecked their schedule for next year. 8-3 easy. How many of the men that made the decision to get rid of Willingham ever coached a major college game? Anyone know? If I was a black kid, I wouldn't go to ND because of what they did to Ty. They should have let him fill out his contractual term. 6 cupcakes and 2 hamburgers next fall. 3 likely losses. Stands will be filled to capacity. That is why they don't really care. Television revenue direct deposit...win or lose.