Why Hating Notre Dame Is YOUR Fault, Not Ours

(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

So, you hate Notre Dame, or you're a fan who has to listen to people who hate Notre Dame...  I'm going to explain once and for all why you shouldn't hate the school, or the program; and if you do, it's YOUR fault.

You claim that Notre Dame should be in a conference, that it doesn't belong in particular bowls, or that it gets too much media attention.  Your hatred, however, is based in your own misunderstanding of college football.  You think college football is based in merit.  And, if you want to talk about merit, no school boasts such a remarkable combination of superlatives as Notre Dame's eleven National Championships, seven Heismans, 96 All-Americans, 90 percent graduation rate, .736 winning percentage, and 10 NFL Hall of Famers, among many other accolades.  But, again, college football isn't about merit.

College football, to put it simply, only represents one thing - Money.  The only bowl game that matters at the end of the season is the National Championship, and it's debatable that the National Championship matters.  USC was awarded a national championship when it never participated in the Championship game, and there is no credible system to determine who should even participate in the game. 

No, the bowls are built solely for the monetary gain of those in power.  Bowl games are merely exhibitions designed to line the pockets of BCS conferences, bowl advertisers, and television stations.  Forget the small schools. 

If you work with the premise that college football is soley about money, you can see why Notre Dame gets into the most lucrative bowls, why it stays on the tips of every commentator's tongue, and why Notre Dame gets special clauses and consideration in all NCAA contracts.

As evidenced by the data, and by their bowl invitations, Notre Dame has the most lucrative fan base in the country.  Love or hate Notre Dame, people tune in to watch the Irish across the country. In a system that rewards money, not merit, Notre Dame is simply rewarded for its ability to make money. 

Yeah, but they should still join a conference, right?  Conferences are money driven, as well.  Where Notre Dame alone bears the risk of its successes and failures on the field, teams in conferences don't.  Conferences were created for the risk averse teams who wanted to share in the profits of its members during good years and bad.

When Florida has a great year and Vandy has a bad year, Vandy still gets money because Florida has to share its wealth with the other members of the conference.  Notre Dame doesn't have that luxury. It has forged its own path, not relying on support from anyone but itself.  Can you really begrudge a school that embraces that kind of capitalism?  Our country was founded on these risks!  Notre Dame's fortunes are risk and reward without relying on anyone else for help. 

With all of this talk about money, Notre Dame has managed to maintain academic standards and discipline for its players, rivaled only by the Ivy Leagues, Duke, and Stanford.  If you hate Notre Dame because of its players' success in the classroom, you need to take a good look in the mirror.

No, your hatred should lie with the NCAA.  You've allowed it to pull the wool over your eyes, making you think that college football is credible, that teams have earned their bowl berths.  The NCAA doesn't have a credible system to determine who is truly good and who is truly bad, though.  It doesn't have a system that is fair for all participants. Notre Dame has found a niche in the hole of NCAA unfairness. 

A fair system would be a 16 team playoff that granted an automatic berth for all 11 conferences, plus five at-large bids.  This would give every team equal access with no room to complain.  All teams would have an equal chance to recruit, receive money, and gain exposure, spreading both wealth and opportunities throughout Division 1 football.  The playoffs would occur for four weeks during December and January when academics aren't an issue, and the bowl exhibitions could still exist for all teams not in the playoffs.  As it stands, the rich keep getting richer in a system that only cares about money.

Don't begrudge Notre Dame its financial victories in a system that only cares about money.  Begrudge the NCAA for allowing a system to exist that doesn't encourage fairness or reward merit.  Meanwhile, I, like the rest of our fans, will continue to laugh all the way to the bank as Notre Dame continues to build new academic facilities with its bowl money - win or lose.  Why?  Because the bowls don't matter - only money matters.

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