College Football: Defending Clausen vs. Arrogant Irish Fan

As I checked out the comments section of the South Bend Tribune Sport's section today, something jumped out at me: the arrogant and delusional Notre Dame fan. 

Don't get me wrong. Delusional fans are good for football. They keep butts in seats and ensure a great alumni base. See Florida for proof.

But when your delusional fans are so arrogant that they refuse to see the light, it causes the haters to come out. The reason why there are so many Irish haters is due to yourself. You, the arrogant Irish fan.

Bear with me here, I am actually going to defend your quarterback. I'm just not defending you. And not all Irish fans are arrogant, so don't go there.

Arrogant Notre Dame fan, it's not your fault your school once had a pristine image. Those were the good, old days. But face it, that was then, this is now. And it's time to jump back into reality before you polarize the small section of fans left who still don't have an opinion on Notre Dame football, one way or another.

The problem is simple. When you are winning, it's proof that Notre Dame football is the best. When you are losing, it's time to spin things. Like citing graduation rates, entrance requirements and the tough academics. Transparency kills credibility.

Duke, Stanford and Cal have tough academics as well. But yet, you don't hear them hiding behind excuses for why their teams don't fare well. Instead of living in the past, they slowly reinvented themselves. Granted, Duke fans are pretty obnoxious in basketball season, but they also win a lot. It's allowed. Trust me.

Thirty years ago Notre Dame had no problem winning plenty of games and staying in the National Championship picture with tougher entrance requirements than today's requirements. So spare me the ad nauseum.

What is wrong is with the arrogant fans taking a situation and spinning it into something it may not be because they simply can't believe that any of their students would do something dumb. Like throwing snowballs at the players/coaches on the sidelines, then claim later you were trying to hit the police (does that really make it less serious?)

So here we are in 2009, and your quarterback was involved in an altercation at a bar. Wow. The story, according to the South Bend Tribune , seems pretty cut and dry. But the comments after the story take a life of their own.

Where in the article about Jimmy Clausen getting punched did it say the "fan" who punched him was drunk and belligerent? It didn't, but of course many of the Irish faithful are saying he was, as seen below:

"...if your date was pushed by a belligerent drunk, you would have said/done nothing?"

The implication is obvious: because a man pushed Clausen's date, he must have been a belligerent drunk. Never had it crossed any arrogant Irish fan's mind that hey, he's a college kid in a bar at 2AM? And "it" happens at 2AM? I'm not excusing it, I'm saying it happens.

Yes, "it" happens in South Bend and "it" happens to Notre Dame students so quit spinning this into him being a martyr. Or a victim. He's just a college kid who got in a bar fight. Big whup.

According to the South Bend Tribune, Clausen shoved the "fan" in the throat first. When you shove someone in the throat, chances are an ensuing punch should not be ruled out. The story clearly states what happened, but, according to arrogant Irish fan, he was sucker-punched, because of course, he can't possibly be in a fight on his own volition. After all, that isn't very Notre-Dame-like, now is it?

It is however, very collegiate-like.

There are those who are also claiming that Jimmy was defending his friend's honor. Apparently, she was shoved. Was it accidental, or was it intentional, like the way Jimmy shoved this Boston College player after the game? You be the judge on whether or not Jimmy displays emotional maturity. Somehow, I could never picture Brady Quinn doing this.

It's not like Clausen has never been around alcohol before either. He has, as seen here in his sophomore year participating in Beer Olympics.     

Imagine that. A college student having some fun. But Clausen got reamed by many alumni for that picture because it doesn't portray a good image of the school.

Funny, it may not be a good image of Notre Dame, but it's a fairly accurate image of college life and that's exactly my point here.

Notre Dame is no different than any other school. Deal with it. It may have been an oasis thirty years ago, but no longer. When you have players getting in bar fights or arrested for soliciting prostitutes, you are no different. 

Jimmy Clausen is probably a hothead and a bit arrogant himself, but he's also a pretty normal college student.

The fact that he's a BIG fish living in a small fish bowl has probably driven him to the point of wanting to bolt to the NFL just to get away from all the Stepford-like fans in South Bend who think he has to be perfect. The fact that he is somehow held to a "higher standard" by some pompous boosters and alumni who can't wait for Notre Dame to return to its "rightful place in football" is what is so disturbing here.

They simply can't admit that they really don't know what happened, but the reality is that there was a bar fight, a punch was thrown and now it's over. But arrogant Irish fan instead inserts his own explanation of what happened because it's just simply not acceptable that an Irish student would do something like this.

The irony of Notre Dame being nicknamed the Fighting Irish due to the perceived nature of Irishmen in pubs is obviously lost on them. Clausen, in my opinion, has upheld the tradition of the Fighting Irish and then some.

Jimmy Clausen ought to get up and tell everyone to STFU and mind their own business. They don't own him. He's not perfect, so quit expecting perfection. He also ought to tell arrogant Irish fans to stifle it because their expectations are impossible to meet and great potential coaches/players are probably scared to death to come play there now.

Arrogant Notre Dame fan, your school is now no different than Florida State when you had your own cheating scandal a decade ago. It got swept under the rug from many Irish fans who to this day, still don't know that Notre Dame lost two scholarships because a football player (Darcey Levy) paid to to have his work done. (To those fans who didn't know about this, you're welcome, this has been a public service announcement).

Yes, your school got busted and sanctioned by the NCAA. Just like a service academy did. And all the great football powers. Congrats, you're in good company.

To be in denial is fine. But there comes a point when denial becomes associated with arrogance, and that is the problem Notre Dame faces.

Arrogance can be justified when you are winning. Arrogance when you have a shell of a football program becomes a dartboard for polarizing yourself, your alumni and potential recruits.

No school is immune from bad press. None. You may think you are above it all, but you are not.

You are a private school with an excellent reputation. Just like Duke. Just like Stanford. Just like USC. Just like Northwestern.

Only your football team isn't as good as theirs. Yet. Let's see if that changes next year.

I got your back, Jimmy. And I got your back, faithful Notre Dame fan.

Arrogant Irish fan, go hang with arrogant Miami fans. You're in good company.