Notre Dame Football: A Note To Fans...Embrace the Green Jerseys

“The green is cursed!”

“They are bad luck!”

“They should only be worn when the Irish are dominant.”

“The green should only be worn for big games.”

“They cease to be special if they are worn all the time.”

“The green uniforms are just a gimmick.”

If I could live the rest of my life without hearing those phrases I would be ecstatic, because I am so sick and tired of hearing Notre Dame fans complain about the green jerseys.

I get where these people are coming from, I really do, but Notre Dame’s green jerseys are too amazing conceptually to just turn our back on.

Plus, the green jerseys aren’t cursed or bad luck, this line of thinking is just silly.

They weren’t a curse in 2007 when the Irish wore 30^th anniversary “throwbacks,” it was just USC was really awesome as a team and Notre Dame was…well pretty much the exact opposite.

Were they a curse the year before in 2006 when the Irish pummeled Army 41-9 during that Senior Day game? Perhaps we should believe Notre Dame would have shut out Army and scored 60 points if they wore blue instead?

The funny thing is Notre Dame lost their first game ever wearing the green in 1921 to Iowa and I’m sure there were plenty of fans calling the jerseys cursed back then and clamoring that the Irish never wear them in the future.

I won’t deny that breaking out the green jerseys by surprise in a big game is something awesome to behold, but at this point I don’t think they have to be bound by those rules.

Notre Dame originally wore the green to simply distinguish themselves from other dark uniformed teams, then Rockne used them as a psychological ploy, and the program ended up wearing them from time to time throughout the 1930’s.

The Irish have switched to green at halftime in the past, worn them for bowl games, or worn them for years at a time during the 1940’s, 1950’s and late 1970’s.

Sure the 1927 Navy, 1977 USC and 2005 USC games are burnt in our memory as the “best” way to utilize the green uniforms, but the entirety of Notre Dame’s history has shown us the emerald color doesn’t need to be constrained by those kinds of matchups only.

That’s why I don’t have a problem with Notre Dame wearing green, pretty much ever.

Gerry Faust breaking the green out at halftime while already crushing USC in 1985? Yeah, that was pretty dumb.

Tyrone Willingham bringing the Irish out in green while 8-0 against a 4-3 Boston College team in 2002? That was probably not a great idea and pretty pointless, seeing as how the Irish lost in embarrassing fashion (no game has furthered the “the green is a curse” myth than this contest).

I wasn’t terribly excited that Charlie Weis wanted to honor the senior class and wear the green against Army in 2006 (particularly because they wore the same uniforms just a year before in heartbreaking fashion), but I wasn’t running around ripping my hair out about it either.

I’ll admit that if the Irish are going to wear the green uniforms in the future against Wake Forest or some other non-rival or during a “boring” game—then it’s really not worth it.

But, in the first football game ever in the new Yankee Stadium?

Yeah, I’m going to get behind that.

So if Notre Dame wants to wear green jerseys as a nod to the past, as throwbacks, during bowl games, against highly ranked opponents, or even for years at a time (yes, including white away versions with green numbers too…don’t act like that wouldn’t be awesome), then so be it.

The green uniforms are part of the past, they’re part of the present and they will most certainly be part of the future.

Embrace it.

From the FanTake blog: One Foot Down

Follow on Twitter: @OneFootDown