Catholics vs. Convicts: Irish Fans, Let's Give It a Rest...for Now

It’s been redesigned. It’s fancier and much more colorful than the original.  It can be yours today by ordering on-line for only $17.00 plus shipping and handling.  It’s the “Catholics vs. Convicts” t-shirt, 21st Century Edition!

Designed in anticipation of the renewal of the Notre Dame vs. Miami rivalry—originally scheduled to resume at Chicago’s Soldier Field in 2012—don’t be surprised if you see a few popping up sooner than 2012.  In fact, you may have seen some already. 

Current Notre Dame students and other young Irish fans know of this rivalry only through stories passed down, YouTube clips and ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentary.  That will not, however, deter many of them from slipping on a newly printed 2010 version of this shirt as the Sun Bowl quickly approaches.

Some might argue that it’s all in good fun, but I am not sure it’s fair or even “fun” at all—at least not at this point in time.  For something to be “fun” or “funny,” it must have as its basis a certain element of truth. 

I’m hardly an apologist for the University of Miami or its dubious history in regard to its football program. I was at the original “Catholics vs. Convicts” game in 1988 and remember well the despicable manner in which the Miami players behaved during warm-ups. 

It was their usual shtick taken to a new, more brazen level for that momentous occasion in the world of 1980s college football.  But then, that was over 20 years ago.

Before the “convict” label is applied to the current Hurricanes, they deserve a chance to prove they are not “The U” of old in terms of team personality and player behavior.  To paint today’s ‘Cane players—who, like Notre Dame’s current players and students, were not yet born when this rivalry was at its peak—with the same brush we used to paint the ‘Canes of the 1980s may not be fair. 

Doing so based solely on events of the distant past would be unbecoming of the Notre Dame students, alumni and the remainder of the Notre Dame fan-base.  Prejudging these Miami players based on the behavior of their “ancestors” is the antithesis of what Notre Dame as an institution is supposed to stand for.  Besides that, why give Miami any “bulletin board material?”

A disturbing aspect of Randy Shannon being fired as the head coach of the Hurricanes was that he had apparently made great strides in restoring academic integrity and general decency to a program long accused of being little more than a clearinghouse for players headed to the NFL. 

Based on the academic (not to mention police) records of many former Miami football players, it was widely believed, if not actually proven, that many of the star Miami players of previous generations had no intention of attending, let alone passing meaningful academic classes. 

Shannon had apparently turned that around, earning Miami recognition for having one of the highest graduation rates in the nation for football players.  Whether the Miami players were taking a class load similar in difficulty to what a typical Notre Dame player might take is neither here nor there. The point is, under Shannon, whatever they were doing academically, they were heading in the right direction and performing much better in this area than they had been under previous coaching staffs at Miami. 

Rather than earning reputations with the local police department, as did their predecessors, thus getting the label “convicts,” the current ‘Canes are reportedly racking up hours working within the community on service projects.

At the same time, they were beginning to show improvement on the field, having been nationally ranked at one point this season.  To most observers, except apparently to Miami’s administration and its most hard-core alumni and supporters, the Miami football program was on the right track. 

After all, isn’t the goal of a legitimate NCAA sports program supposed to be the seeking—and ultimate achievement of—a healthy balance between athletic and academic excellence among its athletes?

What I am saying to Irish fans attending the Sun Bowl, some perhaps too eager to stir the pot and renew an old rivalry and open old wounds, is this:  Cheer for the Irish, loudly and joyously.  Boo and otherwise try to distract the ‘Canes, loudly and incessantly. 

But in the name of Our Lady on The Dome, don’t wear those shirts until the current crop of Miami players prove they deserve the message that’s written on them the way that the Miami players of the 80s deserved it. 

To do so will only make you and the University that you love look small and classless in the eyes of the nation—hardly better than the thugs who played for and coached “The U” a generation ago. 

Having said all that, I will now exit from the high road and state unequivocally that if today’s Miami players and their new coaching staff end up earning and living up to the shameful reputation their predecessors cultivated and reveled in, then make my t-shirt a large and ship it to me Express Mail.