I just love it!

[Road Warrior]

Lighten up, Deters!

[aw stuffins]

I understand people hate ND, it's a free country. I hate UC, Duke, the Pittsburgh Steelers, but I don't feel the need to emote on a public forum dedicated to Xavier. Like I said in my first post, why do we get a few of these posts a year? Can someone explain this beyond an inferiority complex. Is it because ND has football an X doesn't?

PS--jim kromer is having my baby.............chris tranter should pay for his own seats........

[Shadow]

I think you just epitomized the point we were trying to get across when you referred to us as "inferior".
nuff said.

[aw stuffins]

Shadow--your response epitomizes your inabilty to pay attention to anything I've written. What is "your point"?, I'd love to know.

If you read my first point, I never said X is inferior, only that those who feel the need to post this crap--here--must feel inadequate. I've been to almost every X home game since I could walk, so you will not find a more loyal fan, I was just hoping to get a reasonable answer.

I guess if I say "nuff said" that means I get the last word--wait, you already did that. You, my friend are a master of the language, chicks must dig you....

[Mr. Neutral]

Obviously, there's some connection between ND and XU. They're close by, it's another quality Catholic school, and we're both vying for the spotlight. Gillen came from ND, and we're sometimes going after the same recruits.

And, yes, maybe X fans wish we had a high-major Div. I football team as well. But I, for one, am not really jealous of them. I chose X, and I'm eternally glad I did. I'm sure many/most ND alums feel the same way about their school. And X has its share of a-hole alums, too. But ND has a LOT more of 'em, and they live close to we Midwestern alums, so we deal with their crap more often. Guys in the southwest probably can't understand the love and hate that ND inspires in people.

So, if Charlie Weis is bringing ND football down a few notches, I'm fine with that.

[xu2010]

I just read this entire thread and I have something to add to this discussion. I am a Xavier student from South Bend whose parents both went to ND and have been an ND football fan since the time I went to my first game, in the womb. As much as there are a-hole alumni and people who think that even though we are 6-6 we still deserve a shot at a national championship, I know many reasonable Notre Dame fans just as I know a few unreasonable Xavier fans. Yes, the ND crowd is vast, and loud, but you know what, they are as passionate about their team as we all on this board are about Xavier. As much as my childhood dreams were shattered as I watched us lose to a 2-8 team with a lame duck coach, I will still root for ND because I was born and raised with it in my blood.
Also, I feel that many people who say that ND is stuck up like the Ivy league have never been to ND or have never been to the Ivy League. Go to a game one weekend up in South Bend. There are some great people just like there are some great XU fans.
Go Muskies!
Go Irish!

[lazarus]

[/quote]Not sure exactly how ND football qualifies as an "underdog".

My dislike of ND football is in direct proportion to how overbearing and arrogant many (not all, certainly) of its fans are.[/quote]

My point was that they are programs heading in different directions. Your response is typical of those types of individuals that see only what the want to see and read only what they want to read.
Mr. Neutral's (Ironic) hatred for ND is really a misguided hatred for the fans and supporters that he has encountered in his life. Maybe Neutral has unintentionally aligned a large number of fans against Xavier because of his overbearing and and arrogant personality. I think you may need to do some kind of work shop or anger management to get over this before you snap. I will pray for you.

[CarlosTheJackal]

I agree that there is a bit of the small school David vs. the monolithic ND Goliath in all of the negs many at X feel towards ND. It is not rational, its like Faith and God, its just there or it isn't.

For a long time, ND was the athletic flagship of being raised Catholic. I liked and followed ND as a Catholic boy, and aspired to go there, at least until I saw the old dorms and the price tag. I had plenty of classmates head off to school there, and I visited them on many occasions. During law school, I actually transferred into the ND London program for a year. Along the way, I started picking up this arrogant vibe, and it was in some cases particularly virulent. CF DoubleDomers. We really don't need a league, and we have our own TV contract, thank you. BCS, please carve out a special exception just for Notre Dame. It was a vibe like Duke gives out now, only much more widespread.

The vibe is about the same as you get from Kentucky basketball fans...and it hinges on the firmly rooted sentiment that Notre Dame is entitled to a National Championship from every coach who ever goes there. A fan base so jaded that serially firing coaches who fail to present a yearly hope of a national championship is part of the territory. No one who makes the Gerry Faustian bargain to coach there should agree to do so without a lifetime parachute, because no one is ever going to retire as coach from there gracefully again.

At this point, ND's chances of winning another championship has dried up at about the same rate as the demise of the Irish-American sports writer. ND won most of its AP and UPI mythical championships on it's image and well greased poll voters, not by playing a tough schedule. The BCS formula (not the voters, the actual strength of schedule numbers) , and the academic criteria for admission, mean the end of that era. Notre Dame can now swim in the same pool with everyone else, and its exclusive TV contracts will be gone soon.

The faithful of a certain age will continue to drink the koolaid, while the younger set will see it for what it is --- parity.

The interesting element to all this is that ND has substantially upgraded its other programs on both the women's and men's teams, and compete at the highest level, all because the deep well of football dollars make it possible. Cf Ohio State. That will come undone eventually, too.

The Golden Football Age of the Golden Dome is over. Those of us who chafed under it's prickly arrogance are not inclined to mourn.

[Shadow]

I sincerely hope that Harangody gets well quick. ND needs him on the court.