It’s been a relatively quiet lead up to the Sugar Bowl thus far. The only real news you see about Notre Dame football is that of recruiting. Well, things may pick up a little bit now. While reading the Blue Gray Sky this morning, a quote by an LSU defensive end was posted. The player was Chase Pittman, and he had this to say about the Irish:
“Yeah, [Notre Dame] are the darlings of the media world. Hopefully we can knock them off their media high horse that they are always on. We want to show everybody that they don’t really deserve to be where they are.”
That’s real cute Chase, but the “media darling” stamp that has been embedded into the forehead of the Notre Dame football program is getting pretty outdated. On numerous occasions this season the Irish have actually dropped in the polls after a win. This would not be so bad if the teams that jumped them actually played, but on several occasions a team that was idle the previous week had leap-frogged a victorious Notre Dame team. Also, as far as the Sugar Bowl goes, I think what you are saying is quite the opposite. Wouldn’t a team that the media adores so much like Notre Dame be picked once in a while when talking about this bowl game? If you have seen it let me know, because I certainly have not found one of the Irish loving members of the media come out and pick Notre Dame in this game. The odds makers in Vegas also have the Irish as 9-point underdogs. Does that mean they love Notre Dame too?
Finally, I would love to compare this to 1992, and would love to use this as the rallying cry during the ball game, but in all honestly, I don’t think anybody cares enough about Chris Pittman (or is it Chase?) to really take anything he says seriously. The biggest headline he has gotten in Louisiana was when he decided to fight some guy in 2005, and got arrested for it. But when you have 0 sacks and 19 tackles on the year, I guess that is the only thing people can talk about.
How DID that Sugar Bowl game turn out by the way? Looked like to me that Notre Dame did not belong there. You can not blame them though. They should have never been anywhere close to playing in a BCS bowl. Sounds like Chase’s comments were very much prophetic. Anyone who denies that Notre Dame is a media darling is dillusional or at the least intellectually DIShonest. I don’t understand why Irish fans are so annoyed with this label. Deal with it and move on. Its really easy to throw out cheap shot comments about arrests, and fights, and not provide any other information about the whole situation. (Intellectually dishonest people often use this ploy when facts and logic can’t support their emotions) Any man who would not react like he did might have manhood issues. Anyway, all the macho sports debate aside, a movie is coming out this year based on the book Chase’s father wrote about his relationship with Chase and his brother Cole (you may remember Cole was the University of Texas D lineman who was killed in a car wreck his Sophmore year.) The book is called “Raising Cole” If you have sons and love football I would definitely recommend it!
Fred you should’ve requested Dish Network & XM Radio for Christmas b/c it’s OBVIOUS that you don’t pay attn. to sports media. ESPN is the last network to get behind ND. On the rare occasion they do, it’s b/c they’re televising an ND game on their network or ABC and overhype the game for the sake of viewership.
Fred, have you ever listened to the following gentleman discuss ND football?: Lee Corso (ESPN), Mark May (ESPN), Pat Forde (ESPN), Tim Brando (CBS & The Sporting News Radio), John Saunders (ABC), Craig James (ABC), Doug Flutie (ABC), Brent Musberger (ABC), Matt Hayes (the Sporting News), Gene Wojiehowski(?) (ESPN), Jason Whitlock (ESPN & AP voter), Rod Gilmore (ESPN), Trev Alberts (CSTV) and most recently, Gerry DiNardo (ESPN Radio GameDay host). These guys go out of their way to display their hatred for the Irish.
Furthermore, the combination of athletics, ethics & scholastics is the main reason, these folks hate ND. They equate ND’s success in those arenas as “elitist” or “holier than thou”. I’ve NEVER heard a commentator wax poetic about ND’s academics &/or ethics. SIDE NOTE: I guarantee you that had Jeff Samardzija been rooming w/ Zibby in a house rent free, ND would have been crucified & Samardzija deemed ineligible. Lucky for Dwayne Jarrett he doesn’t play for ND.
Finally, Fred, have you ever been to South Bend? You must think it’s a suburb of Chicago (it’s not by the way) b/c it sure as hell isn’t a Top 100, much less a Top 50, metropolitan area. Louisiana, at last check, produces the most NFL players, per capita, than any state in the union. If a state has recently passed them on this list, I stand corrected, but they can’t be lower than the top 3 (per capita). If Nick Saban were still coach, he would be letting fewer 4-5 star athletes leave LA & would be undefeated & playing OSU in the BCS championship game. Most Tiger faithful will agree w/ that statement & would take Saban back tomorrow if given the chance.
Fred talk is cheap. The bottom line as of right now is the game hasn’t been played. Do the talking on the field. As far as ND being the media darlings chris pittman should get out more. I also haven’t seen too many articles by the writers that have promoted ND lately. In most cases the articles have been nothing but negative comments by the media. Take your shots while you can because someday and I beleive sooner than later ND will be in the hunt for the title again. While we all know that the odds are against ND in this game just remember that ND earned it’s reputation by doing the impossible with less. This could happen and if it does I’m sure that the media will find something negative to say about ND regardless of the results. Good teams can have bad days and LSU is no different. If that happens well then it happens. I don’t think his statement is true. It’s not like the sec is out standing and the strength of schedule isn’t much better.
Bramah Bulls? Pittman practices tackling the Rock? Man, that guy must be tough… did you see the Rock in Standing Tall? That guy is one tough dude.
tyler….its obvious that you are either not very intelligent or not a layer thinker…..the commentators on espn and the writers in the media, do all they can to promote ND because it is worthy, not in athletics necessarily, but in the combination of athletics,ethics and scholastics, combined with its location in a major population center.i think your response is an over reaction to an innocent but true statement.why make this guy mad and make him play harder to prove you wrong?…….he wrestles alligators and practices his tackling on wild bramah bulls and with 50 lb watermelons instead of footballs during the summer…..and he is so mean that his mama doesn’t like him …..and he smells bad……but he can PLAY or he wouldnt be starting….MERRY CHRISTMAS