Notre Dame’s New Shamrock Series Uniforms, Like The Game Itself, Miss The Mark

In a way, the uniforms are perfect.

They are a uniform scheme, patterned after a major league baseball team, that nobody wanted, to play in a venue nobody wanted to play in. Notre Dame, for one night, is paying homage to the New York Yankees. They’ve adopted their color scheme, their famous pinstripes, and their signature font for the front of the jersey.

Sometimes, I don’t understand what Notre Dame is trying to do.

Perhaps the biggest problem with the whole thing is the context in which it is taking place, because at least for me, it’s very important. This Shamrock Series game, these uniforms, it doesn’t have to be anything we are talking about at all.

This game was originally scheduled as a home contest, the final home game of the 2018 season. There wasn’t going to be any special uniform. Notre Dame announced on December 17th, 2017 they were moving the game to Yankee Stadium, a move that brought almost consensus criticism, and drew a muted response from head coach Brian Kelly who said, “I play wherever they tell me to play.”

It was noted, almost immediately, that for a team already traveling throughout the country, this seemed to be an unnecessary November trip, especially for a program that has broken down in the regular seasons final month.

And now the uniform, which was billed as a blend of “two iconic brands”, seems to mostly feature the New York baseball team, as noted by One Foot Down Writer, andrewwinn on Twitter:

Why Do Any Of This?

The Notre Dame football team hasn’t won a national championship in 30 years. They haven’t seriously contended for one since 2012, and the time before that was 1993. Two serious runs in the last two and a half decades. Why are we giving up home games to play dress up in baseball stadiums? The Shamrock Series is defensible in a vacuum, it always has been. It’s fun to change things up now and then, no big deal.

But Notre Dame has a program that for lack of a better way to put it is pretty stale. And it isn’t stale because the uniforms are boring. It’s stale because they are stuck at 10 wins or less. It’s stale because they have a coach who many are sick of, whether Notre Dame agrees or not. Heck, they just played Georgia at home for the first time ever, and Notre Dame fans sold all the dang seats.

The athletic department needs to focus on winning national titles. No one cares about Yankee Stadium right now. No one cares about the Shamrock Series, or how recruits think the jersey’s are cool. The only question that matters is “how does this help the football program win a national championship?” This entire thing, from the venue, to the jerseys, to the conversation, doesn’t serve that purpose in any way. None percent.

The decision to move the game was poor. The decision to turn the football team into the Yankees was silly. That we are having to talk about either of them is an error on the part of the athletic department, who simply shouldn’t be a hinderance to their athletic programs.

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36 Comments

  1. Someone always brings up Alabama….. they’ve played 9 times.
    Notre Dame 7 wins Alabama 2 wins. The BCS game was
    A bust yet they finished with same 11- 1 record. Alabama plays
    4-5 basically high school non conference cupcake games.
    Look up the scores from all 9 games. The Irish blasted Alabama
    Worse than the BCS game to win National Championships
    and Bowl games. NOTRE DAME’S Shamrock Series Uniform
    Is to show respect for playing at Yankee Stadium. Alabama
    ruins athletes shots at the NFL. 5 star recruits sitting the
    Bench 4-5 years. Love my Irish and tradition is always at South Bend. If
    A player breaks team rules they don’t suit up. Most schools
    Play players that are waiting on court cases for DUI,sexual
    Assault. 7 Irish starters didn’t play in BCS game, top defensive
    Players for curfew in Miami. Take the 5 cupcake games away
    Make Bama play Stanford,USC, Michigsn, Pitt, Clemson. They’d have
    3 losses and injuries. Go Irish

  2. Real talk… your offense is asking a quarterback to be both a dynamic runner AND an accurate passer. That is a rare trait that very few have EVER had. I would suggest going back to an option type scheme. It would help maintain your indepedance, since few are running it and it would get you that dynamic athlete at QB that could garner some national attention. Think Khalil Tate and how he would be a heisman favorite in a gold dome. And, hey… I still shop at Sears, so why not see how the old domers are doing?

    1. Wonderful, Anita. So are you saying that Notre Dame vs. Michigan is a “big game”? Or did you just avoid that question?

      BGC ’77 ’82

      1. I guess the target for ND has been moved again! From “win big games” to get back into “an option attack”. Somebody must have that nagging feeling in the back of his/her mind that ND just might beat Michigan.

        BGC ’77 ’82

  3. Anita – we should “win some big games”??? But you people always set up moving targets for us, don’t you? If we beat Michigan, the response in the media will be this: Michigan isn’t that good this year…y’all won’t count it as a “big game”…just like MSU, USC, and LSU last year…or any of the other “big games” we’ve won under Kelly, including politely handing Bob Stoops his head back in his own stadium the last time we made the Championship game. Anita: please list what you would call the “big games” of 2018 now, here on this site, BEFORE we beat them! Then we will have a target that can’t be moved. Anita – will you say publicly, right here, right now, that Michigan is a “big game?” Because we are going to win it, along with 10 or 11 more.

    BGC ’77 ’82

  4. The uniforms look terrible. Looks like the Irish have become a farm team in the Yankee’s minor league system. Would rather the Irish play at home and use the gold helmets.

  5. Let’s remember this – we are coming on season # 30 since we’ve won it, and I’d say we’ll be lucky to win 10 games overall this season. I say 9-3 at best.

  6. All of this is true but the WORST part of it is that there will be no “Golden Domers” on the field for the first time in how many years? Notre Dame + Gold helmets. I sure hope the Yankees are paying mega millions for this publicity for the athletic department to sell out liek this!
    Bo Scott ’73, ’75, ’80

      1. Really davey!! They didn’t come to see 2 top 9 1st round picks in the 2018 draft? For the 4th straight year a NFL team didn’t come to pry HARRY HIESTAND away? Thanks for another misinformed post!!

  7. The article is less about the unis and attracting more recruits than addressing why the decision to take away a late season home game.
    Instead of helping address the frequent November decline, Swarbick schedules four road games the last five games of the season.
    Again, I ask, which elite team vying for the national championship schedules that way?
    Too easy- not one . . .

    Greg asks, “Why Do Any Of This?”

    ND Admin. would have to answer, if honest : (We) “Follow the money!”

  8. Uhh…Anita. ND has won several big games. Just beat LSU in bowl last year and for the 2nd time under Kelly. And yes…
    Not the ONE that matters but…most of college football hasn’t that’s why there’s one champion.
    And no players are really concerned about the religious affiliation of ND or TCU or SMU or whatever. Several first rd picks in the past few drafts…couple Top 10 finishes
    a few top 20 finishes…yea ND is doing ok.
    Also…uh…The brand isn’t played out…or you wouldn’t be here commenting. Right?

  9. I`m sorry, but your brand is played out like Sears and Warbucks. Being a catholic is not awesome, devistating, sexy or precious. Nothing personal, but your priests have made being a catholic something to be ashamned of not flock to… the kids want that new and now. You’re trending for all of the wrong reasons. Do like your man said and win some big games… until then your Indiana College to me.

    1. Sears and Roebuck, honey.
      And nothing personal, but let the men folk talk about football. You and Bruce can mangle up a debate on Jesus and pedophilia somewhere else.

    2. HAVE to agree with david ( first time ever ) !! This is not the forum for u to vent your stupid opinions hunny c. I am catholic and I could care less about what you think of us!! Besides being an IDIOT you are not even close to knowing what you talking about!! Go check out how much $$$ this school makes on its played out brand!! Go back to watching your phony tv evangelist and your 64 ounce colt 45 beer!! Until then your a MORON to us!!

      1. Your posts are not even consistent with the basic tenets of Christianity, let alone Catholicism.

      2. Your posts are filled with venom , vulgarities and of course STUPIDITY!! And your gonna tell me about CHRISTIANITY! dopey davey you and anita make a nice couple…..OF IDIOTS!!

  10. Hey Greg…you need a hobby.
    Your very uptight lad.
    It’s a football game…a college football game…who’s outcome has no bearing on life whatsoever.
    Slow month for substantive content to contribute huh?

    Lighten up snug britches!

  11. Greg , seriously , another article about uniforms? Can we get back to talking football , the players of 2018 and the up coming game against Michigan. Go Irish.

  12. I sort of laugh at Notre Dame fans who are all up-in-arms all the time. What made Notre Dame great was they were the trailblazers, America’s first national brand. They did it better than anyone else. Their exposure from coast-to-coast made them what they are. Now, we have to keep up with the likes of Oregon because that’s what kids want. I certainly miss the old version of Notre Dame Stadium, but if we want to compete we’ll have to keep innovating, otherwise we’ll become history too. I’m a huge Met fan, but I think these jersey’s are rad. Also, the game pays homage to all those years ND played Army at old Yankee Stadium. It’s just as much of a recruiting/marketing effort as it is anything else. For those of us living in New York, it’s a fun way to catch the team without having to make it out to South Bend. Everyone quit your crying and embrace progress.

    1. The KPM,

      You are exactly right. The kids do want this type of stuff. It’s just something else to add onto the recruitment process letting them know of the jerseys, venues, etc. What kid wouldn’t want to take a trip out to Ireland to play a game and get a chance to see that country!? Who wouldn’t want to play a football game at Fenway!? What other college team has that to propose to these kids? I think it’s great and does help with attracting kids to the school (even if only a small bit) whether some of the fans think so or not.

      1. Yes, give “the kids” anything they they want. ND is precisely this desperate and uncompetitive, and should abandon more of its standards for student athlete behavior and deportment. Freed from all the pointless limitations on self-indulgence, success will surely follow, with no downside whatsoever.

  13. The uniforms are fine. Every time they do announce the unis, this site and everyone bangs on them! SO what if they do something different! Get over it! Remember, for all the crap we give this series, we are still undefeated in these contests!

  14. Just awful. Notre Dame is actually ruining their brand, not enhancing it.

    If they want to keep this charade going, don’t make a home game the “Shamrock Series”. Every year 7 home games. Period!

    4 true road games and 1 neutral site for the Shamrock Series. But I even hate that. College football is meant to be played in college stadiums.

    1. To be fair, it’s also meant to be played by kids who attend classes and earn degrees, and coaches weren’t meant to have more worth more than anyone else at the places they work. So…..

  15. That the players have no problem wearing any of the Shamrock atrocities says a lot about their regard for the history and tradition of ND. And that is one reason why they have added exactly nothing to it for almost 30 years.

  16. Preach, brother. Everything about this infuriates me. Disgusting, blatant money grab that is of zero benefit to our football program.

  17. These uniforms look like softball jerseys!! When I was done playing HS football we had a Sunday morning league in full pads, when guys showed up wearing SB pants they were ridiculed!! These uniforms are just as hideous!! But just remember its not the uniforms that win, its the players in those uniforms that count! YES I WILL STILL PURCHASE 2!! GO IRISH!! PREFERABLY IN BLUE AND GOLD!!

  18. If ND is willing to forget all its tradition, symbolism and history for the sake of getting some extra public attention, here’s an idea: put on Alabama uniforms.

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