Now, unfortunately, I don’t have anything particularly witty, funny, or really anything intelligent to say to lead off this week’s version. Let’s just say I’m going to set the bar extremely low so I can continuously trip over it all year.

Thankfully though, there was quite a bit of news that broke this week from Notre Dame and around college football to make up for my failures at creativity so let’s get to it!

The Roundup

Charlie Strong is NOT screwing around. Around here, a common narrative is that Texas has had a “country club” culture for years and has created a soft team prone to failure. Well, that is definitely gone now. I can only imagine how nervous this made some regents when he was hired. Perhaps this is why his contract has no buyout.

So college football managed to effect the WWE and it’s a dream true. The only downside, it was Rose Bowl Champion Sparty that caused this, leading Daniel Bryan’s now famous “YES!” chant in a packed arena. Still though, rumor is the WWE caught wind of that and accelerated Daniel Bryan’s storyline in this past week’s episode of RAW.

Big Lou is talking and you should listen. He did an interview with Eric Hansen and filled in the blanks on why he signed with an agent so early among other topics like the NFL draft. Speaking of…

Dear Jerry Jones, please give me something to be happy about again. The team is a disaster, especially on the defensive line. Mel Kiper has three Domers hanging around your draft slot, grab one. Bonus points if it’s Nix because I will buy that jersey immediately.

Austin Collinsworth, Christian Lombard, Kendall Moore and Justin Utupo will be back for fifth years. Irish Illustrated apparently broke this news, but the only thing that I could find to link was an ESPN mention of the report. Lo Wood, another potential fifth year, has decided to go to Miami University along with his former position coach Chuck Martin.

And now your moment of zen…THE SUBWAY DOMER IS BACK, Y’ALL! (Hey does this mean I’m off the hook of IBG leadership duties now?)

Put These Games Shows on Your Radar

There will be two Notre Dame specials of note this weekend. Be sure to tune in or set your DVRs!

The Booze

So, yeah, Subway’s back and that means it’s PBR time y’all (save the Trojan Bloods for later).

The post Friday Roundup: The “Back to Business” Edition appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

What I am referring to is this need to find moral outrage in the situation. Whether it is blaming ND, the NCAA, the NLI, Eddie Vanderdoes, or anything else, there is a need to point the finger at someone. Disagree with where the finger lands and additional outrage piles on top of the initially manufactured outrage.

There should be no villain in this entire situation. Vanderdoes signed a contract and Notre Dame is holding him to it. Vanderdoes and his family think he should be released and they are appealing, which they have every right to do. This situation should be allowed to play out, allowing the two parties to go their separate ways once it’s all over. However, this doesn’t seem sufficient for the majority of the media and even some fans.

Then it dawned on me: people require a heel, even when one shouldn’t exist. College football seems to thrive on the face/heel dynamic much like the WWE and pro wrestling does.

Forgive me for the pro wrestling analogy (hey, it’s better than using a cat and dead birds a la Doyel), but this is the only way I can wrap my head around the matter and articulate this. Plus, the more and more I think about it, the more and more it makes sense.

Without someone to boo, jeer, and hate, pro wrestling becomes incredibly boring. Back in its earliest days, pro wrestling once actually featured legitimate matches. The problem though was that they were long, tedious, and, after a while, people realized they didn’t care about the two men in the ring. Eventually, people stopped showing up.

Reacting to waning interest, pro wrestling then began to morph into what we know it as today. Promoters created characters to “work” shorter matches. These characters eventually took “sides” as good/evil (face/heel), giving fans a reason to watch, react, and become better invested in the entire show.

College football never really suffered the lack of interest that pro wrestling once did; however, the sport, and its resulting coverage, is now bigger than it has ever been before. 24/7 coverage is now the name of the game. New dedicated networks are now emerging and even earlier than that message boards and fan blogs rose into popularity.

While there is analysis to be done with the actual game on the field, the face/heel dynamic is the fuel that drives the more casual fan into consuming the 24/7 product. And, let’s admit it, it’s damned fun. Rivalries, the lifeblood of college football, feeds on it.

As an example, let’s take a look at the dynamic between Notre Dame and Michigan.

ND recently cancelled the series by handing Michigan a letter right before kickoff. “A true heel turn by the Irish!”, Ann Arbor cried. Brady Hoke cuts a promo and calls us chicken. We respond, cut a promo of our own, and claim this is simply long-awaited justice for all the crap they put ND through.

We bicker back and forth. Other fans with no real affiliation pick sides. The end result: hype machine goes full-force, pushes all the angles and everyone tunes in for our showdown under the lights, live from the Big House.

It practically sounds like the WWE is pushing a PPV when it’s broken down like that.

But the fact remains that drawing on this divide makes the victories sweeter and the defeats more infuriating. It brings people into a game they might not otherwise care in, even if it’s simply to hope for the demise of the team they have now manufactured enough hate against.

And I love every minute of it. I don’t ever want that to change. Detaching emotion from college football would be the worst.

But the Eddie Vanderdoes situation isn’t a college football game. It’s a contract dispute. That isn’t to say the entire situation should be absolved from debate, but there is definitely no need for anyone to assign anyone as the heel.

And there is plenty to debate. From the ND side:

• Eddie wants to be close to home because of a his sick grandmother. Fine, why pick a school that is eight hours away when there are plenty of closer options around?
• Why remain so quiet about it for so long?
• The NLI has been rejecting the appeals, doesn’t this mean they, and not ND, see Eddie’s claim for release isn’t sufficient enough?

From Vanderdoes’ side:

• Had no control over a family member for being sick, why not release him from NLI?
• Family issues are and should remain private.
• The NLI system is entirely broken and punishes athletes far too much. This should change.

Now there are certainly other points on both ends, but I feel like I got the highlights. Notice that each point is a topic that is very much up for debate. Nowhere in any of those points have I slung mud in one direction or the other. No one is a clear heel or a clear face for that matter and that’s how it should remain.

But it hasn’t.

And that’s my entire issue with how this whole situation has been covered at large. From the very start, Joe Davidson of the SacBee, started pushing heat (wrestling lingo for trying get the crowd to hate the heel) onto Notre Dame by telling a tale of broken trust with ND’s Signing Day gaffe. Later, he released an old story about Mike Brey recruiting a kid in a classroom and continued to release non-updates, but made sure to mix in notes about Notre Dame fans being horrible and racist to Eddie on Twitter.

It wasn’t that these stories weren’t true. We know full well we have a group of lunatics in our fanbase (as do all schools), but it was all so unnecessary. Davidson can forever claim it wasn’t his intent to make ND the bad guy, and it could even be true. In the end, the intent matters little — the heat was applied, immediately putting Notre Dame and all its fans on the defensive.

Inevitably, someone would pen the hackjob determined to push ND into full heel territory and Gregg Doyel was more than happy to fulfill the task. Gregg continued to push the angle, responding to any logical Notre Dame defense by calling us a bunch of message board parrots.

That too, is a complete WWE-style maneuver. Logic can be easily spurned and thrown out the window at any moment via scathing insult, joke, or catchphrase just to ensure the narrative remains and the proper heel/face relationship is maintained.

The Rock is particularly famous for this little maneuver:

http://youtu.be/pgBNBGAGJsk

It’s immediately divisive. If you love The Rock or hate the guy he just shut up, you are cheering. Otherwise, you are just hoping the person on the other end of it punches him square in the mouth.

The other layer to the “it doesn’t matter” bit was that The Rock would do this to everyone, no matter how famous or legendary they were. In other terms, if you’re going to be a loudmouth, you might as well go find the biggest dog in the yard to pop off to and make the biggest splash. Once you’ve done so, all of a sudden you find yourself with loads of other little minions/fans ready to back you up because somewhere in the back of their minds they are thinking “YEAH, FINALLY SOMEONE TOLD THEM!”

That’s exactly what the Eddie Vanderdoes coverage has turned into.

Davidson applied the initial heat. Gregg popped off to the supposed “big bad” that is Notre Dame. The rest of the media takes sides, either jumping on the illogical dogpile or trying to actually apply logic, not emotion, to the situation.

Further, if the school in question wasn’t Notre Dame and Eddie Vanderdoes wasn’t an elite, 5-star recruit, it doesn’t even receive nearly the amount of coverage or attention that we’ve seen. Does anyone blink an eye if a similar situation happens at say, North Texas with a 2-star recruit?

Or, better yet, what if only the sport changes? Does anyone even blink an eye if Notre Dame has NLI issues with the top-ranked fencer of 2013?

Of course not. The Rock doesn’t become famous if he only goes full throttle against X-Pac (if you don’t know him, that’s the point), but shies away when Stone Cold Steve Austin is staring him down. Likewise, Doyel doesn’t get nearly the level of pageviews if he spews out his verbal diarrhea in a similar situation with a different school, recruit, or sport that barely moves the needle.

College football is full of passion. The illogical emotion that we can apply to it can seriously be one of the best aspects of following the sport.

But applying that emotion to situations, like Eddie Vanderdoes, where it doesn’t belong? The worst.

Media types decide to both apply that emotion and feed on it in an attempt to further their own careers? The absolute worst.

The post The Eddie Vanderdoes Saga Goes Full WWE appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

After all, if we decide to listen to those we’ve defeated, they’ll each have their own version of what actually happened. Purude has a coach that can’t select a QB properly. Le’Veon Bell took personal responsibility for Sparty’s failings. Michigan simply didn’t play Michigan football as Denard Robinson handed us the game. Miami would’ve had a different fate if they could only Phillip Dorsett caught a couple of passes. Stanford’s Stepfan Taylor is still convinced that a second OT will still start soon.

Shift over to the talking heads and the national perspective in general and a different narrative forms. Notre Dame simply hasn’t beaten anyone yet. The entire Big Ten is a joke, Navy was Navy, and Stanford might just be the only win that the Irish can truly hang their hat on. Oklahoma will surely bring the Irish back down to earth.

Cameron, what have you seen today?

Nothing good.

Nothing – wha – what do you mean nothing good? We’ve seen everything good. We’ve seen the whole city! We went to a museum, we saw priceless works of art! We ate pancreas!

Of course, being fans, we defend our team, but beyond that, we want the undeniable joy of any doubter eating a healthy dose of crow. After all, most of the folks that attended College GameDay last weekend did just that taking well deserved “told you so” pot-shots when the opportunity presented itself.

It’s definitely quite the added bonus that winning delivers. Doubly so if there is a public proclamation via forums, a blog post, or even a comment that you can link to.

From the outside looking in, I would assume that most people think that we are just beside ourselves with joy until someone delivers a fatal blow to our defeated record.

The city looks so peaceful from up here.

Anything is peaceful from one thousand, three hundred and fifty-three feet.

But like I said at the start, being a Notre Dame fan is a strange existence. In the midst of 6-0 joy, there is angst. We try to force-feed crow to our own.

Simply proving the talking heads outside of the fanbase wrong isn’t enough, there is an additional reflex to prove ourselves right on such polarizing topics like the merits of a field rush, the coaching staff, the quarterback situation, or a jumbotron.

This probably sounds strange from someone that writes and helps run a blog that centers around such debates. Truth be told, I’m really not adverse to them. What I am adverse to is the shift in focus that such debates tend to cause as they rage on. Slowly but surely the focus shifts away from the team and actual games that should be the fuel for the fire in such debates. Instead the spotlight shines on the individuals involved in the debates, their opinions, or their previous works instead of the Irish themselves.

And honestly, I don’t care who wins that kind of a debate. At that point, the only “victory” that can be claimed is from someone sitting behind their computer monitor that I may or may not know. It’s all noise that distracts from the bigger picture.

While the internet pitchforks are sharpened, the rest of the nation continues to fall in love with Manti Te’o. We even have WWE superstars proclaiming his greatness.

Last week, we witnessed one of the most incredible endings to a football game possible. People are still talking about the Michigan game, not simply for the result, but how the Irish fans came together to support one of their own. I still smile when I think about how many non-Irish fans texted me when we defeated Michigan State.

We have something truly special going on this season and it should be savored.

Have your debates, and we will be more than happy to host our fair share here at HLS. But don’t get so caught up in simply “being right” or “proving someone wrong” that you lose your focus on the bigger picture of the season.

Before you know it, it’ll be over.

Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

The Roundup

Speaking of life moving fast, Ty Willingham apparently got a very fitting job as an assistant golf coach at Stanford; however, he no longer has the position. So many jokes missed, y’all.

Don’t let the HLS giveaway pass you by. We are still taking entries until the end of the month. Get yourself some free swag!

Dayne Crist’s career might be passing him by. I feel for the kid. Have a rough go of it at ND, follow the man that recruited you to Kansas, and then have the rug pulled out from under you.

Tommy Rees refuses to let his career pass him by. I wanted to to much more on the QB play this week, but Blog Davie does a great job breaking down Rees’ winning TD play. You have to give Rees all kinds of credit for taking whatever chances he gets and making the most of it. Best closer in college football.

John Cena’s tweet wasn’t the only WWE invasion into college football. Alabama knows how to deliver a textbook suplex.

ND Hoops is just around the corner. Let One Foot Down kick off your basketball previews.

In an instant a football career can end, a life can be threatened. Such is the case of Tulane defensive back, Devon Walker, who released his first public statement since the most devastating injury that I can remember on a football field.

It isn’t Rudy, but it’s another story of triumph. If you only read one piece about third string walk-on punters, make it this one.

Put These Games on Your Radar

Lots of great games again this week. Be sure to savor the glory. Below is just a small sample of what’s available.

#7 South Carolina vs #2 Florida, 3:30pm EST, CBS – Twibby’s Marquee Matchup of the Week

#6 LSU @ #18 Texas A&M, 12:00pm EST, ESPN/WatchESPN – Now this is how we should start every Saturday: a top tier game. Johnny Football could start creating some serious Heisman buzz should the Aggies knock off LSU at home.

#4 Kansas State @ #13 West Virginia, 7:00pm EST, FOX – Well, Vegas always knows and they sure had WVU pegged for the upset last week. I’m still not sure where to even rank K-State to be honest. Really intrigued on how this game plays out.

Predictions

Tex

Via my response to the IBG in tweet form:

@thesubwaydomer No TDs once again, Irish win 24-6.

— NDtex (@HLS_NDtex) October 18, 2012

Biscuit

Going with the leprechauns again:

Independence and belief in a book are where the similarities end, on and off the field. This won’t be close.

ND Wins 45-16

Just the 3.

Bayou

ND: 31 BYU: 0

Twibby

ND 27, BYU 10

Grantland-X

31-3 ND

Closest to the Pin Week 6: Biscuit’s dancing leprechauns were magical last week. He damn near nailed both scores and almost had the margin of victory dead on. Leaderboard:

The Beer

This week, we have a special request from Loyal Reader, KyNDfan:

John “Jack” Sheehan, RIP, had been a Subway Domer since the invention of the term. His sons, Greg and Tom, followed in his fandom footsteps. My wife is his granddaughter. She recently went through his old stuff and we are the process of scanning some old pics. This is a sample of them. I will post an album on Facebook and tag HLS on it. That’s Jack standing behind Ara and that’s him holding all that Old Milwaukee. It would be awesome if you would make that this weeks beer on the Friday round up.

You got it, KyNDfan, Old Milwaukee it is.

The post Friday Roundup: The “Ferris Bueller” Edition appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.