Death by Hubris

The Notre Dame football drama has been thick for about two weeks but today it will come to an end. At 1pm Eastern, a press conference is scheduled to introduce Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly as the 17th coach of the program. This occurs after 5 years of failure (dare I say karma) under Charlie Weis to restore the luster of the golden helmet as a power in college football. Sadly, I think ND's slump into football mediocity was self imposed and it began with the firing of Tyrone Willingham. I was outraged that Willingham didn't get at least 5 years to get it together. At that time, ND seemed to be headed in the right direction and maybe they could get back to the promised land. But after a winning season, a season that didn't produce a national championship or a major bowl appearance, Willingham was let go prompting outrage among African-American's who felt he didn't get a fair shake considering coaches at ND with worse records were permitted to coach and finish their contract before they were released.

I grew up a ND fan, hey how can you be Catholic and not I thought! The 90's under Lou Holtz were a golden age for the golden domers, consistent winners, top 10 finishes and the 1989 national championship. And who could forget the epic battles against Miami, those were some great days! After Willingham was dismissed and ND went on a search for their "great white hope", I lost all interest in their program and watched with a bit of delight as Weis tried and failed to revive the program. Weis, a protege of Bill Parcells is all his former boss, arrogant and unapologetic. But I can say this about Parcells, he was a winner although you didn't like him very much.

But as conferences have grown, bowl alliances have changed so has the landscape of college football. ND continues to be an independent in football but aligning itself with the Big East for all other sports. Top that off with having an exclusive TV contract with NBC and you have all the makings of a program that continues to find ways to cut the oxygen off to it's dying legacy in college football. High School players these days can only take so much of hearing about the classic days of a program, they want to know what can you do for me now! ND continues to harp on their legacy and uses that as why they don't want to join a conference. Unfortnately in the age of "What have you done for me lately", it may be time with a new coach and a possible revival joining a conference may help to save the program from sinking to the depth of what the majority of programs view as success. That would be seasons of 7-5, 8-4. 9-3 etc. as opposed to 12-0 and national championships. I will watch today's press conference with keen interest and I hope Coach Kelly will have some success. Maybe he is what ND needs to get back onteh natinoal scene, he seems genuine and put Cincy (a basketball school) on the football map for the time being. I hope Cincy will not fall into obscurity, that does seem likely but only time will tell.

The Common Demoninator is YOU...

Although this is the wasteland period for sports (after NBA hangs it up for a bit and baseball rages on until thanksgiving), that special moment occurs for me that gives me so much hope and happiness. FOOTBALL season is coming...bright and early in the morning! (proverbially that is!) Been doing some reading, watching the news, SportsCenter etc and it just hit me that my happy place is returning soon. It is funny how a sport makes you think about relationships. Now as I stated earlier, I am all about relationships whether they are romantic, friendship, working etc. they are the bonds that drive our lives and direct our motivations in alot of ways. So I got to thinking about football and my pro team and their new coach. (Ok, I am a Redskins fan...say what you will but maybe we will finally get it right) The owner Daniel Snyder has had 9 head coaches (some were interim) in almost 10 years of ownership. My 4 year old niece can do that math, after the 3rd or 4th coach you may want to to some introspection Mr. Snyder. It is almost akin to ther person who gets married and divorced 4-6 times and they ask themselves "why cant i stay married?" So what do you think is the problem for Snyder, who has had 9 coaches or the person who has multiple marriages? What thing do they have in common in every relationship?

A. Lack of communication
B. Ike Turner/Joan Crawford complex
C. YOU
D. None of the above...and stop asking me multi choice questions like we are in school!

If you picked C, you are either highly intelligent or you read the title of my blog. If you picked D, go back to Kindergarten!!! I think self-introspection is missing in our society, among people in general. You have to wonder what makes people so dilusional and unrealistic about their talents, relationships and abilities. Now, let me qualify this by saying that I believe that if you put your mind to something and work at it, it can be achieved. However, there has to be a point that where you work for something and if it isnt quite going so well or you arent achieving or even you get the same reaction everytime you attempt something where someone takes you aside and says "maybe this isnt for you" then maybe it is time to pick some new knitting. Working in academia for a few years, I saw so many students fall short in their goals and you want to be encouraging but when the failure is consistent and with little improvement in outcomes and personal habits, you dont want to give false hope to someone that in the future has a big responsibilty in their job and what they do (or not do) could affect someone's life in a major way. I appreciate self-introspection and those who recognize that they have limits and do not try to cross those limits. It is a character trait we more of, I can respect you more if you tell me you cant do something instead of doing it and making the situation that much worse. I think that is something we all can live with and agree on. I'm out like Cross-Colors...