[NU Sports] Notre Dame

[Dennis W. Brandt]

> Yes--the article says it all !
>
> I have been harping that  the mystique of ND doesnt exist anymore--Yeah 
> sure
> it still has some cache--I am sure a ton of Catholic kids growing up still
> dream of playing there, but a ton of kids growing up in Pennsylvania dream 
> of
> playing for Joe Pa and a ton of kids growing up in Michigan dream of 
> playing at
> UM  , etc...But it just doesnt resonate with hight school seniors the way 
> it
> used to , because ND just doesnt have any good recent history except a big
> upset  every now and then-- (and a lot more thens than nows) ---I couldnt 
> be
> happier
>
> Harry

I recall walking back to the dorm after a home football game with Notre Dame 
and hearing kids boo me and my band uniform.

Might I suggest Notre Dame's football demise mirrors the increasing 
breakdown of the Catholic Church what with its recent scandals and the 
generally successful secularist assaults on religion in general.  I am a 
devout agnostic myself, but I married a good, traditional Catholic girl 38 
years ago.  Her parents literally would not speak to me for a long while 
because our wedding was not in THE church.  They have changed quite a bit. 
My wife remains a staunch Catholic (following a vow-renewing Catholic 
ceremony for her benefit), but her seven younger siblings are not in any 
traditional sense.  My wife and her siblings, until the youngest of them, 
attended Catholic School, but not one grandkid does.  When we first married 
and attended a church picnic, all I heard was Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Notre 
Dame (unfortunately all before 1995 when I had a comeback).  You don't hear 
much about Notre Dame anymore.  There just aren't as many Rudys out there as 
before.