In case you missed it, which I'm sure you didn't, Rick Reilly posted an angry article about Notre Dame's preferential treatment in the college football universe. Summarized, Rick believes that ND's recent performance is undeserving of the many perks - an exclusive and lucrative NBC contract, bowl payouts every year, and underserved preseason hype - that the football program receives.
I've come across three decent responses from the ND Nation to Rick's plea for a "downgrade" of Irish football. I present them here in order of effectiveness. All of them are from Domers, so there is obviously bias here, but i think they all make some good points.
3. Mike Golic on ESPNRadio's Mike & Mike in the morning.
Mike's basic point is that it isn't Notre Dame's 'fault' that they are overrated. Now, this really isn't a great response. I'm not sure Rick was saying that it's Notre Dame's fault, and Mr. Golic seems to be attacking a point that was never made.
It really starts to get good around the 2 minute mark when Golic gets all fired up and yelling directly at Rick. The main reasons I include this is because (a) it's Mike Golic and (b) he calls Reilly stupid, asinine, and several other good zingers.
2. "Rick Reilly is Dead Wrong About Notre Dame"
I've never heard of this site before, but this is the first article that comes up when you google "Rick Reilly v. Notre Dame." Tyler Moorehead of College Spun and an English major at ND makes some worthwhile points here and it's a quick read. The highlights:
"First of all, [Reilly] believes that Notre Dame doesn’t deserve a share of bowl revenues. But he isn’t writing the article about a team like Northwestern, which rarely reaches a bowl game and still receives the same share of revenue as the rest of the Big Ten. He’s singling out the Irish, giving them even more “undeserved attention and hype." He’s making his article a self-fulfilling prophecy.""Reilly claims that Notre Dame is not a national brand, because it lost to Tulsa in 2010. If that is the case, Appalachian State was the undoing of Michigan as a brand, and Boise State put an end to Oklahoma years ago. Give me a break."
"One big problem I have is his claim that “somebody needs to do something” and his pleading to the NCAA and college football’s conference commissioners to put an end to Notre Dame’s prominence. But these powerful figures are catering to the school because, unlike Reilly, they realize its worth and prestige."
and a great tweet from ND columnist John Walters is also included:
@jdubs88: The utter *$%@ IRONY of a writer who was at the top of HIS game 20 years ago but now earns more $$$ than anyone in our field calling out ND for taking the $$ it can get is beyond hilarious. And I may have fractured a friendship w/ that comment, Rick, but it’s what everyone is thinking. You wanna prove ND doesn’t matter? Go write 2,000 words on Clemson. You didn’t, did you? It’s called the free market. No one is forcing NBC to give ND that $$$, just like no one forced John Walsh to give u a 7-fig salary"
(...not sure that's 140 characters)
1) Rick Reilly is Lazy and Wrong.
Maybe I was just fooled by the references to logical fallacies in this article, but it was by far the best pro-ND response I've seen to Reilly. It essentially goes line-by-line and calls Reilly out for every dumb comment that he makes. There are a few parts where the author sounds idiotic, but I can chalk that up to being a hardcore fan and leave it at that. Otherwise, this is great and I am really happy about what is said here. Not giving you any highlights because I want you to read it.
Now if Notre Dame can just stop making their schedule so damn ridiculous every year maybe they can have a shot at a championship soon.
Go Irish.
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