A Simple Choice: Boys or Men?
While many fans looked at the Michigan game as a 'must win" and in retrospect, given the recruits at the game and the way the team and fans reacted, it was, Michigan State has now become an equally important game to the maturity and psyche of this Notre Dame team.Notre Dame didn't overwhelm anyone in weeks one or two, instead we looked like a team that had made significant improvement from the keystone cops performance of last year, but that improvement only gets us to good. Now we're a good team, which puts us in the same category of about 40 or 50 other teams around the country.
No one comes to Notre Dame to be good.
That's Davieham thinking.
Good is unacceptable.
Mediocrity is unacceptable.
It's time for this team to put the old paradigm and excuses behind and grow up. I don't mean that in a negative sense, but this is still a very, very young team... they simply can't play like it anymore. It's time to get on with gettin' on with being great and that's means moving your mental frame of what's acceptable.
It's not acceptable anymore to tackle poorly. It's not acceptable anymore for wide receivers to run lazy patterns or not block. It's not acceptable any more to not finish blocks or get to the next level to spring a longer run. It's not acceptable any more to miss holes.
The Irish are at a mental tipping point.
It's a simple choice.
They can either choose to shift their entire frame or perspective of what great, good and poor play look like or they can accept mediocrity. When you re frame your perspective on what's good.... what was good in the past becomes poor play. Your former good is now the bare minimum you should expect from yourself and your former great becomes the norm. In other words what "was" great play for you previously is simply how things should be. And then great, becomes truly exceptional play. Your good play in weeks one and two should be the worst cast scenario if all goes wrong.
It's time to grow up. Right now this team seems impressed with itself when it makes great plays. That's a fun and exciting place to be, but if this team truly wants to be exceptional this year and next, it has to power through this transition phase of self-discovery and become what it will be in the future, right now.
This team is at the doorstep. It can either knock the muthaf door down and proclaim itself a true contender or it can wait for someone to open it for them.
And wait. And wait. And wait.
And then one day talk about what could have been if...
"No one gives you anything in this world, you have to earn it."
This team haS to expect greatness, nothing else can be acceptable.
Greatness is livin'.
Mediocrity is slow, painful death.
"It comes down to a simple choice really. Get busy livin', or get busy dyin'."
Get you mad you son of a bitches, get mad.
Go Irish!
32 Comments:
Abso-freakin-lutely. Spot on.
By the same token, this is a team many thought would go 6-6. It's not irrational to expect a few losses and MSU looks like it could be one of them. If the Irish finish in the 9-3 region, I'd be ecstatic and would consider that a foundation for a possible title run next year.
We've gotten a little carried away with a solid win against Michigan, but it would be foolish to let that optimism poison even a strong season.
....ten years have got behind you
no one told you when to run
you missed the starting gun
Great post. All this team has to do is remember 2 numbers:3-9. If that does not get them motivated nothing will. Must see continual improvement week after week. The young must grow up fast and be accountable. Go Irish!
They are learning and are not contenders yet. Tremendous strides, but you do not turn this on like a light switch. Very Nieve posting.
We have let a loser mentality grip our collective psyches for too long. ND needs to bring pain and a lot of it.
It is the Victory March people, not the Mediocre March.
WHILE I AGREE THAT CONTINTMENT BREEDS COMPLACANCY. THIS TEAM WITH THEIR YOUTH SHOULD SHOWS SIGNS OF EXCITEMENT. AFTER THE D IN THE DIRT LOOK ON MOST OF THESE KIDS FACES LAST YEAR IT'S GOOD FOR THE PROGRAM, THE FANS, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY THE PLAYERS TO FEEL GOOD ABOUT NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL AGAIN. ONCE AGAIN I AGREE DON'T REST ON YOUR LAST VICTORY LET'S BUILD TOWARDS THE NEXT ONE THAT HAS TO BE THE MENTALITY FOR ALL OF US UNTIL WE REACH THE LEVEL WE WOULD ALL ASPIRE TO REACH AGAIN. GO IRISH
Winning is the only thing at Notre Dame. The talent is there (young or not). The coaching is there. MSU is a MUST WIN. No questions about it. Go Irish!
I get your point Rock, but think it was too harshly put. Watching this team perform up to their ability in spurts of greatness over the past two games, and watching their interviews, tells me that they are gettin' busy gettin' better each and every day. They appear to be having fun playing well, and of course having fun winning. I like this team and feel that the mindset will lead them to improve each and every time they take the field... practice or playing. They are "young men", having grown from the "older boys" we say last year, and Charlie is letting them be themselves. Cudos to him and them and we all have reason to expect this team to allways play hard and win often. They are not great yet, nor do I sence that they think they are, but they absolutely show that they can and will be great. Thanks - GO IRISH!!!
The excuse of "no talent" can no longer be used at Notre Dame. These players have got to find the fire in their bellies and believe in themselves. No heads hanging on the sideline at any time. Michigan State is a defining game!! Go Irish!!!
Good artcle, just one win too soon and therefore puts way too much pressure on The Team; I hope they stay ignorant of its content or at least know its not the general feeling of its students and alumns. This bunch of very talented STUDENT-ATHLETES needs to learn to win consistently by developing a culture of winning; a supportive fan base that recognizes their positive strives and truly "gets it" is very important in this psyche. This article's thinking just feeds last years culture of "fear of losing". I agree; GO FOR THE JUGULAR! But not out of fear of anything but with confidence in your getting better, knowledge we are 100% behind them, and knowing that no matter what, if you give it your best, WE ARE, ND, Together !!
Save your Rockne-type hype for USC when it would be a positive and when we have earned a shot, together.
I'm a huge ND fan, but let's be serious, we can't elevate the MSU game to a must win. It's obvious that we have a lot of talent, probably more than MSU, but at this stage, we barely beat a bad SDSU team and received some early gifts in beating a bad Michigan team that's clearly in transition. MSU is solid, they're no longer coached by that moron John L. Smith, and this game is on their turf. A win would be terrific, but I'm looking forward to a competitive game in which we have a chance to win. Let's not get carried away after the first 2 games. ND has a lot of individual talent, but as a team, it has a looooooong way to go.
That's what I'm talk'n about!!
That's EXACTLY what I was driving at with my posts in prior threads! I wasn't goin' after Charlie Weis out of vindictive malevolence; it's about standards--what standards you hold your team up to, what standard of play you deem acceptable, and what's unacceptable (the whole gist of my posts re. CW was that he was getting off easy--by being measured against dumbed-down standards).
Even if you don't want to measure his success in terms of w/l's, or even in the team's execution--at least demand that your team show DESIRE!
That was abundantly evident in the Michigan game....
...Notre Dame won in beautifully ugly fasion!
Things didn't necessarily work out as planned, but raw desire, shear hustle, and a toughness I havn't seen out of ND in years, made that game a gem! (watched it again last night).
Maybe Lou and the 88 champs can be credited; maybe not. Doesn't matter, in terms of standards. Now you've seen the level of intensity at which this team is capable of playing, and you know what you can, and therefore should, be able to expect, week in and week out.
I guess that's the downside of success; once folks know what your capable of, anything less becomes unacceptable.
'92 Gator
This post pretty much sums up how I've felt about ND since '93 (and I was 8 back then). The people that say this puts too much pressure on the team are ridiculous. THIS IS NOTRE DAME. I refuse to be what all the ND-haters and ESPN pundits say I should be--just another fan. We are ND. We are college football. If you think you deserve to wear a helmet with gold flakes in it, then play like it. Great ought to be ordinary.
As the post says, it's time for these players to be men...and I believe they are up to the challenge.
I know I'm ready to hit someone. Great post.
This week's game is absolutely a HUGE game against a team that is better than Michigan. Let's be honest, Michigan stinks and it was a game we needed to win to even sniff respectability. San Diego State was only two weeks ago. Before we can start talking "good," we need to beat MSU - a team that is pretty good but very beatable. That said, I expect the Irish to show the same amount of week-to-week improvement they showed last week. If we get that, we can blow out MSU. That would be a great win.
i except nothing more then an ass whopping on those fucks from michigan state go irish its pay back time for the flag planting and ever thing else no excuses get the job done!!!!!!
Rock:
While I appreciate your enduring enthusiasm AND your own unquenchable desire for ND football greatness, witness an almost manic shift in the expectations and attitudes on NDNation lately. From SDSU recaps downplaying a win that evinced too many "echoes of 2007" to suddenly questioning the expectations and attitude of a team one further win later as short-reaching.
What's your definition of a "true contender"? Are these albeit highly talented and vastly improving young men necessarily to morph instantly into a top #5 team? By my standard anything less is no "true contender" but anything of that level is an unfit expectation. The path to perfection is perseverance, planning, and a desire to overreach and overachieve your and everyone else's expectations. It is NOT some quantum leap that actualizes all potential in an instant a "becom[ing] of what it will be in the future, right now."
I see Charlie and the boys displaying all the right momentum this year and agree more with the posts about the need to support them than I do the notion that this team needs to treat winning as some nonchalant business as usual, lest they enjoy themselves.
Then again, maybe your diction has just sent you awry from a salient point. Nevertheless, this team doesn't deserve questions like "Boys or Men?" or incitements to "grow up."
GO IRISH - WIN
Congratulations ... you're now a true "professional" columnist with this breath-taking oversimplication of ND's situation.
"Good" is a huge overstatement. This team is not good. The offense cannot sustain drives. The defense cannot get to the quarterback, stop the run, or stop the pass.
How is that "good?" Even thinking this team is anywhere near good is "Davieham" thinking.
This team has played poorly for two straight weeks. When the offense can sustain a few drives and/or score without the ball being handed to them in their own territory, let me know. When the defense actually scares an opposing offense, get back to me. Finally, we will all be happy when the running game reappears after being non-existent for a year and a half.
I appreciate the Rock's enthusiasm, but give me a break. This team, while improving, has been much closer to awful than to good this season. So far the play has been poor.
Remember, this is the same guy who predicted eight wins last season.
Let's wait until the team actually puts together a complete game before we get excited, ok?
Peace.
This is Notre Dame. Squeeking by SDSU,and being thoroughly dominated by Michigan is not "good."
The only reason the irish won on Saturday is because Michigan handed them the ball. If you want to see "good" football programs check out Southern Cal or the entire SEC.
This is Notre Dame. When did the fans expectations become that of a MAC team?
Every game is a must win game. We play for national championships not conference championships or wild card spots. While it is unrealistic to expect an NC this year, the author is right you play to your expectations. We should expect greatness, the coaches should coach to that. I know the fans expect it, and the coaches coach to it, and I think the team is playing towards it.
The expectations for this team are all over the place, but lets use 9-3 as an example. If we win the first nine and lose the last three, would those saying good year really still be saying that?
There is a lot to improve on from the first two games, and they will. They have to want to, and I see no reason to think they don't. I see lots of reasons to think they do.
As for too much pressure on the team, there are 19 year olds in foreign lands with a lot more pressure on them. Also, players come to ND for the spotlight, if they don't want ND-style pressure, they should go to Toledo. We risk putting too much pressure on the team only when we expect Jimmy Clausen to play like Peyton Manning or Terrail Lambert to never miss a tackle. They are human. Holes and tackles will be missed (even at USC), there should jsut be progressively fewer of them. We are getting there.
Well put, Rock!
I am appalled at all of these anonymous posters making pathetic comments..."foolish to let that optimism poison even a strong season", "they are learning and not contenders yet", "too harshly put", "puts way too much pressure on the team", "we can't elevate the MSU game to a must win", and I could go on and on!
We NEED the optimism, we ARE contenders, football IS a harsh sport, the MSU game IS a MUST win!
Let's come back home 3-0 and then beat Purdue to finish first in the Big Ten (or is that Eleven?)!
We are ND!
GO IRISH!
FEllas, THIS IS IRISH MIKE...and I feel like i've taken a lot of heat, being called an idiot a jerk and much worse.
THIS POST IS WHAT I'VE BEEN TALKING ABOUT..
THat's it...Rock...you hit the nail on the head.
I will take the abuse from you so called fans...but the only purpose I"ve been calling for CW's head, is that he has lacked the fire that this program needs...WE CAN NOT BE HAPPY WITH GOOD.
And for the poster that called me a jerk...shame on you...
:D
GO IRISHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Grimes ran two critical routes short against Michigan. The first, he wasn't thrown to but if he was, he probably would have fell short of the first down. The second, he was thrown two and he came up a yard short of the first down.
DID ANYONE ELSE JUST HATE THE FACT THAT THE IRISH DRENCHED CW WITH THAT VICTORY OVER THE SKUNKBEARS. JUST DONT LIKE THE GATORADE BATH OVER A GOOD WIN
Anon 9:31, in your incredibly hopeless and pretentious comment, you managed to misspell "naive." Congrats. Nice post rock, good use of Shawshank.
Who is this guy below??(a few paragraphs down...I had to copy and paste his post) I see an offensive line that got stronger as the game went on, and they did not give up a sack. If anything blame the play calling.
They should have scored 35 against SDSU, and we gave them that touchdown because we jumped offsides on that punt.
The only thing I agree with you on is that we SERIOUSLY NEED A PASS RUSH. This defense goes from bending and not breaking(sometimes they break) to dominant if they can figure out how to get to the passer. That was the reason it took us so long to deliver that knock out punch, and the reason why Michigan hung around for a minute in the second half. I actually wouldn't be surprised if we split, or lose the next two games. Bottom line....you will see a competitive ball club improving game by game.
So can your f--kin negativity, and stop thinking that they suck because we are not playing like USC or LSU right away. People here are just being positive, and showing some damn passion. It sounds like some of the writers here all played football, or are at least competiters in some shape or form. Competitors know how to compete because they believe in themselves, and we are all talking about what has to happen for them to make it to the next level. We are talking about how they need to believe in themselves.
I see a team that is making progress. From reading some of the comments by my fellow ND fans, no one seems to be annointing the Irish as a top level football team ready to go toe to toe with USC just yet. Just sipping the kool-aid right now...not slugging it. I know that USC is 3 tuddy's better then us, and it sounds like most of the people are aware of that.
Oh yeah....that 87' team got spanked in the Orange Bowl by the Canes 24-0. We all know what happened after that.
Me and Pat Garrity high fivin' all day saturday. I turn around to high five every ND stranger/fan (S.O.P for me every game) after that fumbled kickoff, there pat garrity is waiting for my big paw.
GO IRISH!!!!!!
Good" is a huge overstatement. This team is not good. The offense cannot sustain drives. The defense cannot get to the quarterback, stop the run, or stop the pass.
How is that "good?" Even thinking this team is anywhere near good is "Davieham" thinking.
This team has played poorly for two straight weeks. When the offense can sustain a few drives and/or score without the ball being handed to them in their own territory, let me know. When the defense actually scares an opposing offense, get back to me. Finally, we will all be happy when the running game reappears after being non-existent for a year and a half.
I appreciate the Rock's enthusiasm, but give me a break. This team, while improving, has been much closer to awful than to good this season. So far the play has been poor.
Remember, this is the same guy who predicted eight wins last season.
Let's wait until the team actually puts together a complete game before we get excited, ok?
Peace.
1:29 PM
Hey Irish Mike,
RBduhawk here.
I think I gave you a hard time last week I think, and I'm pretty sure I apologized in another post.
Either way...sorry again. I don't think I called you an idiot..it was more like f--ckin moron, or just moron. ANYWAY, keep the faith brother.
Love the post. Really makes me want to hit someone right in the mouth, and not nice like. Notre Dame use to do that. You could see it in the other teams they played. It is coming back. Notre Dame our Mother pray for us, but mostly for those poor bastards that have to play us. Go Irish.
I told you.
MSU dominated Charlie Weis and the fifth grade offense he puts on the field every week.
I can't wait until this team gets a real coach.
Hey Guys & Gals- Just wanted to put our feelings in perspective. I would like to have my 2 sons have the same expirience that I've had. They don't understand why I watch. But they would if they knew what I know. 4 times in my life I've witnessed ND college football excellance. (National Champions)
But I'm also 54 years old. Shouldn't we have more? (Actually, not bad - it's just the past 20 years is killing me)
But I do feel blessed. Best sports memories of all. Just want to share it with my family. My best to all in ND Nation.
Post a Comment
<< Home