I read the site daily, and this may be the best article ever written here (I'm a big fan of the War Room, too).

Kudos, Mike. Well done.
witz | Email | Homepage | 07.22.05 - 9:21 am | #

The rat like creature is Salacious Crum. What a great article. Nice work.
Mark | Email | Homepage | 07.22.05 - 9:39 am | #

I think the Kieth Jackson bit happened in 1988 and not 1998...unless I was caught in some sort of timewarp and they brought rocket and rice back in for the 98 game.
jmay | Email | Homepage | 07.22.05 - 9:55 am | #

Regarding Jimmy Johnson's moniker:

KatersND properly corrected me on this very issues on NDNation a few weeks ago.

The infamous T-Shirt declared Jimmy to be "Pork-Faced Satan".
Kelley Cook | Email | Homepage | 07.22.05 - 9:57 am | #

I agree with witz.... along with the war room, this is your best piece ever.
schmendel | Email | Homepage | 07.22.05 - 10:05 am | #

jmay - thanks for the typo catch.

Kelley - you're definitely right, the original was Pork-Face, and I remember the tee-shirt well. I think I still have one up in the closet.

That said, Pig-Face has been repeated so many times since then that it's almost taken over as the moniker of record.
Jay | Email | Homepage | 07.22.05 - 10:07 am | #

Great article, one of my favorite reads so far on this site. If I had to pick more villains, I would say:
1) Michigan State WR's from 1999-2002. Big play after big play late in the game to beat us. Gari Scott in '99 with an 80 yard reception, Haygood in 2000 on a 4th and 10, Rogers in 2001 beating Duff. In 2002, it looked like history would repeat itself as Rogers brought MSU back by himself on an amazing fourth down touchdown grab. Amazingly, Battle scored on a similar play that Haygood scored on in 2000. I like this one just because it has a happy ending. Those MSU wideouts got to me far more than Randall Hill ever did.
Matt | Email | Homepage | 07.22.05 - 10:31 am | #

Yes, my thoughts were that this is the best posting I have yet to see on this site also.

Jimmy Johnson...I used to like the Cowboys until he arrived, and now AI hate them. Any teams that throws their lot in withthat guy must be evil.

I have watched that ND-USC game with Anthony Davis several times on ESPN Classic, and I am still baffled as to what happened at half time...must have been a hell uva speech. It couldn't be a simple momentum change before halftime, that is a just plain strange turnaround in my opinion. By the way, I was 6 at the time, and I cried like a baby after that game.
John B. | Email | Homepage | 07.22.05 - 11:21 am | #

The greatest thing ever written.
Orson Swindle | Email | Homepage | 07.22.05 - 11:22 am | #

Hi guys (writers) and everyone else(readers)....this site is just too COOL. Way ahead of your time if that is even possible these days.
FrankX | Email | Homepage | 07.22.05 - 11:38 am | #

Great report, guys...

Some lesser villains could include:

1. Dunbar. Was one of Monk's excuses to ruin the program.
2. Big East officials at last year's Pitt game. If a case could be made for participants purposely trying to alter the outcome of the game, the only analogy I have is the Black Sox Scandal. Unwittingly, these refs became allies by encouraging the firing of Willingham (like Wile E. Coyote, they foiled themselves through their own treachery).
3. Fans of various programs. You know--those fans who consistently comported themselves without class or wit. Fans of such programs as Ohio State, West Virginia, Pitt, Miami, and Boston College. These fans could take a lesson from Tennessee, Texas, and USC fans--fans who understand the history of the game and who act like they've been there before (because they have).
4. ESPN "analysts". No need to go there (res ipsa loquitur).

Finally, a special place in the ND Villain HOF belongs to that ex-college administrator who tried his darnedest to destroy the Program and make ND like Duke or Stanford (two schools, although well-respected, lack any real jen e se qua and gained respect on the pages of Newsweek's "Best" Colleges.

Anyway, thanks for this articles.

Raristotle (ND '97)
Raristotle | Email | Homepage | 07.22.05 - 11:48 am | #

The picture of the USC cheerleaders was a total hottie overload.
Steve and Doug Butabi | Email | Homepage | 07.22.05 - 11:50 am | #

THE HORSE! How could you forget that white piece of dog meat running up and back along the sidelines?
Jim Kress | Email | Homepage | 07.22.05 - 12:24 pm | #

Bob Davie deserves special mention, both for his incompetence as a head coach and then totally selling us up the river to ESPN. I can't explain how enraged I was when I heard him prattle on about how it's impossible to win at Notre Dame with the high standards and tough schedule, basically restating all his excuses. The kicker though, was when he said that he was actively advising potential candidates for the job not to take it.

Villain comparison: Judas, Brutus, or anyone else hanging out in the 9th circle of hell
Tom | Email | Homepage | 07.22.05 - 12:52 pm | #

The way the Oregon State players strutted and trash-talked throughout their 2001 Fiesta Bowl lashing of the Irish just enhanced my loathing of Dennis Erickson. He had no control of his team. It proved that you can take the coach out of Miami, but you can't take the Miami out of the coach.
Rich | Email | Homepage | 07.22.05 - 1:05 pm | #

Your comments about Michigan could not have been more dead on. I've lived in the state for thirty years (other than those spent at ND), and they simply can't stand the fact that yes, we are usually going to beat them every year, even with the likes of Bob Davie and Ty Willingham roaming the sidelines. I even have a buddy this year giving me 24 points, and will pay me an extra 6-pack if ND even scores at the "vaunted" Big House. That is down from 30 points. Maybe it crossed his mind that it is Charlie Weis vs. Man Boobs and Jim Hermann (D-Coordinator).
Mark Mikiciuk | Email | Homepage | 07.22.05 - 1:22 pm | #

Mike,
Here's some good stuff about the KKK days from Nordy Hoffman, US Senate Sergeant at Arms (1975-81), talking about his exploits with Moon Mullins (starting fullback '29, '30...Rockne pall bearer). From the US Senate website on page 18 of the attached URL...the entire passage is a great read:


"...I was back a couple of years ago, and a fellow came up to me in the Morris Inn and said, "You're Nordy Hoffmann." I said, "Yeah." He said, "You've always been my hero." I looked at him and said, "You've got to be sick. I'm you're hero? What did I ever do?" He said, "When you were a freshman, you and Moon Mullins got arrested for keeping the Ku Klux Klan from going out in front of the campus." I said, "Are you serious?" He said, "Yes, isn't it true?" I said, "Yeah, it's true. Moon and I did get arrested." We were arrested for keeping the Ku Klux Klan from walking on our campus. They came up in masks, they were just walking right up Notre Dame Avenue. We met them and we took their masks off and everything else. I mean, we were playing for keeps. We were arrested and taken down to jail, and I remember we were down there a little while and went before Judge Hosinsky, who said, "Guilty or not guilty." We said, "Not guilty." He said, "Dismissed. By the way," he said, "erase that arrest from their records." This fellow said, "I was a freshman here, and I was never so impressed in my life. You had a lot of guts." I said, "Either that or I was a little bit nutty." /Laughs/ Probably both..."

Here's the link.
Vic | Email | Homepage | 07.22.05 - 1:56 pm | #

We ND fans need to stop whining about the 1989 and 1993 polls. This was not an anti-ND bias. The fact of the matter is that ND lost later in each season than Miami and FSU. When you're #1 and lose the last game of the regular season, you're going to drop in the human polls. Yes, this means the human polls weight late-season games more than early-season games. That's just the way it is.
Sigmund Urp | Email | Homepage | 07.22.05 - 2:25 pm | #

Sigmund,

Complete BS. FSU had a late November loss and went from #1 all the way down to #2 (above three undefeated teams).

ND loses in the last second the next week and drops to #5.

By the way also tell that to Florida in 1996, when they lost to Florida State on the last game of the regular season and then got to play them again to win the MNC.
Anonymous | Email | Homepage | 07.22.05 - 2:45 pm | #

I realize that the two situations are very different, but the comment above about the "...ex-college administrator who tried his darndest to destroy the Program..." got me thinking.

Wasn't it Father Hesburgh who asked Frank Leahy to resign in an attempt to make ND more like Harvard? I believe the story goes that Hesburgh asked the president of Harvard how he could make Notre Dame more like Harvard. To which the Harvard president replied, de-emphasize athletics. So Herburgh went to Leahy and allowed him to "resign" due to health reasons. I was told this story by an old, emeritus professor when I was a senior.

Please note that I am in no way justifying Malloy's decisions regarding the football program. And I am certainly not insinuating that Hesburgh's presidency was the same as Malloy's. And I do realize that Hesburgh is respnsible for hiring Ara and Lou. I am just wondering if this story is true.
Dante | Email | Homepage | 07.22.05 - 3:15 pm | #

I tried to add this before but I would throw JoePa for his hating of everything ND and the way he acted during the Ricky Watters recruitment. He could be Gargamel. But that is also a nickname for Lloydd.

And I would add West Virginia for their gollum-esq actions when we went there in '00 and the way they can't let go of the Fiesta Bowl.
Joe | Email | Homepage | 07.22.05 - 3:29 pm | #

Vic, thanks for that. That's great stuff.
Jay | Email | Homepage | 07.22.05 - 3:52 pm | #

It's official: ND regards Michigan as its biggest rival.
Mike | Email | Homepage | 07.22.05 - 4:59 pm | #

Pete Carroll? Can you say 31-31-31?
boifromtroy | Email | Homepage | 07.22.05 - 5:39 pm | #

boi,

It wasn't a fair fight.
Jay | Email | Homepage | 07.22.05 - 5:41 pm | #

The clip on the Rocket Ismail return against Colorado was CLEAR. We Notre Dame fans need to suck it up and realize it was a good call. If the shoe was on the other foot, I'd also ask Colorado fans to call a spade a spade.
John | Email | Homepage | 07.22.05 - 5:50 pm | #

I'm sending this to everybody I know. Kudos.
Mike Steedle | Email | Homepage | 07.22.05 - 6:34 pm | #

and Dante, it's my understanding that Leahy's health problems were no joke. He once collapsed at halftime of one game and never came out for the second half. I forget which game exactly - it was in the football-related chapter of "God, Country, Notre Dame." (I pored over that section trying to extrapolate whether or not Fr. Ted would have approved of firing Ty. There are lots of quotes that could support either side.)
Mike Steedle | Email | Homepage | 07.22.05 - 6:41 pm | #

What about the Stanford band!!!??? They are banned forever from ND Stadium after re-enacting the Irish Potato Famine at halftime during a game with us a few years back!
Ted | Email | Homepage | 07.22.05 - 7:42 pm | #

Add Paterno to the cry baby list.He is without a doubt one of the biggest phonies in all of sport.He achieved his record before the Big Ten by playing the likes of Syracuse,Rutgers,Temple,Villanova(who they never beat,by the way),Army and other assorted patsies.He was fortunate to catch N D in one of their rare down periods. Don Schmittt
Don Schmitt | Email | Homepage | 07.22.05 - 9:19 pm | #

The AP voters remind me of the Russian judges at a cold war Olympics.
mark | Email | Homepage | 07.23.05 - 12:44 am | #

I watched the 1988 Miami game by myself and yelled F... Y.. Jimmy everytime he was shown on TV. I still have the urge.
mark | Email | Homepage | 07.23.05 - 12:49 am | #

You could also add Wadsworth and Davie, two men who took down ND football from within.
Bounce | Email | Homepage | 07.23.05 - 1:10 pm | #

Now come on! Our band drives you crazy with three songs and we drive UCLA crazy with four!
TROBOB | Email | Homepage | 07.23.05 - 6:05 pm | #

You forgot to add Navy as the ultimate villain...it's because the domer buffers can only just barely beat the equivalent of a JC that every year we are reminded of how bad the Irish really are. You can compare them to the droid army in clone wars, so easy to beat the Gungans win.

Right now, ND is the Jar-Jar Binks of CFB, uppity, stoopud, and clueless.
TrojanD | Email | Homepage | 07.23.05 - 7:57 pm | #

I've got two: Wadsworth and his lapdog Davie.

Ol Waddie runs out Holtz and keeps us out of a bowl game that we didn't deserve. The next season Davie's team finishes with a worse record and gets mopped in a bowl game.

Let's not forget Davie's total lack of integrity as he fired O-line coach extraordinaire Joe Moore and then lies to the team and said he quits. Lies to the U and they stick behind him and look like fools when Moore wins his age descrimination suit.

Side bar--Davie also testified that Holtz was a little cuckoo.
Read the book "Personal Foul" quite an eye opener.
Dan 96 | Email | Homepage | 07.23.05 - 11:02 pm | #

The Klan vs. Catholics piece struck a chord. My Dad was a Trojan alum. Every year he rooted for the Trojans for 10 games, but when they played Notre Dame he rooted for the Irish. As an Irish-American Catholic growing up in Los Angeles in the 20's and 30's, the Fighting Irish were a source of pride for him. When it came time for college I guess South Bend was just too far away, so he went to the school down the street--- but he never waivered from his true faith.

He died too young to pass his love of Notre Dame on to his children. I wonder how the Trojan in him would have reacted when his older son went to UCLA and his younger son went to Cal.

One more bit of irony in this story: my Dad's name was Paul McDonald.
TorBear | Email | Homepage | 07.24.05 - 12:54 am | #

How about Dan Jenkins, whose story on the 1966 MSU game almost single-handedly convinced everyone that ND "played for the tie." The immediate after-game stories were admiring of the hard-fought game, where ND was led by the diabetic Coley O'Brien at QB, after Hanratty was knocked out of the game. Plus the fact that (as my father, who was at the game) MSU took a knee at the end of the first half when they could have taken a shot to score.
DJ | Email | Homepage | 07.24.05 - 1:03 am | #

Seriously, I read every article and this was by far the best I've ever read.

I just laughed and laughed for 10 minutes straight.
Matt | Email | Homepage | 07.24.05 - 2:04 am | #

i'll second the requests for the Pitt refs from last year and pete carroll.

and that damn horse. oh, someday i will murder that horse with my own bare hands.
alli 07 | Email | Homepage | 07.24.05 - 11:19 pm | #

So BC is Fredo? Last I checked, Fredo never got over on Michael--he got caught and failed. In stark contrast, BC inflicted two excruciating losses on Notre Dame and has owned Notre Dame like a prison yard bitch for 5 of the last 6 years.

If you really want to get the analogy correct, it seems to me that Notre Dame morphed from Vito Corleone (the undisputed Boss of Bosses) into Fredo--the oafish and stupid older brother who was thoroughly dominated by his younger brother.

I can't wait to take you guys out fishing again in two years. Remember to say your Hail Marys...
Michael Corleone | Email | Homepage | 07.25.05 - 1:02 am | #

It's statements like "owned Notre Dame like a prison yard bitch" that keep ND fans from taking BC fans seriously. Your last five victories over Notre Dame have been by a total of 16 points. In your last two victories ND and BC had the exact same number of field goals and touchdowns. Yes, obviously you guys won the game and that is all that matters, but "thoroughly dominated"? Please.
Pat | Email | Homepage | 07.25.05 - 8:56 am | #

See, that's the difference between ND and BC. ND focuses on beating teams THIS year. BC has nothing to look forward to until they get to play ND again. I'm not sure which team is more psychotic in it's fascination with ND, BC or Purdue. At least BC didn't put ND on it's bowl rings...
Nate | Email | Homepage | 07.25.05 - 9:39 am | #

Excellent article, the best I've read in a long long time. Your comments regarding U of M, Johnson, the USC band and Davis were right on.


I would suggest adding the USC refs from the games in the 1970's. The home field "advantage" in those years was ridiculous, and stole several games from us. The older guys remember, and this is what makes the USC rivalry so intense.
Bob | Email | Homepage | 07.25.05 - 10:36 am | #

Two corrections on your comments on Davis. The touchdown in the first half was on a pass not a run and the lead at half was 18, the extra point failed. Keep up the good work.
Ray F. | Email | Homepage | 07.25.05 - 1:36 pm | #

Thanks for the catch, Ray (and others).
Jay | Email | Homepage | 07.25.05 - 1:53 pm | #

Ah, tradition! How it wins games, inspires enemies, and generally masks an inferior performance.

What dunderheads, poltroons, ponces, putrid steaming heaps of Irish Shite.

Again, it will be a thirty-plus point bitch slapping from your mistress, because you haven't figured out that you're just not very good.
TrojanDominatrix | Email | Homepage | 07.25.05 - 4:46 pm | #

Another villain - this time an insider: Fr. Beachamp and the completely unnecessary and over-the-top "alcohol policy" of 1984.
Andy | Email | Homepage | 07.25.05 - 4:55 pm | #

10 pts for "poltroons".
Jay | Email | Homepage | 07.25.05 - 5:04 pm | #

Don't be impressed with "poltroons". The USC / Juco fan pulled it from Harry Potter. Minus five points for Slytherin.
TB | Email | Homepage | 07.25.05 - 5:34 pm | #

How about the designers of the stadium expansion and the administrators who approved it (Beauchamp)? At least two promises were broken:

1) It does not even closely come to seemlessly integrating with the previous architecture.

2) It does not allow me to win more games in the annual alumni lottery. In fact, instead of winning one set of 30th row tickets to a game like Navy, I now win one set of 60th row tickets to a game like Navy.
Leo | Email | Homepage | 07.25.05 - 6:00 pm | #

Actually,

Poltroons was from the Cruel Site of the day.

Still, all in good fun, and can't wait to take the riding crop to you boys on NBC.

How sad that your mediocre team has be televised for all to see each and every week.

It does so much for our Trojan image and recruiting in Indiana.

Bow down and lick my boots!
TrojanDominatrix | Email | Homepage | 07.25.05 - 9:04 pm | #

We're tired of the hot wax treatment, TD. Time to turn the tables.
Jay | Email | Homepage | 07.25.05 - 10:52 pm | #

Wow. You'd think USC fans would have more to do than to jump onto ND websites and talk smack. I spend enough of my life on the internet reading, I certainly don't need to spend more time jumping onto USC or Purdue or Michigan sites to sound like a jerk and talk smack. Somehow I doubt T Dom had anything to do with any of those 31 point debacles (unless she threatens to whip Leinart and Bush should they not perform). Criminy.
Nate | Email | Homepage | 07.25.05 - 11:06 pm | #

Methinks TD has also forgotten the long drought that USC had against ND during the 80's & 90's. Someone once told me a joke about a dog who would do flips and stuff when ND beat USC. When the owner was asked what happened when USC won the battle on the gridiron, the owner of the dog replied, "I don't know. He's only 14 years old." Yes, we've taken our lumps/medicine in the past couple of years, but I would like to see some one do the math and figure out if "3 in a row" or "31-31-31" is statistically significant. I don't have my stats package available to me anymore, but I can guarantee it on the "3 in a row", and I highly doubt it on the "31-31-31".
TB | Email | Homepage | 07.26.05 - 9:47 am | #

Just discovered BGS. You guys rock. Especially loved the villains piece.

My favorite '88 Catholics v. Convicts game shirt was the one that said "Jimmy 'Has No' Johnson".

As an ND '69er I have to endorse the earlier suggestion that the Zebras from late 60's thru 70's USC games on the coast deserve their own private jail cell for grand theft. 3 examples:
--In '68 tie (I was there), the Trojans got back in the game on about a 60-yard pass interference call (it was spot of foul then)at the ND one-yard-line. On the play, domer DB called for the foul ran step for step with receiver, batted the ball out of his hands to second ND defender, who intercepted deflection and ran it back past midfield. Instead, USC gets ball on ND 1. (It took OJ four downs to gain that yard, and I still don't think he got the ball to the stripe.)

--In '76 (I think)Domers went ahead late in 4th Q. USC is out of timeouts with less than :30 to play. Their QB (McDonald)gets chased out of pocket, runs 20 yards backward and fumbles (ND recovers) while being tackled WITH HIS BACK TO LINE OF SCRIMMAGE. Game over, or if no fumble then clock is running and its 4th and 30 USC from their own 25, right? Wrong. Zebra calls it an incomplete pass,(ball NEVER moved forward, stops the clock, walks ball 20 yards back near midfield. They complete a 20 yard pass, stop clock with two ticks left and kick winning field goal.

--In 78, the famous "phantom TD" in which game ends with 3 ND players wrapped around ball fumbled by USC back on our 2 yard line while Zebras signal winning TD for homeboys.

It still makes me nuts.
Denny | Email | Homepage | 07.27.05 - 1:39 pm | #

Trojan Dominatrix,

This is what the University of Spoiled Children does to its players while sitting on Uncle Pete's knee for four years:

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/sto...l/story/ 3830682.
Andy | Email | Homepage | 07.27.05 - 4:05 pm | #

It strikes me as odd that Notre Dame fans have accumulated such a staggeringly long hit list. Michigan, USC and Miami are obvious, but when you throw in Boston College, Michigan State, Keith Jackson, the Orange Bowl refs, and Joe Paterno (JoePa?!? Really?? What threat does he pose, pinching your cheek into submission? Giving you so many shiny new dimes it weighs you down?), it's a wonder you have any bile left for digestive purposes. One could get the idea that somebody else is at fault for everything bad that ever happened to Notre Dame, except the John McKay losses.

Most schools, I think, have two or three real outlets for contempt. I am a Michigan fan with an Auburn fan girlfriend. I don't like Notre Dame or Ohio State, and she doesn't like Alabama or Georgia, or as of last year, Oklahoma. Spartans don't like Wolverines, but I don't think Michigan fans share this antipathy, they just get aggravated when Michigan blows an inexplicable game to MSU. Michigan has lost a lot of tough games over my lifetime, but it was almost always because Michigan did something (or things) dumb, or else it happened in a TRUE rivalry game.

Is it possible, just possible, that Notre Dame fans have such a huge rogues' gallery (with murmurings of a second installment) because NOBODY CAN STAND NOTRE DAME? And in my lifetime, I don't think you can attribute it to anti-Catholic bias anymore. I think it's just the reek of hypocrisy when a program styles itself beacon of tradition and spiritual values, with an aura and dignity far above the nation's other petty programs and a stadium with suspected magical powers, then does things like hire Lou "Grand Jury" Holtz and shiv Ty Willingham. You have some legitimate beefs over ND history, but not enough to justify this much whining.
Andy | Email | Homepage | 08.31.05 - 6:51 am | #

AH, CondomD, I mean TrojanD, before you start bragging too much, I guess you're too young, high, ignorant or stupid to remember the "Decade of Dominance" (which was actually 12 or 13 years) from the 80s-90s of ND over the Univ. of Spoiled Children, aka USC. If you don't I can send you a copy of the shirts that we had printed commemorating it. So, I hope that you enjoyed the last 3 yrs. Navy might play like a JV team, IYO, however, I'd rather have those men than the thugs of USC. BTW, how many USC players have been arrested from suspended the Trojans so for this year? 'Nuf said. GO IRISH!!!!
Domer95 | Email | Homepage | 09.01.05 - 1:56 pm | #

This is hilarious.

I've never seen such a demonstration of irony. Ever consider calling everyone a whiner might actually be a bit like whining?

Too funny. Also, dead wrong on so many counts. For starters, read "Natural Enemies" the history of the UM/ND rivalry. You'll discovery gems, like how Notre Dame was, academically, pretty much a high school in the early 1900s, which is a large reason they weren't allowed in the Big Ten.

Ah, how we twist things to suit our needs.
Ben | Email | Homepage | 04.12.06 - 3:08 pm | #

How about anyone associated with michigan football from 1909 to 1942. The Irish beat the wolverines for the first time ever in 1909, and then they blocked our entrance to the Big Ten. They said 9 teams was enough, but then admitted Ohio State. They did not even want to play again until 1942. Afraid of confrontation. They were like Corella DeVille, who sent her henchmen to do her shit.
Phil Livingston | Email | Homepage | 07.31.06 - 9:01 pm | #