Love-Hate Relationship

ESPN writers, led by the always right-never wrong "expert” on Notre Dame Football Pat Forde, recently announced the top villains of college football. For the sake of clarification, a villain is defined as “someone who’s done you wrong.” Now as a ND alum and football fanatic, a lot of villains immediately come to mind.

#1 - Pete Carroll
#2 - Reggie Bush - Bush Push (2005)
#3 - David Gordon - Boston College kicker (1993)
#4 - Tyrone Willingham
#5 - Ohio State

These, however, are a bias for Notre Dame. ESPN holds a bias against Notre Dame. Check out these Top 5 villains from various ESPN writers:

Ted Miller: #3 Charlie Weis
Brian Bennett: #1 Notre Dame
Chris Low: #1 Notre Dame
Graham Watson: #2 Charlie Weis
Adam Rittenberg: #1 Charlie Weis
Heather Dinich: #2 Charlie Weis

This blows my mind. I realize ESPN and its affiliates have a long-standing hatred for Notre Dame; maybe because they can’t fully profit from Notre Dame due to the NBC contract. The worldwide hatred for Charlie Weis is stated to be due to his extreme arrogance. Granted, Weis was cocky when he arrived in South Bend, but many coaches are just as arrogant, if not more arrogant than Weis (Lane Kiffin, Nick Saban, Steve Spurrier and Pete Carroll are all greater villains).

It’s hard to argue against the fact that hatred for team boils down to success. Weis arrived in South Bend and made Notre Dame relevant again. Notre Dame was all but dead under Davie and Willingham, and the sports media relished in that fact. Furthermore, most of these writers grew up in a time of Notre Dame dominance. Under Parseghian, Devine, and Holtz, Notre Dame won four National Championships and compiled a record of 248-63-7 (.780 winning percentage) over 28 years that spanned 1964-1996. People grew up hating Notre Dame, the same way I grew up hating Ohio State (.826 winning percentage from 1993-1998), and the same way people now will forever live to hate Pete Carroll/ USC (.854 winning percentage under Carroll) and Urban Meyer/Florida (.830 winning percentage under Meyer).

Still, Weis has not had success the past two seasons. Therefore, why does Weis or Notre Dame even matter? If one’s reasoning was based on Weis’ arrogance, than the past two seasons should be enough vindication. That in itself proves a more underlying motive. Maybe this revived hatred is a harbinger of a successful season? I sure hope so.

-DH