Sunday, November 23, 2008

"We lost to Syracuse."

Four short little words, which almost got me beat down by none other than the mighty Jimmy Clausen.

I was out at CJ's last night, having a couple of drinks with my friends who were in town for the game, and we were on our way out of the bar, when we saw Jimmy walk in.

He was all smiles, hitting on the ladies, high fiving his buddies, and in a generally good mood when I saw him.

Which pissed me off.

I was not in a good mood.

In fact, I was in a lousy mood, because the Irish had lost a game that they had no business losing. This was worse than Navy last year, who at least had a winning record. I couldn't get over the fact that we really lost to a 2-8 Syracuse squad who had already fired its head coach. I was in a foul mood, and I'm just another fan.

Shouldn't the leader of this football team also be miserable? Shouldn't he be almost emabarassed to show his face in public after that debacle? And if he does come out, shouldn't he display a little humility?

So I said 4 little words to Jimmy as we passed in the crowded bar.

"We lost to Syracuse."

Boy howdy, did that do the trick.

Jimmy turned to me, as i was just past him by then and screamed "Come say that to my face!" He was trying to get after me, but his entourage were holding him back, and he kept yelling as I made my way out.

Normally, I would never blog about my personal interactions with the football team. I'm usually of the opinion that what happens at CJ's, stays at CJ's. And I have some stories I could tell about CJ's over the years.

But here I am the next day, and I just couldn't get Jimmy's stupid grin out of my head. This is the guy that's supposed to be the leader of our football team, and he was yukking it up with his buddies like this loss was no big deal.

It was nice to see that he responded so viscerally to the statement, but his attitude walking in is a symptom of a larger disease within the program.

Some of these kids aren't playing with much heart.

*****

I really like Coach Weis.

I think Coach Weis has the potential to do great things with this football program.

But I also think that he has not done his job at Notre Dame, and now has placed himself in a precarious position.

He needs to win next week to save his job. In the Coloseum, against a program that has been a dynasty for the better part of the last decade. I'd be willing to bet that the oddsmakers in Vegas will have Notre Dame as the biggest underdogs in Notre Dame history next week.

John Walters at NBC made the most damning review of Weis at this point in his career, and provided me with everything I need to know about the program right now:

Bob Davie, five seasons, 35-25 record.

Tyrone Willingham, three seasons, 21-15.

Charlie Weis, just under four seasons, 28-20.

What do each of the last three Notre Dame coaches have in common? As of today, the same exact winning percentage at Notre Dame: .583.


Once again, Weis' own words are going to come back to haunt him.

If "9-3 is not good enough," then certainly 3-9 and 6-6 won't cut it either.

I have not seen "a hard-working, intelligent, nasty football team" out there during Weis' tenure.

"You are what you are, and right now you're a [6-5] football team."

And that's just not good enough.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

This team is no better than last year, they have only played an easier schedule. Charlie has not done his job. Yesterday wasn't about experience, talent or luck. We simply got out played by a 2-8 football team. I don't agree that Charlie is "special" or might somehow get the job done. Fire the man for failing to do his job and let's get on with the business of ND football. OPerating word is business. This is a multimillion dollar franchise whose public image is becoming equivalent with failure and poor performance. The AD needs to fix the problem.

Anonymous said...

If Charlie really believe in Notre Dame, and I believe he does, I wish he would resign effective immediately.

This would expedite the search for a new HC. It would also make it possible to save the current recruiting class and keep last year's class, many of whom have never played a down for ND, on board.

Anonymous said...

Is Clausen even 21 yet?

I genuinely don't know what it is that made you ever able to see the kid as anything other than an arrogant little asshole, honestly. I knew he was a prick the very first time I saw him. I don't understand why you didn't.

Anonymous said...

"He needs to win next week to save his job. In the Coloseum, against a program that has been a dynasty for the better part of the last decade. "

Wow! keep on dreaming

Anonymous said...

"He needs to win next week to save his job. In the Colosseum, against a program that has been a dynasty for the better part of the last decade. "

he might as well resign now. a non-dimensional offense will not beat SC. Beyond the fact that ND is a bad road team, and plays with little heart and you have the makings of a disaster approaching.

Anonymous said...

A punk move for you to post what you did about Jimmy. Putting it out in the public with no way for the kid to defend himself. What was your motive? To smear Jimmy Clausen? So how does that help anyone?

Do I believe it happened? Yeah it probably did and it sucks as much as you describe it. Do I think you are a punk for putting it out on the internet? Absolutely, and you should take it down.

Anonymous said...

Clausen has repeatedly, game after game, shown toughness that belies he is only a SOPHOMORE. The fact that he's following in Brady Quinn's shoes and yukking it up at C.J.'s to erase the pain is normal. What is he supposed to do? Mope and cry like a wuss and then go to the library to study? He knows he needs to keep a postive outlook in the face of all the ***holes who come up to him on campus and through the Internet with juvenile comments like, "We lost to Syracuse." The fact he turned so quickly to challenge that moronic comment shows he's not giving up, not going to let some barhopper challenge his team.

Anonymous said...

Anon 4:47 PM,
Let the allegations be known. You don't like it, visit another blog. Jimmy can defend himself. Anyone can come in here and post a response. stop it with the poor kid bs!

Anonymous said...

Right. Jimmy Clausen is going to somehow find your blog and post a response refuting what you posted.

It seems like you had it right in the first place when you say what happens in CJ's stays in CJs. You should have left it there instead of shooting from the hip. Do you have any idea why Jimmy was high fiving and smiling? Maybe there was good reason and it is why he wanted to knock you into next Tuesday because you assumed that he was happy they lost.

But you offer sage advice, nonetheless.

Wacko said...

Maybe it was wrong of me to post it. I thought long and hard about posting it before I did.

Ultimately, I felt like the episode was a good example of one of the base issues with this team - a lack of passion.

I have been to CJ's many many times after games. I never saw Brady there after a loss. Certainly not after the worst loss of his career.

Was I drunk and obnoxious? Yes. If Jimmy had beat my ass would I have deserved it? Probably.

But remember, I didn't throw any personal insults his way - I just reminded him of the facts.

Anonymous said...

Anon 3:59 PM, these are just alleged facts. people can take from them what they will but this business about let's not talk about what this person said and acted like in a public forum around a bunch of people is crap. any intellingent person can understand that this is one side of the story. if Jimmy's not here to defend himself, then take that into consideration in giving this story the weight it deserves.