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Get Real About Notre Dame Football In A Conference?

By Joshua Vowles

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Should Notre Dame football be in a conference full time?

If you talk to almost any college football fan or writer about Notre Dame football, they WILL voice their hate / displeasure about Notre Dame football. Almost to a man/woman, they will verbally trash the Irish and give no less than 3 reasons why they hate Notre Dame- and somewhere within those three points will be the fact that Notre Dame football is not in a conference.

It’s a little ridiculous for people who proudly display their hatred for an institution to boldly provide a statement full of advice such as, “they should join the big ten,” or “they need to be in a conference full-time.”

Why should they give a crap?

What’s even more ridiculous, is when they start listing off the reasons Notre Dame should join a conference- and it gets to be Twilight Zone level, whenever they suggest that Notre Dame should join a conference like the Big Ten so they can make more money.

Haters want Notre Dame to make MORE money? What world are we living in? Has the Notre Dame hater value system changed so much in the past 25 years?

The argument contains the “factoid” that the money from the Big Ten Network would fill the coffers in South Bend even more than what Notre Dame pulls now with all of its other deals in place.

HOW DID THE ENTIRE COUNTRY BECOME HYPOCRITES? Do people hate Notre Dame so much that they will just completely flip an ideal they once had to make sure they are on the opposite side of Notre Dame?

It’s infuriating.

Back when Notre Dame first signed its NBC deal, fans (and especially the media) when absolutely nuts. They painted Notre Dame as greedy, and money hungry, and the very worst kind of rebel. How could Notre Dame just turn its nose on the system that the rest of the country was using? Why is Notre Dame so special? How much money do they actually want?

GREEDY BASTARDS!

How the table has turned. Now, that’s the number one point from this conference realignment action we have seen since 2010/2011- money, money, money.

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So now we sit here in May, and college football writers can’t help themselves as the Big 12 continues to talk about maybe expanding. The topic is conference realignment, and when it comes to that topic, Notre Dame is almost always in the discussion no matter how crazy it sounds.

Some of that has been dampened as Notre Dame’s deal with the ACC and its schedule, as well as the contract provision that has Notre Dame joining the ACC if they EVER join a conference- but the topic remains.

It’s all lunacy and it has less to do with what Notre Dame does more than ever. If the powers that be in major college football pooled their strength together, they most likely could push Notre Dame football into fulltime status with the ACC. However, they have had a few different chances to do so (or at least try) and that, obviously, has not happened.

So, can we get real about Notre Dame football and just live in the moment that they are still an Independent football team that has scheduling agreements, its own TV contract, and are a national brand?

Can we agree that Notre Dame isn’t Rutgers? Can we agree that Notre Dame doesn’t need the cash? I hope so, because all of these things are absolutely true.

The reason Notre Dame signed the NBC deal and the reason they remain an Independent in football is the same… IT’S THE AMERICAN DREAM. Notre Dame is living that dream by controlling it’s own destiny- Notre Dame is its own boss, and isn’t that what we all want as true Americans?

It is, and always will be, and if you are one of those “haters,” reread this post with a little bit of Bruce Springsteen or 2 Live Crew playing in the background, and I bet you’ll start to see it my way. Notre Dame is living the dream, it’s time for everyone else to get real.

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