The Coalition for Better Irish Fans

As a blogger on Bleacher Report (fantastic site, by the way), I peruse a wide variety of fan blogs.  Some are excellent writers like Lisa Horne - yes, I said Lisa Horne and some are just a bunch of idiots with a keyboard.  I like to think that I'm at least somewhere in the middle.

One of those excellent bloggers is Justin Goar, and I have the utmost respect for his opinions and style.  Yesterday he brought up something that bugs me as well in his weekly article, Justin's Weekly Brain Seepage.  It's a list of musings and thoughts regarding college football and this week he brought up "that guy" that always seems to be in your section or in the bar stool next to you.

He writes: These players had to excel in high school and work hard on and off the field. They had to come to college to compete with very talented guys to win a role on the team. Then after all that hard work and sacrifice, they finally get their shot on the field, and they have to listen to some moron whose football IQ happens to mirror his shoe size tell them how to play the game.

My thoughts exactly Justin.

I'm starting to wonder about the sanity and intelligence of a lot of Notre Dame fans.  Not that those people don't exist everywhere, I know they do.  We Irish fans, however, think of ourselves as smarter, kinder people.  We're better than those caveman fans from the SEC, right?

Then why are we resorting to ignorant rants and ravings?

Have we been so spoiled by earlier decades of dominance that we've become blinded by reality?

Have we as a fan base been reduced to little-league dads who assume that our kids are supposed to be the best kids in the world on ever play?

I remember sitting in section four of Notre Dame Stadium during the game against San Diego State.  As we all know, the first half didn't start very well.  The running game was non-existent and the passing game suffered for that very reason.  A couple of punts and interceptions later and all I could here behind me is a 40 or so year old man who demanded Dayne Crist enter the game.

Why?

First of all, neither interception was on Jimmy Clausen.  They weren't bad throws; they were in fact bad luck on tipped balls.  Secondly, interceptions happen.  It's part of the game.  To my knowledge, neither Joe Montana nor Tom Brady has never had an interception-free season.

I'm not asking that people stop making stupid comments because that would be like asking a politician to put his country over his pocketbook.

What I'm asking is that from now on, when "that guy" is yelling two rows behind you or two booths away, turn around calmly.  Address him as the ignorant fool that he is and put him back in his place.

This is the Coalition for Better Fans.  Let's make our fan base the best again.

Now we just need to learn to stand up in the stadium more often.