Notre Dame's Disgrace: Off the Field, More Than On It

Well, the BCS National Championship Game was last night, and what everyone expected (an Alabama blow out over undefeated and number one ranked Notre Dame) is exactly what happened.

The Crimson Tide absolutely crushed the Fighting Irish, playing to seeming perfection. Notre Dame's defense looked horrible, as Alabama raced out to a 28-0 lead by halftime, effectively putting the game out of reach well before the second half even began, and leaving as little suspense as possible for fans watching the game. I'll admit to turning it off after Alabama scored with seconds left in the half to make it 28-0. By that point, everyone knew the route was on, anyway.

I was glad to hear Brent Musburger on the broadcast. I remember him covering football since I started following it, back in 1981, and he has been a constant presence. I did not even know he was still on television, but it was cool to hear from him after so many years (for me, anyway). Apparently, however, he made some funny kind of headlines (and received some criticism), because he commented on how lucky AJ McCarron is to have such a beautiful girlfriend. The game was so lacking in excitement, that people actually paid attention to that kind of thing, more than the game itself.

The Alabama Crimson Tide have won three national titles in the last four seasons, and appear now to be a bona fide dynasty. Nick Saban is continually adding to his already considerable legacy.


Notre Dame Rape Scandal

Now, we just have to hope that the legacy in Alabama remains clean. It seems that far too many college football programs are tied up in horrendous controversies, and that included the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Going into this game, a part of me was actually kind of pulling for the underdog Fighting Irish. But then, earlier today, I heard a coworker of mine tell me a story about how he heard on the news that Notre Dame had two football players that had apparently raped two women, and one of the women had apparently committed suicide after no one seemed willing to help her.

Once I heard about that, I told him, "Well, if that's true, then I actually hope Notre Dame loses."

I started to pull strongly for Alabama, despite the fact that they have won the championship approximately one hundred times by now (that's an exaggeration). There was still a question of whether this report was true or not. How had this coworker (who is a serious guy, and not prone to making things up) heard about this story? It is huge, so why was it not making bigger headlines? I certainly had not heard about it before.

In fact, it was worse than what that coworker told me. The girl did not merely take her own life because she was not getting help. She was threatened, receiving menacing threats from a member of the football team. One such text read: "Messing with Notre Dame football is a bad idea."

But apparently, it is because Notre Dame's storied status is too great to be tarnished by such a scandal, and so it was swept under the rug. Anyone even remotely familiar with college football in the past year and change will tell you what that reminds you of - Penn State. There, legendary coach Paterno's golden legacy was, and is, tarnished forever, due to the cover up that he was involved with. That was a hugely successful football program that swept an ugly scandal under the rug, in order to protect it's image. Obviously, it came back to haunt them in a big way, and Penn State football will likely never be the same.

So, what's different with Notre Dame? Why is the media seemingly giving them a free pass, while Penn State's name and reputation was dragged through the mud, probably to the point beyond full recovery?

That's a question that Dave Zirin of The Nation asks in a very interesting article that I strongly recommend, "Notre Dame and Penn State: Two Rape Scandals, Only One Cry For Justice". I agree with Mr. Zirin's statement about "two players whose presence on the field Monday night should be seen as a national disgrace."

Football is very entertaining, and I can enjoy watching it. Millions of people do, as well they should. However, we must remember that it is a game. Nothing more, and nothing less. Some people seem to almost think of it as a religion, and some programs and players seem to have gained so much power, that they are virtually above the law.

When a serious crime, such as rape in this case, is allowed to essentially be swept under the rug, so that a football program will not have to feel tarnished by the ugliness of the inevitable scandal and bad press that follows, then it is wrong, wrong, wrong! That itself is perhaps as bad as the rape, if not, in some respects, even worse. Because it is tantamount to endorsing the crime, almost giving the official seal of approval. That means that Notre Dame's football program itself is guilty.

A part of me had wanted Notre Dame to win, before hearing about this. Now, I'm glad they got destroyed. After the whole Penn State scandal, have we learned nothing about how unimportant football is in the grand scheme of things? It's just a game. Rape is a crime. So is sweeping it under the rug. Notre Dame lost a game today, but maybe they deserve to go the way of Penn State, if this story is what it seems to be.

I would have had more respect for Notre Dame had they dealt with this in an open and honest way, and not tried to hide a tragedy and, in effect, use it to their own advantage. It reminded me of Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers. If he had been anyone else (you or me, for example), his ass would have gone to jail. But he is a millionaire star athlete. Sure, he lost some endorsements, and lost millions of dollars with the whole scandal that ensued. But he is still playing football, still making plenty of money, still free. The Steelers used their influence to reduce his absence from six games to four in 2011, and I lost respect for them as a result. Never had anything against the Steelers, but I do now. These days, i actively root for them to lose. The same will hold true for Notre Dame. Never had anything against them before, but I do now.

When a team gets humiliated on the field the way that Notre Dame did, it often times can taint them. Look at the Denver Broncos following those Super Bowl losses in  the 1980's, or the Buffalo Bills in the 1990's. But Notre Dame's reputation deserves to be tainted far more for what happened off the field. They deserve to have the same fate as Penn State, no matter how many people would protest such a fate. The way the school handled this, by essentially not handling it, not dealing with it honestly, and simply trying to keep it as quiet and off the radar screen as possible, is unacceptable. When there are crimes such as rape and threats and intimidation serious enough to cause someone to commit suicide, then it is not business as usual. If Penn State showed us anything, it was to illustrate the danger of allowing these virtual professional football teams to get too much power, because they will abuse it. This situation serves to highlight that further, to serve as yet more proof that nobody really needed. If this incident comes up every time Notre Dame seems to be getting good again, then it's nothing less than they deserve. So long as they had an active part in keeping such a tragedy under wraps, then they deserve to have it mentioned at every single opportunity. It should taint them far more than any disappointing results on the field ever could.

Two women were raped. One wound up taking her own life after being intimidated and receiving threatening messages from a Notre Dame player, for daring to report that she had been raped. Rape was certainly bad enough. But someone's life ended, and it was in large part due to the irresponsible conduct of a player on Notre Dame. A player that apparently took the field on Monday night. And the team knew about it, yet seems to have done nothing, because it would hurt the team's chances, presumably. Again, I'm glad, at the very least, that they got slaughtered on the field, and had their high hopes for a perfect season, and a national championship, ruined. They certainly don't deserve any better.

Those players are criminals, and should stand before the law for what they did. Since Notre Dame's football program is involved in trying to keep this hush-hush, perhaps they deserve to stand trial in the court of public opinion, as well as officially with the NCAA, in the same way that Penn State did.


http://www.thenation.com/blog/172042/notre-dame-and-penn-state-two-rape-scandals-only-one-cry-justice#

Here are links to some other articles related to this horrifying story:

http://www.fem2pt0.com/2013/01/07/notre-dame-football-players-rape-cover-up-whats-in-the-news-and-what-isnt/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/she-the-people/wp/2012/12/04/why-i-wont-be-cheering-for-old-notre-dame/

http://www.care2.com/causes/notre-dame-freshman-commits-suicide-after-being-raped.html

http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/notre-dame-s-bowl-appearance-puts-lizzy-seeberg-story-back-news