"Therefore let no one judge you in matters of food and drink or with respect to a festival, a new moon, or Sabbath days," Colossians 2:16. I write this piece in reference to the Viewpoint article published in The Observer on Sept. 15, titled "Bad Game Day Behavior a Disgrace to Football Tradition." While I do respect your opinion, I disagree with various critiques you made in regards to my actions and my character.
First, in defense of a few well respected ladies with whom I associate: these ladies were simply enjoying the commencement of the 2008 Notre Dame Football season. While they may have been dressed in slightly less clothing than average females, it would have been unfortunate if they stained their clothing with blue, green, or gold paint. It is a college football tradition to apply paint of a school's colors on game day and should be no different at an institution like Notre Dame.
In addition, I am personally offended at the comment regarding the writing on my back. It seems wrong to single out one student for advertising the words roughly paraphrased as "Suck This," when our entire student body can be heard chanting "Suck it (Insert team name)" on any given home football weekend. I feel that if you choose to criticize me for my body art, you must also criticize the thousands of fans participating in this popular chant. While you state that alumni greeted me with a nervous reaction, I bring to light the plethora of guests of our beautiful campus who requested pictures of me with themselves or their children, as well as those greeting me with friendly smiles and high-fives.
You also referenced my use of the phrase "Get it up," which a number of my fellow students have brought to my attention has certain vile connotations. In no way was this phrase used as a sexual reference or anything of the sort. The phrase is a common request of fans to raise their voices and emotions (and nothing else) for the team that they support. Any other interpretation of what I meant by this statement is both far-fetched and incorrect. To me, Notre Dame football transcends ordinary, earthly festivals. and I would like to enjoy each of these blessed days to the fullest extent.
While I do apologize for "endangering others' souls," as you contend, I believe myself and those around me were simply enjoying ourselves while getting excited for a promising season of Fighting Irish Football. Rather than intruding on others' weekends, I believe I was simply motivating others around me to cheer as loud as possible on opening day for our beloved Irish.
Respectfully,
Rameez Tase
sophomore
Stanford Hall
Sept. 15
