Siegfried entered a new realm of interhall publicity yesterday.
The currently undefeated and untied Ramblers were featured in a 3,000-word feature about interhall football by Kieran Darcy on ESPN.com.
Darcy's story focused on the uniqueness of interhall football and its place in the Notre Dame tradition. Darcy interviewed many Siegfried players for the story, including captain Kevin Kelly. Kelly said that he believes Darcy was inspired by the story of David Ruffer, a former Siegfried player who is now a kicker on the varsity team.
After meeting with representatives from RecSports, Darcy wanted to focus on a particular team, and who better than the currently 6-0 Ramblers.
"He got in contact with us and came out to our practice," Kelly said.
Darcy went on to describe the Ramblers' 14-6 semifinal win over Morrissey, which sent the team to the championship game.
Kelly said he was grateful for the exposure, and thought Darcy did a good job portraying interhall football's status at Notre Dame.
"It was really cool and well-written," Kelly said. "I really appreciate how he did that for us."
Not every interhall football player was happy with the article, though. Keenan, Siegfried's opponent in the championship, was disappointed that their team wasn't mentioned in the article. Several Knights players expressed their dismay at the team's practice Thursday night.
"It's just not cool," Keenan captain Brett Wilps said. "He didn't even mention last year's championship [where Keenan lost to rival Stanford]."
The Knights have made the championship four of the past five years, but Darcy's article focused almost on the Ramblers. Wilps said he planned to use the story as motivation on Sunday.
"I didn't realize only one team was playing in the championship," he said. "It's posterboard material for us. We're going to tack that up in the locker room."