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Thursday, March 28, 2024
The Observer

Fickleness

Sports analysts and writers are as fickle as a certain Katy Perry song or Brian Kelly choosing quarterbacks.
And on behalf of all sports writers, I would like to formally apologize for our flaw of fickleness. We cannot help it.
One week a team is living up to expectations, the next week the same team is irrelevant, overrated and has been lucky up to that point. A week later, this same team, with relatively no changes, is a serious threat.
Now at this point, you might think I am talking using a certain team as an example. Well, you are correct.  
Last week everyone and their mother, except for good ol' Lou (and Mrs. Holtz of course) chose Michigan State to win. Notre Dame was the away team, had a questionable defense, an unproven quarterback and not enough criminals. But after the 20-3 win over State, Notre Dame was projected to be in the Fiesta Bowl. The defense even lost veteran Jamoris Slaughter in the secondary, but that did not stop analysts from praising Notre Dame this week.
Trevor Matich on SportsCenter yesterday said Notre Dame's front seven was second in the nation to Alabama. I understand there is a difference between the front seven and the secondary, but analysts have been talking about the defense as a whole. Kirk Herbstreit has long bashed on Notre Dame in years past, but after the one win we are now relevant again. Why were we irrelevant in the first place, Herby?
One could argue that Notre Dame simply proved something this past weekend against a strong team, but does that one game entitle sports writers and analysts to be so wishy-washy. How can someone change his/her mind so quickly?  
Now, don't get me wrong, I love the attention Notre Dame is getting. I am excited that our team is playing well and proving all the long-time naysayers wrong. My concern is that all of these naysayers become yaysayers, and Notre Dame loses the chip on its shoulder. I hope the team goes out every week with the mindset that they have to continually prove the hot-and-cold analysts wrong. Maybe, it is the supposed hipster in me, but I have a hard time believing analysts who just last week said we were a second-rate team, now say we are contenders for a BCS game.
Notre Dame must have done something really right to make Adam Schefter, a Michigan alum, choose Notre Dame this weekend over his former school.
However, there is still Mark May, who I can always count on to continue being a naysayer and keep that chip on Notre Dame's shoulder.


The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.