Messing With Tradition

It seems that plenty of the Notre Dame faithful are up in arms about the latest affront to the storied past of the Ramblers Fighting Irish.  New helmets will be worn for the upcoming offsite game against Maryland.  I'm not referring to the new standard helmets (which incidentally look awesome).  I'm referring to a new alternate helmet, kinda like the shamrock one that they wore in that debacle against Michigan, but more bedazzled or whatever.

So people are pissed off and such.  "Why doesn't Brian Kelly win a few more games before he starts fucking around with tradition (and so on)?"  Personally, I don't care for the alternate uniform trend that has swept the college football world.  Then again, I don't have a Facebook account and I have no interest in getting one.  The reality is that trends happen, whether we like them or not.  This one goes in the 'or not' camp for me, but so be it.

There's an unspoken dynamic at play here.  It's one that few people mention for reasons that will soon be obvious to you, but screw it.  I'm always willing to call 'em like I see 'em.  Notre Dame's football team consists of a bunch of teenagers and early-20's types, most of whom are black.  Notre Dame's fanbase consists of a bunch of stuffy old alumni and Midwestern Irish Catholic types, most of whom are white.  Now you know why nobody mentions this particular aspect.  It's not actually racist though.  It's reality.  We're all products of the culture in which we exist.

Back in the early 90's (when I was young like the players), I liked NWA a hell of a lot more than I liked Nirvana.  And I'm probably the whitest white dude any of you will ever know.  Now (when I'm just another frustrated fan) I like (recognize?) basically nothing on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.  But that chart has all the hottest music that people are buying, right?  So whatever.  If football players are into goofy uniforms and so forth, let 'em have their fun.  Guys like me will still get to see the gold pants (or at least the lousy 2011 khaki version), blue jerseys, and gold helmets most of the time.  The youngsters can have their preference once or twice a year and we can all continue to get along.  Nobody's tradition has been destroyed, even if it has been messed with just a little.

There is one major problem with my conciliatory approach here though.  Why in the hell are those shamrocks so fucking huge?