The next ESPN Films 30 for 30, “ Catholics vs Convicts ”, premieres 9 p.m. ET Saturday on ESPN, directly after the Heisman Trophy presentation. The timing of this debut is understandable, as it nicely helps fill the gap on the one specific Saturday during the college football season in which there isn’t much actual football; bridging the gap between the regular season and the bowl season.
However, a golden (pun intended) opportunity was missed, as the University of Miami just came to Notre Dame to play the Fighting Irish on October 29th; with ND winning an exciting, tightly contested affair.
The film, chronicling the unforgettable 1988 football contest in Notre Dame Stadium that sparked far more than just an offensive t-shirt, was screened on the Notre Dame campus during the week preceding this game.
Thus, it really should have also debuted on the ESPN networks back then.
Here’s a link to the Catholics vs Convicts preview trailer.
Of course, there wasn’t much hype for that game anyway as neither team was ranked.
Miami got off to a hot start, but floundered in midseason. After the loss at ND, the Hurricanes did however win four in a row, and they’ll head to the Russell Athletic Bowl to take on #14 West Virginia.
Yes, they are currently within the midst of a rebuild, but with reports that star quarterback Brad Kaaya will return next season, and a some end of season momentum, things are calm and assured within the eye of the hurricane right now.
On the flip side, Notre dame is a kind of a mess right now. They just ended a 4-8 season with off-the-field issues t0 match the on-the-field problems. This documentary begins with Coach Gerry Faust resigning, and the viewer can’t help but wonder if a similar for Brian Kelly will come before his end his contract is up.
Here’s a link to more of the basic background information relating to this film.
Catholics vs Convicts Memorable Lines:
“Win one for the Gipper versus win one for the stripper; they probably had in the postgame locker room party),” is probably THE line of the film and it comes very early on.
Also, “Just make sure you do me one favor- make sure you save Jimmy Johnson’s ass for me,” Lou Holtz told his team at the end of his pregame pep talk on October 15, 1988, as Notre Dame hosted the University of Miami in what would become one of the greatest games in college football history.
It was tradition vs. swagger, the No. 4-ranked Fighting Irish versus the No. 1-ranked Hurricanes.
Catholics vs Convicts Memorable Moments:
We’ll stay away from reviewing how the actual football game was portrayed in the film too much, or how the aftermath is chronicled. I don’t want to ruin it too much for you.
When President Ronald Reagan came to campus and delivered his “win one for the Gipper” speech at ND, the same prose he delivered as he portrayed George Gipp in Knute Rocke: All-American, you’ll get goosebumps.
The doc does a good job portraying the “establishment vs rebellion” narrative, reminiscent of the two Duke 30 for 30s, the lacrosse film and I Hate Christian Laettner. There are elements of this in the Fab five documentary too.
Catholics vs Convicts Memorable Lows:
You have to put up with Lou Holtz and his painful mush-mouth. His diction is just brutal, and it kind of ruins long stretches of the film, but what are you going to do? He’s one of the most central figures in this story. I try to look at the positives. First he’s no longer on television, and since we’re reviewing an ESPN product here, we might as well discuss College Football Final, and how much better the program is now that Holtz and the always misinforming Mark May are no longer on that show to dumb you down anymore.
But hey, at least Holtz isn’t espousing his views on society and politics in this movie!
I love the new format Final came up with last season. Joe Tessitore is always a treat to listen to, and watch, and it’s a shame they can’t have him and Adnan Virk on the show together. I’m a huge fan of Virk’s ’90s pop culture references on that show, and the program itself is very underrated. College Gameday gets all the hype and acclaim, but to me it jumped the shark with the Katy Perry appearance.
Gameday is more talking head nonsense while Final is pure substance, and “it cooks” in its pacing. Gamenight Final moves along while College Gameday drags at times. As does this film, sometimes it drags a bit, while other times it cooks.
Also, Catholics vs Convicts is more than a bit racist, and while the film directly points that out, they could have spent more time on this point, and delve deeper. They also missed the point regarding life in 1988. They failed to point how very different the political climate was, and how cultural sensitivity today prohibits a shirt like that from being made.
At least, I hope America is still decent enough not to let something like this take off again.
Catholics vs Convicts Highs:
In the middle of the Catholics vs Convicts controversy (Joe Fredrick and Pat Walsh) and a fellow classmate of the player behind center for the Fighting Irish (quarterback Tony Rice) seeing a bootleg t-shirt, with multiple copyright infringements take off. Really, the highlight of this 30 f0r 30 are the parts revolving around the t-shirt entrepreneurship.
It’s like a CNBC documentary, and “Walshie,” in a roundabout way, ends up the most endearing character in the film. At least in my humble opinion! Plus, there’s a Chicago Cubs connection too. He failed with his “Go Cubs” sunglasses and then found himself $12,000 in debt. Thus, he knew the Catholics vs Convicts shirt was wrong, but was in dire financial straits at the time.
Kudos to the film for pointing out the hypocrisy on ND’s part behind the slogan too.
Also, Chuck Todd (Miami resident) is a pleasantly unexpected panelist.
Catholics vs Convicts Bottom Line:
Director and narrator Patrick Creadon (Wordplay, I.O.U.S.A.) is, like Rudy famously self-described, “Notre Dame gold and blue, through and through,” so remember that before you commence watching. Creadon is a multi-generational Notre Dame legacy, as his grandfather was actually
It’s about time we got a Notre Dame football 30 f0r 30, as it was long overdue. You haven’t seen Catholics vs Convicts yet, but you have seen The U, The U part 2, Pony Exce$$, Fantastic Lies, and The Best There Never Was, so you’ve seen parts of this one already. Thus, it’s an amalgam- one with a couple minor flaws, but overall a great watch.
Catholics vs Convicts Grade/Rating: B+ 7.5/10
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication and Bold Global.
He also consistently appears on numerous radio and television talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram and Sound Cloud.