Amory Blaine, the main character in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s iconic bildungsroman “This Side of Paradise,” once lamented that no one cares to read about business unless it’s crooked business. Likewise with Notre Dame football. Unless it’s big time breaking news, no one wants to read about Notre Dame football unless it’s the dome being tarnished.
Well, today is a day for college football news consumers. Yet another scandal under the Brian Kelly regime, (really, at this point, there’s been so many that I’ve totally lost count) rocked South Bend as the Fighting Irish could be without 3 of their best players this season, and they might see their “magical” 2012 season vacated by the NCAA.
You remember that 12-1 season in which ND went all the way to the national title game before getting thrashed by Alabama? Well, as we pointed out earlier, this scandal is far reaching and it affects these special group of players, who were on that team.
The Rev. John Jenkins, the university president, said academic misconduct will not be tolerated at Notre Dame.
“If the suspected improprieties are proven, we will use the experience to reinforce among our students the importance of honesty in all that they do. We are also examining ways of better conveying to students that they can avail themselves of legitimate academic assistance without resorting to cheating,” he said.
The school said the students under investigation will remain enrolled but the football players will be held out of practice and competition until the investigation is completed. The Irish open the season against Rice on Aug. 30.
Notre Dame said it would vacate victories if it is determined that players have been ineligible during past competition. All four were members of the 2012 team that played for the BCS national championship.
And with it, we’re of course having some fun at the expense of the Notre Dame football team. Playing off the infamous “catholics vs convicts” t-shirts of the 1980s in the rivalry versus Miami, and the annual “The Shirt’ tradition, I give you:
@ragzthecoast @PaulMBanks New ND/FSU T- shirt: “CHEATERS vs. CONVICTS 2014”
— Craig Williams (@bartenderradio) August 15, 2014
@h4yn5w0rth @bartenderradio @ragzthecoast these are all way better than my t-shirt “Academic malfeasance vs Petty larceny of Seafood 2014”
— Paul M. Banks (@PaulMBanks) August 15, 2014
We’ll see how this all plays out for Notre Dame football. Stay tuned!
Paul M. Banks owns The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports and Yahoo! He’s been a guest on news talk shows all across the world. He’s also a special contributor to the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. Banks has been featured in numerous media outlets including NFL.com, Forbes, Bleacher Report, Deadspin, ESPN, NBC, CBS, the History Channel and more. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)