Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1105789
www.BLUEANDGOLD.com MAY 2019 5 FAN FORUM GOOD NEWS … OR BAD NEWS? Regarding the Notre Dame men's basketball team, we keep hearing, "They have everyone back next year." Those are terrifying words consid- ering the play we witnessed this year. They don't box out, don't contest drives to the basket, don't ever try to penetrate, throw lob passes across court again and again, and a poten- tial star like T.J. Gibb has regressed to the point where it appears he doesn't want to be near the ball. All this has nothing to do with youth. Kids learn to block out in elemen- tary school. When the same mistakes occur over and over, coaching must share much of the blame. Coach Brey's lack of anger shows he also has thrown in the towel. Tony Ardizzone Indianapolis VACATION LEAVE During the 2017 season, I had the opportunity to be at the game against Miami (Ohio) and witness Notre Dame football's 900th all-time win as part of the over 60 games that I witnessed. In prior years I also was present for the 700th and 800th wins. However, after that the school was forced to vacate a number of wins, al- though the exact number I don't recall. After vacating the 12 wins in 2012, the 2018 team replaced those 12 wins. I don't know how many of the other years that had to be replaced with the wins in 2017 and possibly with wins in the coming season. Michael P. Boyle Phillipsburg, N.J. Mr. Boyle, Notre Dame vacated 21 victories total, 12 from 2012 (12-1) and nine in 2013 (9-4). Consequently, per the NCAA's eyes, it will enter the 2019 sea- son with 897 all-time victories. Provided the Fighting Irish win the first two games this season at Louisville and then versus New Mexico, which were a combined 5-19 last year, hopefully you can be present at win No. 900 "again" at Georgia Sept. 21. SOUND BARRIERS Maybe it's just me, but I wish you would provide a pronunciation guide in your preseason issue. Even though I'm reading to myself, I can't help feeling that I'm not respecting the player(s) in the article. I know there is a list provided to the networks. This is the only thing I can find that would improve the finest sports pub- lication anywhere. To a lesser degree, if name pronunciation could be given at the time a verbal commitment is given. Continue your fine work. Tom Griffin Indianapolis Mr. Griffin, that's a good sugges- tion, especially while Notre Dame reaps harvests with names such as Ta- govailoa-Amosa (tongue-oh-vie-low-uh Uh-moe-suh) or Adetokunbo Ogundeji (Ah-duh-kun-bo O-kin-day-jay), among others. Thank you for your support. BE HEARD! Send your letters to: Letters Blue & Gold Illustrated P. O. Box 1007, Notre Dame, IN 46556 or e-mail to: lsomogyi@blueandgold.com In mid-March, CBSSports.com reported that preliminary numbers from the NCAA revealed that Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) attendance was down for the seventh time in the last eight seasons, the lowest since 1996, and that came one season after the average per-school decline was the most in 34 years. An improved home-viewing experience and other factors can make traveling to a home game less appealing to the average fan. It's no longer a scalper's market. Here were some of the doz- ens of reactions on BlueandGold.com's message board: IrishinFla1: What next? Ticket price reduction? More conference channels on cable with higher viewership and more $$$$ are coming … here comes the ACC Network this fall on ESPN. Given this news and the [weak home] schedule this fall, it's not a surprise Notre Dame football ticket prices did not go up this year. It's a tight rope the university balances with the quality of the expe- rience, good football and cost of that experience. CMwicker: I had not really noticed just how boring that home schedule is. FightinMike87: I am going to take full advan- tage of that slate, possibly seeing five of the seven live, for peanuts. Vonteego: Not a single mention in that CBS ar- ticle about the absolute abundance of crap body bag games played by far too many power teams. When Alabama is playing three scrimmages at home every year, it isn't a shock even their stu- dents don't want to attend the games. Eliminate all the FCS opponents and start rewarding 10-2 teams for playing head-knocker games. SJB75: Last season the big complaint was the overall travel and the Yankee Stadium Shamrock game. This season for some it's the boring home schedule and how tough the overall schedule is. Can't please them all. BigNDFan80: ND is really going to be chal- lenged to get people to pay face value for tickets. This will be their most challenging year because so many tickets will be on the market for ex- tremely low prices. More and more people go to tailgate and just watch the game at their house. Thomasna: The explosion of home theatre systems is also at play. GroggyGrizzly: In the space of the game day there are so many things that a dude can do at home and still not miss a play or action on TV. Could literally clean part of the garage, change oil or hydraulic fluid on the tractor, make and eat a custom-made hearty breakfast, enjoy a few Bloody Marys … and as a bonus can do all this just wearing work boots and maybe underwear. I enjoy attending games, but there are a lot of other thing going on that need to get done too. FROM THE WEBSITE Attendance at college football games has been falling in recent years for various reasons, which might make tickets to Notre Dame home games more of a buyers' market. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA