Do you have any data to back that statement — that football players graduate at a higher rate than the general population of their schools? (I’m not baiting here; I just find that runs counter to anything I’ve heread before..)

As you can see from this link (http://chronicle.com/stats/ncaa/), over half of black football players failed to graduate from college in ‘98 & ‘99, versus onlyn 38% for white players. That’s pretty dismal no matter how you slice it.

Yes, thank God for the schools of sociology and general studies.

You ever cringe when major’s are posted?

What did they call Home Ec….Domestic Engineering?

You would think that a lot of athletes would be sport and recreation majors. Anatomy and Physiology just wipes them out.

Also, birds have wings and cars have wheels.

And to those posters insinuating there’s something evil about ND’s NBC contract, answer me this: Please point me to a single school that would refuse such an arrangement if it could indeed secure it. Indeed, most major football conferences are trying to accomplish the next best thing, by founding conference-affiliated TV networks.

Among the evils in college football, I can think of a lot of bigger problems than the share of the financial pie ND receives.

Let’s try starting with the graduation rates of black athletes. Anyone like to talk about that one?

My post had nothing to do with Notre Dame, per se. My point was that all “journalists” have to fall under the same catch all group, and as long as they are not connected to the University through any official channels, they should have unfettered access to players, unlike, say, me when I win the Powerball.

No, I hate Notre Dame, too, it is just that we can’t police Lemming without throwing the baby out with the bath water.

Kudos on your reply, though, as all of the rest of your points make sense.

So Notre Dame going 3-9 last season or whatever, paved the way for OSU to get to the title game, even though the two teams never played?

Interesting leap there.

i’m not going to deny that ND has had some players with questionable academic standing, b/c we have (especially under Holtz) – but that has nothing to do with what #61 was saying re: historical anti-Catholic bias in the big 10 – fact is, the big 10, especially Michigan, had some higher ups way back when who were anti-Catholic and thus anti-ND – this is a matter of historical fact – and as we all know, with a school like ND which clings so dearly to their history, the historical slights of 70+ years ago are still remembered and resented

i’m a grad school domer, and ND is and always will be second to Oklahoma with me, so i can better understand and accept folks who don’t like ND than your average rabid domer, but don’t let your ND hate get in the way of historical fact – other than that, hate away

…of course, if you ever say anything about Paul Thompson, i’ll hunt you down…

If by “Anti-Catholic Bias” you mean “ND used players whose academic standing was questionable/non-existent” then yes, sure bias.

I’m sure there were no Catholic kids on 10 other teams from the upper-midwest…. likely.

1. Why is Notre Dame ?automatically? an invite to a BCS bowl if they have at least 9 wins?

-Notre Dame isn’t. In fact, the Irish went 10-2 in 2002 and were shut out of the BCS. Notre Dame gets an automatic bid if it finishes in the top-6 of the BCS, which means it (as an independent) was ranked higher than at least one BCS conference champion.

2. Why are they guaranteed 1 million per year, from the BCS, regardless of where they end up in the polls. 3-9 automatic!

-Because other schools didn’t like the old system, where ND got nothing if it didn’t go and the full pot if it did. Now, Notre Dame is like conference schools, which get automatic allocations from their conferences each year and about $4.5 million of the total payout when they go. After ND got $28 million to keep for itself in 2005-06, the conferences were happy to hedge their bets.

3. 1 million/year is chicken feed compared to the exclusive NBC contract. Right?

-Yes.

4. The Big televen needs one more member to qualify for a championship game. Notre Dame is a natural fit. Because of your obstinance and arrogance, you have effectively paved the way for a team like tOSU to back in and get embarrassed in the national title game. 2x. tOsu did not belong there. No one from the Big televen belonged there. Although my allegiances are with UGA, Oklahoma or Virginia Tech (based on conference championships) would have been a more logical fit. I know, both sucked in their respective bowls, but so did tOSU.

-The Big Ten tried to cripple Notre Dame for about 50 years by refusing Notre Dame admission and blacklisting it from member schedules. The reason was anti-Catholic prejudice. Why would Notre Dame join the conference that tried to kill it?

Coop, I didn’t mean to flame. However, when it concerns Notre Dame, I don’t think most fans understand the intrinsic unfairness that this institution has imposed on college football.

Enlighten me on the following issues:

Why is Notre Dame “automatically” an invite to a BCS bowl if they have at least 9 wins?

Why are they guaranteed 1 million per year, from the BCS, regardless of where they end up in the polls. 3-9 automatic!

1 million/year is chicken feed compared to the exclusive NBC contract. Right?

The Big televen needs one more member to qualify for a championship game. Notre Dame is a natural fit. Because of your obstinance and arrogance, you have effectively paved the way for a team like tOSU to back in and get embarrassed in the national title game. 2x. tOsu did not belong there. No one from the Big televen belonged there. Although my allegiances are with UGA, Oklahoma or Virginia Tech (based on conference championships) would have been a more logical fit. I know, both sucked in their respective bowls, but so did tOSU.

Anxiously awaiting your reply….HLH