"I just don't know which way to cheer this weekend! Maybe I'll wear a half-and-half jersey," says Cara Belch. "I know I go to Purdue, but I was raised Catholic, too. Isn't it wrong to root against the only Catholic school with a football team in America?"
Research shows that Boston College and other Catholic schools do indeed field football programs, yet Catholicism is rarely the reason people cheer for BC.
Freshman Tristian Shamble agrees rooting for Notre Dame is fine: "I totally grew up in West Lafayette but, you know, Notre Dame is also in Indiana so I don't see anything wrong with rooting for them. Plus, when I was a kid, the guy who mowed our lawn had a tattered old Notre Dame shirt on. One time he invited me into the landscaping truck so he could show me how to check the oil. I was 9 at the time and don't remember anything between then and when I was 16, but well....I remember the Notre Dame shirt. And the smell of musk and gasoline."
And so it goes for Purdue students who have such firm and understandable loyalties to our rivals to the north. It's hard to blame them, too. Notre Dame's field features Jesus himself signaling a field goal, something that's hard to root against.
"I've been told that Jesus cheers for Notre Dame," continues Belch, "and also for North Carolina basketball, that's why the sky is Carolina blue. Point is, winning teams make people happy. It's the same reason I post pictures of my shoes on Twitter -- to make others happy, because people love to weigh in on what I'm wearing when I chase football players. It's also why I cheer for Ohio State -- they win a lot, it's easy, plus I once knew a kid who went to my church who wore an OSU sweatshirt every week and masturbated in the public library. I like guys who express themselves without touching me because I'm a weird tease. I don't know what this has to do with anything, but I know I can like multiple teams and feel fine about it."
It's that sort of dizzying logic that makes loyal Purdue fans crazy.
"It's bullsh-t," says junior Jessica Doore. "In fact, if I find the other people quoted in this story, I'm going to punch them in the face."
Shamble disagrees.
"Look, I love being a Purdue fan," he says. "It's just that after the Purdue game is over, I need to keep cheering because I love the way the players kick the ball and the way the male cheerleaders look when they flex. Wait, can you edit that out? No? Okay, whatever. So around 3 PM every Saturday, I like to turn on NBC and cheer for Notre Dame. NBC tells me they're great and when has NBC ever lied to me? It's the network that brought us 'Whitney,' for pete's sake! That's comic gold. Plus, when I was in high school, my sister nailed a guy who went to Notre Dame. From then on, we were all hooked."
Freshman Jack Fender agrees with the two-timers that Doore wants to punch.
"When you go to Notre Dame, you just don't go to the stadium," Fender said. "It's the grotto. The lake. The Joyce Center. It's a total package of things you go see, all filled with history. At least, that's what my dad tells me. And I don't like to question him because he can be kind of mean when he drinks."
So there you have it. Love 'em or hate 'em, fans of both squads lurk on Purdue's campus. And they have completely legitimate reasons, so leave them alone. Because alone is what they will always be.
12 comments:
J Money, I think I love you.
We need more posts like this.
I can't stand seeing people on campus in ND garb, it just gets me all sorts of angry. I think I discussed that this feeling is right up there with how my blood pressure skyrockets and my fists clench when I see candystriped warmups, but that's a discussion for next february.
When I was a student at PU, I lived in a house with 4 other gents and 1 was a ND fan. He grew up in West Lafayette but loved rooting for ND. He was also a total douche, so I think there may be a correlation that we need to investigate.
Good stuff.
This post confirmed two things for me. 1) Why I grew to hate ND after I got out of high school and 2) why I don't have a Twitter account.
Rock solid post. More please? I think the Irish Roundtable needs more reminders of why they think you all are "the epitome of unpleasant".
I hate Notre Dame so much.
I hate their bandwagon, never went to school there fans more. It may the only thing I hate more than IU.
May.
I don't care if Notre Dame is playing the Al-Qada International Football team....you root for those terrorists because you hate the Irish even more. (kidding here....please don't put me on some government watch list)
My first job was in Hartford, CT where most people do not understand the depth of hatred that Boilers have for ND. This was 1977, cold war still hot, I told a guy if ND played Russia then I was, "Let's go Russkies!." He asked what if ND plays murderers. I said, "Murderers, murderers."
So 9 year old Tristian was lured by a Notre Dame fan landscaper into a truck to "check the oil"? Makes me hate Notre Dame fans even more, them creepers.
Just to be clear, these are not Purdue fans. These are lost souls with no place to call their own. The two are mutually exclusive. Either a) they didn't have the money to go to ND b)they opted for a better education at Purdue or c) had parents who did not love them and consequently did not teach them right from wrong. Dolden Gomers are the enemy.
And I found the story about getting lured into a landscape truck to "check the oil" and the memorable smell of musk quite disturbing. Was this foreshadowing of alter boy days to come?
The whole "I'm Catholic" argument is a complete joke (especially when they ignore BC at the same time). It's just another excuse to jump on the bandwagon.
How many Baptists have you ever heard saying they have to be Baylor fans? Or Methodists insisting they have to be SMU fans. If people want to be Notre Dame fans, so be it. But don't use religion as the reason
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