By Staff
As expected, my comments in a recent column on Notre Dame's Charlie Weis generated some interesting feedback.
Most was thoughtful and enlightening – except for one paranoid woman's unbalanced ranting that claimed I'm just a Notre Dame hater. Her diatribe was simply laughable.
Here are some snippets from some of that feedback. I'd love to run each in its entirety in the form of letters to the editor, but we live in an age of email and these weren't sent for publication as such. Much of it, too, came from online readers around the country.
A reader named Gary wrote:
"I am a big Irish fan and, living in southern New England, I was on the Charlie Weis bandwagon when he was first hired. I was very pleased with Charlie's first year, too. Take away that Fiesta Bowl debacle against Ohio State and it was a darn good year with lots of promise on the horizons. However, Charlie has to prove it to me now. His second year fell way short of expectations and I'm very concerned about his inability to 'close the deal' with top high school defensive recruits…I was even disappointed in the offense this year. While Quinn had pretty gaudy numbers for a QB, a good chunk of his success was against inferior teams."
Lee, formerly of Niles, wrote:
"…Jan has not got a clue about what she is talking about as far as Notre Dame's talent level versus the top programs in the nation. We are in the process of trying to rebuild a program left in tatters from the previous coaching regime…Charlie took a bunch of mediocre players and brought out the absolute best in them. They had nothing more to give. Brady Quinn would have been subjected to the very last rounds of the NFL draft before Weis pulled him under his wing…I'm sorry but, Jan is a nice girl that should stick to the things she is good at…She needs a big cup of shut the *&*%$ up."
Gene of Niles wrote:
"You are my hero! I am in complete agreement with your article. In fact, I had started a similar email to the S.B Trib a couple weeks ago and chickened out and didn't send it…I ended my unsent email with the statement that when they got up a pool for what year Weis will be let go, I want to claim the year 2009."
Bob of Naples, Fla., wrote:
Give Charlie a break. He has only been there two years and he is still playing with Tyrone's kids. Give him four years then start the complaining!
Bill wrote:
"No need to cringe. I totally agree with your observations about Charlie, at least from the play calling and game prep standpoint."
The hands-down best response – maybe the best response I've ever received to anything I've written – came from Dee, a Notre Dame graduate who earned two master's degrees there. She wrote:
"Charlie Weis has aggressively embraced a tremendous challenge. I see his attitude as a way to shield the players from constant inspection and frequent criticism – both from the media and more distressfully from the alumni and fans. I also glean that his toughness towards his players emanates his care for and about his daughter, Hannah. On 60 Minutes, he painted the picture of some other kids disrespecting and rejecting her. I take his message to be: My daughter Hannah has less physical and mental gifts than you guys and she gives 110 percent each and every day.
Can you expect anything less of yourself, especially on game day?
"Besides bringing the University of Our Lady back into the national championship conversation, he has nudged the players to show respect for the service academies. It gives me chills to see the Irish players join the midshipmen to sing the Naval Academy alma mater. He reminds us all that these Navy players will soon serve on all parts of the globe in a short time to preserve the freedoms of all of us fans.
"You observe and describe the Notre Dame University that I cherish. My hope…my prayer…is that the Lord will strengthen these football players and their coach to play tough and live with an abundance of integrity and love…I cherish what the school stands for, especially its collegiate football program. With you, I believe that it represents some of the best in college football. May the future hold many victories for this coach and his team. Go Irish!"
Go Irish, indeed.