Need players, not criminals
Kelly, Te’o dismiss Pinkett’s off-base commentary
DUBLIN, Ireland — Manti Te’o had the perfect reaction to Notre Dame radio analyst Allen Pinkett’s comments about the Irish needing more “criminals” in order to be successful. Said Te’o: “Who?” Thing is, Te’o had no idea who Pinkett was. When told Thursday he was ND’s color commentator, Te’o said, “Where’s he from?” When told the United States, Te’o said, “Did he play football?” When told yes, he was a two-time AllAmerican at Notre Dame, Te’o said, “Really?”
If Te’o hadn’t been serious — when isn’t Te’o serious? — then it would have been even funnier. And more appropriate.
Because, really, who is Allen Pinkett, and who cares what he has to say? He’s one of the countless voices across the country chiming in on Notre Dame football. Rick Reilly of ESPN torched the place earlier in the month. Pat Forde of Yahoo praised the place in response. And on and on it goes, the neverending debate about Notre Dame’s stubborn devotion to tradition and its perceived specialness in the college football landscape. Love them (many do), hate them (many more do), everybody’s got an opinion.
When asked about Pinkett’s comments, Brian Kelly said he wanted tough guys, guys who played hard. Then he said, “Off the field, we want gentlemen.”
Cheesy? Sure. Outdated? Maybe. But that’s Notre Dame. The standards are different. And let’s not pretend the Irish are unique in that regard. Northwestern, Stanford, Vanderbilt, Duke and Rice — just to name a handful — have standards that are every bit as high as Notre Dame’s.
The difference is, Notre Dame’s standards on the field are just as high. No matter how many consecutive mediocre seasons their team posts, Irish fans are always going to expect to party like it’s 1988. Northwestern might be tickled over a TicketCity Bowl bid, and Stanford might be happy to sniff the Top 10 once in a while, but Notre Dame wants more. “Play like a champion today” isn’t a slogan, it’s a frantic demand, echoing through the decades.
But since everyone’s up in arms about Pinkett’s comments, let’s ask if they have any merit. Does Notre Dame need more “criminals” to succeed?
The players, of course, don’t think so.
“More criminals? He said that?” Te’o said. “No, we just need more ballplayers and more guys that love to play the game. That’s all.”
What Pinkett was saying was Notre Dame needs to lower the bar for its players — it needs to let super-talented athletes come to Notre Dame, whether they fit the academic and character profile or not.
Does Pinkett really want to lower it further? Do Notre Dame fans want to let anybody in and be just another college football program?
Doubt it. No, Notre Dame wants it both ways. That’s the trick. And as the Irish have found in the modern TV age, in which every university is national, in which every program is big-time, in which every coach can reach every player in every state, it’s an awfully tough one to pull off.