Page 16 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, September 14, 1990
Five ways the Irish
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by Matthew Dodge
Daily Sports Writer
As a lifelong disciple of
Michigan football, this writer has
but ten frustrations.
Make that one, not counting nine
Pasadena tragedies.
The Wolverines have not won a
national championship since 1949.
The number one reason Michigan
shot blanks throughout the last
decade is the Notre Dame Fighting
Irish.
For three consecutive years, the
Irish have knocked the Maize and
Blue out of contention almost before
the season began.
Season after season of thwarted
hopes has breeded an intense
resentment in many Michigan
followers.
Notre Dame cannot possibly be
as honorable and perfect as it seems,
right? My heart says that it is not,
my head says...well, we'll see.
It would be nice to believe that
the prime time world of college
football is saturated with many
confused, gullible people. Strong
allegations of steroids have done
almost nothing to take the edge off
the Notre Dame shine.
Most fans continue to believe
that Notre Dame is America's Team.
On the surface, one must ask,
"Why?"
During the 1980's, the Irish won
only one national title. So did
Brigham Young. But you will not
see every BYU home game on
national television during the next
five years.
So why does Notre. Dame have
such a seemingly wide appeal?
My greatest fear is that maybe,
just maybe...they deserve it.
In college football, image is
everything. This superclean image
has been polished and sustained by
the Irish's five public relations
agencies:
1) CBS and NBC. Every season,
the Irish have one of the two or three
toughest schedules in the nation.
They play many games of national
interest. The television networks
have always scrambled to carry these
games.
Fans in every part of the nation
see a team wearing gold helmets and
nameless uniforms routinely beating
powers such as Michigan and
Southern Cal. These glamorous
scenes must make a deep impression
on people who live outside of
Miami; Boulder, L.A., and Ann
Arbor.
Notre Dame's exposure is so
great that it attracts many fans at a
distance.
A young kid in Madison,
Wisconsin may be a big Badger fan,
but he never sees his team play later
than November. He has seen most of
Notre Dame's games every year, so
on New Years Day is he going to
pull for Colorado to knock the Irish
off in the Orange Bowl?
Not likely.
2) Joe Montana. Every time #16
leads the Niners to a Super Bowl
win-an annual event-the media
reminisces over Montana's years in
South Bend. When every fan on
earth knows that the greatest
quarterback in history learned his
trade in a hallowed stadium beneath
the shadow of the Golden
Dome...That's enough to make
almost anyone convert.
3) Downtown Athletic Club of
New York. This ancient bestower of
Heisman trophies may soon be
renamed "University of Notre Dame
Alumni Association." How many
times has Brent Musberger gushed
over the air that seven Irish have
won the award? Almost as often as
Tony Rice ran the option.
Seemingly every year, the Irish's
best player is automatically
registered in the Heisman race. This
would be cause for much
complaining were it not so
annoyingly deserved. Tim Brown
won it only three years ago-but
who remembers? This season's
entry, Raghib Ismail is the most
exciting receiver in college football
since Anthony Carter.
4) Miami Hurricanes. If
winning were the sole barometer of
acclaim, the Miami Hurricanes
would surpass every team hands
down. It has won three
championships in the last eight
years, compared to Notre Dame's
one.
But the Hurricanes are not revered
or glorified anywhere near the level
of the Irish.
The two teams are college
football's version of the Cold War.
There is no question which team is
the United States.
5) Knute Rockne and the Four
Horsemen. Is there a more cliched
symbol of not only Notre Dame, but
of college football in general.
The Fighting Irish of today have
absolutely nothing to do with
Rockne. But the romantic myth
persists because people like to here
it. No other team in football has
such myths.
It would be nice to be believe
that Notre Dame is just suffering
from a case of fair-weatheritis. I am
telling myself that the commotion
surrounding the team is nothing
more than a prolonged fad. Where
were all the fans when Gerry Faust
was there?
They were there all along,
standing by quietly until Touchdown
Jesus would again bless his team.
Notre Dame football may be a
way of life for many, but not in Ann
Arbor. We have our own wonderful
traditions and fantastic players.
Men's soccer kicks
into mid-year form
by Walter Butzu
Daily Sports Contributor
Ask who the best football player in the world is, and you'll likely s
an argument. Joe Montana, Barry Sanders, or Lawrence Taylor would be
typical responses. If you asked that same question to a non-American, you
may be shocked to hear the names which would be mentioned. Diego
Maradona or Pele, world class soccer players, would certainly be on the
list.
In case you missed the World Cup matches over the summer, soccer is
big news world wide. And here in Ann Arbor, the Michigan men's soccer
season is already underway. Having begun just three short weeks ago, the
team is already in mid-season form.
The Wolverines defeated Macomb College by one goal Wednesday
ruu their record to 4-3-1. Michigan fell behind by one goal midwa
through the first half before junior Tim Puckett scored the equalizer
minutes before halftime.
Puckett's goal sparked the Wolverines who responded with better play
and good defense in the second half. Michigan would normally look to
senior Doug Spamer, senior captain Eric Moore, or junior Jason
Cardasis for the go-ahead goal, but it was Puckett scoring again to seal
the 2-1 victory for the Wolverines.
"I think that we had expectations of winning easily which proved
false," first-year coach Don Swartz said. "They found that Macomb was a
more talented team than they had anticipated and they realized that wh
Macomb scored first."
Swartz, who previously coached at Ann Arbor Pioneer High School
and Concordia College, realizes he has to work to get the team where he
wants it. He has inherited some good talent and was fortunate to have 10
starters return.
Last year the team played a kick and run style, mainly trying to outrun
its opponents. This worked well enough to get the team its first bid to the
National Club Soccer Tournament held in Kansas City.
But Swartz is trying to slow the team down into a controlled offense
which relies on pin-point passing and patience. He believes this style will
help the team earn a return trip to the NCST in Austin, Texas this year.
Michigan will play host to Western Ontario next Wednesday at 5:00.
Home games are played at Mitchell Field with no charge for admission.
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You Know h
Now Read He
Ayn and is famous for her unconventional, best-selling novels. However,
she is also the originator of a systematic philosophy as radical and as electrifying
as her works of fiction. Ayn Rand formally called this philosophy Objectivism;
informally, she described it as a "philosophy for living on earth." '
It is a philosophy that challenges every fundamental tenet of today's
leading schools of thought. Objectivism rejects the modern answers given to
the basic questions of philosophy-in particular, the answer that no rational
answers are possible. It rejects all forms of mysticism and subjectivism. It
rejects the widespread assault on human consciousness-on the senses, on
fer Novels-
?r Philosophy
concepts, on logic, on objectivity-and upholds the efficacy, and the glory, of
man's mind.
Objectivism holds: that there is an objective reality, which is knowable and
absolute; that reason is man's only means of knowledge and basic tool of.:
survival; that the pursuit of one's rational self-interest, leading to the
achievement of one's own happiness, is theindividual's highest ethical purpose;
and that laissez-faire capitalism is the only moral political system.
Objectivism offers a revolutionary alternative to the ideas that dominate
our culture and our classrooms.
0
6
PHILOSOPHY
Are you taught that philosophy is essentially a
parlor game, with little practical value?
"Philosophy is a necessity for a rational being.... In
order to live, man must act; in order to act, he must
make choices; in order to make choices, he must define
a code of values; in order to define a code of values, he
must know what he is and where he is-i.e., he must
know his own nature (including his means of
knowledge) and the nature of the universe in which he
acts-i.e., he needs metaphysics, epistemology, ethics,
which means: philosophy. He cannot escape from this
need; his only alternative is whether the philoso-
phy guiding him is to be chosen by his mini or by
chance.... The present state of the world is not the
proof of philosophy's impotence, but the proof of
philosophy's power. It is philosophy that has brought
men to this state-it is only philosophy that can lead
them out."
-Philosophy: Who Needs It,p. 82; The Romantic Manifesto,
p. 30; For the New Intellectual, p. 50
PROOF
Are you taught that everything is arbitrary since
we cannot prove that reality or our minds exist?
"Proof presupposes existence, consciousness and a
complex chain of knowledge: the existence of some-
thing to know, of a consciousness able to know it, and
of a knowledge that has learned to distinguish between
such concepts as the proved and the unproved.... An
axiomatic concept [i.e., 'existence' or 'consciousness]
... is implicit in all facts and in all knowledge. It is the
fundamentally given and directly perceived or
experienced, which requires no proof or explanation,
[Existence and consciousness] are irreducible primaries.
(An attempt to prove them is self-contradictory: it is an
attempt to 'prove' existence by means of non-existence,
and consciousness by means of unconsciousness.)"
-For the New Intellectual, p. 154-155; Introduction to
Objectivist Epistemology, p. 55
CONCEPTS
Are you taught that all knowledge is invalid
since concepts (or universals) do not refer to anything
perceivable in concrete reality?
"A concept is a mental integration of two or more units
possessing the same distinguishing characteristic(s), with
their particular measurements omitted.... [Objectivism]
regards concepts as objective, i.e., as neither revealed
nor invented, but as produced by man's consciousness
in accordance with the facts of reality, as mental
integrations of factual data computed by man-as the
products of a cognitive method of classification whose
processes must be performed by man, but whose'
content is dictated by reality."
-Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology, pp. 13, 54
OBJECTIVE VALUE
Are you taught that moral values must be accepted
either as religious dogma or social convention, since
one cannot logically derive an "ought" from an "is"?
"The concept 'value' is not a primary; it presup-
poses an answer to the question: of value to whom and
for what? It presupposes an entity capable of acting to
achieve a goal in the face of an alternative. Where no
alternative exists, no goals and no values are possible....
It is only a living organism that faces a constant alter-
native: the issue of life or death. Life is a process of self-
c.,cti-nina nd cn cannnrata,4r4-rnn If a.n nranicmlt,
fails in that action, it dies; its chemical elements remain,
but its life goes out of existence. It is only the concept
of 'Life' that makes the concept of 'Value' possible. It
is only to a living entity that things can be good or
evil.... The fact that living entities exist and function
necessitates the existence of values and of an ultimate
value which for any given living entity is its own life..
Thus the validation of valuejudgmentsisto be achieved
by reference to the facts of reality. The fact that a living
entity is, determines what it ought to do.... Ethics is not
a mystic fantasy-nor a social convention-nQr a dis-
pensable, subjective luxury, to be switched ordiscarded
in any emergency. Ethics is an objective, metaphysical
necessity of man's survival-not by the grace of the
supernatural nor of your neighbors nor of your whims,
but by the grace of reality and the nature of life."
-The Virtue of Selfishness, pp. 15-17, 23
EGOISM
Are you taught that in the field of ethics your
only basic choices are sacrificing yourself for others
or sacrificing others for yourself?
"The Objectivist ethics holds that human good
does not require human sacrifices and cannot be
achieved by the sacrifice of anyone to anyone. It holds
that the rational interests of men do not clash-that
there is no conflict of interests among men who do not
desire the unearned, who do not make sacrifices nor
accept them, who deal with one another as traders,
giving value for value.
"The principle of trade is the only rational ethical
principle for all human relationships, personal and
social, private and public, spiritual and material. It is
the principle of justice."
-The V1irtuo of l(Wfichi1vSS _n..i1
CAPITALISM
Are you taught that laissez-faire capitalism is a
system of brutal exploitation and mindless money-
grubbing?
"Capitalism is a social system based on the recognition
of individual rights, including property rights, in which all
property is privately owned... . The source of property
rights is the law of causality. All property and all forms
of wealth are produced by man's mind and labor. As
you cannot have effects without causes, so you cannot
have wealth without its source: without intelligence.
You cannot force intelligence to work: those who're
able to think, will not work under compulsion; those
who will, won't produce much more than the price of
the whip needed to keep them enslaved. You cannot
obtain the products of a mind except on the owner's
terms, by trade and by volitional consent... Intellectual
freedom cannot exist withoutpolitical freedom; political
freedom cannot exist without economic freedom; a free
mind and a free market are corollaries.
-Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, p. 19; For the New
Intellectual, pp. 183, 25
MAN'S NATURE
Are you taught that man is a helpless,
pitiable being caught ina malevolent universe?
"My philosophy, in essence, is the concept
ofnman as a heroic being, with his own happiness
as the moral purpose of his life, with productive
achievement as his noblest activity, and reason
as his only absolute."
-Atlas Shrugged, p. 1085