Times have changed. Parents no longer seem to admonish their off-spring effectively with the all-powerful (at least to my memory) "Because I told you so, that's why!" Football coaches no longer seem to command the campus situation and, in fact, must often defend their philosophies and energies to a trying public and themselves. Players no longer seem enthused by words such as "Win one for the Gipper," and at times are hard pressed to understand their dualistic role of student-athlete.

But those who would attack us as preaching hostility or being trite hypocrites spewing out-dated and irrelevant cliches, have missed the boat.

We are an organization, a team, demanding unity in times when the trend is to the individual. We ask for higher ideals, team goals, the sacrifice of personal ones, in a moment when this isn't the thing to do. We ask separate people to blend their separateness, and develop a body, a team, with as many emotions and feeling as anyone individual. And the incredible thing, credible to the coaches and players and all involved, is that we've succeeded to a greater degree than I've experienced in my four years at Notre Dame.

Sometimes, being Notre Dame isn't easy. We don't buy our guys, stretch admissions, or wine and dine junior college All-Americans. We're not super athletes, only athletes who have come to demand of themselves super effort and dedication. These help perpetuate the traditions that are Notre Dame, traditions criticized as trite and outdated, but more alive today than certainly I ever knew. Why do teams aim at us? Why do they make their seasons by beating us? Somehow, knocking off Nebraska isn't quite the same as knocking off Notre Dame. The LSU game was more than a game to them, more than a revenge match or a feud. They didn't beat 11 players and coaches, they beat Notre Dame, and the excellence of the school, on and off the field. They defended Southern pride and integrity; they showed the Northern Catholics who should've won the Civil War; they taught us how effective going to Mass before a game is; they proved, at least to themselves, that their ways are better. And theirs is not the exception, but rather, the rule, because that's exactly how all our opponents approach playing Notre Dame. I don't know the situation at any other school, but I do know this about Notre Dame: Athletes don't come here because of false promises or cars, they go to classes like everyone else, they take phys. ed. as a non-credit requirement and they graduate. And in spite of these "drawbacks," we win. I guess that's a little tough for some to swallow. In spite of anything opponents can do, they can never be Notre Dame. They can never represent her glory, only try to steal some. They can't upset her traditions or her spirit, only attack them. They can win on the football field, but not in our hearts. For they can never be Notre Dame, her people, her traditions, her football, her life.

This is the homestretch of the '72 season, and the autumn of my collegiate career. Two more times I'll put on a gold helmet and take the field for N.D. Two more times I can be part of a living legend of people and excellence. Two more times I can be someone special to one kid or a thousand kids, because I play for Notre Dame.

"There are little guys all eager

to do anything you do.

And all those who are dreaming of the day they'll be like you..."

Modern poets say look to your soul, and here's one jock who, having done so, would just quietly say "thanks."