Shenanigans
When the 1929 Fighting Irish arrived to play Indiana University, they were held up at the gate. "Can’t get in without a pass," said a
student manager, officiously blocking the doorway. The result of any vote on a football team will always be seven to four. Before the Notre Dame – Penn game of 1930, Lawson Robertson, the noted Penn trainer, visited the Notre Dame locker room just before the game and wished Rockne plenty of luck. But as Rockne remarked as the door closed after Lawson, he didn’t say which kind. (On cocktails) Drink the first, sip the second, skip the third. Red Smith, a dean of sportswriters and a Notre Dame man himself, tells about the time Rock was seething after the Irish had played poorly and lost a game they should have won. Defeat by a better team, Rock could accept philosophically: defeat due to carelessness, indifference or inefficiency was not to be tolerated. After such a loss, rage bottled within him, Rockne slammed out of the dressing room and stomped away in the twilight. "Hey, Rock!" one lingering spectator, weaving unsteadily, shouted at him, "Boy, did your guys stink today! What bums!" Rockne wheeled, snarling, "Did you pay for your ticket?" "Did I pay for m’ ticket? Did I pay for m’ticket?" Out of his overcoat pockets the drunk fished fistfuls of pasteboard stubs. They fluttered to the earth like leaves in Autumn, top-priced tickets for half a section of seats. "Did I pay for m’ticket?" A reluctant grin softened Rockne’s battered features. "You’re right," he said quietly. " We stunk." They marched off, arm in arm. ________ The secret of winning football is this: Work more as a team, less as individuals. I play not my eleven best, but my best eleven. After the 1926 season Rock came to New York to address the Notre Dame alumni. His team had gone through its schedule undefeated until the end of the season, when it was upset by Carnegie Tech. With a glint in his eye, Rockne began his speech in this manner: "Gentleman of Notre Dame, allow me to congratulate you on your undefeated season." The Grand Ballroom of New York’s Commodore Hotel immediately filled with coughs of protest and dissenting remarks. Rockne brushed them aside. "You folks don’t know everything," he continued, straight-faced. "I hold in my hand a cablegram, dated the Vatican at Rome, and it reads: ‘This day his Holiness the Pope has annulled the Carnegie Tech game.’" When in doubt, punt. The following was Rockne’s favorite poem: Prayer of a Sportsman And if I should win, let this be my code, To read previous versions of Shenanigans click below: |