Thanksgiving weekend, which wraps up college football’s regular season, seems like the appropriate time to out myself.
Even though I’m a proud graduate of Notre Dame, I don’t pay nearly as much attention to its football games as I used to.
This season, the only full game I watched was against Texas A&M. I watched today’s game against our biggest rival, Southern California. I saw a few minutes of about four other games, but that’s it.
This is a full reversal of my life in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s, when I watched or recorded all the Fighting Irish games on TV, and typically returned to campus once a year for ballgames.
My attention span has been decreasing for several years There are reasons for it that I’ll get to in a moment, but my declining interest often surprises people when the topic comes up.
Some family background might help. My dad went to Notre Dame for a year, I think 1922-23. Knute Rockne was the coach, I kid you not. My dad came back to New Orleans and graduated from Tulane in 1926.
He worked for General Motors in South Bend, Ind. in the 1960s when I was young. In the 1970s, when we were living in New Orleans, he and I would watch the one-hour Notre Dame football replays on Sunday mornings.
All that is basically how I wound up going to college there. I loved it. Great friends, great memories.
Two or three people have asked me in the last few days how many playoff games I think Notre Dame will win. Usually I guess, “Maybe one?”
I know our schedule’s been pretty easy, which won’t help in the first year of the 12-team playoff that will require the champion to win either three or four games.
Lately, I’ve been having more fun with the fact that LSU’s current coach, Brian Kelly, came to Baton Rouge after 12 years in South Bend.
I know LSU fans well enough to know that with three national titles since 2003, there is grumbling in Baton Rouge right now. The Tigers were 7-4 with three straight losses before beating Oklahoma last weekend.
The conversation typically goes like this, with Thanksgiving dinner at my cousin’s house in New Orleans the most recent example:
LSU fan: “I knew when we hired Notre Dame’s coach that it wouldn’t work. So you need to take him back.”
Me: “Nice try, but we don’t do returns. He’s all yours.”
Actually, Kelly proved at Notre Dame that he’s a good coach. We were competitive most years. I’m sure he’ll turn things around at LSU.
So — what’s up with my ambivalence, even disinterest? There are four reasons.
One is that, having lived in Mississippi for 41 years, I find SEC games generally more entertaining. If Alabama or LSU is losing, or if Mississippi State or Ole Miss is winning, I’m probably going to watch. Those old SEC West games were always lots of fun.
Another is that all of our kids went to SEC schools: John to Alabama, Thomas to State, Audrey to Ole Miss. So you naturally follow the schools you’re paying for an education.
Best Ryan family football line ever: In 2014, when Ole Miss upset Alabama in Oxford, the students stormed the field. Audrey was one of them, and she called Mary Ann, screaming, “I’m crying and I don’t even know why!”
So when Ole Miss knocked off No. 3 Georgia this year, Audrey’s parents texted her that we were crying — and we didn’t even know why.
Then there is college football’s relentless pursuit of money. I understand it. But come on: Having USC in the Big Ten and Stanford in the ACC is ridiculous. Who’s going to take that seriously?
But the big reason is that another team now gets my attention and my money: the New Orleans Saints.
My family went to Saints games from the 1970s to the early 1990s. I got season tickets again in 2006, after Hurricane Katrina, and have been rewarded with fun times and even a Super Bowl. And that is about when I started paying less attention to Notre Dame.
I’ve been spoiled by 15 years of Drew Brees and Sean Payton. I still root for the Fighting Irish, but the Saints are my team. Even when they're not doing well.
