Friday November 2, 2001

Chris Martin

RICHLAND, Mich. - Oh back to the homeland. Where the leaves are a burnt orange crisp; winter breezes sweep across barren fields, and football is played the proper way - three yards and a cloud of dust.

You see, I am tired of the pass-happy Pac-10.

I am what you call a purist. I would rather see the option run to perfection than watch Jason Johnson heave up 50 balls a night.

Give me the "I" formation, the wishbone or a perfectly perfected sweep - anything but the pro-style offense.

This is why I had to go back. Back to a place where football is the only season that matters.

Where pep rallies fill 15,000 seat arenas and where tailgating is a day-long adventure.

So where is this place?

Well, it is the home of the College Football Hall of Fame and of the Three Horseman. It is Notre Dame, a heavenly place in upper Indiana, halfway between Chicago (the greatest city in the world) and Richland, Mich., (my hometown).

Don't laugh at my affinity for the Fighting Irish, for it is shared by millions around the world. My sisters go to school in South Bend; my parents went to school there, and in my family, if you don't root for N.D., well you just aren't a Martin.

Unfortunately, this Martin slacked off a little too much in high school to go to Notre Dame, so I followed the sun.

But while Arizona has a premier basketball team, it lacks a football program with tradition or fan fare.

This isn't the team's fault, though. The people of Tucson aren't football fans and probably never will be.

The UA marketing department tries to use gimmicks such as the Red Zone and cheesy billboards across town to sell the team but what they don't understand is that the people of Tucson are smart. They know when the team is good and know that this year and likely next year's team will be bad.

John Mackovic will bring the program back to respectability, but a Rose Bowl is still out of reach.

That's the difference between Notre Dame and UA. The Wildcats are happy with eight wins and the Irish aren't happy unless they are contending for a national championship - something that hasn't happened in a good seven years.

But that's the great thing about Notre Dame - football is religion.

The Fighting Irish are God's team. Just look at Touchdown Jesus beyond the north endzone.

The Golden Dome represents football at its finest. Unfortunately, there has not been a lot of fine football being played at Notre Dame Stadium these days.

No program has the history, Heisman Trophy winners or national championships that N.D. has.

The problem is that head coach Bob Davie has been way over his head since the first day he accepted the job at N.D., and the program has reflected it.

The Fighting Irish have an uphill battle to fight tomorrow when South Bend is invaded by a bunch of whiskey drinking, hillbillies from the hills of Tennessee, when the Volunteers and Fighting Irish square off.

The game might not be pretty but it will be played right - power running, loads of tradition and no gimmicks.

I just hope that someday Arizona can become a Tennessee or Notre Dame, because it is much easier attending games at Arizona Stadium than flying across the country.