Costume Party

The combatant schools finally announced that it's official: USB (no, not thumb drives) and The U (no, not the TV channel that shows all ancient reruns) announced a "renewal of their famed rivalry".    Notre Dame and Miami have signed contracts to play each other three times.  They'll begin in Chicago at Soldier Field, then go back where they belong to South Bend, and then go somewhere else, probably Florida, I don't recall, because I don't really care all that much.

This "famed rivalry" renewal has all the panache of Ali and Frazier announcing that they're going to fight again, assuming that their rascal wheelchairs are fully charged.  It's like going to a Millie Vanilli reunion concert.  It has all the contemporary real world importance of Chicago's Crosstown Classic (sponsored by BP, ain't that just a hoot). 

In other words, this is a marketing thing. 

Neither of these two programs is all that important on the national landscape at this point (sorry, Doc, but it ain't all about the U) and what better way to insert oneself into the national conscience than to dust off some old press clippings and reinvigorate a few ancient TV announcers who can ruminate endlessly about the incredible atmosphere of "Catholics vs Convicts", the way it was.  I can almost hear Barbra and "The Way We Were".  Ugh. 

Why Chicago for the first game?  Don't believe for a moment that it is unrelated to the resurgence of Northwestern, the prominence of NU's young coach, Pat Fitzgerald and the scheduling of NU vs Illinois at Wrigley Field this fall (by the way, the summertime tenant at Wrigley is to be commended for doing their best to get the hell out of there as quickly as possible, but jeez it's only July!).  USB has enjoyed the dormancy of Northwestern for years and years, and scheduling this game at Soldier Field is a means of reasserting USB's claim that Chicago is their turf. 

Speaking of turf, this game is just what the Chicago Bears need, another football game on that catbox of a field that they deal with every fall and winter.  We have field turf at our high school, and we run youth sports on field turf at a local park district, so why does Chicago's weird looking major market big time downtown stadium still have a shitty, chewed up grass field?

Anyhoooo...get ready for the newspapers and the TV news guys to start their breathy coverage of the impending tilts.  Maybe by the time the games are played, there will be something worth getting excited about. 

Or you can always switch to the Three Stooges Marathon on The U.