Quarantine Reading/Watching Material for Notre Dame Fans

If you’re like me, you’re spending most of your free timed shut in at home due to the threat of COVID-19. It’s a crazy and uncertain time for all of us.

Despite all this tension, we have our comforts. One way we are fortunate to be facing this pandemic in the modern age as opposed to previous moments in history is that, even while quarantined in our own homes, we have access to practically every work of film, television and audio ever recorded and every book ever written. Some of these are uniquely appealing to Notre Dame fans, and I want to make sure you’re aware of those to make your social distancing a little easier to swallow.

Obviously, you have your gimmes. I don’t need to tell you to watch Knute Rockne, All-American or Rudy.

Photo by Michael Tullberg/Getty Images

Those are the big ones, and you absolutely should revisit them, but you’re going to need more. Personally, I can only watch Rudy 47 times in a week before I get sick of it. There are a lot of other options out there, and I have some (it would be impossible to list them all) assembled here, with a section each for watching and reading.

Watching

Hesburgh

You’ve probably heard of this one, as the podcast did an entire episode about it last year and it was released in theaters around the country. I’ll confess I haven’t seen it yet, but I desperately want to. There is no more influential figure in the history of Notre Dame than Fr. Theodore Hesburgh. All that sappy talk you hear about Notre Dame’s commitment to academic excellence, and education in service to the common good - Father Ted personified it. He was a towering intellect, a dynamic leader, and a champion of civil rights, justice, and a better world.

If you’re just a fan of Notre Dame football, you should know that Father Ted, despite his occasional conflicts with the football program, had a deep and abiding respect for its special place at the university and worked hard to ensure it remained a national power as he focused on elevating the university’s academic mission. The vision that Notre Dame today aspires to on and off the field is Father Ted’s, and he lived a fascinating life in pursuit of it.

Catholics vs. Convicts

Although it might not be the best 30-for-30 ever made (check out Pony Excess), this one provides a great window into the rivalry between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Miami Hurricanes. Focusing on the 1988 clash between the two title contenders, it captures the rivalry and the stories of the fans who got swept up in it - including those who made the t-shirts that give the film its name - and shines a light on some of the most dramatic moments in the history of college football.

Photo: JOHN BIEVER, SI

Flip this one on and let yourself be transported back to a time when Notre Dame football was at a level of national prominence to which they are still, gradually and in fits and starts, striving to return.

1916: The Irish Rebellion

While the subject matter doesn’t exactly pertain to Notre Dame, this fascinating docu-series (narrated by Liam Neeson!) was a project of Notre Dame’s Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies. Its subject is the 1916 Easter Rising, the insurrection in Dublin whose brutal suppression increased public support for a free Irish republic, opening the door to a full-on declaration and war of independence a few years later. If you’re at all interested in Irish history, this is one of the most important events to know.

Fun personal story about this one: I was participating in one of Notre Dame’s Dublin study-abroad programs in spring 2015, a year before this film was released. The Keough-Naughton Institute hosted an event where students got to meet some of the people behind the film. I hoped they meant Liam Neeson; alas, he was indisposed. It was nonetheless a very fun evening with scholars and filmmakers who have forgotten more about history than I will ever learn, and watching their work is a genuine treat.

Strong Bodies Fight

A personal one for me, this documentary provides a look at the Notre Dame boxing club and the work they support at the Holy Cross Missions in Bangladesh. It contains equally detailed historical explorations of both the Bengal Bouts, one of Notre Dame’s oldest sporting events; and poverty and economic development in Bangladesh, and the improbable manner in which these two seemingly disparate phenomena have interacted for ninety years.

Check this one out and then go back and read my piece about the Bouts!

The Entire 2014 Michigan Game

Our friend Matt Greene already pointed this out, but it’s worth mentioning again. This is not technically a movie, but it is undoubtedly an epic: a tale of conquest, of the sweet thrill of victory and the righteous outpouring of justice upon a contemptible foe. Out of all the games for Notre Dame’s digital media team to give the full-game treatment, they picked the best - or at least the most enjoyable - of them all: the Notre Dame 37 (Remember the Six), Michigan 0.

Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

Pick an evening, maybe one where you’re starting to get frustrated with working from home or having your kids in the house all day, or just stressed out from watching the news. When that time comes, click on that link up there, pour yourself a drink or two and enjoy every beautiful second of this magnificent annihilation of the Skunkbears.

Reading

First of all, this entire site is a treasure trove of great reading material. When you get through with that, check out some of the following Irish-centric books.

Wins, Losses and Lessons by Lou Holtz

Lou Holtz has written a lot of books. You can probably skip a lot of them. This autobiography, however, is a great read. It tells the story of Holtz’s life, from his upbringing in West Virginia and playing career at Kent State to his rise through the coaching ranks to become a national champion at Notre Dame. It touches on the personal challenges he overcame, including his speech impediment and his wife’s battle with throat cancer.

Lou has made himself a figure of fun in recent years, what with his blatant homerism on ESPN and questionable forays into politics. It’s easy to forget the man behind the celebrity, and the incredible life he lived. This book gives you a look at Lou Holtz the man rather than Lou Holtz the pundit, and it will give you a better appreciation of him.

Change Does Not Occur in a Flash by Darrell Gordon

This book advertises itself as a self-help tome, but that really isn’t what it’s about. It’s more like an autobiography with occasional pauses to impart advice. Former Irish linebacker Darrell “Flash” Gordon recounts his rise from humble beginnings in inner-city New Jersey to a national championship at Notre Dame followed by a successful career in business and nonprofit leadership.

I enjoyed this one a lot as someone who A) loves Notre Dame and B) has worked in both of those fields. It’s a quick read and will give you some motivation as you try to keep your career or other goals moving forward in this weird time to be alive.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo

When I was very young, Disney released their cartoon adaptation of Hugo’s Gothic literary masterpiece. I had heard quite a bit about Notre Dame (the university) and I was amazed that this incredible story unfolded there (reminder - I was between three and five years old when this happened). I was eventually told that the Notre Dame depicted in the film was a cathedral in France, not the home of the football team in the cool gold helmets.

Photo by The Print Collector/Getty Images

My childhood disappointment aside, this book is fantastic and Hugo paints an incredible portrait of Paris in the Middle Ages. Also, Lee Corso once picked the Irish on College Gameday by coming out dressed as the Hunchback. You might as well tackle a serious work of literature while you’re stuck at home, so pick the one with the Irish connection.

Any of the books you normally see walking out of the Bookstore

I’ve done you the courtesy of filtering the Hammes site for the usual suspects. There are some good ones in here, including Fr. Hesburgh’s autobiography, God, Country, Notre Dame, and memoirs by Digger Phelps and Fr. Edward “Monk” Malloy.

The Works of Ralph McInerny

A philosophy professor at Notre Dame and an astoundingly prolific writer across a variety of genres, Ralph McInerny is undoubtedly both smarter and a bigger Notre Dame fan than you or I. His writings on Thomas Aquinas, Jacques Maritain, and other serious subjects are no doubt worth your time, but that’s not what we’re getting into here.

Mr. McInerny has written a series of mystery novels set at Notre Dame, all with gloriously cheesy titles. Entries include: On this Rockne, Lack of the Irish, Celt and Pepper, Irish Alibi, and Sham Rock. Check out the Amazon summary of Irish Alibi, released in 2007:

“With the Fighting Irish set to square off against Georgia Tech, Roger Knight, the rotund professor of Catholic studies, and his brother Philip, a semi-retired P.I., know that Notre Dame fans will be out in force. The faithful swear that on game day the entire campus comes alive to cheer on the football team, and they don’t have to look any further than Touchdown Jesus or Fair Catch Corby, a statue of a Civil War chaplain who seems to be signaling another pass completion, for proof, misguided as it may be.

But this year, this friendly and sometimes heated North-South rivalry turns downright hostile when Notre Dame’s ties to the Union during the Civil War are dug up, and two students, brothers and Southern gentlemen, are spurred to defend their honor with a prank nearly 150 years after the fact. While they both admit to being the culprit, only one of them could’ve actually committed the vandalism. But which one? By stretching one alibi over two people, they may dodge expulsion. But then they become suspects in a seemingly unrelated murder case that the Knights must solve, or else getting thrown out will be the least of the boys’ problems.”

Like I said. Glorious. If that had been what actually happened when Notre Dame played Georgia Tech in 2007, we’d all be a lot happier.

When it gets down to week three or four of quarantine, you’ve gone through the primo material and you’re desperate for a way out, escape into some this mysterious, preposterous, deliriously tacky alternate-universe version of Notre Dame.

Do you have thoughts on any of the items listed above or a favorite bit of Irish-related media that I neglected to mention? Let us know in the comments!

EDITOR’S NOTE

I just wanted to drop in this wonderful spreadsheet of every Notre Dame football game there is on YouTube as part of your resources for this pandemic. Jude Seymour’s spreadsheet OCD is wonderful. -Vowles