Sports and Spirituality Review: Summer 2022. Sisterhood

The joy of a bye week means a few good things: a Saturday that's wide open and a little less stress. During the regular season, sports fans take one to three days to review the past game. Close to midweek however, it's time to turn your attention to the upcoming opponent. However when the schedule says bye, there is more time for reading about something other than your football team. I can't be the only person who feels this way...

With a bye on October 1, I had a chance to read Notre Dame Magazine: Summer 2022 from front to back. Entitled "Sisterhood" it is an issue by and about women. It is is a fitting tribute to 50 years of co-education.

The Letter from the Editor: "A Woman's Point of View" begins with a story of Sports and Spirituality I have never heard. Kerry Temple '74, writes

I was in Lyons Hall on Thursday night, September 20, 1973 — one of 50 million Americans watching ABC on prime-time television — when Billie Jean King defeated Bobby Riggs in the “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match. Minutes later, hundreds of women marched across campus singing, “I am woman, hear me roar,” belting out with gusto the popular Helen Reddy song, “I Am Woman.” Our first-floor window was open, and we heard the proclamation: “I am strong, I am invincible, I am woman.” The eruption of defiant self-determination made an impression. It said so much.

I was a student during the mid-90s, a relatively peaceful, passive era. I never saw students march across campus as I heard they had—during the Vietnam era. This would have been a sight to see.

Stillpoint 
The two photos in "Stillpoint" capture the spirit of Notre Dame, the spirt of sports. Here's how.

The caption beside Cashore's photo reads, "Having long dreamed of throwing a pass in Notre Dame Stadium, Archbishop Borys Gudziak hurled the pigskin toward the Cheering Class of 2022...The graduate who got the grab is Edie Uebelhor, a water polo player (first?!) and a chemical engineer from Encintas, CA.

I would love to see a stat on the number of commencement speakers at Notre Dame who make an overt reference to Sports...and of course Spirituality. Go Irish!

At 50 Years
This essay examines "a half-century after the start of co-education, how Notre Dame has changed—and not changed—for women." Each profile paints its own profile of progress, while recalling past (and present) pain and challenge.

The story of Molly Kinder '01, the first female member of the Irish Guard piqued my interest. The Irish Guard always have. I've been mesmerized ever since I first caught sight of that tall,  tartan clad, forward facing group—one that has now had several female members.

"Standing 6-foot-3, Kinder had met the Guard’s height requirement — since eliminated — and she passed the rigorous tryout." However, she was tested in many other ways.

As difficult as personal and institutional change can be, especially at a place like Notre Dame, I also hope she found she had her own champions and gracious support.

Who Do I Say I Am?
Maraya Steadman '89 puts a great twist on one of the Gospel's essential questions. This piece is about "a woman who has reached her middle years and confronts an age-old question." She weaves sport, spirituality and science into her story in such a way that when it comes to a close, my primary response/reaction was simple. "Thank you."

She writes "Descent is not a place I want to be." Therefore Steadman notes, "My first step was a pivot move away from my obvious choices: going back to work, volunteering or suffocating the daughter who is still at home by continuing to be a full-time, stay-at-home parent.  After the pivot, I took the shot. I don’t know if it went in or not; I may never know. I have no idea what will happen next, but I do know that “you will always miss 100 percent of the shots you never take.” This quote has been attributed to both Michael Jordan and Wayne Gretzky, so you can’t use it in a sophomore writing seminar. I know that not because I remember anything from my classes at Notre Dame, where I majored in accounting, but because I am now an undergraduate English major at a college close to my home in the Chicago suburbs. I tried to include a quote in a paper without citation — “Education will make you free.” My professor advised me to take it out."

My only challenge to Steadman is this: you *might* be among the minority. In my experience, accounting majors, engineers and bio-chem geniuses seem to quote their liberal arts teachers from ND as often as me. I am proud of my B.A. American Studies. I believe they got many of the benefits of a liberal arts education, too.

She's Got Game: Title IX gave women the right to compete on level playing fields. When given the chance, Notre Dame’s female athletes have soared.

This is a piece every Irish sports fan ought to read. The history, testimonials, and stats that have emerged from the implementation of Title IX are worth knowing and celebrating. Here are but a few that stood out to me!

• Betsy Fallon ’76 organized the school’s first intercollegiate women’s tennis match when she was a freshman in 1973, at a time when female athletes started their own clubs, drove the vans and did the laundry, all for love of the game. 
  
  
• Swimming became a varsity sport in 1981. The next year, three swimmers were All-America selections, including Teri Schindler ’83, who competed in breaststroke at the national swimming and diving championships. Schindler, who became the first woman to produce basketball games for the Big East, was hired by NBA commissioner David Stern to be the inaugural vice president of WNBA broadcasting. She remembers the value of swimming at Notre Dame.
  
  
• Molly Seidel ’16 finished her career with four national championships and won a bronze medal in the marathon at last year’s Tokyo Olympics. Softball and golf earned varsity status in 1988, followed by rowing in 1996 and lacrosse in 1997. There are now 13 varsity sports for women at Notre Dame.
  
  
• The men’s and women’s combined team has won 12 national championships — one more than the football team — and the women have compiled glittering resumes.
  
  
• Basketball now carries the school’s mantle of excellence and visibility, but it took a while to run the weave. The varsity team, which launched in 1977, didn’t play a Division I schedule until 1980, which included a 124-48 loss to South Carolina. The program first joined the North Star Conference, then the Midwestern Collegiate Conference.

Lesley Vesser writes "Those 37 words, signed into law by President Richard Nixon on June 23, 1972, changed American society. They created the explosion of girls’ and women’s sports that has taken female athletes at Notre Dame and other colleges and universities to national championships, the Olympics and professional careers."

She adds, "The road has not been easy. And yet, "Every female athlete today owes her gratitude to the women who overcame those obstacles, both on the court and in the courts." I agree.

Domers in the News
ND Women are contributing on to the wide world of sports on the field, in the front office and in the production booth.

Lindsay Schanzer ’11. The NBC Sports producer has overseen the network’s coverage of horse racing’s other two jewels, the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes, and on May 7 became the first woman to lead a broadcast of the legendary Derby. “What’s really important to me is on this day we’re reaching an audience, many of whom never watched horse racing,” Schanzer told The Associated Press, “so it’s inviting them and also not alienating the audience that watches horse racing throughout the year.”

In Conclusion
Sports and Spirituality offer but two perspectives to reflect on our society. At Notre Dame, I daresay those points of view constitute "the blood in the bricks." 

The Summer issue of Notre Dame Magazine: Sisterhood celebrates 50 years of co-education. I find Coach McGraw's quote to be a fitting way to think back on that milestone.

“I always struggle to find the perfect words to say how great Notre Dame is,” McGraw says. “I’m big on accountability. I demanded it from my players and myself. At Notre Dame, everybody makes a promise to do it the right way.”

We have and and we have not. This is a chronicle of success and failure and the effort to do it the right way...!

Photo Credits
all from ND Magazine
Lindsay Schanzer

Notre Dame Magazine: Spring 2022 Sports and Spirituality Review: Postcards to Alma Mater

In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill that designated the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day. Mother's Day is that special day when we honor and remember those women in our lives who have made God's love for us a reality. They brought us into this world, loved us, and helped shape us as we live our lives. Thank you, Mom!

My alma mater holds a unique place in the history of this unofficial national holiday. As noted by the Notre Dame Alumni Association, "In 1904, Frank Herring, an alumnus and administrator of the University, observed a class of students sending penny postcards to their mothers. Inspired, he spent the next decade advocating for a day of recognition" for moms. It became a holiday 10 years later, and Herring is still recognized as one of its founders. Go Irish!

It should come as no surprise that a University dedicated to Our Lady made some sort of an impact on this special day. From the gilded statue of the Blessed Mother who overlooks the campus to the song that concludes student gatherings, alumni mass, and even football games—the Alma Mater—the Mother of Jesus, Notre Dame is much more than the name of the school. She is patroness of the University. She is tender, strong and true. She is our Morning Star and guiding light. 

I refer to Notre Dame as my Alma Mater with reverence, respect an affection. I know those from hundreds of other schools do the same. The term is an allegorical Latin phrase used to identify a school, college or university that one formerly attended, or graduated from. The phrase is translated as "nourishing mother," suggesting that a school provides intellectual nourishment to her students. But Notre Dame offered me much more than nourishment of the mind. The word in Spanish for soul is "alma." How fitting. ND "shaped my heart and soul, too.

One way Notre Dame has continued to nourish my heart and mind is through FaithND and Notre Dame Magazine. Since 2019, I have posted a Sports and Spirituality review of each seasonal addition of ND Mag. I have enjoyed reading the printed word looking for stories of sport, spiritual lessons, and the symbiosis of the two.

The Spring 2022 issue features Our Lady of the Snite—a stucco with polychrome statue that has stood at the entrance of Notre Dame's art museum for decades. Created by Jacopo Sansovino, this "500-year-old Madonna and Child received a meticulous makeover for its move to Raclin-Murphy," the on-campus museum to come.

Many of the stories in this issue are spiritual such as:

• Reading coffee with...Vera Profit: Speak no evil,
• Partners in Truth: It's time to convert the debate between science and faith into a dialogue of mutual enrichment,
• The Power that Preserves the Peace and
• Advocate of the Last Resort: Bill Rayna '56 is one of the few who has acted on the biblical call to visit those in prison and so do for Jesus by doing the least among us.

Each one offers tremendous insight and is of timely import. Thank you editors! Few have a sports leaning, and that's okay! Here is what you may want to check out.

Domers in the News

• Bryant Young '94 (football) and Shannon Boxx '99 (soccer) or should I write "American football and football," have both earned their sports highest awards. 
• Boo Corrigan '90 the AD at North Carolina State has been named chair of the College Football Playoff selection committee and
• Sports media celebs Mike Golic '85 and Jessica Smetana '16 have teamed up for a Draftings video podcast

Indeed, Notre Dame alumni are making an impact on professional sports.

Photographic Memories by Margaret Fosmoe '85

"They were the emails, texts and Instagram images of their day. Starting at the dawn of the 20th century, a postcard craze swept America." Check out how many of them feature Notre Dame football! As a rower, I can't help but love the crew on St. Joseph's Lake.

While I was on campus during Spring Break, I had a chance to send a penny card from the Alumni Office, so I did. My mom and my dad made it possible for me to attend Notre Dame, Carondelet High School and Saint Mary's grade school. My mom in particular wanted her children to have a Catholic education. On that postcard, I had a chance to thank her once again for the love and support she has given to me. Truly she has made God's love a reality in my own life...and so have hundreds of women I have met at and through Notre Dame.

Who would have thought that a penny postcard and an observant teacher could prompt a day like today! To moms, grandmoms, Godmothers, foster moms, stepmoms—thank you. ENJOY!

Photo Credits
Our Lady of the Snite
Bryant Young
Alma Mater
ND Postcard

Notre Dame Magazine Sports and Spirituality Review: Spring Cleaning—Winter 2022

In her weekly e-mail "Five Things Making Me Happy" Gretchen Rubin asks, "Are you spring cleaning? Hark Audio curated spring-cleaning tips from seven different podcasts, including Happier. Very helpful ideas." I should have known this timely topic would appeal to loyal listeners. Vodka, Spit and Coke: How to Spring Clean like an adult" wins the prize for the most creative podcast title I've heard in while. 

Are you Spring cleaning? What does that look like in your household? (and what might it mean to do so like an adult?! stay tuned!) One answer is reducing my physical and virtual inbox closer to zero. With Spring break this week, I have set a deadline to either read or toss those magazine articles and emails I have intended to read by the conclusion of the Easter Octave. So here goes! 

Before I can toss the Winter 2021-2022 issue of Notre Dame Magazine and begin to read the Spring edition, allow me to offer my Sports and Spirituality review from the 50 year anniversary edition! Enjoy

STILLPOINT
"Outlined against a dark November sky...." this photograph of interhall football by Matt Cashore '94, features the Keenan Hall Knights practicing under lights. Lights! replete with a video tower, I wonder how many teams tape their games and review plays. Interhall, you've come a long way, baby!

From front steps ban to bikes in trees, campus traditions evolve by Margaret Fosmore '85
In Sports and Spirituality, I ask my students often to name rituals and traditions that have meaning for them in both domains. To be a student at both Saint Francis High School and at Notre Dame is to know that the lines between the two aren't always separate.

"Countless campus traditions have waxed, waned and transformed over time to meet the needs of a changing student body within a changing nation. What do these changes — and the firm traditions — say about the University and its culture?"

What a great question for students and alumni to consider and answer!

“Everyone shows up at Notre Dame at a different point in time. Those traditions are one way that you connect to that larger history,” says Katherine Walden, an assistant teaching professor of American studies who offers a Football in America course.

I think it's important for young people to know what went before them, what they share in and what they may contribute. “All traditions serve a purpose, and they have to be able to organically grow or fade,” Collier says. He sometimes is troubled by efforts to market longstanding campus customs, like the pep rallies, rather than allowing them to blossom or die naturally. Students are drawn to the authentic, he says, which brings us to his challenge to the next generation of students: “What traditions will you bring to Notre Dame? What customs can you start?”

Echoes: Remembering the Flamboyant Verly E. Smith by Margaret Fosmore '85

It's hard to hear about the success of a football team without at least a nod if not a game ball given to the Strength and Conditioning Coordinator. Irish football fans breathed a massive sigh of relief when Matt Balis, Director of Football Performance announced that he would stay following Coach Brian Kelly's departure to LSU. I hope somewhere in his office is a photo of Notre Dame's original strength and conditioning coordinator: Mr. Verly Smith.

"Hired to heal the muscle strains and other injuries of Rockne’s players — records indicate Smith was probably Notre Dame’s very first African American employee — he also took on trainer duties for the basketball, track and baseball teams."

"In the early 1920s, Smith was hired as a trainer for the Notre Dame football team. His grandsons don’t know how or when he first met Knute Rockne, or whether it was Rockne who offered the job, but Smith was the team’s trainer during the height of Rockne’s coaching career, including in 1924 — the season of the Four Horsemen, the famous Irish backfield." 

Flashy and flamboyant he was an entrepreneur, an innovator, a husband, father and grandfather, trainer and gambler—Verly E Smith is an important character in the legend and lore of Notre Dame football. I feel the need to ask Coach Balis about that photo....

Deaths in the Family

Timothy Francis Welsh coached the men’s swimming team for three decades, leading both men’s and women’s swimming for 10 of those years. His teams won the Big East championship six times, earned the University’s first invitations to the NCAA Championship meet, garnered its first All-American honors, set multiple records and sent swimmers to the Olympic Games.

In 2014, the College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) presented Welsh with its highest honor, the National Collegiate and Scholastic Swimming Trophy. But the most eloquent testimonial about the quality of his leadership may have been the former swimmers who visited their coach during the final leg in his battle with pancreatic cancer. Welsh died June 2 at age 76.

As a coach, he motivated his swimmers to pursue personal excellence and encouraged a familial devotion to teammates. Rarely was that sense of family more apparent than in the wake of a fatal bus crash in 1992, when the women’s team was returning to campus from a meet.

My good friend and podcast partner, Haley Scott DeMaria is one of those swimmers who not only survived the bus crash but was with Coach Welsh until the end. Through her ongoing personal testimony of his impact, I have a much stronger sense of what it means to be not a good coach, but a great one. Though swimming is an individual sport, the members of his squads know what is possible when we truly give of ourselves for the good of the team. Thank you, Coach Welsh. You are missed!

The (Next) Line That Can’t Be Crossed by Jason Kelly '95
If you're looking to gain a perspective on where college athletics is going—including the impact of NLI and "putting paid to amateurism" take your time and read up here and now.

As the subtitle suggests: The history of college athletics can be measured in a series of singular moves that traditionalists said were steps too far. The story starts with a phone call for Coach Parseghian about a football game rescheduled at ABC’s behest. "Instead of a routine November weekend road trip to Georgia Tech, the defending champion Fighting Irish would open the season with a Monday night prime-time spectacle in Atlanta under stadium lights and the metaphorical kliegs of national television." The year was 1974.
 
Less than 20 years later, the NBC became the University's official broadcasting partner. "This season, Notre Dame dipped a toe into live-streaming with the home opener against the University of Toledo available only on NBC’s subscription service, Peacock. Director of athletics Jack Swarbrick ’76 emphasized that he — not NBC — made that decision, which upset many fans accustomed to free, over-the-air access to Fighting Irish football. He chose the Peacock experiment with one eye on the program’s history and another on its future." What's next? As a Notre Dame football fan, one thing is for sure—we'll find out.

What's funny is that Red Smith, stated a poignant question that applies to our world today. In 1927 he wrote, “The concept of intercollegiate sports as a leisure-time recreation is long out of date. But whatever became of the concept of athletics as part of a balanced academic program, the mens sana in corpore sano approach, the notion that the coach is a professor whose classroom measures 360 feet by 160?” Are we not asking those same questions nearly 100 years later?

Conclusion
If Spring cleaning goes well, I'll have the Sports and Spirituality review of the Spring issue by the end of the week. Hope springs eternal! 

Photo Credits

Notre Dame Magazine: Winter 2020-2021 Sports and Spirituality Review: Going Back in Time

When I reached for the Winter 2020-2021 issue of Notre Dame Magazine, I wasn't sure if I read all of  it. I never throw out—err, recycle—this alumni publication until I have completed my Sports and Spirituality review. Part of me thought I held onto it because the back cover features "Amy Coney Barrett '97 JC, associate justice of the United States Supreme Court (See the story on page 46)." I love that the photo of this woman I respect and admire features her in the classroom, teaching. In the background is a crucifix and a student taking notes? fact checking the lecture?!? I took a quick look though the publication only to see that I had not given my review and though it is one year later, still worth doing. Why? I want to point the way to the following pieces rich in both sport and spirituality. Enjoy!

A Most Unusual Semester.
I don't know about you, but I have a hard time reading articles about living through COVID. Is it because while some things have changed, others have not? Are we not still too close to it? 

Margaret Fosmoe '85, captures how the pandemic affected the 2020 football season "as a temporary member of the Atlantic Coast Conference.  Attendance at games was limited to no more than 20% of stadium capacity which amounted to about 15, 525 fans per game—students, faculty and staff." 

Many will remember the highlight of the 2020 home season, played before a mostly student crowd of 11,011. When the Irish won the game 47-40 in double overtime, thousands rushed the field, a celebration broadcast live on national television. What others might not remember is that students with tickets to the game were required to take COVID-19 tests, and those who didn't show up for testing had their tickets canceled." 

Ah COVID, we aren't done with you yet, are we? The title of this article can be used yet again.

Becoming a Notre Dame Man
I never heard the term "Notre Dame man" or "Notre Dame woman" as an undergraduate. However, I remember the first time I heard it. In a speech to the alumni club of the San Francisco Bay Area, Frank Allocco shared how he became a Notre Dame man and referred to some of his mentors, teammates and coaches who embodied what it means.

In this short excerpt from "Telling Stories that Matter: Memoirs and Essays" by Father Marvin O'Connell, a long time professor and chair of the University's history department, I learned Notre Dame does not have a fight song—it's a "Victory March."  I now know that Paul Hourning was the only member of a losing team to win a Heisman Trophy and that "the boldness of cheering for our players when they had no chance to win, and its effect on them proved to be" more than a rite of passage. It's what it means to be a Notre Dame man... 

May I Have Your Attention, Please?
This tribute is in loving memory of Tim McCarthy, Indiana State Police safety education sergeant, who delivered safety messages laced with one-liners at Notre Dame football games for 55 years. He died October 1, 2020 at age 89. 

As written by Kristy Katzmann '00, "One of his new responsibilities was to make an announcement at Notre Dame home football games reminding people to drive safely on the way home, but after two games he knew people weren’t paying attention. He decided to change that by adding something to the message"

The result? Notre Dame Stadium fell silent in eager anticipation during the fourth quarter for a reminder to drive carefully and courteously on the way home, punctuated by an often groan-inducing play on words. This article includes his Top 10 favorite. Mine is 
    7. No one relishes a pickled driver.

Traditions big and small, like what Officer McCarthy shared inside of Notre Dame stadium are but one example of what makes game day so special.

LepreConal: First native Irishman dons the mascot's green suit.
Pregame festivities for the Fiesta Bowl included Mass at the Biltmore Hotel and a reception right after. I walked in to this event only to see the ND mascot, also known as "LepreConal." Thanks to this article, introduced myself to Conal Fagan as only a fangirl can...and does. 

The native of Derry, Ireland is known for "fun, crazy energy." He said "I would always start the cheers before the cheerleaders, and they got really annoyed at me." Irish and energetic, athletic and aware—job description: filled!

The Education of Amy Coney Barrett
I loved learning about what the title of this article suggests: Coney Barrett's education. I delight in knowing that she too, has gained important life lessons from sports.

John Nagy '00 recalled this insight. Thanks athletics!

When she was 10 years old, the oldest child in a growing Catholic family in the New Orleans suburb of Metairie, Louisiana, Amy Coney competed in her first track meet.

She lost her event. Seeing her disappointment, an uncle consoled her. “Honey,” he said, “do you know how many times you looked to see where the other runners were? Every time you look to the right or the left, you lose a half-step. Next time, look straight ahead and run your best.”

She told this story 34 years later to students who voted her professor of the year. That afternoon in May 2016, Professor Barrett’s theme wasn’t winning but the danger of comparison. She quoted Teddy Roosevelt: “Comparison is the thief of joy.” Then she shared her uncle’s kindly advice that’s helped her keep perspective along life’s way. It was characteristic of Barrett, regarded by colleagues and students as an exemplary mentor, to use a parting moment to counsel bright young minds on what makes for happiness as they enter a notoriously unhappy profession.

ACB was #13 on my 20 people, places, events and episodes that brought some joy to year that needed it: 202o. I hope to meet her and when I do, I will thank her for professing our shared beliefs.

The day I finished reading this 2020-2021 edition, the 2021-2022 arrived in the mail. Serendipity! My Seagrass Basket Zero remains a challenge...albeit a very good one.

Photo Credits
All are from ND Magazine except for 
Frank Allocco: Peacock documentary on Joe Montana

Notre Dame Magazine: The South Bend Issue Sports and Spirituality Style

Over time, every community develops its own vernacular—terms and words that take on a meaning familiar to those on the inside. I would like to read a study about groups with a strong identity: Does their lexicon loom larger than others/ My basis for comparison is my alma mater, the University of Notre Dame. 

I have noticed that those familiar with the Fighting Irish will drop term on me like "Domers" or reference reputable venues such as "the Backer." Others ask me what it was like going to school in South Bend. However, referencing this Indiana city in recent years isn't uncommon or unique as it once way. And, as the latest issue of Notre Dame Magazine affirms, there's good reason for it.

The Summer 2020 issue: The South Bend Issue pursued "those stories that spoke of South Bend and its relationship with the University, the renewal taking place in the city and adjacent communities." It is PACKED with stories and profiles of people and places, projects and partnerships that reflect why there's such a buzz about town. The purpose of this blog is to point the stories that speak to Sports and Spirituality in and around South Bend. Enjoy.

NB: These are listed in the order they appear in ND Magazine

And what a run it was by Kerry Temple '74

In case it wasn't already clear: "Here’s persuasive evidence that Muffet McGraw is Notre Dame’s most successful coach since Knute Rockne. In 33 seasons at the University her teams won 77 percent of their games, with 29 of her 33 teams winning 20 games or more (including 11 30-win seasons). Those teams won two national championships, made nine trips to the Final Four and took 14 regular-season conference championships. She coached 22 All-Americans, was named consensus national coach of the year three times and in 2017 was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Her teams also packed the house, attracting a loud, loyal and festive fan base to the court inside the Joyce Center, when most women’s basketball teams had difficulty drawing spectators."

The story of her NOT boarding United Flight 175 that crashed into the south tower of the World Trade Center on 9/11 still gets me.

Another Deadly Contagion by Margaret Fosmoe '85

A historical perspective on how the world handled the Spanish Flu has helped me put COVID-19 into some much needed context. I shouldn't be surprised but I was still deeply saddened to read and realize that there were nine deaths among the students. "The University had about 1,500 students in the fall 1918, with more than 200 cases of the disease." 

As we await the fate of Irish football, it was interesting to read, "The Notre Dame football team — led by new head coach Knute Rockne and including star player George Gipp — canceled or postponed three October games because of the ban on public gatherings, including a match with the team from Great Lakes Naval Station.  Notre Dame resumed its football schedule in November, playing its final five games to finish the 1918 season at 3-1-2."

Time will tell how the 2020 season will follow....

Deaths in the Family: Remembering Gil Loescher
I never met Professor Loescher, but I wish I had. 

Gil Loescher, a 6-foot, 8-inch former varsity basketball player at Saint Mary’s College of California, visited Vietnam and Cambodia on a research trip and spent time with war refugees. The experience had a profound effect on him; the plight of refugees became his life’s work.

I had several classes that were cross-listed as a Peace Studies course. Wish I had taken even more of those.

A Community that Cares by Beth Lohmuller Grisoli '87
I have heard many times that the best thing about Charlie Weis is his wife, Maura. This should not be interpreted as a slight against Coach Weis but rather a full endorsement for his better half as just that. 

Maura Weis is the founder of Hannah and Friends—a nonprofit service for children with special needs. Furthermore, Sound Bend is home to the Logan Center—a place to support people with intellectual disabilities of all ages. The author, a parent of a child with cerebral palsy, encountered a city that seemed to say, “We care about what happens to our citizens with special needs. And we care enough to invest in serving them well.” 

People with developmental delays need more help than their families can give, and they want to flourish in society, not simply survive. Special-needs children grow into special-needs adults who want jobs to feel productive and friends to feel human. To say it’s difficult having a family member with an intellectual disability seems too benign. It’s not simply difficult, but terribly difficult at times.

As much as we are amazed by what our football coaches do, what their spouses do off the field is often equally compelling.

Home Field Advantage by Rasmus Jorgensen

I don't know if Jürgen Klopp's stock could rise any higher on this blog right now. And then I read about his time at Notre Dame last summer. #Fangirl

His team team was in town for the July 2019 soccer match "between two of the world’s best teams, Liverpool F.C. and Borussia Dortmund."

Jorgensen writes

It is not normal for a city like South Bend, population 101,860, to attract events of this magnitude. Liverpool played other elite European clubs at Fenway Park and Yankee Stadium, and Dortmund had another match at CenturyLink Field, home of the Seattle Seahawks. “It’s pretty remarkable,” says DeCleene. “To have South Bend in that mix is a pretty great feather in our cap.”  

The teams were in town for a few days and hosted open practice sessions at Alumni Stadium — my chance, I thought, to meet my heroes from the Liverpool team I have followed since I was growing up in Denmark. But I was wrong. Alumni Stadium, which seats 3,000, was full of fans who had to be reminded to stay quiet so that players and coaches could communicate. 

It was still something to see. So was Notre Dame’s practice facility, according to Liverpool coach Jürgen Klopp. “Notre Dame is, wow,” he said at the time. “No club in the world has facilities like the University of Notre Dame. It’s just not possible.”

Notre Dame IS Wow. I'm sure he smiled as he said this....

Take us out to the ballgame by John Nagy '00 M.A.

This article profiles the downtown South Bend ballpark that is the home to the Chicago Cubs, a Single A minor league team. The owner Andrew Berlin invested in the downtown ballpark and boldly made the claim "It's not just about baseball." 

The article states:

“When Andrew purchased the ball club, it was our goal to develop and cultivate an experience at Four Winds Field that will bring people back downtown,” Hart told the South Bend Tribune two years ago. “We wanted the ballpark to be a community gathering point that would provide an entertainment experience like no other.” It worked.

One midsummer Friday in 2017 I took my kids to a game. No special reason, just time for a night at the park. The Cubs lost, but the postgame fireworks revved up on schedule — always an impressive show for a city of this size. Afterward, fans ran the bases. Rounding third, one by one, we saw a crowd forming just behind home plate. And there was Andrew Berlin, child-like grin on his face, a chunky World Series ring on one hand, letting kids touch it as he crouched like a catcher for pictures.

I have a few fond memories of seeing the South Bend Silver Hawks—a farm team for the Arizona Diamondbacks named for a popular Studebaker model of the late 1950s—play in the yard once known as "The Cove." Berlin is right. It wasn't just about the baseball....it's the memories. 

A Home for those without one by Deanna Csomo McCool

This might be my favorite article in this issue for it talks about the genesis, development and growth of the Center for the Homeless. I did not know about its humble beginnings, deficit, what it has overcome and even what how comprehensive it is today. This piece speaks to what dedication to a cause, good leadership and the Holy Spirit can make happen.

For instance, the Robert L. Miller Sr. Veteran’s Center, a separate building on the Center for the Homeless campus, opened in 2011. It can house up to 24 male homeless military veterans, who can obtain treatment, clothes and meals and receive plenty of support as they process post-traumatic stress disorder and other medical issues. Former Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn ’07 promotes the project because of his interest in helping veterans and military families.     

Quinn’s experience of volunteering at the center with his football teammates stuck with him. “This is one of the reasons a lot of players and other students came to Notre Dame — to give back to the greater good,” he says. In 2011, he founded the 3rd & Goal Foundation to offer support to veterans because he was inspired by his father, who served in Vietnam. 

Quinn, Camilleri and Carl Ackermann, who teaches finance at Notre Dame, eventually collaborated to create a personal finance program for veterans. The program has expanded to cover other topics including computer skills, nutrition, organization and stress relief. It’s called the Developing Readiness in Veterans’ Experience program, or DRIVE. 

“Our biggest mission in creating the DRIVE program was to provide a curriculum that would help veterans break the cycle of homelessness and dependence,” Quinn says. “We wanted to equip them with the tools to support themselves and break any prior bad habits — ‘driving’ them to become better versions of themselves.” 

The veterans’ center, and all other Center for the Homeless programs, operate with a better understanding of post-traumatic stress than when it opened. “We have shifted language and culture over time,” Camilleri says.

We ask our student athletes at to serve together as team. To know that Quinn and his teammates served at the Center and how that experience sparked in him a further desire to  commit his time, money, talent and influence for a cause he created says "mission accomplished."

Going for Gold by Joanne Norell

This is a must read for information about the economic impact that sports has on Notre Dame and South Bend. Read it all, but I was very surprised to read, "Though football visitors accounted for 60 percent of the 1.1 million total attendance at Notre Dame sporting events in 2016-17, non-football athletic spectators — especially the combined 293,000 attributed to men’s and women’s basketball — generated an additional $10 million for South Bend, $11 million for St. Joseph County altogether and $13 million total for the state." I thought it would have been a higher percentage. What number would you have guessed?

Given to Public Service: Joe Kernan by Jason Kelly

Mayor of South Bend, Governor, Veteran, Prisoner of War, Baseball Player for the Fighting Irish, competitor and 1998 Commencement speaker Joe Kernan embodies all that Sports and Spirituality aims to make known. God Bless him as he struggles with Alzheimer's.

Have a good read...and a good feed: Stories from ND Magazine

The menus for Notre Dame's
Thanksgiving meals in 1939 and 1941

In "Philosophy that Feeds the Soul" Allan LaReau '70 (father of my classmate Renee!) recalls that the late Joseph Evans, Notre Dame professor of philosophy "commissioned us to return home for the holiday and have a good read...and a good feed." He adds, "It seemed like more than a clever farewell rather a reminder to nourish our minds, bodies and souls—the whole person." What a great message to give to students before the Thanksgiving break! I'd like to tuck this away for future use and in the meantime offer a morsels of food for thought, Sports and Spirituality style.

Notre Dame Magazine is fortified with stories, essays and updates that are full of fiber, high in Vitamin C and D and worth integrating into my literary diet. Occasionally it can be overwhelming to choose what to ingest and digest. Hoping that you might have time for a good read in the next few days, I would like to recommend the following updates from the magazine that serve as Chicken Soup for the Sports and Spirituality soul. Enjoy.

Ivey to Grow in Memphis: (good fun with that headline!) For Irish Women's basketball fans, Niele Ivey '00 is a Hall of Fame name. As a player on the 2001 National Championship team and as a coach for the 2015 National Championship team, Ivey has been a part of the program from 17 years combined. 

"Now she’s blazing a new trail, becoming the first female assistant coach for the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies and just the ninth woman to coach in the league."

The Irish loss is the Grizzlies' gain. And yet, it's a win for both programs.

Pardon the Disruption. "The Athletic was born as many business ventures are: in an attempt to fill a void. In Hansmann’s and Mather’s case, that meant figuring out a way to monetize first-rate digital sports journalism — inside information and analysis from reporters who have the sources and insights that only come from experience on the beat."

When I first learned about this upstart sports news outlet, I was skeptical. As a sports fan, I hear and read ever more from "The Athletic" and others who reference it nearly every day. I had no idea the co-founder is a Notre Dame grad, but since he is I now know his story. It's a good one. 

First Steps to Fitness: Friendship "The most indicative facet of gauging a person’s overall well-being: relationships." Here's what happens when you combine THAT with fitness. 

Not sure I needed a professor of computer science and engineering to convince me otherwise, but it never hurts to get that reminder...oh, and back it with research. Good stuff.

ACC jumps into the revenue stream. A little more context and insight for why we were prevented from seeing Notre Dame beat Duke 38-7.  Meh.

Read about Chris fromThe Observer here

Deaths in the Family: It is rare to see a current student profiled in this section. Though I did not know Chris Westdyk ’19, the photograph used in the magazine (not available online) captures a his spirit and makes me feel like I do. 

Throughout the month of November, we remember those who have died. I am grateful for the Catholic tradition, the Communion of saints. As Ginny Kubitz Moyer writes "it’s the belief that there’s a family bond, a communion, between all believers in Christ – those who have died, as well as those of us who are still alive." Such bonds are strengthened when we share the stories—the life and legacy of those we love and have lost. Here is one worth reading (in full, below) and sharing.

"Chris Westdyk ’19 suffered from melanoma in high school and college, battling the disease with quiet dignity while pursuing his passions with unstinting enthusiasm. He devoted himself to Stanford Hall, where he spent his senior year as a resident assistant, had served as a Welcome Weekend ambassador and designed the dorm flag.

The pre-med and economics double major, who received his degree in a South Bend hospital room during a special ceremony with University President Rev. John I. Jenkins ’76, ’78M.A., was also active in the Alliance for Catholic Education and the Center for Social Concerns’ Appalachia program.

An avid runner, Westdyk completed the New York City Marathon in November 2018, running to raise money for research and treatment at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. His friend Lydia Piendel ’18 recalled in The Observer how he urged her on during their runs together.

“It felt like it should have been the other way around, like I should be the one encouraging him,” Piendel said, “but it didn’t go that way.”

To those in the Notre Dame community who knew Westdyk best, such inspiration will be his enduring legacy. He died June 3 at age 22."

Happy Thanksgiving to all. To give thanks is a privilege. Notre Dame, the Notre Dame family and all the nourishment it has and continues to offer me are among my greatest blessings.

Photo Credits
All from ND Magazine

Bracketed Morality Extends Beyond Sports: Thoughts on Bill Cosby and Cardinal McCarrick

In the latest issue of Notre Dame Magazine, I learned that the sitcom star and comedian Bill Cosby is the first person in the University's 176-year history to have their honorary degree rescinded. Notre Dame President, Father John Jenkins, CSC issued a statement on April 28, 2018 that stated: 

“As a result of his conviction today on three felony charges in a sexual assault, the University of Notre Dame has rescinded the honorary degree awarded to Bill Cosby in 1990. While certainly troubled by serious, public accusations made by multiple women against him, the University elected to wait until due process had been afforded the accused, and a verdict delivered, before rescinding the honor."

After reading the headlines of today's New York Times, however, Notre Dame may need to do it again. Theodore Cardinal McCarrick was awarded an honorary degree in 2008.

James Martin SJ offers important insights in his article, Cardinal McCarrick, seminarians and abuse: how could this happen? Please read. One answer, among several, to this critical question is simple: sin.

After a three year hiatus, I will return to teaching Ethics, Morality, and Justice, a required Religious Studies course for 11th-grade students at St. Ignatius. Part of me thinks I should change my approach to teaching a class that can be very heavy and demanding. For example, I have often felt emotionally spent when reading and writing, lecturing and addressing topics like genocide, late-term abortion, hunger and human trafficking. Rather than internalize the gravity of these decisions and what leads individuals to commit crimes against humanity/assaults on human dignity, I've thought about being more playful with the everyday moral decisions we make. What makes sin so alluring? Why is it just so easy to lie? After all, who's to say what's wrong—right? Move over Wormwood, you might have some competition?  I doubt it.

To make the topic of ethics and morality playful is one thing, and I think it's a good place to start. But not confronting or grappling, professing, challenging or asserting beliefs and teaching about it is another. Perhaps one of the greatest wins the devil has in our world today is our reluctance to even use the word "sin." 

As a Catholic, faith formation included teaching about sin, how to recognize it and its iterations. Yes, I learned what is a venial sin and a mortal sin. Said distinctions might make some people uncomfortable, and that's ok. I think sin should make us uncomfortable. Why?...because we are all capable of it....because it is real. ...because it causes division, pain and hurt. We see the effects of it every day both personally and socially. For example, morning, noon and night, I see human beings sleeping on the street. Many are completely strung out and lying in filth. This moral issue has not abated in the city of Saint Francis where I live; homelessness is growing. I hope and pray my heart never hardens against the men and women some call bums, street people or "the homeless"...but it might, and that scares me. To deny that sin has something to do with what I see and my feelings about it are delusional. Discussing and determining how to respond is important and challenging. This is what makes teaching ethics worthwhile.

In Sports and Spirituality, I build on what my students have learned in Ethics by introducing a concept called "bracketed morality." Defined in the article "What Role Does Ethics Play in Sports" Kirk Hanson and Matt Savage write,

Some argue for a "bracketed morality" within sports. This approach holds that sport and competition are set apart from real life, and occupy a realm where ethics and moral codes do not apply. Instead, some argue, sports serves as an outlet for our primal aggression and a selfish need for recognition and respect gained through the conquering of an opponent. In this view, aggression and victory are the only virtues. For example, a football player may be described as mean and nasty on the field, but kind and gentle in everyday life. His violent disposition on the field is not wrong because when he is playing the game he is part of an amoral reality that is dictated only by the principle of winning.

My students like to "play" with the idea of bracketed morality—there's something to it. We debate whether or not it is possible to be completely selfish on the court and selfless off of it. I ask, Do you know an athlete who is a gamesperon on the field, a sportsperson off of it? To what degree? Explain!

The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara, where Hanson and Savage teach, responds:

An ethical approach to sport rejects this bracketed morality and honors the game and one's opponent through tough but fair play. This means understanding the rules and their importance in encouraging respect for your opponent, which pushes you to be your best.

To me, the concept of bracketed morality and Hanson and Savage's stance on it resonates beyond sports. I think it's true about sin. How? Sin in our lives is seldom confined to one area. Unfortunately, it tends to corrupt—over time, completely. For example, the same article that mentions the rescinding of Bill Cosby's honorary degree also mentioned a tragic and unfortunate incident that occurred at the time he earned the distinction.

Notre Dame Magazine writes, "Cosby’s appearance at the 1990 Commencement turned controversial when he berated Dean Brown ’92 for his grade-point average at a gathering of black graduates and their families, leaving the former football player in tears."

The South Bend Tribune adds: 

Earlier that day, Cosby spoke at a gathering on campus of about 300 people, mostly black graduates, their families and friends, according to South Bend Tribune and Associated Press coverage at the time. 

The 20-minute session ended with an angry confrontation after Cosby asked graduating student Dean Brown, a member of the football team, his grade-point average. When Brown replied that it was 2.5, Cosby criticized him and essentially said that wasn't good enough, others in attendance said at the time.

"We kept waiting for the punchline," Brown's mother, Saundra Brown, told The Tribune a few days later. "He was devastated," Saundra Brown said of her son. "I don't know if he (Cosby) realized the impact." 

Dean Brown grew up in a single-parent household in a Canton, Ohio, housing project. His father left when Dean was 5 and his mother suffered a stroke at age 25 that left her unable to work for eight years. 

Brown went on to a successful career in education before his death in 2012 at age 44, but the man known to his friends as “Big Happy” felt scarred for years after the Cosby incident.

Reading what Cosby said was appalling. Why would you do that? How can you treat someone you don't even know that way? And yet, I find those same questions can be asked of his other sin—assaulting women—only to the "nth degree." Why would you do that? ...How?... I should not be surprised that the same man who had caused so much hurt, damage and violence against women could and would extend that spirit, a bad one, to another human being. 

We must be careful, reflective and much more, sin does not subside. Unfortunately too many men—former seminarians and priests can speak to that truth about Cardinal McCarrick. I don't know enough about this man to know if he was virtuous, kind, and loving in every other area of his life. It's possible....but I have to wonder. Yuck.

What might be the biggest wrinkle in all of this, however, is that Christianity calls us to love even the sinner. You've heard it before: "hate the sin, love the sinner." Oh boy. I'll play with that idea another time. Tonight, I'm going to pray for the victims of sexual assault—those named and unnamed. I want to pray for the response of the soul of Dean Brown, his wife and family. I pray for those hurt by Cardinal McCarrick. 

Photo Credits
Cardinal McCarrick
Headlines at ND
Commencement at ND