I have one small thought to add

by Greg, seemingly ranch, Friday, June 12, 2015, 11:33 (3621 days ago) @ Jay

This comes first-hand from the father of a former ND student-athlete and a current ND student-athlete.

He says that the disparity from an academic standpoint and a socio-cultural standpoint as between the football/men's hoops teams and the other student-athletes on campus is a yawning chasm compared to what it was when he was at ND. He believes -- based on anecdotal evidence -- that the rising academic standards at ND and the rising cost of tuition mean that kids who are participating in the other sports are by and large coming from more well-to-do families, due to the need to split scholarships and/or have kids walk on for two years and then get a partial for two years. And in those other sports -- fencing, swimming, soccer, track, lacrosse, etc. -- the chance of a pro career is minimal so you have smarter and smarter kids who make the cut athletically choosing to go to ND rather than local state school.

This contributes, he thinks, to the bubble effect around those two teams. Yes, they still live in regular student housing. Yes, they take the same courses. Etc., etc., etc. But some of the "hanging in the Gug" or feeling pressure in classes or moving in together after freshman year comes not just from the distinction between them and the average student, but from that between them and the average student-athlete.

This doesn't excuse cheating or not getting involved in campus life or anything else. But it does help to explain it. When I was there -- after this dad was -- the football players and men's hoops team often hung with other student-athletes. Today, that has diminished. And I think it's to the detriment of the whole system. But I don't know that there is a solution.

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The 2007 ND-UCLA game was a once in a lifetime experience, I hope