I think it's special

by Coach Gillespie , Omaha, Wednesday, October 12, 2016, 13:07 (3121 days ago) @ Mike (bart)

It’s not magical. I actually take offense to the idea that ND is magical. That implies that the Hand of God placed this gilded nipple of knowledge on fertile Indiana soil two hundred and fifty years ago and everything just appeared. I'm ten years removed from the place. So like LT said, it's not as central to my life as it was when I was in school. But just because we have some sappy songs and nostalgia-driven marketing campaigns doesn’t mean that Dome is built on a foundation of bullshit.

Do my kids have to go there? No. But if they did, I think their education would be unique. It would be special. Special does not mean inherently better. It does not mean that all of you blue collar kids who go to UIC are not as good as us blessed ND grads. It just means the place is different.

Parietals are different. The acceptance of both academic freedom and Catholic teaching is different. Single sex dorms are different. Nearly 100% of the student body attending the same event six times each year is different. Friend groups that pull from northern California, eastern Nebraska and western Connecticut are different. American presidents nearly always accepting the school’s invitation to speak is different. A nearly universally recognizable name is different.

Can you get all of this at another school? Yes. Are ND alums inherently better people, as many like to say and more like to think? Not at all. I wish more of us would cringe at that crap. But massive egos of certain alums aside, the place is special. It’s not magic. It’s not something we should preserve in a museum. It’s not better than everyone else. But Notre Dame was - and is - an experience that’s awfully hard to replicate.