An Irish Uprising

Early this week ABC released the coverage map for the 8pm game and much to the chagrin of Irish fans, Notre Dame was nowhere to be found in 2/3 of the country.

Rivalry weekend has an entire slew of interesting games so unfortunately ESPN and ESPN2 were locked down with Georgia-Georgia Tech and Clemson-South Carolina. This eliminated the possibility of the "reverse mirror" that's become so common this year for the ABC primetime games this year (the reverse mirror means when an area has the regional game, the other primetime game will appear on ESPN or ESPN2...this happened with the ND-BC game this year).

By Wednesday it began to sink in that the entire East Coast was going to be forced to watch Oklahoma-Oklahoma State at home, meaning that in order to watch the Irish people would have to trudge to a bar that had ESPN GamePlan to catch the game.

And then something miraculous happened: Notre Dame Nation united and mobilized.

Rock's House on NDN and the Four Horseman Lounge on Rivals began campaigns to call local ABC affiliates in hopes of getting Notre Dame put on the air instead of Oklahoma. The poor interns who were charged with manning the phones for the stations in major metropolitan areas on the East Coast had no idea what they were in for when they sat down to start their shift.

Thousands of people began to call and suddenly the coverage map began to change. First, the ABC affiliate in New York City announced that due to a large number of requests they'd be showing the Notre Dame game instead. This emboldened fans up and down the East Coast and it was like watching the end of Independence Day when the alien ships were defeated around the world one by one.

Next Philadelphia fell. People from New York and Philly then began to help and call in to other affiliates to help ND fans get it changes.

Pittsburgh switched and then Washington DC. By the time they released an updated coverage map the ND game was on in 48% of the country. This all occurred in a span of 3-4 hours and all I could do was sit at my computer with a grin stapled to my face--one of surprise and giddy, unbridled happiness that probably rivaled George Bailey's at the end of It's a Wonderful Life.

What do the haters that say no one cares about Notre Dame have to say about this little Irish uprising?

This minor event just served as a reminder for just how powerful and far-reaching the Irish Nation is when it unifies. There hasn't been all that much unity over the last few years (including this year), but it just makes me smile that one day when things finally turn around there's going to be a nationwide celebration that's going to make House Party look like House Party 2.

So Irish Faithful, I raise my glass to you. It's Southern Cal week and due to the efforts of countless anonymous fans I'll enjoy it from the comfort of my big screen. There will be a day in the future when Notre Dame ascends to the top of the college football world once again and we'll all be on the same page popping bubbly and unified again. Hopefully it'll be soon, but until then I offer you this toast that was recited before many a drink in college:

Here's to you and here's to me

I pray that friends we'll always be

But if by chance we disagree

TO HELL WITH YOU AND USC

GO IRISH, BEAT TROJANS