Daily Domer: To Bowl Or Not to Bowl?

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- There are more questions than answers at Notre Dame right now. Here's the five I'm considering:

1) Should Notre Dame, at 6-6, accept a bowl bid?

Absolutely. Back in the day when a bowl invitation conferred upon the invitee recognition for a successful season, you'd say no. But in the 21st century, when ESPN desperately needs yuletide programming, most bowls are just a means of 1) securing 15 more practices and 2) keeping a school's name in print (such a difficulty at Notre Dame) during the holidays.
Did the Irish players, when they met with Weis on the Friday following last season's 38-3 debacle at USC and decided that "enough is enough," ever dream that one year later they would be right back at 6-6? Never in their worst nightmares.

But here they are. With a season-ending four-game losing streak fresh on their minds. We Catholics love a good exorcism. Why not perform one with a bowl game in which Clausen might just throw for 500 yards? And Tate, with seven more catches, would be the first player in school history to hit the century mark?

The Irish, if they even are selected to play in a bowl, which is contingent upon just how many teams finish 7-5, would most likely be headed to the Little Caesar's Bowl on Dec. 26 in Detroit (which I would rename the "Detroit, Rock City Bowl") or the GMAC on Jan. 7 in Mobile, Ala.

2) The football banquet: Prime rib or chicken?

Your guess is as good as mine. The team banquet takes place on Friday night and for the first time that anyone can recall, it is a closed affair. Only coaches, players, staff and families are invited. Those who bought tickets to the event will have their money refunded.

3) Did a local high school name its team in honor of Jimmy Clausen in a transparent effort to persuade him to stay one more season in South Bend?

There actually is a Jimtown High School located in nearby Elkhart, Ind., and their nickname is the Jimmies, but no, this is not a "Joe, Montana" deal. They've had that name for as long as their doors have been open.

The fates of both Clausen and Golden Tate, the Hutch to his Starsky, or a hotter topic on campus than the identity of the next head coach. Weis is expected to meet with each player and his family individually on Friday to discuss their NFL prospects ($$$).

Meanwhile, today The Observer ran two letters to the editor beseeching both players to stay (neither were penned by Dick Ebersol, but he may have used a pseudonym). One letter included the sentence, "there are a lot more important things in life than money." A more convincing argument would have been, "If you think that wealth, fame and a beautiful Nordic wife will bring you happiness, turn on the TV."

4) Why are those of us on the Notre Dame beat being so quiet about how Jimmy Clausen received that non-Adidas sponsored eye black?

Because so far no one is willing to speak on the record. Were we a certain popular sports blog, some of us might have been tempted to print the anonymous email(s) that we have received in the past ten days and left it to you to determine their veracity.

The bar staff at C.J.'s is not talking. The Notre Dame football team has been largely off-limits since the incident, and when Clausen was asked about the incident following the Stanford loss, he replied, "You guys have been talking about it all week," which is false. The media have been incredibly restrained in terms of reporting the rumors about the incident.

For now, ask yourself why it is in the best interest of someone who was obviously assaulted to not press charges. Why the police are not investigating. And why, though many in the Notre Dame student body have heard the name of the man who purportedly threw the punch, no one has come forward as an eyewitness. Why everyone involved seems to want this story to go away.

5) Can we now officially pronounce Notre Dame football to be irrelevant?

It must be, because that very question was asked in Tuesday's 3,000-word front-page story in the sports section of USA Today. And a similar question was asked at athletic director Jack Swarbrick's Monday evening press conference, which was covered live as the open to the 6 p.m. "SportsCenter" on ESPN. And Pete Fiutak of College Football News devoted his entire weekly "Cavalcade of Whimsy" column to the "Notre Dame Circus," while failing to muse on whether pots and kettles actually do call one another names.

Does Notre Dame deserve all this attention? No. Is Notre Dame putting the national media in a half-nelson and compelling them to cover their story? Hardly.