Paul Krugman repeats his Anti-Irish bigotry.

[Hekate]

26. You mean the football team in South Bend, Indiana?

Last edited Sun Jun 13, 2021, 10:38 PM - Edit history (1)

I can’t believe I’m doing this, but I googled “ notre dame university fighting irish “ on your behalf and a page with info, Q&A, references to wikipedia and news organizations popped up. You may or may not be interested in the following snippets, which are direct quotes from that page.

I have no interest in college football, nor indeed in any sports, but many people do. My understanding is that a lot of team names are rooted in American immigrant history and rural history (the Nebraska Cornhuskers being one such). Teams or other groups would either assign themselves nicknames or adopt those they were given and make them their own.

Notre Dame University is essentially a private religious college. As a private institution (i.e. one not publicly funded with tax dollars) they can choose to admit who they will. They actually admit about twice the applicants (15%) as do other similar institutions (6%) and about 82% of their students are not Roman Catholic. Nonetheless as an institution including the student body, they cling to a humorous putative Irish association.

As my old friends in Hawai’i used to say of the Mainland and its lifeways: this is America Island.

Read on, pacheen,

Hekate


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Is Notre Dame Irish or French?
Never let the truth get in the way of a good story. It's true that four of the six religious who founded Notre Dame in 1842 with French priest Edward Sorin were Irish; that nearly all of Fr. Sorin's successors claim Irish descent; and that the student body has always had a strong Irish presence.

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Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
Football team
Description
DescriptionThe Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team is the intercollegiate football team representing the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. Wikipedia

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Why is Notre Dame University called the Fighting Irish?
The most generally accepted explanation is that the press coined the nickname as a characterization of Notre Dame athletic teams, their never-say-die fighting spirit and the Irish qualities of grit, determination and tenacity. ... “The term 'Fighting Irish' has been applied to Notre Dame teams for years.

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The University of Notre Dame says it does not plan on changing it's nickname any time soon. University officials released a statement saying: Notre Dame's nickname – Fighting Irish – began as a term of derision directed against the university's athletic teams.

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