Irish Eyes are Smiling

In what is sure to be the feel good story of the year for pretentious bandwagon fans of non-conference schools, "Rudy" has returned to Notre Dame. Well, not exactly, but Notre Dame is so desperate for players that they are playing a 5'9", 175 lb man-dwarf walk on named Mike Anello (pictured above, at right) on special teams.

I can hear the Notre Dame fans now, "But Drew, he has HEART! It's just like that nice actor who won an Oscar in Jerry Maguire, but then went on to do Boat Trip, said! He has Quan!" This is entirely true. Anyone who is shorter than I am and only weighs 20 lbs more than me who is willing to step on a Division 1A college football field for something other than a photo op has tremendous heart, and is also a moron.

Anello made a crucial play against the Michigan school for the deaf and blind last week, and had four (yes, I said FOUR) solo tackles against San Diego State. Please hold your applause for the end. He is a student section favorite for his story's resemblance to that of Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger. But wait, there's more! Anello actually knows Rudy's nephew in real life! Through wrestling! Well then this story is exactly like Daniel Ruettiger's struggle to not only get into Notre Dame against the odds but play football for the Irish, except I find it nowhere near as inspiring as Sean Aston's cinematic portrayal.

What I'm trying to say here is that Notre Dame is back, Lou Holtz was right, and the Irish will be in a BCS bowl by the end of Rocktober. This crow, it tastes bitter.