February '25: Letter from the Editor // Issues // Scholastic // University of Notre Dame

I have to confess something. Lean in close.

Closer.

Okay, now you look stupid. Get the magazine away from your face, have some decorum.

I just wanted to tell you this: I don’t like football.

I wasn’t always this way; freshman year, I loved going to football games. It was the highlight of every weekend. I would blast “Shipping Up to Boston,” don my greenest apparel and yell at decibel levels thought unreachable for man.

Something shifted junior year. It might have been an effect of my frontal lobe development, but I just stopped enjoying the games as much as I used to. I went from consistently contributing my rich alto to the post-game Alma Mater to jetting before the band even took to the field for halftime. Working on this issue (and suffering through a never-ending season) helped me realize my problem. I had become a football fatalist without realizing it.

Watching games upsets me because I feel like none of the plays or touchdowns or field goals have any real effect. If we score, it doesn’t matter because they can score, too. If we gain momentum, all it takes is one bad play to kill it. If I leave to go to the bathroom, my spot in the student section will disappear no matter how hard I insist on my friend preserving the space. The ending is predetermined, we are just watching as the inevitable is actualized. Why would I yell at a player for missing a catch? He’s not in control of the set of conditions that brought him to the point of missing that catch.

So I really wasn’t that upset that we lost in the championship. Our boys tried their best, but the Irish were fated to fall short this time. And that’s okay. One benefit to my football fatalism is that losses don’t affect me that much. It’s not like I or anyone else can change fate. But I’ll always miss my early fanaticism. Much of the fun of life is investing time and energy in silly things beyond our control. But whether you’re a die-hard fan or a fellow fatalist, I hope you found joy somewhere in the season.

Despite my aversion to the subject matter, I have really enjoyed working on this issue. Football interacts with and reflects student life in a lot of ways. Read on for an exclusive look at the world of student gambling, profiles of star players like Riley Leonard and Jeremiyah Love, and a heartfelt account of the Four Horsemen’s story and legacy. And as always, go Irish!

Peace,
Claire Early