So you’re saying there are other considerations (e.g. money) which can offset a player’s alleged fear of having to play in cold weather. Would not top-quality coaching, facilities, etc., do the same?

Is the weather really so much better in Columbus?

In the NFL, most of the players on a team were drafted, and they don’t get to choose where they are going to play. Then after the 4 year rookie contract, there is money that helps persuade them in addition to how likely the team is to win. In college, the players get to choose where they want to go, so in-built advantages like being close to home and warm do make a difference. I’m not saying that the Pats don’t get some players cheaper than other teams, but to compare college and NFL roster building is completely unfair.

And for the record, I recognize it’s more difficult to recruit at ND than it was previously. The difference is, given the corresponding benefits ND does (or at least can, if it chooses to) enjoy, I rate those difficulties as a 3 to 4 on a scale of 1 to 10. Other people wail that it’s a 10.

Must be why the Patriots have so much trouble winning games.

Give them a football reason to come, and they will.

Here, in tweet form, is a short version of what I was saying: https://twitter.com/RossDellenger/status/1075143184831918087

Out of curiosity, in what year were you graduated from ND?

HERE! HERE!

I, too, will always hold on to “the Holtz years” because it was the last time that I was able to truly feel a special sense of pride in how the team was performing each week. It was a time when I was excited to watch the next game; and when a BYE week seemed like an eternity between games.

I was in my late teens then and still reeling from the Faust era (loved Gerry, loathed watching his underachieving teams). Then came Lou…. a small, firey man. It took Coach Holtz to really cured my genuine heartache after witnessing the deathblow Miami had served the Irish, 58-7, to end the ’85 season. From here, he saved what shred of my Irish fandom was left after that beatdown and turned it back into something to be proud of, something to enjoy again. For this, I will never forget “the Holtz Era” (or Father Hesburgh, one of the last true stewards of Notre Dame Football greatness).

Also, and this is going to be a little mean, but citing to how things are going in Illinois as compared to 1988 and trying to say that things should be the same is basically the perfect embodiment of the general denialism. I hate to break it to folks, but, relative to the rest of the country, Illinois (and Illinois high school football) ain’t what it was in 1988 either.