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Monday, August 28, 2006
Falcons’ GM loves to hate Irish
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
Something just occurred to me. Even though Falcons guru Rich McKay is an otherwise perceptive soul, he and I sit on opposite planets of the college football universe. While I was born and raised in South Bend, Ind., where your blood automatically bleeds blue and gold for the Touchdown Jesus folks, he grew up in Los Angeles as a disciple of that arrogant bunch that worships a Trojan horse.
I understand. McKay couldn’t help himself, because his father, John, spent 15 years coaching Southern Cal to four national championships, with more than a few of them depending on whether the Men of Troy could slay the Fighting Irish.
So this isn’t surprising: When Notre Dame comes to town in four days to face Georgia Tech in the opener for both teams, McKay will cheer himself old gold and white at Bobby Dodd Stadium with his wife, Terrin, and their two sons, Hunter and John. Said McKay, emphatically, “I will definitely not be rooting for the Irish.”
See what I mean by arrogance? Not only did McKay travel to South Bend for last year’s classic between the Trojans and Notre Dame, but he took Falcons owner Arthur Blank with him. I’m guessing that McKay wasn’t exactly displeased when Southern Cal kicked the ghosts of the Four Horsemen off their saddles in the waning seconds with the type of miracle normally reserved for the home team.
If you can relate to McKay’s feelings (or lack thereof) for the Irish, then get in the back of the line that stretches from here to the millions or billions who wish to shake the green out of a leprechaun. Such is the primary reason this Tech-Notre Dame game sold out in a flash, and consider: Tech honchos charged a program record-tying $50 per ticket and made non-season ticket holders pay for the Notre Dame game and purchase tickets for two other games.
Nebraska. Florida State. Tennessee. Texas A&M. Those are just some of the places that Notre Dame has visited to see generations of Irish haters pack their stadiums in record numbers. This was all foreign to me for the longest time. As a youth in South Bend during the 1960s, with Notre Dame perfecting victory, I thought everybody wished to hug Ara Parseghian and choke that Trojan horse. Then I discovered the truth in 1968 after my father’s job at AT&T forced the family to move to Cincinnati (Ohio State territory under King Woody Hayes), and the truth is that most fans have their teams and whoever is playing against Notre Dame.
“With my dad, and from the USC days, I always ranked [the rivalries] differently,” said McKay, whose late father coached the Trojans from 1960 through 1975. “UCLA, there was a mutual dislike. Stanford, there was even a higher level of dislike, and then I thought Notre Dame was probably the most respectful rivalry out of all of them. I think my dad always thought it was a treat to compete against them.”
Not always. We’re back to my yin to the younger McKay’s yang regarding Notre Dame, and nothing exemplifies that more than the joy that was the Irish’s 51-0 smashing of 10th ranked Southern Cal in 1966 along the way to a national title. Well, that’s me speaking. To those partial to people who still dress like Julius Caesar, it remains the most lopsided loss in the Trojans’ 113 seasons of football.
Said McKay, “I don’t think my dad took a game harder than that one. It stuck in his craw for a long time.”
Rumor had it that John McKay stood before his team after the blowout to say through clenched teeth before bolting from the room, “Notre Dame will never beat us again.”
He nearly was right. During John McKay’s final eight seasons at Southern Cal, Notre Dame won once. In fact, years later, when he was finishing his NFL stint as the Buccaneers’ first head coach, I asked him in his Tampa office if he really gave that ultimatum after the 1966 Notre Dame game. He puffed on his cigar before saying, “Yeah.” After he puffed again, he added, “Then I went out and recruited a guy named O.J. Simpson.”
Rich McKay chuckled over my story about his father, the king of the one-liners. Then he thought about Yellow Jackets-Irish again before delivering an unofficial impression of his father, sans the cigar, “Any time a program gets to measure up against Notre Dame it’s great. Any time a program can beat Notre Dame, it’s even better.”
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