The Notre Dame-Stanford game on Saturday just got a whole hell of a lot more interesting. SPORTSbyBROOKS.com has the story of Stanford offensive lineman Chris Marinelli and his general disdain for all things Notre Dame.
Marinelli doesn’t waste any time cutting to the chase:
“I hate it, playing up there,” Chris Marinelli told cardinalreport.com after practice Wednesday. ”The field, excuse my language, the field sucks. The stadium sucks. I think the area sucks.
”I grew up with a bunch of Irish and Italian Catholic people back home,” said the 6-7, 297-pound senior from Braintree, Mass. ”And all the Irish Catholic people, all they talk about is Notre Dame this, Notre Dame that. And they’ve never even been there, you know. So I hate those guys, I hate that school.
”We are going out there to mash them up, and that’s all there is to it.”
Well, at least he’s eloquent. Those Stanford guys have a way with words. All this is coming from a guy who plays his home games in brand new albatross of a stadium that is always half full and features an anthropomorphic tree wobbling around for the crowd’s enjoyment. A stadium where Notre Dame won last year. Yes, last year, when the Irish couldn’t even hang with the service academies.
Damage control came swiftly, in the form of the ever-popular statement “written” by the offending party. It’s amazing how much Marinelli’s opinion has changed in just a day!
”I would like to apologize to the University of Notre Dame and anybody else who I may have offended from the remarks I made in an interview earlier this week. I was caught up in the emotions of the game and should have been more thoughtful in my comments. The remarks were out of character for me and certainly aren’t reflective of my teammates or anybody else affiliated with the Stanford program. I look forward to a competitive game on Saturday in one of the great environments in college football.”
Whew! Glad that situation was diffused. I almost was considering watching a Notre Dame football game for a second there.
Allow me to translate Marinelli’s apology:
“I in no way feel that an apology to the University of Notre Dame is in order but some pile in the AD’s office is making me do this, so F-me right? If you really want to know how I feel about Notre Dame, please see my previous comments. Thank you.”
