Those Are Fighting Words! Actually, They're Not

Mmm! I love syconia. So much, in fact, that sometimes I climb a Ficus tree wearing nothing but a leaf to cover my privates. I find a sturdy branch, repose and munch on bulbous-shaped fruit and chewy Nabisco cookies with fruit filling. It’s a fig thing — you wouldn’t understand. But a certain image-conscious university in Indiana would, if the soda cups sold at a football game a few weeks ago are any indication.

Drink in every word on this cup, readers. I must warn you, though: One of the words is going to be difficult to swallow.

Photo courtesy of Dave Sobolewski (@DaveSobo3)

At its Aug. 31 season opener against Temple, notre dame* got off to a rough start. Not on the field, where the team beat lowly Temple. In the stands, which were replete with the concessional equivalent of first-game jitters.

To put it mildly, I am not a fan of notre dame, so my part-Irish eyes were smiling when I learned about the jumbled mess between the Irish’s I’s. Those cups are showing as much fight as notre dame did against Alabama in last season’s BCS title game.

When some people, including this guy and this one, tweeted images of the “Figthing Irish” cups during the game, notre dame’s nicked name quickly spread across social media and got more coverage on the web than the football team gets on NBC, if that’s possible. ESPN ran a story on its website, and one of the comments, posted by Otis M., made me laugh: They should save time and money and do what the rest of the country does: Call them the “F’n’ Irish.”

An effin’ typo in a newspaper article is one thing. Misspelling your own nickname on cups sold to thousands of fans is an oversight of grande dame proportions. What happened to quality assurance? How did the marketing department fail to notice this notre shame? You’d think a major university would have a fighting chance to get the spelling right.

Unlike Anna Kendrick, however, notre dame can’t do cups. The school fails in bowls too. (notre dame has lost 11 of its last 13 bowl games, including nine straight from 1994 to 2006.) I wonder how the “Figthing Irish” are at silverware.

Ah, fork ‘em!

* Want to know why, when it comes to notre dame, I say no dice to capitalization? Refer to my Jan. 14, 2013, post.

Oh, gee: This cheerleader would probably find
nothing wrong with a FIGTHING IRISH cup.