Maybe this an omen to an amazing rest of the season.
No matter how long you’ve been in baseball, homering against the New York Yankees in the Bronx always is a thrill. That’s especially true if the Yankees have the best record in the bigs. We find that to be the case this year, and Notre Dame alumnus [autotag]AJ Pollock[/autotag] didn’t let that intimidate him Sunday. With his Chicago White Sox and the Bombers tied at 1 in the top of the ninth inning of the first game of a doubleheader, he decided to unleash his power in a timely manner against Aroldis Chapman:
The Sox added an insurance run in the inning and won, 3-1. For Pollock, it was the perfect recap to a solid week. After a slow start that included a trip to the injured list, he has been swinging the bat well as evidenced by his slash line of .375/.407/.667 over the past seven days. Here’s hoping he continues to look good at the plate.
The Athletic listed several alternate college football uniforms that they both love and hate. Notre Dame had one get both love and hate.
The Athletic has been on a uniform kick lately. In the NHL they’ve been discussing the best sweaters in the history of each franchise and tackled recent alternate college football uniforms today.
Notre Dame has been wearing an alternate look at least once a season each of the last ten years and a couple times wearing a second alternate look twice in the same year.
Notre Dame didn’t get any love from The Athletic today for any of their alternate uniforms. At least not none that was categorized under “favorites” on the list. Notre Dame did get listed under “hated” for one of their alternates, however and I assume you already know which recent alternate it went to.
Against: These were less alternate jerseys than Halloween costumes, a Notre Dame football player trick-or-treating around the Bronx dressed up like a New York Yankee. Most of Notre Dame’s alternates for the Shamrock Series have been edgy with some homage: military green for the game against Army, or touches of the Golden Dome on fabric for the Purdue game. Even the Knute Rockne jerseys (faux old-school leather cleats!) from 2017 leaned into something Notre Dame. Dressing up like a baseball player did none of that. And replacing Notre Dame’s iconic gold with a dingy batting helmet? Just thinking about it makes me clutch my pearls. – Pete Sampson
For: Yes, I am aware that most of you hated these. But that doesn’t mean you are right. These jerseys paid homage to the most successful professional sports franchise in the United States on said franchise’s own turf. They mixed elements of traditional baseball and football designs beautifully, from the pinstripes on the pants that looked classic and clean to the matte helmet that looked like a batting helmet. I believe the backlash to these uniforms was not about the uniforms themselves but rather the success of the Yankees. Just because you personally didn’t have the honor of growing up a Yankees fan doesn’t mean you have to disrespect the pinstripes. They’re iconic, much like Notre Dame’s gold helmets. You’re all just haters. – Nicole Auerbach
And people wonder why the Yankees get so much hate even if they’re not in the business of winning the World Series anymore.
I looked over all of the semi-recent Notre Dame alternates back in the fall ahead of the Irish wearing the ’88 tribute throwbacks against Boston College. I agree with Sampson in that it wasn’t overall a good uniform but I did think they looked a ton better when the game actually came around than when they were unveiled during the previous summer.
Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
That said there is no excuse for the Rockne tribute uniforms to not get some praise in the “love” category. Those are as perfect of alternate uniform that Notre Dame has ever worn and whenever they wear them again won’t be soon enough in my eyes.
