Last weekend I had to endure an experience with which I'm sure nearly every ND fan can relate. I was at a party and everybody was a few beers in. I was talking about college football with a couple friends when another guy at the party overheard our conversation and took it upon himself to berate Notre Dame.

He boldly claimed that "there is no such thing as a student athlete at Notre Dame; academics there are a joke for athletes." So what evidence did he offer to support that claim? That's right, nothing coherent.

When I pressed him on the matter, he weakly offered the fact that his older brother had been denied admission to ND, despite having a higher SAT score than the average ND admittee. Ignoring the fact that one's SAT score is not the only academic criterion for admission, his brother's ordeal hardly sheds any light on the rigor or lack thereof of the curriculum of student athletes at ND.

Having been a student who lived on campus at Notre Dame for 4 years, I saw first hand the legitimacy of ND's academic load for athletes. Of course that didn't matter to this ND hater.

So I changed tactics. I asked him why he was so vehement in attacking ND and its student athletes and if he would share that passion against other successful Division-1 schools (I discussed the latest embarrassments at Michigan). He would not.

And thus I realized that I had encountered yet another example of irrational and blinding hatred against Notre Dame. I find it tiring constantly having to defend ND against this hatred. Rational argument is useless when employed against the irrational.

All Notre Dame can do is let its actions shut the critics up. Talk softly but carry a big stick.

In principle I'm comfortable with leaving it at that. But something tells me that when I'm at a party and I encounter another wannabe ESPN commentator ND hater, I'll feel compelled to argue my heart out.