More Disdain for Poor, Marginalized Notre Dame

Sorry, Ed, but you're going to be a pinata on that "the media hates Notre Dame" angle. Here are Bruce Feldman's rankings of the biggest media stories for the coming season:

Now that the preseason conference media gatherings have kicked off, get ready for the hyping to click into high gear. With that in mind, this week's list is dedicated to the biggest story lines going into the 2006 season.

1. Getting their Irish up: Between the Mighty Quinn and the offseason adventures of Shark and Zibby, the Irish don't need their own network to get their share of the spotlight. I can't ever recall a time when one program got so much offseason attention and none of it was for police-blotter stuff. (And you think the media pounded you about USC late last season? Wait till you see what could be coming from South Bend!) Brady Quinn and Charlie Weis might replace Brad and Angelina as the nation's most talked-about twosome now that everyone appears to have bought into coach Weis' program.

In conjunction, Quinn, Weis' latest protégé, has been anointed as the game's next great QB, not to mention ND's best Heisman candidate in almost 20 years.

If the Irish survive a front-loaded schedule, it will kick-start some kind of pseudo Matinee Idol Brady/Flattop Charlie reality show, which will carry all the way through their road trip to USC.

Translation: Get ready for heavy doses of Regis, Rudy, Dickie V and Digger, and all your other ND favorites.

I do think this is very good for college football as a whole. Regardless of whether you love ND or just love to hate them, people care about the Irish.