wayweird

 Way back in the 1960’s when we were studying geography and history our teachers would always tell us the United States was mighty nation - a nation of immigrants who were unified because America was a great “melting pot”. When I heard this my imagination would immediately summon a vision of all these Polish, Italian, and Irish folks (in their national costumes) being scooped up into a big ladle, thrown into a giant fondue pot, melted down into molten liquid, and this formless mass finally being poured into a G.I. Joe mold. Nothing is more American to me than G.I. Joe.

This theory sounded good to me, except I still had a hard time understanding my grandfather because of his thick Polish accent. The melting pot hadn’t fixed that, but I had no problem understanding what everyone else in the family had to say and we all enjoyed football as did most of the people in the neighborhood. So it looked like the melting pot idea worked. We were all Americans.

I started out on this melting pot tangent because on this day in 1888 Knute Kenneth Rockne was born in Voss, Norway. He emigrated with his parents at five to Chicago and grew up in the Logan Square area (the same neighborhood where my Polish grandfather settled in the 1920’s), on the northwest side of the city.

Any sports fan knows that Rockne is one of the greatest coaches in college football history. His biography at the College Football Hall of Fame (South Bend, IN) calls him “American football’s most-renowned coach.” He is credited with popularizing the use of the forward pass.

Rockne is an American sports legend. As head coach of the University of Notre Dame from 1918 to 1930, he set the greatest all-time winning percentage of 88.1%, since eclipsed but still the best percentage in Division I-A. During 13 years as head coach, he guided the Fight’n Irish to 105 victories, 12 losses, 5 ties, and 6 national championships, including 5 undefeated seasons without a tie.

The melting pot worked for Rockne and our country back then. Here we have a native born Norwegian whose name became synonymous with American football. What bigger success story could you ever imagine?

Immigrants came to the U.S. through Ellis Island. They worked to absorb the ways of the “host” society, while loosening to varying degrees their connection to their native culture. But that’s not the way it is now.

Today we go by the politically correct model of the “salad bowl”, which emphasizes that each ethnic and national group should maintain and preserve its cultural distinction and integrity, and that one doesn’t need to blend in or merge into the existing American society. The new immigrants are no longer under pressure to Americanize. Many aren’t motivated to even learn English.

Political correctness and the “salad bowl” mentality won’t produce any Knute  Rocknes. The question is - what will it buy us?

“Hey, whatcha you guys watching,” inquired Dad of my brother Frank and me.

It was Thanksgiving Day, 1975, and after stuffing ourselves with turkey, dressing, Brussel Sprouts and all the other T-Day delicacies we had settled down in front of the T.V. to fart away the afternoon and take in the St. Louis Cardinal-Buffalo Bill football game.

“We’re watching O.J. go in from the 3 yard line to put those damn Bills ahead 12-7,” I reported as I removed myself from his easy chair.

“Good! I hope they bury those bastards,” he grunted as he sunk into the seat of honor.

“Why are you rooting against an NFC team, Dad? They’re a gutsy bunch. I like the Cards myself.”

“No true Bears fan can ever cheer for the Cardinals.”

“Oh yeah? Why is that?

“Jesus! Read your history books, son! Don’t you know that the Bears and the Cardinals have been at each others throats since the Cards were playing at Comiskey Park?”

“What are you talking about? Why were the St Louis Cardinals playing on the South Side of Chicago?”

“Didn’t you know that Chicago had two professional football teams until 1959?”

“Now, you’re pulling my leg again. Just like the time you told us you piloted the plane that dropped the bomb on Nagasaki!”

“Nah! This is the truth. Go to the library and look it up if you don’t believe me. You should hate the Cardinals even more than the Packers. They cost the Bears a championship or two.”

So I did, and his story checked out again. My old man knew a lot of good stuff.

Anyway, the Bills went on to thrash the Cardinals 32-14 in that Thanksgiving game, but I never could work up the animosity towards the red birds that my dad said a good Bears fan should feel. They were just too far removed from my times and my Chicago for me to do that.

In fact, I’m pulling for the Cardinals to win this Super Bowl. NFC all the way, Baby! Besides they’re really from Chicago.

P.S. It’s even funnier to learn that the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cardinals were once one team. Yep, they merged in 1944 because of personnel shortages caused by World II. They were known as the “Card-Pitt”, or derisively as the “Carpets”.

Yeah, it’s true. Look it up.

What a conflicted mess.