A great bunch of lads.
Arguably no other TV show based in Ireland has had more of an influence worldwide than Father Ted and we saw another example of that last night.
Well, sort of.
The NCAA Men’s Division One Basketball tournament, more commonly known as ‘March Madness’ or the ‘Big Dance’, is taking place in the States at the moment and last night, Notre Dame defeated Wichita State for a place in the Elite Eight.
During the game, the Notre Dame players wore special badges marked ‘Fr. Ted’ on their jerseys, which might come as a surprise to many considering that most of them would barely have been born during the show’s heyday in the mid ‘90s.
As you’ve probably gathered, Notre Dame were not paying tribute to Graham Linehan and Arthur Matthews’ genius creation. They were remembering Reverend Theodore Hesburgh, a former President of Notre Dame University who passed away a few weeks ago at the grand old age of 97.
That said, we did enjoy some of the tweets referencing Notre Dame’s Ted tribute (see below) and if they can channel the spirit of Craggy Island sporting greats such as Father Nick, Father Cullen and Father Romeo Sensini, they’ll go a long way.
Totally rooting for Notre Dame now in the NCAAs… (it's an ecumenical thing) #FatherTed pic.twitter.com/0vwqDDtk4i
— David Young (@turkeysflying) March 27, 2015
Notre Dame are wearing little badges saying father Ted on it. NCAA investigating claims of fake hands.
— THE TUNGSTEN BARREL OF DEFEAT (@patsdonnelly) March 26, 2015
Hat-tip to Doug Duffy for the heads up with this one
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