Jimmy Clausen T-Shirt causes stir

Jimmy Clausen's T-shirt is making more headlines than his play on the field. The Carolina Panthers backup QB and former standout for Notre Dame tweeted a picture of a shirt today, showing his allegiance to his alma mater.

In a play on the famous "Catholics vs. Convicts" matchup of 1988, when the Fighting Irish took on the University of Miami Hurricanes, Clausen's t-shirt seems to allege that ND is again on the side of the righteous, while the defending champion Alabama Crimson Tide are a bunch of... well, rednecks.

In case you missed the joke, Clausen's t-shirt replaces the "convict" label attached to the Hurricane squads of the 1980s, and implies that people in Alabama marry their cousins. Not a bad pun, but one that may look silly in retrospect if the Tide stomp the Irish.

Jimmy Clausen's T-shirt is about the least offensive thing about Jimmy Clausen. Heavily recruited out of high school, Clausen announced his decision to attend Notre Dame at the College Football Hall of Fame, rolling up to the press conference in a Hummer limousine with his blonde hair proudly spiked. There was no chance that Clausen could ever live up to that kind of hype, whose career highlight at ND was... a Hawaii Bowl win in 2008?

But Clausen is proud of his Irish, and Clausen's T-shirt is proof of that. Of course, ND will have their hands full against Nick Saban's Alabama squad, regardless of whether or not they marry their cousins.