After Missing CFB Playoff, Notre Dame’s Pettiness Peaks As Bookstore Briefly Cancels Event

We've surpassed the 72-hour mark since the 2025 College Football Playoff bracket was announced, with Notre Dame learning that it would not be competing for a national title this year, yet despite the whining-filled days that have passed, the Fighting Irish continue to find ways to come across as petty as possible.

While Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua has been busy pointing fingers and simultaneously patting the football program on the back in recent days, it appears the university has also been paying close attention to details while exploring every way to make the football program come across as sore losers.

As first reported by Matt Fortuna of The Inside Zone, Hammes Notre Dame Bookstore canceled a scheduled book signing for Friday with Ivan Maisel. 

Maisel, an acclaimed sportswriter, is the author of ‘American Coach: The Triumph and Tragedy of Notre Dame Legend Frank Leahy,' which was released in September. He is also a member of the CFB Playoff Committee that left Notre Dame out of this year's 12-team field.

About 90 minutes after the report that Maisel's signing event had been canceled and it gained traction on social media, the author relayed that the signing was back on as scheduled.

Notre Dame continues to come off as petty after not making the College Football Playoff.  (Photo by David Madison/Getty Images)

"I’m disappointed," Maisel told The Inside Zone on Wednesday of the initial cancellation. "I look forward to hearing people out and talking about my book."

On one hand, the campus bookstore canceling an event that would inevitably bring forth plenty of frustrated and likely very vocal Notre Dame fans isn't surprising in today's day and age. However, that doesn't mean that the reported move can't be criticized, even if it was put back on the schedule, given that it falls directly in line with the three-day moaning fest that has taken place in South Bend.

Before the signing event was reportedly canceled, the Fighting Irish had announced they would be declining all bowl game invitations, and Bevacqua bizarrely blamed the ACC for the situation. Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark then torched the program, and Notre Dame fans have continued to revolt on social media.

READ: Notre Dame Opting Out Of A Bowl Game Reveals Two Coexisting Truths

Anyone outside of South Bend sees what used to be among ‘the standard’ for a football program and university standpoint as an operation that is spiraling.

It's clear that the CFB Playoff Committee decided to prove the point that games during the regular season matter with its exclusion of Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish lost at Miami 27-24 in Week 1 of the season, which ultimately pushed the Hurricanes over the line and into this year's Playoff.