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Hello, My Name Is Doug, and I’m an Addict
It has been said that as a person grows older the approach of autumn can be depressing. From green to brilliant reds, orange, and yellow the leaves go and barren trees under lead grey skies shortly follow as a reminder of our own mortality. I look forward to autumn because I’m addicted to Notre Dame football. The words of Grantland Rice best describes how I feel about the mortality of the season.
“Outlined against a blue-gray October sky, the Four Horsemen rode again. In dramatic lore they are known as Famine, Pestilence, Destruction and Death. These are only aliases. Their real names are Stuhldreher, Miller, Crowley and Layden. They formed the crest of the South Bend cyclone before which another fighting Army football team was swept over the precipice at the Polo Grounds yesterday afternoon as 55,000 spectators peered down on the bewildering panorama spread on the green plain below.”
I’ll confess that I am a Notre Doter. This glorious addiction started in third or fourth grade and I have no desire to seek a cure. One Friday afternoon as class was ending one of the nuns reminded us to pray for Notre Dame. We always were given three to four hours of homework a day and this was one assignment that was not going to be a burden.
There were times when we were admonished for not completing our homework. The girls in class who always did their homework took the reprimand to heart and some would even start crying. The boys in class who were really the target of the admonition would look around the classroom as if nothing had been said.
My grandmother came along with my mom to pick us up from school that Friday afternoon. I told mom that Sister Gabrielle asked us to pray for Notre Dame. My grandmother turned around, looked at me and said God has more important things to do than concern Himself with a football game. The earth stopped spinning and for the first time in my young life I realized my grandmother was wrong about something. My grandmother was a Methodist. The no-drinking, no-dancing, no-card-playing type of Methodist.
The wins and losses are no longer as important to me as they were earlier in my life with the exception of the Michigan and USC games. The sword-and-sandal guy and that white horse is always good for some venial sins. I watch every Notre Dame game from start to finish regardless of the score. As I watch each game memories of hundreds of games and the friends and family I watched them with become part of the present Saturday.
I’ll leave you with a video of one of the Notre Dame Football traditions that I love.
As long as it doesn’t extend to the “go-along-to-get-along” philosophy of some in the university’s administrative ranks, Doug, I’m all for it: Go, Irish! Enjoy!
Go IRISH! (I’m from Indiana. It’s a matter of local pride….)
One of the reasons that I love ND football is because Father Hesburgh tried to kill the program. After his participation at the Land of Lakes Conference every time the team comes out of the tunnel I see it as one thing that he couldn’t betray.
I understand, Doug! As a potential third generation Wolverine alum (who, alas, defected for the South), I still feel the same thrill whenever I have the opportunity to enter the Big House, particularly when they’re playing such an important nemesis as The Fightin.’ I have sooo many childhood memories of these sorts of great competitions when neighbors and friends would despise each other for a good 48 hours. :)
So much of Notre Dame football started with Knute Rockne, who was the icon of the tough but loving coach. Lombardi had the same effect; a tough guy whose image that he loved his players and they loved him … well, that was the image anyway. Notre Dame was the place where heart won games, not just size or skill. Well, that was the image anyway.
Doers anyone think that Rudy could have happened at the University of Miami in the 1980s? Just doesn’t mesh with the image, ya know?
I still think that Notre Dame tries to represent itself the school that teaches that virtue and heart win. Even if you hate Notre Dame, that’s not a bad image to have.
Get your guns up!
Hail, Hail to Old Notre Dame
You take the Notre, I’ll take the Dame
While our famous faculty
Lies drink on the barroom floor!
My pastor played percussion in the band.
He has taught his two children the Fight Song.
You gotta love consistency. :))
Roll Tide Roll
Just a gentle reminder Jeff Notre Dame and Alabama have met 7 times. Notre Dame won 5 of those games. Notre Dame and Alabama have something else in common other than a 7 game series. Mal Moore the Alabama Athletic Director coached at Notre Dame. It’s a nice story.
Notre Dame and Alabama’s a hard one. Which one do I want to lose more?
I can give you a hint if you like.
Doug’s right! This is the best time of the year.
In the South, there are 2 seasons: SEC Football season and “Waitin’ fer next year.”
The smack talk with friends from other schools. The traditions. The school songs. Getting together with 100,000 of your closest friends in the stadium. The parties. The coaches new and old. The players. The idea that “This may be THE year.”
It’s almost time!
I thought the quote was that God might not care who wins the football game, but his Mother does.
Anyway, just a few short months until basketball season. Rock chalk, baby!
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=rock+chalk+jayhawk&FORM=VIRE7#view=detail&mid=B59AC33761BD7AF12DA1B59AC33761BD7AF12DA1
Here’s some more consistency:
These boots are made for walkin’…
When I was young I shared a backyard blanket with a Gold P and a buff guy named Pete wielding a sledge hammer. The blanket was Black and Gold and came from a school that produced more Astronauts than any other university including the first Man on the moon. Back on earth a green revolution was eliminating famine (except of course the famine caused by socialist/communist government) and Purdue agronomists were at the center. Due to a Purdue upbringing I cannot share your enthusiasm.
As I started listening to the trumpets, I thought, “well, okaaaay…?” There were some false starts, a few flats and missed beats. Then I realized why: They were waiting for The Good Part. As soon as they started jumpin’ and jivin’ they were dead on and In! Da! Mood!
I must admit. I truly don’t understand how anyone can get so into watching any sport or team. If you were playing sure, but just to watch…..I don’t truly understand the attraction. I do know, based on how much money fans spend on sports, I am the odd ball. I just don’t understand why you care that much who wins a game.
A school should be judged on the accomplishments of it’s alumni, not the stadium scoreboard. In this regard Purdue is near to the top, as is ND. Turning out minds that improve the world. Now that is something to cheer about.
I marched in that band. I played that fight song. I bet I can still play it after 20+ years.
Ready and juiced for college football (in that non-PED sort of way).
War Eagle!
Go Irish! Wonderful tribute, Doug. Despite a bit of a rocky summer for the team, I seriously can’t wait for the season to begin. Shake down the thunder! Win glory for Our Lady!
I do wish that they would just let their Catholic flag fly and take pride in it. Because that’s who Notre Dame is: the young warriors who put pride into Catholic hearts back when Protestant America rejected and scorned them. It’s a kind of representation that’s truly special, and quite different from nearly every other team out there that represents (for its own particular fan base) home and community and so forth. The Irish represent Our Lady and Holy Mother Church, in a sneering, unsympathetic Protestant world. The legacy may be a bit tarnished this far down the line, but I still love them for that.
Doug – I have the same addiction. One I’m happily passing on to my kids. Thanks for the post. Tom ’86 and ’90
I had the pleasure of teaching at Purdue for a couple of years. It was quite a good experience.
When I was younger a Notre Dame loss became a religious experience. I became a Trappist monk and a rigorous 48 hour period of silence was observed.
For those that are interested in the cultural aspect of college football I suggest Murray Sperber’s book Shake Down the Thunder. The book is a history of the first 50 years of ND football. It is not a history of wins and losses. The NYT book review is a good summary of the book.
During my freshman year at a sister school to ND a friend of mine said he was going to transfer to ND and play football for ND. He was as good as his word. He was a walk-on and became a starter. He wanted to play linebacker but became their kicker. He was probably the biggest kicker in college football, and the only kicker I ever saw that was hitting people downfield.
If the movie “Rudy” doesn’t make you a Notre Dame fan, I don’t know what will . . .
Well that’s easy…..NOTHING WILL! haha GO VOLS!!!!