For the slightly older ND fans...

[no.1IrishFan]

I'll be turning 31 in April. The lore of ND has been something I've hung my hat on since our last title in 88', I was just starting kindergarten(damn I feel old). We've had good seasons since then, some may even argue we've had great seasons since then. But, none have compared to this season.

I'm beyond the point of breaking down film or trying to give some stupid analysis of how the game might go.

ND will win and that's all there is to it.

It's just the way it's supposed to be.

End of discussion!

 

[PANDFAN]

im 32 i started watching ND games w/ my *** hat dad during the 88 season...ive been waiting for this for waaaay too long!!!

 

[tko]

im 32 i started watching ND games w/ my *** hat dad during the 88 season...ive been waiting for this for waaaay too long!!!

i'm sensing some deep layers to sift through in that psyche.

 

[no.1IrishFan]

im 32 i started watching ND games w/ my *** hat dad during the 88 season...ive been waiting for this for waaaay too long!!!

Yes, this type of season doesn't work out the way it has for us to lose this game!

This is a season I'll be telling my grand kids about.

 

[DuffHouse12]

i'm 26. my earliest childhood memory is watching Reggie Brooks catch that two pointer.

i also vividly remember Coughlin's BC team taking down the Irish when i was 7.

i'm with you OP. all the way. but if it doesn't happen, i'm pumped we have BK who looks as though he can produce these elite teams year in and year out. just grateful.

 

[ND NYC]

i wish 31 was "old"

 

[no.1IrishFan]

i wish 31 was "old"

Lol, that's why I said "slightly" old.

 

[IrishEyesAreSmiling]

Im only 20 so this is my first ND national championship I get to watch with my dad and fam

 

[Folsteam_Ahead]

i know this story too well. i'm 30 and have very vivid memories of watching parties in the late 80's and early 90's. we went to all the big bowl games back then. we lived in dallas so the cotton bowl was easy to catch. i was at the '91 orange bowl and the '92 sugar bowl. losing to CU in miami crushed my little child soul, but stomping florida the next year made everything better until BC in '93. UGH!!!!

it's been too long and i've been crushed too many times in my teens and twenties. i'm going to dance like lou for days if we win on monday.

side note, my parents will be at the game. they were at the fiesta bowl in '88 and the cotton bowl in '77. apparently they're good luck.

 

[Sherm Sticky]

I'm turning 30 exactly one month from the title game. The first ever Notre Dame football game I saw was the 1993 cotton bowl when Bettis and Brooks beat the crap out of A&M. The 1993 season was the first a I watched fully. i thought all seasons would be that good, minus the BC game. I've put in my dues, it's time for a championship.

 

[Opus]

I just turned 50 last November. I remember watching the 73 ND/Ala game with my dad. I also remember having to go out into the garage to listen to ND games on the radio because there were only 3-5 tv channels and it was very hard to get ND games in a small town in Arizona back then and radio reception in our house sucked.

I also remember the days of the delayed tape games. ND was about to take the floor in 1974 (I was 11) to play UCLA in BB when UCLA had won 88 straight games. My cousin from Michigan calls me screaming about what a fantastic game it was and how he couldn't believe the ending. It took me 5 minutes to get him to understand that I hadn't seen it because it was just starting in Arizona. Funny, it just wasn't that exciting for me since I knew the final score before the game even started at my house.

 

[Irish To The Core]

I'm 53 and I remember when Notre Dame was essentially the only college ball on tv until New Years Day. I remember watching Joe Theismann in the 1971 Cotton bowl victory over Texas after watching Notre Dame games during that season. I was hooked.

 

[OhioIrishFan]

I'm 32 and the genuine first memory I can associate with ND football was the Michigan game with Rocket returning the two kick returns, then of course the punt return called back vs. Colorado, etc.

 

[Irish#1]

I'm 60 and I started listening to ND on the radio in the early 60's right before Ara came on board. Huarte, Snow, Hannratty, Seymour, Lynch, Patulski, Clements, Theisman, etc.. When you grow up with National Titles happening every 4-5 years you expect it. It's been a lonnnnnng time since 88 for me.

 

[dshans]

I remember watching Joe Theismann in the 1971 Cotton bowl victory over Texas.

Did you see me in the stands during the National Anthem? I was standing next to a HS school friend who was also a Domer. This was our freshman year at ND. When we got back to Orlando (after a 24 hour drive) my parents said that they saw Jim and asked "where were you?" His parents told him that they saw me and asked "where were you?"

Good trip, good game, good times.

 

[irishpat183]

I turn 31 in FEB and have twins on the way in May.

I too remeber the good days (tail end), my most vivid ones are Powlus winning 4 heismans (LOL), Ivory Covington stopping Army's TE on the goaline to win the game, and Marc Edwards kicking ***.

I would love to tell my two unborn children that they were born the year that my Irish came back!!!

 

[bobbyok1]

I'm 36. I still remember clearly watching ND beat West Virginia for the 88 season title. I was 12 years old. One of the best memories I have with my dad who passed away 7 years ago now. It almost doesn't feel real yet that they are playing for the title again. I think it will come gameday

 

[Cackalacky]

35 so I was born the year of a national championship. I grew up watching with my grandfather. I vaguely remember the Faust era and I remember very much the year Holtz was hired and slogging through his 1st 2 seasons. My grandfather was very adamant about how he knew Holtz was a chip off Ara and ND was headed in the right direction. 1988 was awesome. Hopefully this year will be the year. My son has watched every game with me this year. Very cool even though he is young. He already knows Ann Arbor is a whore and Miami are a bunch of criminals. Indoctrination is interesting to watch.

 

[Irish Insanity]

I'm 32. I'm about the only sports fan in my close family. My dad will watch the occasional sports game, and neither of my brothers are sports fans. My earliest memory was probably the early 90s. I grew up out in the country so cable didn't exist. We had one main TV in the house, and sports was never on it. So I put an old black and white 13" TV in my room and got in what I could on Saturdays on local TV. That just happened to be ND on our local NBC network. From the early 90s till the early 2000s I was always a dedicated fan, but since about 2004 I've been an adict. Then a few years ago I found this site, and realized there are more. Lol.

 

[Irish To The Core]

Did you see me in the stands during the National Anthem? I was standing next to a HS school friend who was also a Domer. This was our freshman year at ND. When we got back to Orlando (after a 24 hour drive) my parents said that they saw Jim and asked "where were you?" His parents told him that they saw me and asked "where were you?"

Good trip, good game, good times.

Maybe subconsciously, but consciously I remember that great Theismann td run tiptoeing down the sidelines for the final 5 yards. Being a Canadian, I went mental when he signed with the Toronto Argonauts instead of going to the NFL. Then Tom Clements came to Canada and I had another ND qb to cheer for.

 

[ulukinatme]

I'll be 31 in March. This will be the first National Championship I'll remember seeing, I was 6 the last time they won. My first game in attendance was the '93 BC game...and that was most unfortunate and the closest we've been since now. I'm slaughtering goats as sacrifices and maybe my wife's poodle later if it means that '93 hex can be purged from my life.

 

[Irish To The Core]

I turn 31 in FEB and have twins on the way in May.

I too remeber the good days (tail end), my most vivid ones are Powlus winning 4 heismans (LOL), Ivory Covington stopping Army's TE on the goaline to win the game, and Marc Edwards kicking ***.

I would love to tell my two unborn children that they were born the year that my Irish came back!!!

Wow, Marc Edwards and Ivory Covington are the "good old days", that is sad irishpat. That makes just one more reason to celebrate this season...you will have some actual "good" (rather than okay) old days to recall. btw I loved Marc Edwards but those teams were just alright, not like Ara's teams or the early Holtz teams. To me the last few Holtz years were the beginning of the lean years.

 

[jakerbluegold]

**** mf'er! I'm 33, and I'll tell you what, if you're one of us youngins, '93 was the year. Us '93ers have been waiting for this for 19 friggin years!

Not trying to be a doucher, just saying that we've been waiting on some badass football for a few years, and I've taken Monday and Tuesday off for the game.

 

[johnnykillz]

32 here; holla my 30-year-old b!tches!

I really feel like we've awoken the echoes.

Hard to shut down legends...

But hey, best of luck to you Bama.

You have the heavy load boys.

Rockne, Leahy, the Four Horsemen, and a fella named Gipp among others will be pulling for our Lady.

Roll Tide fittin' to meet a Golden ending... Again.

 

[95NDAlumNM]

Man this thread makes me feel old. I am coming up on 40 years. In 88 I was already in high school. Remember watching Gibson come in to the World Series game for the dodgers and hitting that home run. Watched every game I could for nd that season especially the national championship game. 93 was my junior year at nd and that fsu game was the greatest game I have ever been at.

 

[jakerbluegold]

Man this thread makes me feel old. I am coming up on 40 years. In 88 I was already in high school. Remember watching Gibson come in to the World Series game for the dodgers and hitting that home run. Watched every game I could for nd that season especially the national championship game. 93 was my junior year at nd and that fsu game was the greatest game I have ever been at.

So you are my slightly older cousin?

 

[Junkhead]

I'm 39, and I remember missing most of the 88 ND-Miami game due to having an epic game of backyard football. I think I had like 7 TDs.

 

[irishpat183]

I'm 39, and I remember missing most of the 88 ND-Miami game due to having an epic game of backyard football. I think I had like 7 TDs.

Then you're one short of my record, 8 TDs, with a red and black nerf turbo football in what is now known as "The game on the century....by 6 and 7 year olds"

People still talk about it.

 

[irishpat183]

Wow, Marc Edwards and Ivory Covington are the "good old days", that is sad irishpat. That makes just one more reason to celebrate this season...you will have some actual "good" (rather than okay) old days to recall. btw I loved Marc Edwards but those teams were just alright, not like Ara's teams or the early Holtz teams. To me the last few Holtz years were the beginning of the lean years.

Lol....I guess it was because I was young and those guys were kinda heros at the time. Edwards is my all time favorite.

93 was good. 2005 was good.

Certain things just stick out.

 

[NDfan12]

I'm 25..been watching since '92. Been waiting so long for ND in a title game. Words can't describe how excited I am to watch my favorite team play in CFB's biggest game.