Players Skipping Alma Mater

[NDTH91]

Yeah, I am against it. Notre Dame football isn't about "building a sense community" it is about being the baddest football team in the land that will stomp your butt into submission. That is what built ND, not your pussyfooting nonsense. ND never did it until that fat a$$ Weis started it. It needs to end. The sooner the better.

I respectfully disagree with you. I believe that Notre Dame football represents the University of Notre Dame. I would love to stomp other teams into submission. I really would. But if it at the cost of abandoning the values of the University, then I would rather lose. If you would rather see the team become a scummy bunch of classless cheaters, that is your choice, and you may do as you wish.

 

[NDTampa]

Absolutely not, and that's my entire point. We are equal as students, and that's why either everyone should sing it, or no one should sing it. What is this "we're taking our ball and going home" attitude?

The idea is, we sing the alma mater win or lose because we "love thee Notre Dame" and everything that goes into the game is about more than just the game. It's about our community. It's about our shared experience. It's about our University.

In my eyes it's sort of like the deal with the National Anthem. If you don't want to sing it, fine. That's your choice. It's a free country. But do we still play it at important events? Heck yeah, we do. Because it's America, and that's part of how we take pride in our country. If some players don't want to sing, fine. But this is Notre Dame, and that's part of how we take pride in our University.

If that was your point then why did you say "But don't disrespect my university"? Instead of "our" university?

Also thats why they sing the national anthem before the game and not after.

 

[NDTH91]

Thats why they sing the national anthem before the game and not after.

lol I'm cool with singing the alma mater before the game, as long as the team sings with me.

 

[Patulski]

I respectfully disagree with you. I believe that Notre Dame football represents the University of Notre Dame. I would love to stomp other teams into submission. I really would. But if it at the cost of abandoning the values of the University, then I would rather lose. If you would rather see the team become a scummy bunch of classless cheaters, that is your choice, and you may do as you wish.

Dude, we beat the Sh$t out of teams for 100 years and never cheated or swayed. So, stop the nonsense. It's a stupid gimmick started by Weis and needs to stop.

 

[AvesEvo]

Dude, we beat the Sh$t out of teams for 100 years and never cheated or swayed. So, stop the nonsense. It's a stupid gimmick started by Weis and needs to stop.

That's not true, we cheated back then.

On that note, is it really cheating if everyone else is doing it too?

 

[IrishJayhawk]

Dude, we beat the Sh$t out of teams for 100 years and never cheated or swayed. So, stop the nonsense. It's a stupid gimmick started by Weis and needs to stop.

Not sure why it's a gimmick. I think it's pretty cool. And you act like it's either (a) stay for the alma mater or (b) lose every game. That's a false dichotomy.

 

[Irish Insanity]

If the players followed direction, then I have no problem with their part of it. However, whoever instilled this policy should take a shot to the balls. Then reconsider. ND students and fans and alumni are proud of the traditions of our program. Its one of the small things that separates us from other programs. Lets keep it that way.

 

[kmoose]

Dude, we beat the Sh$t out of teams for 100 years and never cheated or swayed. So, stop the nonsense. It's a stupid gimmick started by Weis and needs to stop.

I don't know when exactly it started, but I am sure that I have heard Coach Holtz talk about it as if the team did it while he was coach. So, without a clear timeline..........

 

[NDTH91]

Dude, we beat the Sh$t out of teams for 100 years and never cheated or swayed. So, stop the nonsense. It's a stupid gimmick started by Weis and needs to stop.

Right, but I want to beat the sh$t out of teams while doing it the right way. Whoever called out the false dichotomy nailed it

 

[NDTH91]

If the players followed direction, then I have no problem with their part of it. However, whoever instilled this policy should take a shot to the balls. Then reconsider. ND students and fans and alumni are proud of the traditions of our program. Its one of the small things that separates us from other programs. Lets keep it that way.

Nailed it. We're different. We care about more than winning at any cost. Part of what makes us special. Let's keep it.

 

[kmoose]

I don't know when exactly it started, but I am sure that I have heard Coach Holtz talk about it as if the team did it while he was coach. So, without a clear timeline..........

I stand corrected. From the 2007 Media Guide(pg. 10): http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/nd/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/07fbguideintro1.pdf

Alma Mater
A tradition started with the arrival of
current head coach Charlie Weis, the Irish
join the student body following a win or loss
with the singing of “Notre Dame, Our
Mother.”

I still think it is an excellent tradition, that should be carried on. It is very much in keeping with the other traditions of student-athletes being students first; like taking real classes, graduating in 4 years, no athletic dorms, etc.

 

[NDTH91]

I still think it is an excellent tradition, that should be carried on. It is very much in keeping with the other traditions of student-athletes being students first; like taking real classes, graduating in 4 years, no athletic dorms, etc.

This this this and this some more.

 

[IrishSteelhead]

My opinion has changed. Now that I know Weis started this, it is an absurd ritual that needed to stop anyways.

 

[returnofthemack]

It's not just swaying. It is simultaneously a salute from the team to the students who stood throughout the whole game to support them and an affirmation of their solidarity in Notre Dame regardless of the outcome of the game. It is a fantastic tradition and even though I saw some awful games in ND stadium, I always appreciated it when the team would come over and all the students would do it. Anybody who doesn't think that moment is special did not go to ND.

 

[Patulski]

I still think it is an excellent tradition, that should be carried on. It is very much in keeping with the other traditions of student-athletes being students first; like taking real classes, graduating in 4 years, no athletic dorms, etc.

A few years of Weis and now Kelly in over 100 years of football does not make it a tradition. The tradition is to go into the locker room, not sway like a bunch of nuns at a retreat.

 

[NDdomer2]

policy my ***. if it was policy jack nolan, reggie brooks, chris zorich, and the rest of the post game show staff all werent aware of it.

 

[NDTH91]

It's not just swaying. It is simultaneously a salute from the team to the students who stood throughout the whole game to support them and an affirmation of their solidarity in Notre Dame regardless of the outcome of the game. It is a fantastic tradition and even though I saw some awful games in ND stadium, I always appreciated it when the team would come over and all the students would do it. Anybody who doesn't think that moment is special did not go to ND.

Agree 100%. Well said.

 

[Patulski]

It's not just swaying. It is simultaneously a salute from the team to the students who stood throughout the whole game to support them and an affirmation of their solidarity in Notre Dame regardless of the outcome of the game. It is a fantastic tradition and even though I saw some awful games in ND stadium, I always appreciated it when the team would come over and all the students would do it. Anybody who doesn't think that moment is special did not go to ND.

That's because you're from the generation that has seen mostly mediocrity from ND football. If you'd seen how glorious dominance looks like, you wouldn't need a hug with the football team.

 

[NDTH91]

That's because you're from the generation that has seen mostly mediocrity from ND football. If you'd seen how glorious dominance looks like, you wouldn't need a hug with the football team.

But I would still want one...

 

[DillonHall]

I couldn't care less if they didn't sing the alma mater in front of the student section.

 

[kmoose]

That's because you're from the generation that has seen mostly mediocrity from ND football. If you'd seen how glorious dominance looks like, you wouldn't need a hug with the football team.

Or it's because you are a bitter old man who never really understood what the Notre Dame mystique was all about.

It wasn't just about winning. It was about winning right!

 

[NDTH91]

I couldn't care less if they didn't sing the alma mater in front of the student section.

I'm less about whether or not they do it, and more about them not doing it conditionally. To stay and sing if you win and pout and go home when you lose sets a bad example for everyone and is, quite frankly (I think), pretty embarrassing. Pick one or the other, but don't pout when you lose.

I imagine the students will always do it regardless of whether or not they are joined by the team.

 

[Jebediah Springfield]

If the majority of students (including football players) don't care about this "tradition" then everyone will forget about this in a week.

 

[Patulski]

Or it's because you are a bitter old man who never really understood what the Notre Dame mystique was all about.

It wasn't just about winning. It was about winning right!

What a pile of crap. Where did I ever say I didn't want ND to win right? And I think I understand ND pretty well, given that my Dad started for Leahy on the 1949 NC team and I graduated from ND in 1981. Between both my Dad's and my generation ND won AND won the right way. What they didn't do is sway like nuns after the game. The mystique did not include swaying pal. Now, we have no mystique and lots of touchy feely nonsense from people like you. Sorry, but go find somebody else to go all Dr. Phil about ND football.

 

[4irishnation]

 

[NDTH91]

If the majority of students (including football players) don't care about this "tradition" then everyone will forget about this in a week.

I think the majority of students DO care. There was about to be mass chaos in the student section had the whole team walked into that tunnel. I suppose we will find out soon...

 

[dmort]

Evidently its a new policy that after a loss the team goes to the locker room.Half the team forgot.

 

[stlnd01]

The alma mater isn't a victory song. You either go over to the student section and do it, or you don't. But you don't just do it when you win. It means more than that.

 

[NDTH91]

The alma mater isn't a victory song. You either go over to the student section and do it, or you don't. But you don't just do it when you win. It means more than that.

My point exactly. I prefer that they do it all the time, because I think it's a cool tradition and is something special, but if you're only going to do it after a win, then don't do it at all.

 

[returnofthemack]

Evidently its a new policy that after a loss the team goes to the locker room.Half the team forgot.

And somehow BK forgot to tell anybody, including the band and students about the new policy.