Exactly. I'm not a big sh!t-talker but I am milking this one.
I was in attendance when ND got shellacked at the Big House 38-0 in 2003. The atmosphere was incredibly hostile all day, I got into a fight in the stadium, full beers were thrown at my head during tailgating ... in a word, it was awful. It's been 11 years and I've never gotten over it.
Till Saturday.
Had the exact same experience. Attending that game is the origin of my intense hatred for Michigan and its fans. We could have been fighting off Wal-Mart Wolverines back-to-back and not even known it.
Never been to a game in Ann Arbor, but I've been to every Michigan home game for the last 12-14 years, maybe longer. Michigan fans have always been different than other opposing fans. To be honest, they've been a little more toned down in recent years (Maybe humility is a good thing given their recent records), but they're still worse than just about anyone else coming to South Bend. They walk around like they own the place, even when their team is shitty or they've lost to us the previous year. It used to be 5-10 years ago they were always picking fights with Irish fans too, although I've seen less of that in recent years. That said, having heard the stories and seeing Youtube videos of fans being assaulted at Penn State, Michigan, tOSU, etc, I'm not sure I'd want to go to any of those venues as an opposing fan.
For others who went to the game, what did you think of the stadium atmosphere? I thought it was pretty rad.
I almost got into it with another ND fan during the game. The people in front of me stood up on a 3rd down during the 2nd quarter. Naturally I stood up so I could see, but I only crouched so that way I didn't obstruct the people behind me. The guy behind me took it upon himself to pull me down by the belt and told me to sit down. That pissed me off; the only reason why I didn't light into him right there for treating me like a dog was that my fiancee was with me.
In hindsight I should have gotten an usher and told him what this fan did. I understand that he wants to see the game. So do I. That's no reason to put your hands on another fan and pull them down.
I kinda want to write a letter to the AD's office about it. I know that nothing will be done, but it's time to be consistent with the StaND policy from USC last year. Either do it or make everybody sit down. Because the next fan that puts his hands on me will be met with more than a glare.
Yeah, they really need to enact the StaND policy year round, even if it's a bit corny.
This is a football game, not a theatre. I've always said that if my back becomes such a problem that I can no longer stand for a game, I'll either quit going all together or I'll be content to sit and cheer from my seat...even if it means I'll be looking at someone's back during big plays (You know, a video screen would help solve that problem).
Overall I thought the atmosphere was great, much better than typical home games. I was surprised how many scUM fans had seats in the gold seats. I typically see some opposing fans there from time to time, but there are season ticket holders I know that definitely sold their seats and scUM fans picked them up. That was fine though, as many of them were out the door in the 3rd quarter.
