What Made You A Notre Dame Fan??

[grantphilly]

Catholic and my brother was and still is a huge fan as am I if you can't tell

 

[LOVEMYIRISH]

Dude, I totally lived there my first year at ND! What a dump, huh?

Better than married housing!!! That stuff was brutally bad.

 

[NDChatt]

I was born in TN but my dad is from Wisconsin and went to school there. So growing up we watched Big Ten football and ND always seemed to be playing one of the teams. My dad HATED ND. So for some reason i started cheering for the Irish when I was 5 years old. Ever since then, to me there are only two college football teams; ND and everyone else.

 

[goirish#1]

My dad knows Terry Eurick

 

[CLEARWALL]

When my father was going through RCIA I started becoming more of a sports fan. I never watched many sports until I was about 9 years old, so none of my favorite teams started forming until then. But since he was in RCIA(and those of you that have done it know how passionate you become for Catholicism while doing it), he wanted to be heavily involved in everything catholic. We basically both became Irish because of that and have been ever since. I was lucky, too, that first year was 1988(and most of us know what happened then).

 

[Polish_Fighting_Irish]

Catholic, tradition and "Rudy"

 

[IrishinTN]

Grew up in PA hating Penn State so cheered for ND when they played them, but really considered myself a ScUM fan. When I got to college (small school in PA-the only one I could afford cause I had to pay my own way) my freshman year at Christmas, Mom asked me what I wanted for Christmas. Having no clue, and we were walking through a mall, I saw a ND sweatshirt that looked pretty cool and casually said, "Well, that looks good. Why don't you just get me that."
Well, that Christmas, I did not get the sweatshirt. Instead, not knowing I thought I was a ScUM fan at the time, I opened presents and got Irish boxers, 3 Irish t-shirts and an Irish Jacket (which I still proudly wear 19 years later). Probably more Irish stuff than that, even. When I asked why all that and not the sweatshirt, she said the sweatshirt cost so much and she could get me all this stuff for the same price (it was an expensive sweatshirt).
Not wanting to break her heart, I just take it to college and wear it. Only people start giving me grief when they see me wearing it and the Irish lose. So I had to start keeping up with the games to know if I could wear my Irish paraphernalia or not- and, next thing I know, I'm hooked and an Irish fan for life. Sorry for the long story but that is the truth.

 

[leprechaun4life]

Dad is an an alum (77) and his grandfather was also an alum and played for Rockne. My entire family (on both sides) cheers for the Irish, for the most part. Now I'm a senior in HS, trying to get into ND. I visit in two days (but I leave before the game) to get a better feel for the campus. Hopefully I'll be accepted (my HS career has been pretty rigorous, tons of classes).

400th post Yipee!!

 

[IRISHDODGER]

Got it from my dad who is still a huge fan. I remember watching games on cable tv (WGN - Chicago) w/ Paul Hornung doing the analyst role. This was the end of the Devine era which I don't recall any games. Unfortunately, I was old enough to pay attention during the Faust era but luckily Holtz came along & I was hooked for life.

I've been fortunate enough to attend 3 games at South Bend incl. two w/ my dad. I wear all the gear, follow all the recruiting, etc. and defend my beloved Irish to all the SEC fans down south where I live b/c, on the whole, they hate everything about ND.

 

[Irishtat]

Grandfather class of '49... huge Irish-Catholic family... all about ND!

 

[Sureal]

Notre Dame v Miami '88.

I hated Miami so much that year. Notre Dame was up on Miami by one point with some seconds left to play. I told myself if Notre Dame beats Miami they will be my team for life.
#15 Pat Terrell breaks up a Steve Walsh pass.

19 years later...

 

[Maverick5]

my dad is an alum.....'77 i think....and being from wisconsin in my earliest days wisconsin really sucked, and was never on tv......but i was born a fan......when i was little dad told me stories of going to games, and the history of campus.....the history of the irish, the four horsemen, rockne, and how it was a way of life. he made very sure that i understood that as an irish fan i was not allowed to straight up trash other teams, because that was not what Notre Dame stands for. i carried that mentality thru all of my playing days, both football and baseball. I didn't try hard enough in high school to get into ND, and that might be the biggest regret of my life, but I will be a fan for life.....as will my kids....

 

[IrishGirl10]

Brady, Charlie, Touchdown Jesus, also, the ND Victory March was what we used for our High School fight song!

 

[Maverick5]

wow you are lucky to have the fight song in high school.....i had the ohio state fight song.....it still makes me shudder.....(it really sucked when i scored a touchdown and had to bite my tongue as such a nasty song would come on) i secretly sang the ND fight song as i ran off the field celebrating hahaa....true story

 

[CLEARWALL]

Did anyone read that tripe on CBS about being catholic and cheering for ND? I wanted to puke.

 

[ACamp1900]

The 89 4th and forever game against The U... once that game was over I was ND for life even though they lost...

 

[portlaNDgal]

My dad and uncle went to ND but weren't really die-hard fans...my dad was never into watching sports much. Once in a blue moon he'd turn on a game when the Irish were on. (We watched the 81 Sugar Bowl when he had a sprained ankle and couldn't go skiing.)Then, my sophomore year in HS, we toured college campuses over spring break for my brother and me (he was a year older). My dad's classmate and colleague was a prof. in the Chemical Engineering dept so we stopped in to visit him.

Same story everyone else tells...the campus took my breath away and I knew I only wanted to go there. So, although I didn't grow up steeped in ND football, the seeds were planted early and just took a while to grow.

My brother felt the same way so he went there too. It was the fall of 1987, and a young man named Tim Brown was blazing his path to the Heisman trophy. The first game I really watched and paid attention to was the Bama game that year; ND smoked 'em for their worst loss in 15 years. That got me hooked on football.

My freshman year was 88, 'nuff said.

 

[irishranger]

Catholic, Holtz, and the ND vs Penn St in the snow. I was just a kid and it was the best football game I had ever seen. Even now, when asked what the best game I have ever watched was I revert back to Rick Mirer rolling right and finding Reggie Brooks in the back of the end zone. I was a freshman in High School and have been guzzling the Kool Aid ever since. Man I get pumped just thinking about that game. Whew!

 

[Irish Legend]

I'm Irish Catholic, so birth made me an ND fan. (..and my father and grandfather were ND fans!)

 

[Sir John]

Well I am Catholic, we had a few blurbs on TV back in the 50's and not much news space. But a local HS Star called Paul Hornung went to ND. So all of us followed the golden local boy's games. Very hard then little TV exposure or newspaper after the game was over. It just became a thing in my family to follow ND. Nothing earth shaking.

 

[NDMANLAW1]

Great Great Grandpa, Great Grandpa, Grandpa, Dad, Sister.

Catch my drift?

 

[The Polish Irishman]

Birth made me a ND fan