Is anyone else here from South Bend?

[flyingwriter]

Hi all,

I'm just wondering if anyone else on this forum is actually from South Bend? I live in Niles, Michigan, which is a bedroom community located just north of South Bend and less than five miles from ND's campus. Of course, I'm not a Notre Dame fan.

It seems like most people who's posts I've read so far are from places like Atlanta and Philadelphia. Any other Michiana residents out there?

 

[BGIF]

We have some students and some townies from the Bend. Junkhead, one of the mods, come to mind. JefMaj lives in Elkhart but I believe he grew up in Niles. There are a number of posters from Granger, Mishawaka, La Porte, Goshen, Lagrange and Napannee.

Our posters are typical of the ND fan base and cover the continent. I don't recall anyone from Alaska but we have Te'o nd Toma followers in Hawaii. Our Administrator lives in France and we have posters from Scotland, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, South America, and Canada

 

[JefMaj]

Grew up in Niles - St. Mary's, Ballard, Niles High School ('73)... Then West Yellowstone, Idaho Falls, NY NY (Manhattan), Granger, South Bend, Elkhart...

Burrough of Manhattan CC (token caucasian), Notre Dame, Valpo (JD)...

Never was a UM fan, gamily knew Duffy at MSU, however, I was 11 in '66... that wasn't happening... Spent 1 year at EMU... only went to UM for the May Bash.... in the '70's as well as the AA Blues Festival a few years.

I'm 54 and don't get out much anymore so I'm an Elkhart... go to work... walk the dogs.... hit the treadmill... shoot baskets (not a BB guy in school - what do you call a guy in high school with bad hand eye coordination - a wrestler). Live with my fiancee and her two kids (20's) - one a scratch golfer the other a +2... so I don't golf (-30 handicap).. Life - Boring but I love it. Trust me I've been ther done that... Oh, Wilco twice a year and three or four other concerts...

I go the the ND BB games and we have a motor home on what use to be Edison (tons of Niles people) at the football games...

Still have several family member in Niles... use to have a bookstore/card shop there until it burned down... now my brother does. Another brother is Mr. Bluegrass in Niles and schedules the Thursday and Sunday night concerts by the river... as well as all those for Riverfest and the raft race. He lives in South Bend

 

[flyingwriter]

Cool. I actually live right across from Riverfront Park on Front Street, so I can hear the bluegrass music from my place. Don't know if you've been up here recently, but they have all the trees downtown covered with Christmas lights. Looks like a post card. Niles is a great town.

However, one thing that has always bugged me about Niles is that it doesn't really identify with the rest of Michigan. ND fans outnumber UM fans, and many people from this area end up moving to South Bend or Granger. I don't understand why people from here don't identify with their state (MICHIGAN) more. It seems like Niles isn't really Michigan. I used to live in Three Rivers, which is about 30 minutes east of Niles, and you'd be hard pressed to find any ND fans there. If you're from Michigan, why not support Michigan cities and sports teams? Oh well, just my opinion.

 

[devolg]

I grew up in the Cass/Edwardsburg/Dowagiac area. Growing up my Step-Dad was a Drywall contractor & 90% of his work was in the South Bend/Mishawaka/Granger area. While the rest of my family were Michigan or Michigan St fans I quickly became attached to ND as a kid because of the time I spent down here with my Dad when he was working & my natural desire to be defiant.

When I had kids of my own we decided to move down & here because of better schools. Our decision was between Penn & Jimtown districts because of academics &the great athletic programs both schools have & in the end we opted for Jimtown due to the smaller student body & tremendous football program.

I've resided on the southwest side of Elkhart now for about 9 years.

 

[The hawaiianassassin]

i was born in elkhart general and raised in elkhart till i turned 20 then moved to TN to take a better paying job as a production manager of a company

 

[The hawaiianassassin]

my mom still lives there she has a resturaunt on main st in downtown elkhart called main st cafe good food if your ever there check it out try the breakfast burrito its HUGE!!!

 

[justinpham]

Cool. I actually live right across from Riverfront Park on Front Street, so I can hear the bluegrass music from my place. Don't know if you've been up here recently, but they have all the trees downtown covered with Christmas lights. Looks like a post card. Niles is a great town.

However, one thing that has always bugged me about Niles is that it doesn't really identify with the rest of Michigan. ND fans outnumber UM fans, and many people from this area end up moving to South Bend or Granger. I don't understand why people from here don't identify with their state (MICHIGAN) more. It seems like Niles isn't really Michigan. I used to live in Three Rivers, which is about 30 minutes east of Niles, and you'd be hard pressed to find any ND fans there. If you're from Michigan, why not support Michigan cities and sports teams? Oh well, just my opinion.

I feel like Notre Dame, as a national university, pulls fans (and students) from all over the globe and particularly other states (all 50, in fact). By no means am I saying that Notre Dame is the only school or team that can pull fans from outside of their home state.

For example, as someone from Oregon, I definitely like the UO Ducks and root for them during most of the season but if they ever came to play Notre Dame again, I know, without a doubt in my mind, that I'll be cheering on the Irish.

So to respond to your question, I don't think that one's state of residence is always the defining role in someone's allegiance. It can play a role, just not always the defining one.

 

[JefMaj]

I do recognize the large number of ND fans vs. UM fans in Niles.... there is an abundent number of UM fans in Elkhart?????

Try the breakfast burrito at Main St. Cafe... I'm sure they still make it.

 

[IrishandColts]

Indianapolis here! LOVE THE IRISH AND THE COLTS!

 

[devolg]

I do recognize the large number of ND fans vs. UM fans in Niles.... there is an abundent number of UM fans in Elkhart?????

South Bend being so close to the state line, there is an abundance of Michigan fans all over the area. Notre Dame is a love or hate team & if you hate them the next biggest school thats close is UM. There's also several Ohio State fans around here.

On a related note a friend of a friend came over to my house for Thanksgiving sporting a Miami sweatshirt. I politely asked him to remove it or leave. Thats unforgivable around these parts.

 

[IHateMarkMay]

Grew up and graduated from Edwardsburg.

 

[nlroma1o]

I'm from Granger. I currently go to school at Xavier University, so at the moment I live in Cincinnati, but back home the state line is about a half a mile from my back yard. Michiana is a great place to grow up. You get a taste of ND, Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, and IU fans. It's a smorgasbord of college football!!!

 

[JefMaj]

Did you leave Edwardsburg to Escape Reality? (Inside joke)

 

[nlroma1o]

Grew up and graduated from Edwardsburg.

Your from The Burg! Small world. My girlfriend and her family are from there. I live 5 mins away in Granger.

 

[IHateMarkMay]

Did you leave Edwardsburg to Escape Reality? (Inside joke)

HAHAH na, went to college, didn't get a job. Lived in White Pigeon with my mom and step dad for a while, drove to visit my girlfriend on the East side of the state, my car is basically dead and I'm looking for a job out here.

 

[loomis41973]

South Bend in the house...State line area.