Why Notre Dame?

[roc351w]

I think it was acouple things that led to me being an ND fan, first the holidays with my grandfather. passed when i was 13 so from what i remember his storys he was a great athlete in highschool played every sport, but injured his kneeing playing football. we watched so many college games together but it seemed like he always had the irish on. that goes back to when i was 5 or 6, also i think its because my mothers irish and my father and her always liked to pick on each other so my dad being a psu fan it was only right to have her first born son in notre dame gear..... where i live is mostly psu fans but im proud to say im irish, because of the history and magic of nd plus it also helps me stay in touch with my grand father memorys .... in the end thats all we have. every time i hear about nd or watch them play. it brings emotions to me that go beyond football it is truly gift to be an irish fan.....

 

[shortnd]

I became a fan at a early age. My neighbors, HUGE ND fans, forced me to be a fan. They had 3 boys who are all about my age. I had a *puke sound* Michigan sweatshirt on (I live in Michigan). The dad said I was not allowed to play with his sons if I had that "team" on my shirt. I instantly threw it off. I would go to their house on saturdays and have a "tailgate" and watch Irish games with them. Went to my first ND with them against Tennessee, which ND blew a big lead......anyway... So I have been a fan ever since.

 

[ACamp1900]

I picked all my teams as a kid in the 1980's

Angels (My family's team and really had little choice there... my parents honeymoon was three Angel games and a day at Disneyland... that should tell you something)
Pens (My fav. animal as a kid... seriously, that's why)
Browns (Loved them in Tecmo Bowl and seeing them come so close year after year made me a fan)
Notre Dame (Watched the 89 Convicts vs. Catholics game... by the end of that one I was Irish for life... still haven't enjoyed seeing a National Championship, came one year too late... and am still mad at Stan Smagala for that game.)


add all that with my pretty hard lined loyal/stubborn side and I've stuck with all of them through it all and probably will til the end...

 

[BroMontana]

I grew up in South Bend and my whole family are ND fans. My grandmother used to work at Saint Mary's so there was a connection in a way. ND is representative of excellence and high standards. I've always appreciated ND vs any other school because of its long storied history and tradition. I was able to go to the Basillica, go to Hammes Bookstore, go the Administration building etc on any given day. Im still relatively young so I didnt get to see the '88 championship or even the 1993 team that almost made it. My earliest memories of ND are of the very end of the Lou Holtz era. Obviously winning wasnt the main factor in my allegiance. Its everything else. The hope of winning keeps it exciting. Actually winning will be the return on the investment.

 

[military_irish]

Just thought I would share that I finally turned my GF into a legit Notre Dame fan. She got hooked when we went to a girls basketball game and she loved the experience there. After that she watched all the games on TV along side me. Now after hearing how great it is to go tailgating out at ND, she wants to make a trip this fall. Hopefully we can make it up there because tailgaiting is amazing at ND. At least in my eyes.

This may not seem like a major feat but she hated any type of sport before I came along. Now she owns a few ND shirts and actually allows me to watch the games or throwback games without her nagging the whole time.

Always a nice time to add a new addition, especially when they live in the same household.

 

[BeauBenken]

Just thought I would share that I finally turned my GF into a legit Notre Dame fan. She got hooked when we went to a girls basketball game and she loved the experience there. After that she watched all the games on TV along side me. Now after hearing how great it is to go tailgating out at ND, she wants to make a trip this fall. Hopefully we can make it up there because tailgaiting is amazing at ND. At least in my eyes.

This may not seem like a major feat but she hated any type of sport before I came along. Now she owns a few ND shirts and actually allows me to watch the games or throwback games without her nagging the whole time.

Always a nice time to add a new addition, especially when they live in the same household.

Now that's love.

 

[RyCo1983]

I live in the middle of Penn State country...half an hour from State College, PA...I grew up about 45 minutes from State College...I had PSU shoved down my throat from the moment I could fathom watching sports...
I'm an independent thinker...always have been. I don't like being told what to do and like and who I am...I decided from a young age that Penn State and the Steelers aren't for me because everyone keeps thinking that is what I have to like...

So I gravitated to the team with the deepest and richest tradition in the game. NOTRE DAME. Being mostly of Irish blood and Catholic (at the time...non-denominational now) didn't hurt either. The tradition of excellence won me over. I would like to consider myself semi intelligent and the focus on strong academics was a huge drawing point as well.

That being said I'm 28 and have been a serious fan for around 10 years...I have been a psychotically obsessed fan (like the rest of you) since Quinn's freshman year.

I was a Chicago Bears fan for awhile too until I decided that I didn't care for professional football all that much.

 

[RyCo1983]

I grew up in South Bend and my whole family are ND fans. My grandmother used to work at Saint Mary's so there was a connection in a way. ND is representative of excellence and high standards. I've always appreciated ND vs any other school because of its long storied history and tradition. I was able to go to the Basillica, go to Hammes Bookstore, go the Administration building etc on any given day. Im still relatively young so I didnt get to see the '88 championship or even the 1993 team that almost made it. My earliest memories of ND are of the very end of the Lou Holtz era. Obviously winning wasnt the main factor in my allegiance. Its everything else. The hope of winning keeps it exciting. Actually winning will be the return on the investment.

I use your alias as a name for people all the time...bro this and bro that...
LOVE IT. Brosef Stalin

 

[no.1IrishFan]

I grew up in Elkhart, some of the best memories I can remember are Saturday's in the fall. I grew up when ND was a juggernaut and even though I was 6 in 1988 and don't remember the NC, they always brought it. Now I'm staring 30 in the face and only hope that they can return to prominence so when I have a kid they can grow up with the same memories.

 

[GainesvilleIrish]

The 2005 ND season changed me to a Domer forever. Now at a raw age of 11, I still remember seeing the "Bush Push" game v USC & that game put me over the top.

By 13, I was naming all the starters and the great players. By 15, I was in depth with the ND history & what the tradition and pride of ND stood for. By 16, I was in love with not only the football team but now the school and wanted more than anything to go there for college. At 17, I got rejected from the school of my dreams & was crushed.... but my love for the Irish never faulted & never will. Even if I'm stuck in Gator country for 4 years.

 

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

Born into season tickets. Pretty short and easy answer.

 

[BeauBenken]

I thought I had already shared my story in this thread, but when I looked through the pages I couldn't find it. I must have been mistaken. So here's why I love Notre Dame...(BTW, sorry I get a bit off topic but me writing this doesn't do it justice.)

My father was an alcoholic. I really only bring this up because his addiction prevented him from really exposing me to football. Any sport I knew about, I knew from my friends teaching me. I didn't know how to play football until 4th grade really. I was awesome at it from the beginning though. And even more important, I LOVED it from the beginning.

Well my dad wasn't an excellent father figure, but he was good friend and he knew everyone in the city of Muncie. We owned a flower shop and everyone referred to him as "The Flower Man" if they weren't referring to him as "The Mayor of Downtown" or "The Mayor of Muncie" because he was so well known and liked in the public eye.

Well my grandparents owned season tickets to Notre Dame, but as they got older my grandfather gave them to my father. I still remember, they were the 14th row directly behind the field goal. (My grandmother was also from Tennessee and my grandparents were actually Tenn fans...explains why my fav color to this day is orange.) My dad decided he would take me to a game in '02.

Now the only football games I had ever been to were my older brother's. He was a star wide receiver for both his middle school and (early on) high school teams. The black guys on the track and football teams always referred to him as "White Out" because he was the fastest white boy they had ever seen. I was always boasting about how I was the younger brother of the elementary school kid who broke the city's 50 meter dash record against middle schoolers.

Anyways,thing is, I wouldn't be sitting with him. He wanted to sit with one of his buddies. My father had managed to get one of our family friends to take me. (See the "everybody loved him" spiel I went on.) Now at this point, it may sound like my dad was being a negligent parent, but really he was giving me one of the greatest gifts a young boy could ever get.

Our family friends owned 4 seats in the first row on the 50 yard line directly behind the ND bench. I still remember to this day the roaring of the crowd 80,000+ (except not in my section full of geezers, I was the only one who sang the fight song!) an amount of people that my eyes had never seen nor had I ever imagined to see. I remember the monstrous players standing along the sideline and the only thing that separated me and Ty Willingham was a row of yellow mums. It was the coolest, awesomest, most beautiful sight I had ever seen!...as we lost to Boston College.

I didn't care about the out come of the game though. All that mattered was that I was forever Irish from that day on.

 

[RyCo1983]

I thought I had already shared my story in this thread, but when I looked through the pages I couldn't find it. I must have been mistaken. So here's why I love Notre Dame...(BTW, sorry I get a bit off topic but me writing this doesn't do it justice.)

My father was an alcoholic. I really only bring this up because his addiction prevented him from really exposing me to football. Any sport I knew about, I knew from my friends teaching me. I didn't know how to play football until 4th grade really. I was awesome at it from the beginning though. And even more important, I LOVED it from the beginning.

Well my dad wasn't an excellent father figure, but he was good friend and he knew everyone in the city of Muncie. We owned a flower shop and everyone referred to him as "The Flower Man" if they weren't referring to him as "The Mayor of Downtown" or "The Mayor of Muncie" because he was so well known and liked in the public eye.

Well my grandparents owned season tickets to Notre Dame, but as they got older my grandfather gave them to my father. I still remember, they were the 14th row directly behind the field goal. (My grandmother was also from Tennessee and my grandparents were actually Tenn fans...explains why my fav color to this day is orange.) My dad decided he would take me to a game in '02.

Now the only football games I had ever been to were my older brother's. He was a star wide receiver for both his middle school and (early on) high school teams. The black guys on the track and football teams always referred to him as "White Out" because he was the fastest white boy they had ever seen. I was always boasting about how I was the younger brother of the elementary school kid who broke the city's 50 meter dash record against middle schoolers.

Anyways,thing is, I wouldn't be sitting with him. He wanted to sit with one of his buddies. My father had managed to get one of our family friends to take me. (See the "everybody loved him" spiel I went on.) Now at this point, it may sound like my dad was being a negligent parent, but really he was giving me one of the greatest gifts a young boy could ever get.

Our family friends owned 4 seats in the first row on the 50 yard line directly behind the ND bench. I still remember to this day the roaring of the crowd 80,000+ (except not in my section full of geezers, I was the only one who sang the fight song!) an amount of people that my eyes had never seen nor had I ever imagined to see. I remember the monstrous players standing along the sideline and the only thing that separated me and Ty Willingham was a row of yellow mums. It was the coolest, awesomest, most beautiful sight I had ever seen!...as we lost to Boston College.

I didn't care about the out come of the game though. All that mattered was that I was forever Irish from that day on.

Our fathers would get along famously man...

 

[Riddickulous]

Didn't care about football much until maybe age 13. I started following the Irish in 2005 and never looked back.

 

[phgreek]

I live in the middle of Penn State country...half an hour from State College, PA...I grew up about 45 minutes from State College...I had PSU shoved down my throat from the moment I could fathom watching sports....

Ditto...I grew up in Williamsport...

To her credit, my grandmother (pure Irish), blazed the trail for the generations of fans that would follow...My dad and all my uncles are ND fans...My brother and I are ND fans...I salute your indepenent nature...couldn't have been easy. At least I had family...

 

[Irish4Life09]

I personally grew up as a little kid in South Bend.Such a special city. Unfortunately for me,at that age I really didn't know anything about football, my friends and I were mainly into baseball and soccer. But my dad and I went to ND basketball and hockey games all the time. So unfortunately I've never been to a home ND football game.The only Irish game I've been to was here in Knoxville a few years back when we broke their QB's arm and had the awesome pick6.So hopefully this will be the year I'll get my first home game.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

I started my undergrad at ND in 2002; really wasn't much of a football fan at the time, but I went to all the games. I finally left ND in 2009 with a Law degree, but I was still just a casual fan; suffering through Willingham's and Weis' tenures might have had something to do with that.

Now that I've moved back home to Arizona, I've been voraciously consuming all things Irish football. I'm still learning all the Xs and Os stuff (can't ever get enough of that), but my understanding of the game's subtleties is light years beyond what it was while I was actually in the stands.

Makes me wish I knew then what I know now. Don't know what you got 'til it's gone... sing it Cinderella:

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[GBdomer]

Grandpa went there. I was born to love and raised on Notre Dame football. Every basketball, every football and soccer ball i played with as a little kid had a Notre Dame logo on it. Its in my blood and it runs thick in my family. Family has season tickets.My dad and uncle went to the Florida State and Notre Dame game in 1993 and they were so drunk they snuck into the stadium after everyone left and just sat on the 50 yard line and had a couple beers together. Grandpa passed away recently 3 days before the Utah game. and somehow that Utah game brought are family closer and it is my favorite Notre Dame game i have watched. Rudy ran on repeat in the Sullivan house hold. i grew up a huge Tommy Z fan cause i grew up about five minutes away from him. I have a lot of family in Oregon too so you can consider them my "second team". But i love Notre Dame football just about as much as anything.

 

[NeuteredDoomer]

I think I have answered this before on this site. I was about 4, and my father was fixing something in the house. Heater? Ceiling? He told me "Go get me a (some tool I never heard of...). So I walked past the TV, which was tuned to a Notre Dame basketball game. Announcer yells "NOTRE DAME BALL!!! I parked myself and watched the blue and gold team.

It was the sound of their name. And then the sound of my father yelling, "Where the hell is that (tool I never heard of.) I think I brought him a screwdriver. I guess being Roman Catholic may have something to do with it. But months later I saw a football game, and I liked the uniforms. And the sound of their name.

Sh!t. I was 4.

 

[BleedBlue&Gold]

What's funny is i'm from Indiana, basketball was my first love. never stepped foot on campus, i've never been to a game, but i fell in love with the irish in '88 watching the Fiesta bowl. I'm 39 now, i will see my boys in person oneday, along with seeing that stadium.

 

[irishpat183]

Grew up on the east coast. Every Saturday ND would be on TV...so I've watched them from a young age. I'm a perfect example of how broadcasting games on the national level draws in fans from all over.

My uncle went there as well. And we're Irish Catholic...my grandfather is actually from Kilkenny, Ireland.

 

[JDAtlanta]

I grew up outside Chicago, Irish Catholic family. My Mom's cousins all went to ND. Her uncle offered to pay for my Uncle to go to ND, He declined the offer. My Mom was the biggest ND fan ever. She would never watch/listen to any sports. But, if the Irish were on TV, she watched. If the Irish were on radio, she listened. I do not recall when i became an ND fan, I was always an ND fan. I remember a story about my Mom. It was in the early 90's. y Dad and I were watching the Heisman show. Angelo Bertelli's picture came on the screen. My Dad said, You know your Mom had a date with him. Bertelli had a girlfriend that could not make it to SB for a dance. My cousins suggested my Mom for his "date". She said he was very nice, shy and really did not want to be there. In the book "200 years of ND Football. Her uncle was the person that told Leahy to contact ND about the HC job. ND is in my blood. The family still has the tickets to the football games. 50 yd. line, Row 1.

 

[A Pac]

My parents are both Catholic so even though one is from Canton and the other from Pittsburgh, they both grew up Irish fans. Also, when my parents got married my Dad's company moved them out to South Bend and my mother was a secretary at the school.

 

[DrewMo]

I have always been a notre dame fan because my grandpa is a MAJOR ND fan and i would always watch games with him.....the love for the irish only grew stronger when my cousin walked on to the team his frosh year and ended up starting a couple of games on special teams his senior year

 

[BleedBlueGold]

I grew up just outside of South Bend. My best friends' parents were huge ND fans. My earliest memories are of us watching the games out in the garage. The first game I remember watching was the '93 ND vs FSU. Unfortunately, the second game I ever watched was a crushing loss to BC the following weekend.

Like many other posters have said, there is nothing like a Saturday in the fall when ND is playing. I took this for granted until I went away to college. I have not lived close by ever since. I miss it dearly and get back for as many games as possible (even if it's just to tailgate).

What gets me through the tough times? Well...ND will always be ND and no other school can compare.

 

[NDOM]

Why not ND? They're the best.

Okay. So I'm 10 years old and I was then living with my Aunt (Long story). She was great friends with our catholic church priest whom was a Notre Dame grad. He actually was one of the guys in the Irish Guard waaaaaaaaaaaaay back when he was there.

Anyhow, he gets tickets to the 1987 game between Notre Dame and Michigan State which was an evening game. So we go. The minute I step on campus I felt that thing that a lot of us can feel but some of us just cant. It was a great feeling. We walk from the parking lot and come around the corner and to my surprise the Golden Dome was lit up in the night sky and I started to cry because it was so beautiful. Even at 10 years old I knew this was a special place.

Tim Brown ran back 2 punt returns for touchdowns and later that year won the heisman trophy. It was one of if not the most memorable times in my life. I will never forget it.

Anyhow, enough of me being a pansy and getting choked up. Who's got the Guinness and Weed? GO IRISH!

 

[IrishSteelhead]

I grew up in a blue collar city by the ILL/IN border, my family all worked for US Steel, my family and our community was mostly Catholic, and we all were DIE-HARD ND fans.

People out West always ask me about the paradox of "Why do middle-class blue-collar people like such an elitist school?" The answer (at least for me) is quite obvious: ND stands for integrity, the family model, faith, not taking shortcuts, and above all hard-work.
It doesn't matter what a person's socio-economic status is, these are values any decent person should strive to have.

Above all I love ND because they represent everything that was once great about college football, and can be again. We are going through what will be called "The Steroid Era" of college football, and if ND can stem the tide of all these programs that are committing beyond minute violations, and win a NC, it will not only be a victory for ND, but one for all the Grabowskis out there who refuse to sell-out to better themselves.

*Sorry for such a long rant, but I really got into it :embar:

 

[GO IRISH!!!]

My Polish-Catholic great grandparents were huge Notre Dame fans. My great grandfather used to listen to the games on the radio. My mom, when she was a little girl, used to make the long car ride from Ventura to Downtown Los Angeles every other year to meet the Irish at the train station when they arrived to play SC.

My mom was really the inspiration for my love of sports. My dad likes sports, but my mom is truly passionate. Especially the Irish. Every Saturday in the Fall revolved around Notre Dame football and they still do.

I plan on taking my mom to her first football game in South Bend for the 2012 season. She has seen the Irish play in other venues, but never at home.

 

[k1ssme1m1r1sh]

My dad, who is actually not my "dad" by DNA, stepped in and became my dad when I was 2. He has been a lifelong fan, along with his dad. We always have one major football party at the house for the scUM v. ND game. It's pretty epic. We've done some crazy things to scUM fans. One year we set up a 9in black and white tv on a three legged card table with some rusty folding chairs and that was our "scuM" section. Then another year I spray painted a 20 ft x 20 ft leprechaun in the yard.

But we've always been a ND family. Always. It doesn't feel right cheering anyone else.

 

[JadeBrecks]

Born and raised nd fan (thank eNDzone) and wouldn't have it any other way! You can't beat notre dame on game day its the greatest!