The old folks arthritis may keep them from standing, a heart condition may keep them from bellowing for 3 hours but despite the hyperbole in this thread there are not 72,000 geriatrics plus the student body in the stadium. There are old folks at every stadium around the country. And yes ND only has 8,000 students but all 40,000 students at PSU or OSU don't get in their stadium. The entire student body doesn't get in Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Ole Miss, or even South Carolina. USC doesn't fill the Coliseum. Stanford averages 15,000 empty seats.
Many of the stadiums have acoustics more conducive to noise than ND's.
One thing they all have except BYU is drunks, usually more than a few. In Baton Rouge, the drinking starts with breakfast tailgating. At ND the State Beverage Commission is making arrests at tailgate parties and ND shuts them down completely now during the game. At most stadiums if your tipsy they tell you to sit down or go to the aid station. At ND they take you away in handcuffs and ban you from the stadium.
At Kyle Field, The Former Student Association Members stand for the whole game, except the old folks. I've been there, they sit.
At Williams-Brice Stadium, Gamecock fans average EXCESS capacity attendance whether the Cocks win 8 games (they only won 10 once or twice ever) or lose 11 games. They cheer win or lose.
Boston College doesn't average sellouts and they have less than 45, 000 seats. Rutgers doesn't want to play at the Meadowlands not because they have their own stadium but because they can't fill the Meadlowlands when they play there.
Miami averages 30,000 empty seats.
At ND if you stand for a play no big deal. Remain standing while high fiving your seatmates and the chorus starts, "DOWN IN FRONT". Keep doing it and a mall cop shows up to let you know you're being disorderly.
In '97 my wife and went to the opening of the new stadium against GT. We knew Joey Getherall, every time he caught a pass (which was quite a few times in the first half) my wife bounced out of her seat. Now at 5'-2" she hardly obstructs anyone's line of sight. But about the third time she stood and cheered for Joey, the "DOWN IN FRONT" boys started bellowing. They persisted with their shouts and as she, not a novice fan, bided her time. During a momentum killing NBC timeout, she stood up on her seat, faced them, and started shouting "WE ARE ND!" The Boo Boys again hollered again, "DOWN IN FRONT" it was during a freaking NBC timeout. I calmly sat there, as she sneered at them, "You want me down, come put me down. Oh, I should warn you I have a Black Belt. Now which one of you is first?" The two guys sat their silently, sinking in their seats. The crowd roared. At halftime one of them went to an usher to have her ejected. We were there with a group of about 75 member of the Nashville ND Club. The president of the group identifed himself and told the usher she was a loyal ND fan, a cheering inspiration. As for the two Boo Boys. They were both alumni. Both wearing ND class rings. No, they were 75 they were both about 25.
In the second half we got together with another Alumni Group in the next section. One Section chanted "WE ARE" the other responded "ND". It didn't take long for several ushers to show us waving their outstretched arms with palms down telling us to quiet down. Seems this time we upset the cheerleaders with an "unauthorized" cheer. A couple of days after the game I posted the story on the IRJ, the Irish Recruiting Journal, THE ND Board at the time. A few who witnessed the event acknowledged it. Then came a post from a former cheerleader lamenting how hard it is when the fans won't listen to them and hold "unauthorized" cheers. That's why the ushers try to keep order. I had though the ushers had made that crap up. Not so. There is ritual and decorum that must be followed. No matter no bland it is.
Later that season, my wife and I went to Baton Rouge for the LSU game. Legendary Death Valley. I've never seen so many drunks in my life and my dad owned a bar. They drink all day for night games. This game kicked off about 4 pm and the fans complained there wasn't enough time to drink to get ready. Shortly before kickoff the band marched from one end zone to the other. They stop ath the other end and bowed to the fans there and played a couple of bars in salute to those fans. And those fans went crazy. Then they did an 90 degree turn and marched to one side of the field and repeated the bow and couple of bars. Again those fans went crazy. They repeated this ritual for all four sides of the stadium and the crowd was whipped into a frenzy. Stomping their feet in unison on the metal floor of the upper deck. THEN THE LSU TEAM TOOK THE FIELD! MOmentum!
ND fans get excited when the team comes out of the Tunnel. LSU fans are ready for mayhem!
ND took the opening KO marched down the field and scored. By halftime it's 16-7, I think. And somn LSU fans start to leave the stadium. Haltime down 9! In the 3rd quarter ND scored again and they left in droves. I have a tape of the game and in the 3rd quarter you can hear the 5000 ND fans screaming "WE ARE ND!" Midway through the 4th Q there were no more than 100 LSU fans and their band in the stadium. So much for frenzy. 10 minutes after the game while the ND team was saluting the fans, LSU turned out all the lights in the staidum. We cheered in the dark including the 70 year old couple that sat next to me.
In 2002 I was at Doak Campbell when the Undefeated Irish played FSU. About 1000 green clad Irish fans marched into the stadium chanting "HERE COME THE IRISH!". ND took a 7-0 lead first series of the game. Close game until early in the 3rd Q, FSU QB made two miscues ND recovered and scored blowing out to a 34-10 lead. Now the only people in the stadium doing the Tomahawk Chop were the Irish fans. When the game ended we march down the ramps enmasse chanting, "HERE COME THE IRISH!"
Nole fans parted like the Red Sea to let the Sea of Green pass. After the game I lost my group and was invited by some Nole fans to munch on lobster and wine at their tailgate. NICE tailgate. They commented that they have never seen such enthusiastic fans at their stadium as the ND fans. One woman noted, "It sounded like it was your home game, not ours."
I've heard similar comments at the Meadowlands, the Coliseum, Knoxville and some other venues.
The difference - NO ND ushers and mall cops. No cheeerleaders complaining about "unauthorized cheers". No down in front alumni. Somebody in this thread hit a cord with me with the Chardonay Crowd. I agree. That, and the ushers, and cops following the Adminstrations directives on decorum.
There should be banners at every entrance to ND Stadium proclaiming,
"CHEER LIKE A CHAMPION TODAY!"
GO IRISH!
