JumboTron

ToledoGoIrish · Sep 14, 2011

read an nice article over at the Observer and found it interesting because ive thought bout it before as well.....

Shortly after graduating from Notre Dame in 2000 I moved to Los Angeles where I've spent the last ten years working on the television show South Park. My schedule allows me to travel to a fair amount of Notre Dame football games. I was at Yankee Stadium last year when we beat Army, and the Coliseum the following week when we snapped our eight game losing streak to USC. I passed on El Paso, but I did make the trip to South Bend for this year's home opener against SFU, and I was part of the 114,804 in Ann Arbor last Saturday night.

Following our Irish the past 15 years to stadiums all over the country has helped me further appreciate our traditions. Our students united in a singular colored T-shirt, our crowd-surfing pushups after touchdowns, our beautiful stadium and campus — I love that we stand together after games, win or lose singing our alma mater, and I'm proud that we play our opponents' fight song for their visiting fans. That's just classy. That's who we should always strive to be.

I had a moment of clarity Saturday night with 4:23 left in the 4th quarter: We need a jumbotron. Robert Blanton had just intercepted Denard Robinson's pass in the end zone protecting our 24-21 lead. It was a huge moment in the game and should have been a big momentum shift.

But it wasn't.

During the TV timeout, Michigan flashed clips from their glory years on their jumbotrons while blaring The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army." Two minutes of "dunt-dun-dunt-dunt-dunt-dunnnnn-duuuuuu" with 100,000 maize pom-poms in the air while they showed Desmond Howard and Charles Woodson highlights. My friend turned to me and said, "It's as if they just scored a touchdown instead of throwing an interception." He was right.

You know the rest. Three and out. They score to take the lead. When we scored with 30 seconds left there was still no quit in their fans. Their energy willed their team to victory.

The jumbotrons gave them that energy.

Ben Paine

alumnus

Class of 2000

Sept. 13

IrishLax · Sep 14, 2011

Great post.

And damn am I jealous that you get to work on South Park. New episodes are starting up again soon, right?

koonja · Sep 14, 2011

ToledoGoIrish said:
read an nice article over at the Observer and found it interesting because ive thought bout it before as well.....

Shortly after graduating from Notre Dame in 2000 I moved to Los Angeles where I've spent the last ten years working on the television show South Park. My schedule allows me to travel to a fair amount of Notre Dame football games. I was at Yankee Stadium last year when we beat Army, and the Coliseum the following week when we snapped our eight game losing streak to USC. I passed on El Paso, but I did make the trip to South Bend for this year's home opener against SFU, and I was part of the 114,804 in Ann Arbor last Saturday night.

Following our Irish the past 15 years to stadiums all over the country has helped me further appreciate our traditions. Our students united in a singular colored T-shirt, our crowd-surfing pushups after touchdowns, our beautiful stadium and campus — I love that we stand together after games, win or lose singing our alma mater, and I'm proud that we play our opponents' fight song for their visiting fans. That's just classy. That's who we should always strive to be.

I had a moment of clarity Saturday night with 4:23 left in the 4th quarter: We need a jumbotron. Robert Blanton had just intercepted Denard Robinson's pass in the end zone protecting our 24-21 lead. It was a huge moment in the game and should have been a big momentum shift.

But it wasn't.

During the TV timeout, Michigan flashed clips from their glory years on their jumbotrons while blaring The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army." Two minutes of "dunt-dun-dunt-dunt-dunt-dunnnnn-duuuuuu" with 100,000 maize pom-poms in the air while they showed Desmond Howard and Charles Woodson highlights. My friend turned to me and said, "It's as if they just scored a touchdown instead of throwing an interception." He was right.

You know the rest. Three and out. They score to take the lead. When we scored with 30 seconds left there was still no quit in their fans. Their energy willed their team to victory.

The jumbotrons gave them that energy.

Ben Paine

alumnus

Class of 2000

Sept. 13

You work on South Park? I'm one of the biggest fans but the episode from season 15, 'Stan gets old' was awful. What was up with that? No silver lining, no positive ending, I wanted to cry afterwards. Maybe I'm getting too old, lol. But seriously, that was the worse episode ever.

CarrollVermin · Sep 14, 2011

I think the sentiment across the fan base is the same, the question becomes how do you convince the "suits" that this is in the best interest of the game going forward. The idea seems to be dismissed each time.

ToledoGoIrish · Sep 14, 2011

This is just an article i read, i can not claim to be this "Ben Paine" fella.

just figured id copy and paste rather then post an outside link that ppl might not even click. thought it was a good article and would be a good read for others. Although i was there and i must agree the energy in the place was nuts, ppl parachuting into the stadium and the loud music w/ throwback clips were nice. The pom-pom's were pretty homosexual tho if you ask me.

ToledoGoIrish · Sep 14, 2011

Jumbotron > sgt. tim maccarthy anyday.

(in terms of hyping the crowd that is..)

RDU Irish · Sep 14, 2011

If you are going to have so much dead time in the stadium with TV time outs, it would be nice to have a little entertainment with a Jumbotron. I am not a fan of the concept in ND stadium but then I really am not a fan of adding half an hour to the game run time to accomodate NBC. Put a Jim McMahon headband on Mayock or something to get your ads in rather than buzz kill the live event.

BGIF · Sep 14, 2011

ToledoGoIrish said:
Jumbotron > sgt. tim maccarthy anyday.

(in terms of hyping the crowd that is..)

Well maybe herein lies part of the problem. Fans that think a state trooper reading a public safety announcement is hyping the crowd.

laservet · Sep 14, 2011

I attended the game, too. The jumbotrons made a HUGE difference in keeping the crowd at a fever pitch, particularly as you note after a bad play for the home team.

I also liked the fact that the jumbotrons weren't filled with advertising, zero ads.

koonja · Sep 14, 2011

CarrollVermin said:
I think the sentiment across the fan base is the same, the question becomes how do you convince the "suits" that this is in the best interest of the game going forward. The idea seems to be dismissed each time.

Tell them to evolve or get out. It's like any major corporation or fortune 500 company, if you refuse to evolve, you won't make it.

Having said that, I have no idea who the 'suits' are, but I assume they're usually hanging out with Bud Selig.

TerryTate · Sep 14, 2011

Swarbrick had an interview this past offseason that addresses their stance on the Jumbotron and Field Turf.

I have a feeling you'll see a major upgrade if this season goes well.

ToledoGoIrish · Sep 14, 2011

BGIF said:
Well maybe herein lies part of the problem. Fans that think a state trooper reading a public safety announcement is hyping the crowd.

I'm sure you attend games right?
Do the fans not cheer at the announcement? because other than the normal every school cheerleaders running around. rah-rah-rah what else gets the fans into the game other than the game and the fans themselves?

ToledoGoIrish · Sep 14, 2011

Sometimes honoring the Class of '75s Practice squad during a TV timeout just doesnt cut it.

Yes · Sep 14, 2011

Call me old fashioned, but I love the fact that we have no jumbotron. I went to a Penn State game recently and not only was the jumbotron distracting, it was annoying.

Yes · Sep 14, 2011

ToledoGoIrish said:
I'm sure you attend games right?
Do the fans not cheer at the announcement? because other than the normal every school cheerleaders running around. rah-rah-rah what else gets the fans into the game other than the game and the fans themselves?

The Band?

IrishLax · Sep 14, 2011

TerryTate said:
Swarbrick had an interview this past offseason that addresses their stance on the Jumbotron and Field Turf.

I have a feeling you'll see a major upgrade if this season goes well.

What if the season goes ******? That'd be almost MORE incentive to change things up. Field turf is like a girl getting a new hair cut after she gets dumped. It's an absolute necessity in my opinion. A Jumbotron is more like a boob job... awesome if done correctly and a great addition; but can end badly if not handled the right way.

Here's to a more attractive Notre Dame stadium by 2015.

Irish2015 · Sep 14, 2011

I think we'll see a field turf soon but I don't think a jumbotron is in the plans for the near future.

ToledoGoIrish · Sep 14, 2011

Yes said:
The Band?

Got me there....

And maybe the hot blonde thats always in the row in front of you at the games you go with your gf. usually entertaining

ToledoGoIrish · Sep 14, 2011

IrishLax said:
What if the season goes ******? That'd be almost MORE incentive to change things up. Field turf is like a girl getting a new hair cut after she gets dumped. It's an absolute necessity in my opinion. A Jumbotron is more like a boob job... awesome if done correctly and a great addition; but can end badly if not handled the right way.

Here's to a more attractive Notre Dame stadium by 2015.

and i also agree with the dude who made the Fortune 500 comparison. If you dont evolve you fall behind where you used to stand. (*coughJOE PA*)

irishff1014 · Sep 14, 2011

I would rather keep real grass and add the jumbotron

Whiskeyjack · Sep 14, 2011

ND will never get a JumboTron. They're huge, garish, and incredibly obnoxious.

ND may very well get a video board at some point. They're slim, discreet, high-def, and can show as much or as little as you want.

Think it might distract from the game? Then only show the score and stats during play; save the replays for down time. ND is damned good at putting together evocative videos about its history; getting to show those to 80,000 fans during a game can only lead to good things.

ToledoGoIrish · Sep 14, 2011

Whiskeyjack said:
ND will never get a JumboTron. They're huge, garish, and incredibly obnoxious.

ND may very well get a video board at some point. They're slim, discreet, high-def, and can show as much or as little as you want.

Think it might distract from the game? Then only show the score and stats during play; save the replays for down time. ND is damned good at putting together evocative videos about its history; getting to show those to 80,000 fans during a game can only lead to good things.

Seem like one of the few that understand its fun to attend games. its just all the TV timeouts start to suck the further and further the game goes on.

BeauBenken · Sep 14, 2011

Please put the

Quote Blocks

around the part that you copied from somewhere else.

loomis41973 · Sep 14, 2011

Anything to get the blue hairs out of the stadium would be a GREAT idea.

Crank that $#@$% up!!!

TDHeysus · Sep 14, 2011

lets get one of those jumbotrons that makes players catch the ball, run the correct routes, look for the ball while running routes, dont fumble, or throw interceptions.

IrishLax · Sep 14, 2011

Who all was at Yankee Stadium last year? That is how a JumboTron should (and would) be used.

TerryTate · Sep 14, 2011

loomis41973 said:
Anything to get the blue hairs out of the stadium would be a GREAT idea.

Crank that $#@$% up!!!

I do my best every game.

Who sits down during a football game?

RallySonsOfND · Sep 14, 2011

TerryTate said:
I do my best every game.

Who sits down during a football game?

No one in the South. Unless your seats are really high up. haha

Best time I ever had at a football game was UGA/GT last year.

loomis41973 · Sep 14, 2011

TerryTate said:
I do my best every game.

Who sits down during a football game?

Had 2 older ladies in my row comparing jewelery during the USF game. Never stood up once except to leave.

koonja · Sep 14, 2011

loomis41973 said:
Had 2 older ladies in my row comparing jewelery during the USF game. Never stood up once except to leave.

Well, look who just pulled landscaping duty. You're in my world now grandma.

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