ND fans-for those who don't troll NDN

IrishCorey · Nov 26, 2008

Every now and then you get a great post... these are becoming more and more rare over on NDN, but I liked this one. Perhaps if, for the first time in a while, the team (players and coaches) and fans could rally... we could bring back a little magic.

Why I'm going to the Coliseum

Why I'm going to the Coliseum
by Green Monstah (11/26/2008 02:05:22)

I'm a second-year law student at NDLS, and a 2007 alumnus of Our Lady's school. I've been a Notre Dame fan since my grandfather put an "I'm a Notre Dame Baby" bib on me when I was an infant. My first Notre Dame football memory is the 1993 FSU game, and all I can remember is the euphoria that my grandfather expressed, his joy at the thought that we were back at the top of the college football world. As someone who'd taken the train from his home in Indianapolis out to games in the 1930s, he knew that on November 13, 1993 we were back where we belonged.

I watched the BC game the next week, and remember crying in agony as my parents, BC alums, celebrated the upset by their alma mater. I grew up outside D.C., and remember going to the 2002 Navy game the week after Ty pulled out the fluorescent green jerseys and lost an undefeated season to BC. I was a senior in high school, and yet another loss to BC made me sick to my stomach. Nonetheless, I made my way to Baltimore the following week and watched a semi-miraculous comeback against the Midshipmen. Notre Dame was in my blood by then, for better or for worse.

As a Notre Dame senior, I cheered with all my heart in 2006 as Brady Quinn stood before the student section after our final home game and led us in a raucous chant of "Beat SC!" I swear, at that moment every single ND student believed we could do it. My roommates and I flew out to Los Angeles for Thanksgiving weekend, sat three miles away from the field in the Coliseum's godforsaken peristyle, and cheered the Irish on until the bitter end against the Trojans.

This week, I'm getting ready to fly out to Los Angeles once again for what SBTrojan terms "The Game" (apologies to Stanford-Cal). We're unranked, we all have profound doubts about our head coach and his assistants, and Pete Carroll's Trojans seem to have every advantage going for them. Nonetheless, our players will be running out of the tunnel, and they'll be wearing the golden helmets that evoke the image of our Golden Dome. We have seniors like Pat Kuntz and David Bruton, who have given their all for the glory of our school, our football program, and Our Lady. Our band is traveling to the Coliseum for the first time in the history of this storied intersectional rivalry, to provide our team with support against a hostile L.A. crowd.

As I ponder this upcoming trip, with everything seemingly stacked against us, and regardless of the coaching changes I think should be made after the season, I can't help but think of "What tho' the odds be great or small..." and the minuscule chance that a tiny Midwestern Catholic school founded in the snowy winter of 1842 would become the beacon of Catholic education and athletic excellence that it has been. For some reason or other, I still believe in the Notre Dame magic. Maybe I'm crazy, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Go Irish! Beat Trojans!
Click to expand...

To Hell with USC!

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ND fans-for those who don't troll NDN

IrishCorey Well-Known Member

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ND fans-for those who don't troll NDN

IrishCorey Well-Known Member

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