My experience is different from most here...
by ufl (2005-11-09 01:07:26)

In reply to: The broken link: What has ND's football tradition meant to you?  posted by Board Ops


...I didn't grow up knowing about, much less loving ND. One of my most embarassing moments in grade school occurred when the nun asked the class where Notre Dame was located. My hand shot up and I answered "Paris". Who knew?

No-one in my family had been to college so I didn't get a lot of guidance regarding choosing a school. I arrived at ND in the fall of 1964 without ever having been on campus. I was vaguely aware that ND played football but they hadn't been prominent since I'd started paying attention to college football.

I went to the fieldhouse for a pep rally that first weekend because that's where the crowd was heading. They introduced this new coach named Ara something and the crowd went nuts. Being unnaturally insightful, I immediately saw that this was different from high school football.

The rest is, of course, predictable. I think ND lost a total of 5 games during my undergraduate career. When the time came, my daughter enrolled and witnessed the '88 championship. My son was next and he barely missed the '93 FSU game.

He married a domer two years ago (married by Fr. Scully) and my fondest memory of the Fall of 2002 is sitting in front of the TV with my daughter-in-law and her mother going nuts as ND beat FSU.

Last fall my wife and I, our son and daughter, our daughter-in-law and her mother, plus some nieces and nephews (10 in all) flew in for that dreadful USC game. The weekend was still special because our daughter-in-law announced the upcoming arrival (later this spring) of our first grandchild.

ND football draws us together. I hope it always will.


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