love
by stanford_07 (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 have always wanted to attend the University of Notre Dame. There simply is no other school like it. One of my first memories of my childhood revolves around cutting out pictures of ND players and taping them to the wall of my room. Today that same room is absolutely plastered with ND paraphernilia. The crown jewel of that room is an autographed photo of Lou Holtz. I wrote him a letter when I was nine years old and received the photo a couple months later. I was thrilled to say the least. I put that photo on my desk and looked at it as i did homework throughout high school....reminding myself of my goal to go to ND. My first time on campus came in the eighth grade when my family passed through on the way to Chicago. It happened to be Autograph Day which was incredible. The highlight for me was walking through the parking lot of the JACC and seeing Bob Davie walk past. After a nervous hesitation I yelled "Beat Michigan for me coach!" People say Davie didn't "get" Notre Dame. Well he turned and said in reply to me, "Yeah, for you and a LOT of other people." That's what Notre Dame is to me. It is a community that embraces its football team like no other. Just as i cried after every one of our losses as a child, many people are crying along with me. When we start to win again, those same people will be rejoicing with me too. I have many other Notre Dame moments but they are too numerous to list here. I am now a freshman at this school and I couldn't ask for anything more. This place really is "the most beautiful sight these eyes have ever seen."