WRAL Sports Fan

Why I love Notre Dame

By Mike Maniscalco
Oct 9, 2008

The reason you have to love Notre Dame is in this question: Do you love college football?

If you answered yes, then you love the Irish football program.

What other school brings out so much passion and emotion, not just in their fan base but also in schools that do not play them? Mention Alabama to a Pac-10 fan and you’ll be greeted with indifference. Bring up Michigan to a Big East fan and there will hardly be an opinion. Say Nebraska to ACC fans maybe you’ll get a shrug.

But bring up of the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame and every fan base has something to say. That is why I love them - they are always relevant, win or lose, and that is good for college football.

Here are a few more reasons:

If you have ever been to South Bend for a game you’d understand what a football atmosphere feels like.

“Play like a Champion today!” The sign every Irish player touches on their way to the field. Every locker room I have been in has a slogan or sign for the team to draw inspiration. None are as simply put and as meaningful as that ,and if someone tells you to touch the sign, you know exactly what they mean.

What other school has given so many coaches material to fire up their team? Notre Dame meant so much that a dying George Gipp told his coach to fire up the team to win just one for him.

Before you roll your eyes at Rudy, yes Rudy, just read this. His story serves as an inspiration to every kid who ever pulled on a football jersey that if you never quit you can achieve anything. How is that a bad thing?

Notre Dame brought college football from the East Coast to the West Coast. There were plenty of football programs to write about, fantastic Sooner and Longhorn teams and the military institutions, but only one caused the great sports writer Grantland Rice to pen, "Outlined against a blue-gray October sky, the Four Horsemen rode again.” I haven’t come across anything close to that about another program.

I can be objective about this subject unlike my counterpart writing “the loathe them” blog. I question a grad of the opposition writing a hate them column and his ability to be unbiased as a journalist. If you attended the University of North Carolina , shouldn’t you hate N.C. State or Duke football programs with that same fervor and vitriol? Jealousy is an ugly thing.

Yes, Notre Dame fans are smug, but it is no worse than Carolina basketball fans. For the record, 11 national titles will give fans that sense of entitlement. Just for comparison you’d think the Heels have won that many basketball titles with how their fans act (Hey Dane it’s five). On the record, SEC fans are smug and so are Oklahoma and USC fans, but that is part of having a historically relevant program.

Spare me the scheduling garbage. Let me answer the schedule: the Irish an independent so they have to play the Armed Forces and there is a tradition involved in those games. It’s like saying why does UNC get to play Duke? Last time I checked there are no I-AA schools on the Irish schedule. How many “Big Conference” schools can say that? So leave the strength of schedule debate at the door

I did not attend a major Division I university and no family member attended Notre Dame; in fact only a handful of people I know went there. With no ties to any program I had my pick of any team in college football to follow and it wasn’t even close for what team I dreamt of playing for, the Blue and Gold. The rich tradition is something that is part of the very fabric of America , and how many great moments in sports history are tied to the Irish? Their tradition is something that even if you didn’t go there you can respect.

I love college football and without Notre Dame, this great game would not be the same. Take the Yankees out of baseball or the Cowboys out of the NFL and tell me that something wouldn’t be missed. If Notre Dame went away tomorrow what school would take its place? There isn’t a single team.

I love college football and that is why I love Notre Dame.

Most Recent Comments

By Mason Dawg
Posted Nov 4, 1:55 a.m.

Rank: All Star
Posts: 462
Joined: Jul, 2008
Location: Wake Forest, NC

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RE: Why I love Notre Dame

Mike,It's Mason("The Evil Nick SaBON")who does love college football,and I've been schooling the UNC fans on the Blue Heaven page.I did back The Fan & you up when they were putting you guys down.Don't forget,UGA 1-0 against ND(1980).To be nice, I will tell you that I remember 1977 when Joe Montana and ND won the title against Texas and Earl Campbell in the Cotton Bowl.My Bro-Law(BAMA Grad) thought that they should have won it that year because they ripped Ohio St a new one who was #2 that same day in the Sugar Bowl.

By Mike Maniscalco
Posted Oct 14, 11:14 a.m.

Rank: Bench Warmer
Posts: 58
Joined: Oct, 2008
Location: Raleigh, NC

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RE: Why I love Notre Dame

Hope you checked the reply on the thread Turtle. And it's not bad to see the Sophomore QB have a career day. Crow isn't all that bad.

By TarheelTurtle
Posted Oct 13, 12:00 p.m.

Rank: Sports Legend
Posts: 3485
Joined: Jun, 2007
Location: Chapel Hill, NC

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Not much to say, is there? Haven't heard anything from you since your beloved Irish lost to our lowly Heels. Must be food poisoning from that crow that you, no doubt, had to choke on...