When you think about a rich tradition in college football one team always is at the top: Notre Dame.
Their inaugural game was clear back on November 23, 1887 when the Irish lost to Michigan by a score of 8–0.
Notre Dame has 102 winning seasons in 121 years of football, and only 13 losing seasons.
Notre Dame has the 2nd highest winning percentage in NCAA history (.734), behind only Michigan. (.737).
The Fighting Irish have been awarded 11 national championships and produced more All-Americans than any other Football Bowl Subdivision school. In addition, seven Fighting Irish football players have won the Heisman Trophy.
The team plays its home games on Notre Dame's campus at Notre Dame Stadium, with a capacity of 80,795. All home games are televised on NBC.
They have one of the best fight songs around (I know, I heard it at least 200 times during the game).
They are loved by their fans. People flock from across the country to watch their beloved Fighting Irish in action.
The uniforms' blue and gold are classic football lore.
It was joy to be there to see them play.
Especially when it was against the might Cardinal of Stanford.
We wore our Stanford attire with pride, though we were in the great minority. It was a sea of blue and green, with two patches of red: a small section near the side of the end zone and the larger group near the tippy top of the stadium.
You could see "Touchdown Jesus" from our rafter seats. The small old wooden bench gave us more than one splinter during our use. The cold breeze whipped at our faces and colored our cheeks. The da, da, da, da-da, da da echoed from the instruments and wafted up into the air. The leprechaun danced. The cheerleaders kicked and the crowded roared, "Goooooooooo IRISH!"
Stanford play with abandon. They made risky plays. They had bold moves and soon our victory was secure.
The Irish fans grew restless and most left with a huff and an evil word on their tongue (ask the boys about the folks 'cursing' by them, while I heard more than one angry last minute rant as they hastily exited the stadium while I roamed with a wiggly Zach, though many were directed at none other than Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh.)
The girls twirled and shook their new 'cheerleaders' (aka pom-poms) while we waited for the game to end. We met Rich's dad and the older boys down by their lower seats.
We smiled triumphantly in our post game pictures.
The Cardinal were victorious over the mighty Irish.
It was a day, game and memory I will never forget.
3 comments:
Love it! My favorite football trip was when we went to the BYU vs. Notre Dame game. Such amazing football tradition. The campus is incredible too. I want to take Brad to a game sooooo bad.
I am so glad you pointed out these posts I missed. I knew it was very un- cheryl -like to not give details about the game:)
I had no idea that Stannford killed Notre Dame so badly. I'm not surprised by the grumbling you heard....those old men Notre Dame fans are serious about thier team.
So glad you were able to do this. I'm jealous that your kids (for the most part) are all old enough to remember visiting all of these cool places. Such a great education for them.
I had no idea about those ND facts. What a winning history they have!
Looked like a packed house. How neat you were in Stanford get-up, but still enjoyed all of the Fighting Irish festivities and traditions. Thrilled you guys were able to go!
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