A Day at the Golden Dome

This past Saturday I had the opportunity to attend the Notre Dame v. Tennessee football game here in South Bend. My friend Peter has season tickets which he obtained from a mutual friend that's on staff at the University. So that gave me the "in," which you have to have in order to see the Irish in action. Actually, there are always tickets available, just not necessarily at the price you'd be willing to pay.

The campus is totally buzzing on game day. I think as many people come to the game and hang around in the parking lot or around the stadium as those that actually attend the game itself. There are tailgaters galore and BBQ grills all over the place.

Our tickets were in the end zone about half-way up. Notre Dame stadium does seat a lot of people, but it's also a fairly compact stadium, so even being high up in the end zone, you can see quite well. There was a huge roar as the players came running out of tunnel and onto the field (but no, Rudy was not leading the way). We were near the student section, so we watched them go through the game day rituals of shouting out different chants, doing the "leprechaun dance," and doing airborne pushups every time Notre Dame scored. What happens is fellow students all hold up another student and they do however many pushups equals Notre Dame's score. Seeing as they scored 41 points that day, several people got quite a workout.

I really had a blast. It felt like I was going to the Super Bowl. There was that much hype, and it was just another Saturday afternoon at Notre Dame stadium. I kind of understand more all the mystique surrounding Notre Dame football. Even more so now. They have been down and out for the past few years, but Charlie Weiss has them back and they'll be contending for the national title on a regular basis now.