The Great South Bend Adventure, Part Four: Cheer, Cheer for Old Notre Dame!

The college Kevin, Colleen, and I went to--Spring Hill College--does not have a football team. Actually, Spring Hill had a football team until 1941, so the running joke at the school is that Spring Hill's football team has been undefeated since 1941. Anyway, one thing about my South Bend trip that I was really looking forward to was all of the game day activities on campus, since I never got this type of experience in college. So what if the Notre Dame football team is more awful than usual this year...I was still ready to cheer for old Notre Dame! I had a great time learning about all of Notre Dame's game day traditions and experiencing the game day excitement.

The game day activities actually began with our attempt to stay up until midnight on Friday night (or Saturday morning, whichever way you'd like to look at it) for the Midnight Drumline Circle on campus. To help us stay up so late, we went to an authentic Irish pub for some Irish food, music, and spirits. We enjoyed music from the band "Three Men in Kilts", which, as the name would suggest, was composed of three men...in kilts. Here are some photos from this experience:





By some miracle, I actually made it until midnight for the Drumline Circle. The Drumline Circle is a Notre Dame game day tradition that occurs at midnight on every home game day. The drumline of the Notre Dame band forms a circle outside the Main Building on campus and performs. It was about 30 degrees as we were standing there watching the performance. If you know me at all, you know that I love to sleep and I hate cold weather. So the fact that I went to the Midnight Drumline Circle on such a cold night is huge. Here some pictures of the Drumline Circle as proof that I was really there:





I enjoyed the Midnight Drum Circle, but I also enjoyed getting in bed after the performance.

After a few hours of sleep, we were back on campus for more game day events. I enjoyed getting to see all of the crazy tailgaters outside the stadium:





It was also fun to see all of the Notre Dame football players march to the stadium before the game. Before every home game, the entire football team goes to Mass at the Basilica and then marches from the Basilica to the stadium. Here are some pictures from their march. In the first picture, the short guy in the middle is Brian Kelly, the head football coach.





Another fun game day tradition is the Concert on the Steps. Before the game, the Notre Dame marching band performs their half time show music for their fans. Being a former band nerd myself (I played the clarinet in middle school and high school), I really enjoyed this concert.





Notre Dame has a group of ten male students that compose the Irish Guard. Apparently, selection for the Irish Guard is extremely competitive and exclusive. I don't really understand it myself, so you can read more about the Irish Guard here. After the Concert on the Steps, the Irish Guard Inspection takes place. Each Irish Guard member's uniform is inspected individually to ensure that it is presentable for the march to the stadium. The members stand at strict attention during the Inspection while people in the crowd try their best to get them to smile, or even flinch. Here are some pictures from the Irish Guard Inspection:







Finally, we got to watch the cheerleaders, the mascot, the Irish Guard, and the band march to the stadium right before the game. Here are some pictures from that parade:







We decided not to go to the game and go on a day trip to Chicago on Sunday instead. It turns out we made a good decision, since Notre Dame had an upsetting loss against the University of Tulsa Golden Hurricanes (what kind of mascot is that, anyway?!).

Before I finish this post, I'd like to point out that Notre Dame is not without its own crazy football fans, like this guy who stood by us at the parade:



Go Irish!