My first ND game experience....

[jsenleo]

It was 1966 and my parents took me and my best friend up to ND to watch them play Duke....
This was in the glory days of Hanratty & Seymour, Alan Page, Rocky Bleier, Nick Eddy just to name a few.
ND slaughtered Duke, 64-0

But, one thing about that game that I will always remember happened in the first half when the ND guy dressed as a Leprechaun ran out on the field with his Wire-Haired Terrier dog and started dancing his Irish Jig and getting the students riled up... When he finished his dance he sat down cross-legged in the middle of the field and crossed his arms....

As soon as the "Leprechaun" sat down, the Wire-Haired Terrier jumped up on his shoulder and started humping it so fast I thought the dog was going to break the guys shoulder... the guy pushed the dog off and, again, the dog jumped back on and started humping some more.... finally the "Leprechaun" stood up and ran off the field with the dog chasing after him!!

My friend and I were only about 13-14 at the time and we started laughing so hard we spit out our Cokes through our noses... My mom didn't think it was something we should be laughing at so she gave both of us a hard elbow in the side.... It did temper our laughter a little but the snickers went on for the rest of the game

Oh, and the game you ask?..... as I said, 64-0. Duke was really bad.

 

[Chriselli]

My first Notre Dame game saw Northern Illinois beat them. So far so good.

 

[hoosier roadtrips]

My first Notre Dame game saw Northern Illinois beat them. So far so good.

Like they say, you will never forget the first time. Or, they might be talking about something else!

 

[IUNorth]

My best HS friend went to Notre Dame. I had been to a game before, as a young child, but I didn't really have many memories of that game. Honestly don't remember who they played even. So my first real memories were from my college years. I think I went to 6-8 of their games, and usually spent the entire weekend partying with him.

For a couple of those years, he was roommates with a starter, and one of the football captains.

It was those years that I fully formed my ND disdain. And my understanding that "ND has higher academic standards", is both true in some ways, but also not true with a number of their players every year. First game was OSU at ND... main memory was the chant they said alllllll game long... Gooooooo Irish...Da Beat the ****eyes. And then Autry Denson had a kick off TD that was called back from a flag. And ND lost, and I was secretly happy about it.

 

[Klaus 7196]

Back in the last century I was the Athletic Operations Manager at Stanford. Got to travel with the FB team to ND. Was with the team most of the day, on field pre-game, in the locker room, and ran through the tunnel, etc. It was an unforgettable experience. Still have my FB staff jacket from the day. Might have the credential in a box somewhere, but those tended to curl up.
The ND FB & stadium staff were great--first class.

 

[4IUSox2]

My best HS friend went to Notre Dame. I had been to a game before, as a young child, but I didn't really have many memories of that game. Honestly don't remember who they played even. So my first real memories were from my college years. I think I went to 6-8 of their games, and usually spent the entire weekend partying with him.

For a couple of those years, he was roommates with a starter, and one of the football captains.

It was those years that I fully formed my ND disdain. And my understanding that "ND has higher academic standards", is both true in some ways, but also not true with a number of their players every year. First game was OSU at ND... main memory was the chant they said alllllll game long... Gooooooo Irish...Da Beat the ****eyes. And then Autry Denson had a kick off TD that was called back from a flag. And ND lost, and I was secretly happy about it.

‘96, Holtz’s last season. They got handled pretty easily that day by OSU. Think they fell behind 2-3 scores with Powlus vs either Hoying or Stanley Jackson?

The previous year, 1995, ND traveled to OSU and gave them a pretty good game, I think.

 

[outside shooter]

I've never cheered for ND, except for maybe a couple of those Catholics vs. Convicts matchups vs. U. Miami back in the day.