What has the Notre Dame rivalry meant to you?

Submitted by xcrunner1617 on

Mods feel free to delete if they find this post redundant, but on the eve of our last game against ND in a long time, I am very curious to hear the MGoBlog comunity's opinion on Notre Dame and what this rivalry has meant to you personally over the years?  What have been your favorite moments? What are you going to miss about playing ND?  What are you not going to miss?

It seems to me that instead of focusing on what this rivalry means to Michigan fans this week, we have instead gotten caught up on what Michigan means to Notre Dame and whether we are a rival and what not.  I mean who cares what Notre Dame thinks of us? It doesn't diminish my thoughts on this rivalry and how awesome it has been to play them every year.  I think it would be nice if we put Notre Dame's perception of us on the back burner, at least for this thread, and  just focus on what playing Notre Dame every year has meant to you as a Michigan fan. 

 

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club2230

September 5th, 2014 at 12:53 PM ^

The ND rivalry has been fun.  With some exceptions, the games have been very competative and very exciting.  I can't think of another team that we've consistently played that has had a higher percentage of exciting games. 

It has very much been a rivalry between two equals.  Say what you will of UofM's current dominance in the series, but historically and traditionally these teams are as close to equals as any two schools in the country.  This is probably why there is a lot of hatred between the schools.  If UofM were a Catholic school we would be ND and vice versa.  Many UofM and ND fans try so hard to rationalize fundamental differences when the reality is that there isn't much of a difference. 

Both schools like to take pride in the history of the game and their influence on it, and both schools have had a big influence.  Why we wouldn't want to see them play with a greater frequency is beyond me.  I will miss the series because without it we don't have any non-conference rivals.  We will get excited about a big name opponent, but there won't be anything deeper than excitement.  There is no since of rivalry when we play Washington or UCLA or VT or Florida because those schools don't mean anything to Michigan.  It's more exciting to watch a game when it means more than a win or a loss. 

Joined: 01/13/2011

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Sllepy81

September 5th, 2014 at 12:54 PM ^

my dad how the internet worked, ND at UM late 90s, I found tickets while we lived in California in Ann Arbor for face value from a editor at some Ann arbor newspaper, row 50ish corner of the end zone. We won. He figured we'd get robbed or cheated out of the tickets.

Joined: 01/02/2013

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Wazoo

September 5th, 2014 at 1:14 PM ^

I went to the Notre Dame campus and game for the first time for Denard's breakout game.  I wasn't sure what to expect.  I went into the cathedral to see what it was like inside and saw nmany UM and ND fans sitting in the same pew, each saying a quick prayer before the game.  I realized then this was no ordinary rivalry.  There was a mutual respect.  Even inside the stadium, I had a great time BS'ing with ND fans. Afterwards, no fights or beer thrown on me, just everyone filing out and on their way to a party or something.  Tradition, football and academic excellence and probably a mutual respect for each other's programs (even if each is not willing to admit it to the other).  I'm going to miss it greatly.

Joined: 07/10/2008

MGoPoints: 164

mgomiller

September 5th, 2014 at 2:54 PM ^

I grew up Catholic and attended Catholic schools. My uncle was a big time high school QB and was supposed to play for ND except for some senior year misfortunes. Almost everyone I knew as a kid were ND fans despite the fact I grew up and still live in central Ohio. The ND game is the biggest game of the year for me. I don't have to deal with Sparties like those of you in Mich. OSU fans are easy for me to ignore and/or outwit. I love my family but they are impossible to be around when the domers win this game. They probably feel the same about my dad and I when UM wins this game. The ND game is my chance to get bragging rights over the people that I loathe and love the most. I will truly miss this game.

Joined: 09/18/2008

MGoPoints: 236

kehnonymous

September 5th, 2014 at 3:26 PM ^

I'll miss Notre Dame finding creative ways to lose by 4 to us in the closing seconds, but whatever... life goes on.  Living in Ohio, my hatred for Buckholes overrules all else.  

Having said that, Notre Dame really should just sack up and join the Big Ten.  Because that would put us at a fine fifteen-strong membership and I'm sure that a talented enough graphic designer can morph the 'G' in the "B1G" logo into a 5 easily enough

Joined: 11/25/2011

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ZB75

September 5th, 2014 at 3:58 PM ^

Really going to miss this game.  I look forward to this game every September.  I have been to alot of the games both in Ann Arbor and South Bend.  I just cant put into words how special this game is to me.  I really dont know how it got that way, but it just is. Maybe its becasue I am catholic or I have several ND fan friends.   I'm just very disappointed to see it end.  I live in Ohio, so i have to hear the OSU fans talk shit out of thier mouths all season long before we get a chance to play them.  Just not the case with the Notre Dame game since it is at the begining of the season.  A win in this game always seems like a big win, no matter how good or bad ND is.

Joined: 07/26/2011

MGoPoints: 1223

User -not THAT user

September 5th, 2014 at 4:02 PM ^

If Labor Day weekend symbolizes the end of Summer, Michigan-Notre Dame symbolizes just as equally the beginning of Fall.

It's an easy game to miss.  When I was a kid I was always amazed that no matter how inept Gerry Faust's teams were against anyone else, they seemed to be able to beat Schembechler more regularly than they should have.  Domers these days probably felt the same way about RichRod while he was here.  When I was a kid it seemed like it was always the Domers pulling games out with late-game heroics...as an adult I got to revel in the 2009-2011 games knowing just how bad the Domers had to feel losing that way.

And I don't care if the game isn't as nationally significant as it was in the '80's (or even the '90's)...if you think one of the things that makes college football great is "Tra -DI-tion" (and it is), then there's no way you can't be a little bummed that the game's two historically winningest programs aren't playing each other anymore.  Relevancy is...well, relative.  It's being able to look back at another season that ended in mediocrity (and unfortunately there have been FAR too many of these over the last several years) and say "Well...at least we can still kick the sh!t out of Notre Dame."

Even Sparty couldn't say that last year.

Joined: 06/05/2012

MGoPoints: 2422

DowntownLJB

September 5th, 2014 at 4:34 PM ^

I trace being a fan to the early 80s, so the early days of the rekindling of the annual matchup.  One of my first memories of football at all was my sister watching the UM-ND game and her liking the Irish better because of the combo of Catholic school/gold helmets & she was in high school and seriously wanted to give ND a look as a possible college choice.  While I very much looked up to my older sister and tended to like all the things she liked, as soon as I found out ND was in Indiana, I was cheering for Michigan.  And, I started to really pay attention, loved our helmets, loved our fight song, and really fell in love with the game overall.  So, this rivalry was part of the spark that led me to football fandom.  

On the eve of the end, though, I feel like ND has been so over-rated recently, that while it feels important to beat them, on the national scene I'm not sure it means all that much.  So, if we can continue to be a better team ourselves, and step up to early season non-con games against quality competition, I might not miss this game as much as it seems like I should.

Joined: 10/10/2012

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phork

September 5th, 2014 at 5:02 PM ^

I grew up near Detroit surrounded by Michigan fans.  Its totally unclear why I chose Notre Dame as my team of choice in my formative years.  Probably to openly rebel against the Machine.

Anyways, being an ND fan you would think USC would be my game of choice.  It was always the Michigan game that made me rejoice or my blood boil.  I was crushed when they announced it was ending.  Second Saturdays in September were for me and my dad.  Whether we could make the games or not in person, we always watched them together.

So for me it was more than just a game, it was THE game.

Joined: 11/01/2009

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jsquigg

September 5th, 2014 at 5:11 PM ^

What has the game meant to me?  It's in the holy trinity of rivalries Michigan has and in typical uppity fashion ND is canceling it because they're sick of getting their asses kicked.  I know what happened last year, but I think if Michigan sends them off in convincing fashion that the chances of this being a special year increase greatly.  Competence that meets talent halfway on offense as well as with defense is a beautiful thing, and I think Michigan is close to striking the perfect balance.  To hell with Notre Dame.....

Joined: 09/06/2009

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M-Dog

September 5th, 2014 at 5:46 PM ^

The games in the '80s and '90's were very intense.  It was usually the first game of the year for both teams, both teams were usually ranked in the top 10, both fanbases were located close to each other, and the playing style of both coaching staffs kept the games close.  It was biggest game in the month of September for college football.
 
I particularly remember one of these games at Michigan Stadium for how tough a ticket it was to get.  You usually see scalpers holding up tickets for sale as you walk up to the stadium.  Even if the prices are outrageous, there are multiple scalpers holding up tickets and looking for their price.
 
Not this game.  Instead of scalpers holding up tickets, you had fans holding up money.  I remember one guy holding up several $100 bills in his hand the way scalpers hold up tickets.  He had no takers.  Numerous other fans were desperately doing the same kind of thing, but to no avail.  They all ended up walking away empty-handed as game time approached.
 
I had never seen anything like that before, and I haven't seen anything like it since.

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Uferisms

September 5th, 2014 at 5:30 PM ^

I moved from Ann Arbor to southwest Michigan in the early 70's. No Internet.  No ESPN.   All you heard about was ND and Chicago sports.   It was nearly impossible to get any info on Michigan, Tigers, Lions, etc.   As such I hated ND almost as much as OSU (which came natural by birth).

In 1988 I had the opportunity to attend the game in South Bend by way of a mutual aquaintance knowing I would want to go to the game and him knowing someone who had two tickets.   So the woman I sat next to I ended up marrying.   Tomorrow our son and I will sit in the very same seats as my wife and I sat in that day in 1988.  By the way, I say Gillette's field goal was good that day and will never watch a replay of it as I would not like to have fact get in the way of my superior opinion on that kick.

So my wife is an ND fan (though slowly through the years has migrated to Michigan, just need to get her over that final hurdle of this game).   When our son was about 10 she asked him, "Why do you hate ND so much?".   His response was priceless.  "Because it is what Dad taught me to do".   Gotta love that kid.

So I have been fortunate enough to be at evey Michigan-ND game since 1988 (home and away).   So many great memories.  UTL I was unbelievable, especially an hour after the game and so many people still in the stands.

I will miss this great game.  Is it The Game, absolutely not.  But it is a game that by ending the series is a loss for college football.

 

 

Joined: 03/04/2011

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M-Dog

September 5th, 2014 at 5:45 PM ^

Wow, that is a great story.  After the '88 game I would have had a restraining order against me by any ND fan I sat next to.  Single young female or not.
 
Hope we go out with a win for you and your son's sake.
 
 
 

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SalvatoreQuattro

September 5th, 2014 at 6:13 PM ^

and they wear green and white. Ohio and ND are UM's equals on the fields so when those games happen there is a transcendent specialiness to them that UM-MSU lacks.  

I do have a little affection for ND as both my grandfathers were ND fans. My maternal grandfather in particular was--Irish Catholic that he was. My Italian grandfather--the son of my avatar and nom de plume--was a ND fan, but was buried in a Michigan sweater thanks to my UM alumnus aunt.

If you were Irish or Italian in the late 20's, 30's and 40's being a Domer was practically a requirement. ND's fan base is so large because so many Catholics have chosen ND as THEIR team. ND's fanbase is a product of WASP bigotry and we should not forget that. ND gave Catholics something to be proud of while they were a marginalized segment of the population.

Notre Dame now is not what it was then. It hardly is "Catholic" to devout Catholics. It's a shame really. Notre Dame used to represent something more than an institution of higher education and that made it unique among college teams.One can argue whether that is a good thing, but all I know is that is gave a marginalized group of Americans to hold to even if they had little chance of actually going to college, much less Notre Dame.

Now it's just another corporate program that glids itself in the golden hue of the past.That saddens me.

 

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goblue81

September 5th, 2014 at 6:15 PM ^

I grew up about 30 minutes or so from ND's campus.  Everyone in my neighborhood and school were insufferable Irish fans.  My first college football game was a Michigan game when I was like 12 yrs old. I was instantly a fan for life.  So, while most people here hate Sparty and Ohio like no other, I had to suffer through the holier than thou Irish fans, Tony f'ing Rice, Tim f'ing Brown, oh $#(@$ Rocket Ismail and so on...

So to me Notre Dame and the rivalry has always been the game on the schedule we had to win otherwise suffer through a year of Irish bullshit. I don't just want to beat them - I want to beat them badly.  I want to crush them like 2007.  I want them to crawl into their pseudo-ACC hole and die a miserable death of mediocrity and decline into complete and total obscurity for the next decade or two.  Or meet them in the playoffs and put another 2007 on them.

So I hate Notre Dame, and the rivalry ending means I/We/The Team has no way to put them in their place after this season unless we meet in the playoff. Die Fig Things DIe...  :D

Joined: 10/02/2010

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fatman_do

September 5th, 2014 at 6:43 PM ^

Lived most of my life on the Michigan/Indiana state line in Niles Michigan (Stateline Rd yo!). I work in downtown South Bend.

In my 45 years, my two favorite teams are Michigan and anyone who plays Notre Dame. I imagine I am like most in this area in my age group that ND>MSU>OSU is how the rivalries are rated.

Chickens.

Joined: 05/01/2009

MGoPoints: 819

goblue81

September 5th, 2014 at 7:06 PM ^

Yeah man it was brutal growing up around SB when we lost to them.  And, from our proximity perspective, I rate the rivalries the same as you.  The 2nd favorite team "anyone playing ND" was also why I started buying shirts of the teams they lost to just to wear to school on Mondays unless it was Sparty..

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uminks

September 5th, 2014 at 8:35 PM ^

I've enjoyed the ND vs Michigan game. Too bad they chickened out like they did in '43. I think when it starts going lopsided towards Michigan, ND just ends the series.

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