I just pulled into middle of nowhere Ohio for the night and need to express my disappointment with ND fans...
We sat next to some really great fans for the first half, but they bailed at halftime cause of the cold (I respect that, it was very cold), which left us next to some younger fans.
I had interacted with them some in the first half after the phantom false start/unsportsmanlike penalty and the interception that was taken away by the "offsides" that was caused by the ND right guard moving early. Both times I got a curt response and a "fuck off, stop cheating" response. I figured -- drunk people like to make bold statements, we're losing, I'll let it be.
However, in the 2nd half when we had one of our lineman injured (didn't see who...) they booed as he walked off the field. I was shocked and turned to them and questioned what they were doing -- I had only heard good things about ND fans and this was the first time EVER at a football game where a player got booed while walking off the field. I was told to "turn the fuck around and go back home and get shot in hillbilly town." It was at this point that I had some choice words about him and his friends.
I left the game ecstatic about the outcome but disappointed in the fans. I really hope this was an outlier and all the other Hokies fans had a great experience. I'd love to hear other people's experience in South Bend.
Anyway, /rant. Go Hokies and as always, fuck UVA.
Comments
Unfortunately this is a side of fandom that exists for every fan base. Sounds like you sat by some true fuckers. Its good you had some composure and didn't start a fight. Also important to remember that this is likely an outlier situation and doesn't represent them as a fanbase. Now that the pc is over, fuck them. They fucking lost and like the true pathetic bitches they are they resorted to low blow insults. This is what it looks like when you field 4-5 star talent and consistently ship your pants. Let them go off into their miserable existence. Your only response to this is to start openly cheering when we fuck up their qb. Rest your sweet little head knowing they will wake up tomorrow with 3 wins. I would love to see this turn into a rivalry game. I just woke up from a blackout. Gokies.
4 wins, i'm sorry.
Its the midwest. And the weather, yeah it sucks ALL THE TIME.
Hillbilly Town lol that's amazing.
Almost every fan I interacted with that appariache dame before during and after the game was great. But during the game o boy
To expand on this now that I'm fully awake and not in airport shuttle.
ND fans didn't like us in lower sections, section 6 near their band, chanting "Let's Go Hokies", didn't like that we stood almost the entire game, didn't like our flag running on the field after a score, didn't like we yelled "Hokies" when they did their "go" chant. While almost every fan before and after the game was nice thanked us for coming etc during the game some very vocal fans were very angry with me and the Hokies around me.
What row were you in? I was in row 21; there was a huge, loud and beautiful contingent of orange and maroon in rows ~23-30.
We actually were section 6 row 38. So to your left and up a bit. Hokie couple in front of us also and a lot spread around our area.
Boy they must have been apocalyptic when we completed the comeback. Nothing brings me more joy than to see shitbag behavior immediately paid for.
Apocalyptically apoplectic? Sorry, couldn't resist.
No fan issues at all with our location. (Sec 1). Had the 5 of us plus a handful of Hokies scattered about. If our cheering got loud, the guy right in front would shoot us a glance, but otherwise everyone was great and we heard countless 'Welcome to Notre Dame' and 'great game' afterwards. Your ND experience is your own, but after a 2nd trip to ND I came away just as impressed as the 1st. The VT base has the same types of fans out there too, which I have experienced on several occasions. Every single fan base in America has 'those guys'. Sorry you had to experience it from the ND outliers.
Unrelated to your experience, but I guess this is as good a place to share my opinions on South Bend:
All in all, fun weekend. Got to visit a legendary venue and came out with the W.
Was loud on TV when we were on defense or made big plays, largely quiet the rest of the game. Wasn't sure if our fans were just that loud or ND fans didn't know when to cheer. Sometimes it depends where the microphone is.
Agree with all except #4, but I didn't spend any time in the town. But most Midwestern towns are like that so it's not surprising.
And #3? You can see where a massive video screen is going to be with the ongoing renovations.
I'ts 2016, how where these renovations not completed a decade ago?
Because a sizable chunk of money donors didn't want them at ND.
I agreed with you. I was just pointing out that if this game was next yr, you wouldn't be making that statement.
As for why...that question has been answered. In a weird way, I can appreciate someone not wanting a big screen to further distract fans from watching the actual game. But I have to admit I found myself glancing toward the scoreboard after a key play or call.
I would rate them second only to Texas A&M in terms of how nice the fans were to us. It was amazing. The family behind us left at halftime and the lady offered us their blankets. Who does that?
We also commented during the game on how this was the quietest 80K stadium ever.
The pumped in music was weird and not what I expected at ND
Great road game. Great win. Loved the trip.
I actually thought they did a really good job with the music.
I guess not the music itself but the fact they pumped in music. I found that weird. It was so often that it felt NBA or NHL-ish.
Overall our experience was great. We sat in the VT fan section so we didn't really get any ND fan interaction during the game. Some other thoughts/observations:
- Knight of Columbus steak sandwich was a 1/4 inch ribeye steak. Line moved really fast and a good deal for $8
- Most folks were polite and welcoming. I had some extra tickets I was trying to get rid of and one strange thing I've never had happen before is people totally ignore me standing there with 2 tickets in the air to walk up to a scalper and buy tickets just because I was wearing maroon. It worked out ok, I was able to use the extra ticket to walk to Legends at halftime and get back in the stadium.
- NBC does a great job with their production and camera angles to make that stadium look impressive on TV. As others mentioned, no Jumbotron, small scoreboards and it didn't look like they were adding one as part of the renovation to get luxury boxes into the stadium.
Edit:
- Forgot my moment of sticker shock. $50 to park at the golf course about the same distance from the stadium as the airport RV lot at Lane that is only $25 and porta pottys in that lot were not well distributed. All clumped at one end.
They are upgrading the scoreboards and putting a Jumbotron on the building over the one endzone. However this has actually angered some of the older fans. Go figure.
Something always angers older fans everywhere. I know, I'm one of the them...black uniforms, loud PAs, etc, etc, etc....
Get off my lawn.
Ribeye sandwiches are a Midwest staple that I'm surprised hasn't spread to pretty much everywhere. When we were in Gatlinburg over the summer, I asked the guy at the meat counter in Food City if they had any "sandwich ribeyes" and he had no idea what I was talking about. I guess I'd forgotten I'd never really had one before I moved here. It doesn't seem like it should be a regional thing.
Overall South Bend experience was pretty fun and definitely have some interesting stories. Sorry you had to deal with that BS from a few ND shitheads. We sat in a VT section so nothing as far as ND fans and actually had pretty nice conversation with a few at half time about how well we travel and how loud we were.
Fun stories:
1. As we're traveling to campus for the game sitting in traffic just past The Linebacker Inn I watched a girl quickly walk to what I believed she thought was a hidden/private spot behind a large beverage truck - it was not. Fully exposed to a road full of traffic she proceed to drop trou...looked like she opened a fire hydrant.
2. Basilica of the Sacred Heart was a fantastic place to visit - the architecture, stained glass, and painting were amazing. As you walk in there is a small pool of holy water for people to bless themselves, as we were walking out and elderly woman dipped a water bottle in and filled it up. I thought it was odd at first but then figured maybe she was just taking some with her as a memento. Then one of her friends mouthed "it'a not a water fountain" and she quickly dumped it back in. I love people watching.
As for the stadium and campus - I thought the campus was nice, but definitely not as beautiful as VT in the fall...or even UVA (I just threw up in my mouth a little). Once inside the stadium it reminded of going to an upscale high school football game. I think some of the old money donors as required them to be nostalgic for too long, although it hasn't seemed to hurt them recruiting. Per a life long ND homer they are putting in a jumbo tron on the end opposite "touchdown Jesus". We sat on that end and could see the massive mounts for it.
Overall it was a great experience and coming away with a W made it that much sweeter!
I was stuck at a wedding until 10 fing o'clock and it started at 2! Watched a guy get really drunk.
Thanks for the reviews.
My 2 cents:
Overall, the people were great people and very welcoming.
Very quiet stadium.
Their fans boo the weirdest things like holding calls and, most befuddling, when our cheerleaders ran out with our flags post scoring drive.
I've never seen a fan base turn on their team so quick. I thought we were bad but my god ND fans wanted blood during the game.
And most importantly: two Hokies making noise on third down nearly traumatized a section. The Midwesterners are a timid folk.
We may not have a shortage of fans with unreasonable expectations, but programs like Notre Dame are on a completely different level.
Yeah, but to be fair, they are still a dark-horse candidate for the playoffs this year.
Eh...from sitting in the south end zone for most of the games I've been at in Lane, I've seen my fair share of the other teams' flags getting run out after a score. It kind of sucks. Granted, they tend to rub it in by running through the entire end zone.
I can't understand why you'd be mad at people for cheering at a football game. I literally can't comprehend that.
Lower section (11) for first half - Got asked if we could sit down by some older gentleman behind us. They were generally nice an asking about our new coach and how long Beamer had been there. They definitely didn't like us yelling on 3rd downs and heard one guy make a comment about how we were that school that was good that one time.
Upper Section (123) Second half - Less people since several had left at halftime (my dad included) but it was really cold. Couple in front of us was nice and had filled my parents in on some of the same posted previously, lots of push back to modernize from older donors. Top tier added in 90s. New club level seating being added on both sides is going to make up for the removal of the top tier in front of Touchdown Jesus, so I guess those lower tier folks can still see him during the games. (might mean ticket pricing a little different in 2019, but also a different experience if you want to justify a return trip)
Last interesting tidbit from the couple in front of us in the second half - Their son played on the team about 15 years ago, and every former player gets 2 tickets to every home game for life They joked that they only get the cupcakes and cold weather games, won't ever get to see Michigan/Michigan State or a USC game.
I would have asked him what having a losing season feels like because we haven't had one in my 22 year life.
Or what not going to a bowl game feels like.
I'll never complain about paper airplanes at Lane again. The student section and their marshmallow wars was ridiculous. They were flying through the stands the entire game.
I was wondering why it looked like someone was throwing something towards the field on every single wide shot.
This is their senior day tradition. Doesn't happen at every game but is an annoyance anyways.
it looked kinda beautiful if you ask me
I kept thinking they were snowballs..
That's a shame man. At least you were there for a great win.
I'm just glad it was an interesting game all the way to the end, AND that VT won.
I actually had tickets to this game, but wasn't able to be there. So my experience (from a hotel room in California) was pretty good. It was a lot better during the second half.
I could not imagine having a better experience with a fanbase as we did with ND, from start to finish. I think a lot of them realize that for visiting fans that this is, as it was for my family, a pilgrimage. The staff was so polite, helpful and inquired about our trip and VT. I loved the campus, very well done from a planning perspective with very good architecture.
I liked the retro feel of the stadium, even sitting in a 2x6 worked. Their cheers and traditions with sing alongs worked. Their spotter got the down/dist up before I could look. I don't care for marching bands in general but I was impressed with theirs.
During the game, we were in a ND section we were polite when they were up and they were polite when we came back. There were clearly some controversial calls both ways that were upsetting but nobody got worked up. We heard "I thought VT was good?" and "this VT coach is really good." They thought Evans interception was a great call after a TO and could have been a TD.
After the game, we ate at Fiddlers Hearth and shared a table with a ND family. They gave my son a chicken wing and toasted our victory. Could not have been more gracious.
South Bend is a shithole in general.
We had a great experience and it reminded me the responsibility we have at VT to be ambassadors. People choose to follow their team when they play at VT, that's a compliment that they would spend their hard earned cash in our town and that Lane is worth its own pilgrimage.
They weren't wrong. If that pass was just a little better Phillips is still running untouched. Just really unfortunate that played out like it did.
So wait, you're blaming Evans for that? Seemed catchable to me.
Catchable, perhaps, but it would have had to be one hell of a catch with Phillips laying out for it. Ball was slightly overthrown. I thought Phillips did well just to get his hands on it, shame that it essentially tipped the ball to ND. But yeah, Evans puts that ball on the numbers and he walks into the end zone.
Slightly overthrown by maybe an inch and a half. Given Evans history with the deep ball I thought it was one of his better ones all season. All Phillips had to do was extend his hands a tad more. Same thing happened to Phillips in the endzone before his shake-and-bake TD.
Anyone that played WR for a serious football WR coach will tell you that the rule is: If you can touch it, then you should catch it
He did not need to lay out to catch that ball. It hit him on the end of his fingers in stride. Cold air aside, it was a much easier catch than the one he made vs ECU (or was that BC)?
I had a ND fan say to me late in the game after a ND guy dropped a pass thrown behind him..."your guys seem to catching those balls". I said "you mean like the one that was dropped and turned into an interception and 70 yard TD run?" He said "Good point, you got me there".
Considering the wind, looked like a pretty good ball to me.
That throw was a dime...
The good thing is that now that they are forced to play a partial ACC schedule, we will see more of them. I haven't checked our future schedules, but hopefully it will be more than once a decade.
We play them in '18, '19, and '21.
Pretty amazing that we've wound up at a point where we play Notre Dame more often than Clemson/FSU
Yep. We basically have two big games a year. Next year, its WVU and......Clemson. At home. Post Watson.
Don't want to embed this tweet on an otherwise positive thread, don't know if it's an Irish fan, but I didn't too much care for it. Definitely a hot take, maybe just a troll.
https://twitter.com/noclownquestion/status/800093354033872896
Clearly has not seen any Pitt or Tennessee games.
Or Notre Dame, for that matter
Had a nice discussion (via tweets), turns out to be a reasonable person.
Did you get his opinion on berating college players on the sidelines
or mention that as a ND fan that's a bit of pot calling kettle
In just the game Saturday Kelly got into it with an official, but of course no flag.
He's well practiced in how to lose his cool without using the "special" words that draw a flag.
I had a good time, the fans and staff there were very polite (even after the game).
This is why I get so frustrated when I see fans being unpleasant to visitors. All it takes is one incident to spoil someone's image of the university.
Anyone else surprised at how few fan involved traditions ND has? No standard cheers for the most part, no real fan involvement during the game, TV timeouts were a lot of dead time.
Their band played non-stop, the real ND heroes of the game. That seemed to be the only thing to get ND fans out of their seats or raise their voices (outside of 3rd down).
I was right behind the band and Irish guard in the stands. They played even during some game play, poor sportsmanship, but it was a lot of random songs. I expected more tradition for in game and fan involvement from a place like ND. A lot of sitting and then the one time they got the whole stadium involved was some weird Indiana State Trooper message?????
Also why no soound or TV in the concourse, we went to buy hot chocolate at halftime and had to go to so many places I missed Carrol's 62 yard catch. Also does no one at food services for ND watch the weather? Run out of hot chocolate and coffee in that weather and run out of hand warmers. Come on.
They played the Friends them song one time. Bizarre.
ok so i was staying with a friend from notre dame and this is how they explained the state trooper thing. This state trooper delivered a safety message at every game for 60 years and it always included the worst of puns. He has since retired but instead of bringing someone else in to do it, they just delve into the vault of announcements he made over his career and pick one that works for that game. And they love hearing just how bad the pun is.
Also I sat behind the band, they seemed legitimately impressed on how loud I could yell "Hokies!"
You were right in front of us. What section were you in.
section 5 row 7
Thanks. I wondered what the hell that was all about.
And I swear that got the loudest reaction from ND fans all game.
It did, the entire stadium was silent for it and then as one they reacted. It was only rehearsed stadium wide reaction.
Every sports team seems to have one tradition that elicits a WTF from outsiders (VT has the Hokie Pokie). But ND seems to have a handful of them.
Just compare organized VT game traditions: enter sand man jumping, let's goHokies cheers, HOKIES on 1st down, the kickoff motion and noise, Hokie Pokie, shaking keys on key plays, blocking motion on opponents punts and kicks.
Don't forget horse on a treadmill. That might be the best inside joke of all time. Opposing fans are always confused as hell.
I suppose. But it's amusing in and of itself. Certainly not as WTF as throwing marshmallows or that silly hand thing they did at one point.
And don't even get me started on "Sweet Caroline"...is it a pre-requisite for bandwagon fanbases to do that one?
Wait till Pitt plays in South Bend, they will feel right at home.
Yeah when the whole stadium cheered I looked at the guy next to me and said, 'is that some sort of tradition?' and he explained it. Neat stuff.
The state trooper message was flat out awkward. After he got everyone's attention, we all got really quiet and started looking at each other. Then, there was the goofy duck/quack joke and we laughed, but it was just a weird moment.
I had a great time at the game. I took my dad, an very catholic ND lifelong fan as a gift and everyone was gracious and friendly. The Basilica for mass after the game was probably his highlight. The stadium, once renovations are done, will be a palace. Practice field looked neat. Campus was a blast to walk around, stopped by Grumpy Bill's tailgate for a second, he didn't need as much support as he said he did. All his compatriots were VT people. Some guy walked up to me in the lot of my AirBnB apt. and invited us over to his tailgate. Name was Dave Bennett, played for VT roundball in the late 70's/early 80's. Great guy. Wonderful folks.
It was windy as all get out. That snow, it'll get after ya. I was in section 129 (ND side, just above students). Bunch of people around gave me weird looks, but the guy on my left was true class, we talked football all game. The guy in front of me was great, too, sitting next to my dad, we talked football in general, this game, the players, and the scoreboard from the rest of college all game. The kids to my right thought they would have a little fun with me but we went back and forth, all in good fun. I knew more about their individual players than most of them. Can't blame them, I'm a college addict. No one rubbed it in my face when they scored. I didn't do it to them when we did. Was clearly targeted with a mutant marshmallow, like 10 jumbo ones stuck together. Hit the ND guy next to me instead. He retaliated.
EVERYONE around me was asking me for the height and weight of CJ Carroll after his long run. I obliged. They were impressed.
South Bend needs a bit more of a town around it. We tried to get food a few times and ended up at Legends on campus on Friday night, then Einstein Bros and Cafe at the Overlook for breakfast and lunch the next day, with an assist from Grumpy Bill for a beer and our AirBnB host for six more (thanks, Alix, although you'll never see this).
Dinner on Saturday, there were no options. Everyone told us to go get fast food. We ended up at a shitty sports bar that served shitty food to drunkards. We drank from plastic cups. I am Jack's total disappointment.
Turnpike was freshly paved, though, and dropped you right into South Bend. Toll machine didn't work at all, what a pain in the ass. Just put a person in the booth!
Women were way cute though. Campus was beautiful. If you haven't been, think gothic architecture like VT but with bricks instead of stone. Great campus. Basilica was gorgeous. All mass long I just stared at the ceiling.
Bookstore didn't have a heavy ND full zip hoodie sweatshirt. The f@ck? Place was packed.
Socialized with anyone wearing VT gear. Wore black/white redneck camo pants. Sported the total redneck VT strategy. Had a blast.
9/10 would go back. Put a person in the d@mn toll booth, Indiana, and build some more sit-down, non-chain restaurants, South Bend.
First rule of fight club...
We had the same problem with the toll booths.
I didn't get the Bon Jovi songs until I watched the replay last night and found out his son played there. I liked the sing alongs from the crowd. I didn't like how they played loud music right up to the snap of the ball, but that happens a lot of places these days and should be banned.
What problem did y'all have with tolls? We drove straight from O'Hare to South Bend and used rental, EZ pass and it worked great. Only cost me 10.99 for 19 plus worth of tolls.
Toll booth in Indiana in the middle of the night was unmanned, the "insert ticket" thing didn't work, we had to back out and try another booth. And then another.
Just a heads up if you end up in the area again, there are help buttons there for a reason, you probably didn't notice them. I never recommend backing out of a toll booth lane. Traffic, especially semis can come up on you quick.
I'm thinking I'm done with northern Indiana for this lifetime.
I promise the dunes/Lake Michigan is worth visiting in July and August. Winter does suck and it definitely hit the night before the game. I got used to the cold and it does help to be fat. I got asked why I wear shorts in the winter in Blacksburg, you short of felt why, and it definitely can get worse. I still felt bad for miserable looking people in the Stadium. I was fine with only 2 layers (T shirt+jacket), but others clearly needed more than they had.
The cold doesn't bother me. I prefer cold, I get uncomfortable with anything above 68 degrees. The weather really made the experience on Saturday.
I was kinda joking about never going back, we do drive through that area to get to Chicago sometimes.
I've done the dunes at Michigan City in the summer, the sandflies were crazy bad. I think in 4 years, we may want to go to Ann Arbor for our game there. I don't think I'll go back to the return trip to ND, it was too good this time, I don't want to have it pale in comparison.
That's fair, I never had issues with sandflies but it's been a couple of years. Also, I have had much better experiences with Michigan fans than ND fans, if I have funds and time to go I probably will too. That being said, my hate for ND made that win so much sweeter.
Damn I should have looked into this. We got a rental at OHare as well, but didn't think of the tolls, this was definitely my first time in the area. Had I realized that we were going to have to pull off the road a few times to pay the tolls in cash I would have EZ passed it (294), then there was the turnpike, you damn well have to pay every time you get on the road out there.
There are good alternative routes... if you know about them. I've heard rumors that Indiana might buy i80/90 back from the Aussies and make it free again which would really be for the best.
We took 90 all the way back to Chicago instead of the 294 way we went when heading to South Bend. Was a much more pleasant drive for sure
Dave Bennett is a great person. He is a VT Sigma Nu (my fraternity brother). He did play B-Ball for the Hokies under Charlie Moir when VT was a basketball school (Football was terrible then). Glad you ran into him. I haven't seen him in a very long time. Did he travel there or does he live in the Northern Indiana/Chicago area?
He said he had been living in the area since he graduated, like 35 years. Their tailgate was small but fun, my dad had his first jello shot. Everyone thought it was funny when I explained it to him. It's alcohol in jello form.
Did you and your dad go check out the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes? That's a pretty cool place to check out as a catholic.
No, we didn't. I had heard about it but forgot about it when we went. We had time but it just wasn't on my mind, and my dad did zero investigation prior to going. Now that I see it on the web, I wish we would have gone.
My experience (went to game with my wife, other 2 tickets went to her friend, ND fan, and friend's niece) was mostly positive.
From arriving at the stadium to sitting in our seats, everyone we talked with or asked questions from were extremely helpful, nice, and conversational. Very impressed.
We hit the hotspots: Basilica, Grotto, and even saw the bagpipe band in Main Building. The bagpipes were fantastic. Campus was beautiful. Did have conversation with another Hokie who retired with VT in which he was told he couldn't eat at any of the student dining halls. Seemed a little odd.
At the game, reality set in. The stadium, while oozing history and football greatness, just seemed out of touch with reality. I'd much rather see a game in a new stadium/newer refurbishments. No video/replay seemed laughable for such a cha-ching university. That much more proud of what VT has.
Couple of ND fans got on my nerves. One drunk guy that had no football sense. When we made noise for our D, he was yelling too. Took him awhile to figure it out. His dad or something was obnoxious. He quieted down in 4th. I believe he was just mad that so many Hokies were in his beloved stadium.
Most ND fans were quiet or not really interested. Proud of the Hokies there. I love turning these away games around on other teams.
Lastly, I was most disappointed in some fellow Hokies. Most of it attributed to alcohol. I expected them to not stand and socialize for half the game. I could see due to being on the edge, but got a smart ass remark when I asked one if he could get his group to sit down.
My section and neighboring sections all stood for the entire game. Most fans stand for entire games at Lane Stadium. The smart remark was lame and not necessary but people stand.
At the Miami game this year, one particular guy in all the folks around me stood pretty much the entire game. Never cheered, never clapped, never hollered, just jingled his keys while standing right in front of me. Oh, he did make the block the kick motions with his hands a few times, but that was it. Just stood there. Now, I'm the first to admit that I am an older guy now, and my arthritic knees make standing for an entire game virtually impossible, but I was jumping with Sandman, and on my feet for a significant portion of the game, as were most of the folks around me. I never asked him to sit, although the folks behind me were asking each other what the dude was doing just standing there like a bump on a log (well, except for the key jingling which NOBODY could hear). Not suggesting folks don't stand, but I usually try to be aware of those around me and try not to negatively affect their enjoyment of the game. I'll also admit that if the guy had been cheering, yelling, anything to add to the volume of our defensive noise making, I'd have been less annoyed. When you are the only person standing out of hundreds around you, maybe you could take a cue and take a load off during time outs, at least. And, the guy left early.
I agree. The context I have for the previous comment is that there were tons of people standing so I wouldn't expect a group to sit to accommodate one fan, but perhaps where he was that group was lone-wolfing. BUT, my general rule is, I sit if everyone in front of me is sitting. I stand when people stand. I'm lazy and love to sit on my fat ass but I also love to see football. So I definitely get your point and agree completely that it can be rude.
I realize what you are saying. If all fans are standing and actually watching the game, no problem. My issue was that at least 5+ rows above and below this group were seated. They were simply standing, gabbing with each other, and NOT paying attention to the game. 2 of the individuals didn't even arrive til after start of 2nd quarter. The fans behind me were very nice ND fans and kept commenting to me about it. I was patient and calmly made the request. If I was in ND gear, I'd expect the response, but I was in Maroon.
TL;DR: dead issue, but felt need to explain the situation.
Fans near me were fantastic the whole time. Laughed at all my pessimism. Didn't shoot down my optimism. Shook my hand, said good game, and wished me good travels as they walked out.
But let's be honest - we all know tons of assholes and every asshole has a favorite team. Most assholes like Miami but a few also pull for ND and, believe it or not, VT too. It happens. Overall I still think ND has some great fans and they were probably more chill due to the fact that their season is forcing them to become a bit apathetic.
I'll echo what most of the posters in this thread said. Group of ND fans around us were great. Talked football with them the whole game, thanked them for being so welcoming after the game. I cannot say enough good things about how we were treated by everyone we ran into. ND fan in front of us even bought my wife hot chocolate.
Really felt the stadium experience, while shrouded in history, was bland and geared towards the old time fans. Lack of a video board or decent scoreboard was mind blowing. I guess we're spoiled by Enter Sandman but their entrance was nothing more than running onto the field. I guess that's why the students didn't arrive until well after kickoff. Stadium was quiet all game, even when they tried to get loud. Couldn't decide if that is because of architecture, fan apathy from the season or demographics of the fan base. While it took a while to get it right, I'm really appreciative of what Whit has done with our in game atmosphere. ND could really use some modern music and a better sound system...
While I was underwhelmed by the in game atmosphere, the game day atmosphere was fantastic. Just seeing campus and the production of having a game was worth it. And are there no open container laws? People were just wandering around everywhere openly drinking
Is it me, or do others feel this way about every Big10 stadium (except Rutgers and Maryland of course)? Now, Notre Dame of course is not Big10, but I feel Penn State is the same way - game experience caters very much to the older fans. Michigan I feel is the same way.
I think it does cater to older fans. PSU's stadium is an eyesore, I think. I really liked ND's stadium. Plain, sure, but I felt closer to the field than I've felt in a bunch of other stadiums.
Didn't feel this way at OSU. While there were plenty of 'bad seats' behind pillars or under the second deck, there were TV's everywhere (in the bathroom and concession stands) broadcasting the game.
I was far more impressed by the gameday and game atmosphere at OSU than ND.
Ditto that...
My father is an OSU alum and I have been to many games in the shoe over the years. They are constantly making improvements to the stadium and the fan experience. Big ones like the track removal and permanent south end zone stands to small ones like adding TVs in the concourses and putting in elevators to the C deck, adding additional restrooms etc. They put in the big HD video board a few years ago and have occasional music targeted at the younger demographic. Throw in concessions that clearly cater towards younger fans (Panera). Beer sales were also added this year. Overall its a good experience no matter your age.
The game I went to this year (Nebraska), I only walked away with two complaints. The audio delay on the video board is very noticeable. The lines for men's room are ridiculous, which I was told was a side effect of the beer sales.
Architecture plays a lot into it. You see it a lot with the shallow stadium design that you have with ND, Michigan, and to a smaller extent with places like UNC. Yes, you can fit in a lot of people, but the architecture sends the noise straight up and out making the stadiums quieter than you'd expect.
So you're saying UVA can blame it on the architecture?
It is impossible to amplify that which is not there
Had a great time tailgating, walking around talking to other Hokies. At the game, sat in lower bowl, row 34 behind the Hokie bench. Had some nice ND fans around us, but did have one grumpy old guy that would yell "hubba hubba" after everything. When ND scored, it was "yeah! Hubba hubba!" When the Hokies made a good defensive play, "Come on! Hubba hubba."
The same guy got into a shouting match with another ND fan that stood up too much. "Down in front! Sit down! Hubba hubba." I couldn't believe it but an usher came and told the other guy to sit down.
Early in the game, he bragged about how good ND was. Then as soon as the Hokies scored and started the comeback, he turned on his team and said nothing good the rest of the game.
Overall great experience. It was an emotional roller coaster of a game but we walked out happy. Hubba hubba.
Hubba hubba? Man, I would have been laughing the entire game.
I was fortunate to get tickets through a family friend whose son is a manager for Notre Dame. We flew in to Chicago on Friday with a plane full of maroon and orange. After some obligatory deep dish pizza for lunch we headed out to South Bend.
Our friend set up a behind the scenes tour with her son so we got to go into the equipment room, ND locker room, and get pictures with the "Play like a champion today" sign. It was a pretty surreal experience. After that, we wandered around campus and saw Touchdown Jesus, the Golden Dome, the Bascilica, and the Grotto. It was just an amazing opportunity to explore such a historic and tradition-filled campus. I couldn't thank our hosts enough for their hospitality and sharing their traditions with us.
Every person I met had a smile on their face and a "Welcome to Notre Dame" on their lips. It was a fantastic experience. There are jerks in every group, but for the most part ND seems to have a great group of fans who know that attending a game in their place is a bucket list item for many college football fans and appreciate their place in the history and tradition of the game.
All that said, for an 80,000+ seat stadium, my goodness is it quiet! I know Lane is loud but I didn't expect it to be so much different from Notre Dame Stadium. It really makes you appreciate the crowd atmosphere at Hokie Games.
And ditto on the town, thankfully we had a DD and it wasn't a big deal, but it is so spread out. The campus is awesome, I don't think you can really make an argument against that, but South Bend is not a college town. Reminded me more of Christiansburg than Blacksburg.
Overall, it was an amazing weekend and I can't believe it's already over. If you didn't make it this year, then I highly suggest you start planning now for 2019. It's an experience any college football fan should have.
P.S. We stayed at the Motel 6 in South Bend (not the newer looking one).
As we were checking in, a lady came in and said, "Hi we're in room 102 and we have no beds or tv in our room." I knew we had booked an "economy" type place but I may have been panicking a bit here. Fortunately, we had beds and a tv (it didn't work but it was there).
Wait really.
Yeah. Pretty insane. In all honesty for what we paid and considering how close to campus we were, it was totally worth it. Our rooms weren't disgusting and the beds were better than the floor.
It seemed more like the management just didn't care about doing anything more than bare minimum. They know that they will be full on game weekends no matter what. Just gotta "keep the lights on" and you'll make some dough. I think the whole missing beds incident was just a failure to communicate with some maintenance work being done in the room. (i.e. they took the beds and stuff out to do work and didn't get them back in before check-in time)
ND fans were great to us. Capped off with a nice older gentleman making a point to thank us for coming as we left Legends. Definitely worth the trip and the freezing weather.
Unfortunately I've witnessed some pretty asinine fans of ours too. Usually drunk. Once it was bad enough I had to move seats. But most fans are great. It only takes a few to spoil the bunch.
Correct. I would like to throw my hat in the ring for experiencing firsthand the worst that our team has to offer. It was the 2006 Chick-fil-a Bowl at the GA Dome against UGA. My brother and sister-in-law (SIL) are both UGA alums and wanted to go to the game with us, the Hokie side of the family. We were on the corner of the dome where the two fanbases begin to meld together, but it was predominantly UGA folks. Anywho, this family of four VT folks was seated behind us. Father, mother, ~25-year-old son and his girlfriend. They were all having a great time passing the flask around after every successive VT point scored during the first half (of which there were many). They even shared their booze with my UGA brother and SIL too. If you recall, we had an epic collapse after halftime, and to say that the family behind us also had an epic collapse of character would be putting it lightly.
The father and son got into a wild turkey-fueled fistfight just as Glennon was pushing deeper into his four-turnover night. Their fight, and their beers, spilled over onto us (literally) as the father and son grappled and fell down a row onto all of us. Then, as the son is getting escorted off by the cops, he reaches into his pocket and flings a small to-go cup of BBQ sauce at his dad, which misses him and hits my SIL in the face. I still don't even understand why he had a to-go cup of BBQ sauce since the GA Dome generally only sells burgers and dogs, but whatevs. So then my SIL's covered in BBQ sauce, we're all covered in booze from the assholes behind us, and my brother is asking security to toss out the whole family (not just the son) but they don't. So about 10 minutes later, the dad is shitfaced and fuming about how badly the Hokies are playing. He proceeds to pour his entire full beer out on my brother, which splashed off him and into my SIL's purse -- ruining her RAZR phone (it was 2006 and that was a popular phone at the time).
Luckily the police came back for the rest of the family because they were about to get murdered by the UGA fans surrounding them (not to mention my brother). Still to this day I get shit from my brother and SIL about how terrible those fans were. They have yet to take in a game in Blacksburg to truly change their opinion, unfortunately.
TL; DR: Every fanbase has more than their fair share of assholes...us included, unfortunately.
No offense to your SIL but I find it hilarious that he just had a to go thing of BBQ sauce in his pocket.
Oh yeah, it really got after her. To this day I cannot help but shake one of these in front of her face from time to time just for the lolz.
PS: She hates me, and rightfully so.
Reminds me of this:
I've got some insight into Noter Dame football after living in NW Indiana for a little over 9 years of my life and being able to go to the game on Saturday, which was the matchup of my childhood dreams.
While midly different, I'd compare the average Noter Dame fan to the SEC fans that don't actually go to the school they root for. People from Bristol know what I'm talking about. Every call that doesn't go their way is a bad call, they should be heavy favorites for everything, and anything that goes wrong is either the coaches fault (probably true to some extent with Brian Kelly), or because everyone is against them for being independent (THEN JOIN A CONFERENCE YOU FUCKING CLODS).
I saw three general types of ND fans on Saturday, the ones that looked more concerened with the cold than the game, a fair number of ND fans who were seeing their first game live, and the seasoned
assholeveteran.The first type asked us what a Hokie is and otherwise left us alone. They knew to buy hot chocolate/coffee early on before it ran out and didn't tell us to do so, but they also left when the game was tied up. Rather baffling to me as you've suffered through artic winds for this long, why you wouldn't finish out an exciting finish in which they had a reasonable chance, I don't know.
The second type ask us many questions about VT, but never asked at inconvenient times. This includes the Canadians sitting next to me. Their son was a freshman on the hockey team, Cam Morrison who looks like Matt Smith with red hair, they specifically asked a ton of questions, the best of which was about our mascot "what's your mascot?" "It's a Hokie bird, it's the Turkey like mascot down there" "Oh, we thought that was a Thanksgiving thing". They were serious, Canadians are adorable. They also left at half time because it was too cold, THE CANADIANS THOUGHT IT WAS TOO DAMN COLD! To be fair that wind can cut right through you without the right clothing.
The diehard ND fans were certainly plentiful too. The most annoying of which sat right behind my Dad. While yelling heavily biased and dumb things all game, I'd give him two highlights. He yelled "ITS MATHEMATICS" sooo many times for no explainable reason, but the best thing he said was "IF THAT WAS OFFSIDES THE FIRST ONE WAS OFFSIDES TOO." Hmm, actually I agree thay, the first one was a terrible call. Maybe that's not exactly what he meant. I will say I largely enjoyed listening to these fans after the game. Their hate turned to their own team after the game "We got the shit kicked out of us, we look so bad." That's heavy exaggeration, but I like the sound of it. "WE NEED TO FIRE BRIAN KELLY" "We can't his buyout is too high." Hahahahaha, that's schadenfreude at it's best. Fun fact, Brian Kelly is tied with old Lou for most losses at Noter Dame. Hopefully Brian Kelly doesn't kill anyone else while he's there though.
If I sound bitter, that's because I am. I had years of rage bottled up against Noter Dame, and this win would have been the best thing to happen for me in sports by far this year if it weren't for the Cubs winning the World Series. I look foward to beating them again.