God and football. I
think it’s why I love Notre Dame.
The relationship seems uncanny. I do not go to school there. I am not from the Midwest. I am not Irish, nor am I a huge college
football fan. In fact, the team is
eternally jinxed, always tripping over its own feet and choking in close
games.
But I somehow feel attached to the school. Three years ago, I went on a campus tour in a
February blizzard and it felt like home.
I remember walking past the Golden Dome, looking up at the gothic arches
of the Basilica, posing in front of Touchdown Jesus, and standing in awe
outside the massive iron gates of the football stadium. The pageantry was overwhelming. At the bookstore, I bought a bright green
Notre Dame shirt with one of those boxing leprechauns on the front. I was accepted Early Action, and it felt like
a school of destiny.
Alas, it was not meant to be. I wisely turned to Georgetown for academic
reasons, and my Dad turned my beautiful green shirt into a grease rag.
But I still feel the emotion every Saturday. I go through three-hour periods when I
pretend to be one of the many students screaming wildly in the historic Notre
Dame Stadium. Anxiously standing in
front of the TV with my fingers crossed, I cracked a huge smile this weekend as
Notre Dame scored the game-winning touchdown over Pittsburgh. In the most exciting game of the weekend, the
Irish pulled off a stunning come-from-behind triple-overtime victory, despite a
missed extra point and a goal line fumble.
Notre Dame continues its improbable run for the BCS
Championship. Winning by the skin of its
teeth, this feels like a team of destiny.
Escaping tight games through goal-line stands and missed field goals,
the cards seem to be in their favor. No
longer the dunce of college football, the close calls are going their way. They score points despite being led by an
inexperienced, jittery red-shirt freshman quarterback. They win games even when they’re over-penalized
and out-played.
Notre Dame is finally relevant in the BCS rankings. But this still does not explain why so many
people, including me, love the school.
If it was all about success, fans would have jumped off the bandwagon
years ago. Since Lou Holtz retired in 1997, the
Irish have been mediocre at best.
It could be the tradition; the school is decorated with
eleven national championships, and famous alumni like Joe Montana and Tim Brown
certainly contribute to the prestige of the program. But these legends are long gone, and many of
us are too young to even remember watching them play. A plastic signs that says “Play Like a
Champion Today” means nothing unless the Irish actually fulfill their calling.
There must be something more.
Notre Dame is not just about football. It is about God. It is about that Touchdown Jesus that casts
its image over the stadium like a beacon of hope. It is about the fifty-seven chapels scattered
throughout the campus. It is about the giant
carving of the Last Supper in the dining hall.
It is about the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes that makes the school look
like a pilgrimage site.
You do not have to be Catholic to appreciate the religious
culture at Notre Dame. You do not have
to share the faith to realize that, as the bastion of Catholic education in the
United States, God is an integral part of the university’s identity. While there are students at the school that
are not Catholic, the drum that it beats is ultimately a religious one. You can see it in the statues and monuments
on campus, in the curfews and in the curriculum, in the demographics of the
faculty and students.
Obviously, religion is a very polarizing issue, and it is one
of the main reasons why South Bend attracts so much attention. When it comes to the Irish, there is more
love than like, more hate than indifference.
On the surface, people hate on the football. Haters envy their vaunted history, their gold
helmets, and their giant contract with NBC.
They are sick of everyone always talking about the Irish, even when they
have consistently underperformed in years past.
But there is also love because of what Notre Dame stands
for: the independent, religious institution that separates itself from the
crowd. Notre Dame is so different from
the public, religiously-unaffiliated state schools that dominate college
football. It is the only Catholic school
consistently in the BCS rankings, and it proudly wears its identity as a badge
of honor.
So remember that when you root for Notre Dame, you are not
just rooting for a football program. You
are rooting for a university culture, one that is passionately independent and
uniquely religious.
Sure, it looks a lot like football on Saturdays in South
Bend. Just do not forget that Touchdown
Jesus is always watching, looming over all.
