October 11, 2005
Win an autographed Touchdown Jesus
Attention Notre dame football fans: Fanblogs.com is offering you the chance to win an autographed, hardcover copy of Scott Eden's Touchdown Jesus : Faith and Fandom at Notre Dame.
To enter, simply comment below with your favorite Notre Dame memory. (Please be sure to use a legit email address so that we can contact you to mail your book!) Fanblogs.com will pick a winner from the comments below on Sunday, October 16th, so enter now by posting your favorite Irish memory.
Since the time of Knute Rockne, fans have been drawn to Notre Dame for reasons that go far beyond the normal allegiances. Just as Ohioans root for Ohio State, Los Angelenos for UCLA, Catholics everywhere root for Notre Dame. Over the decades their devotion to team and institution has become a religion in ways that exceed metaphor. Millions in number, these modern-day fans treat the Notre Dame campus as a pilgrimage site, and six times a year, for each home game, the action moves from the profane to the sacred. For the fans, Notre Dame has become a symbol of the American immigrant bootstrap ethos of hard work, of the Catholic faith, and of the notion that the two entwined can only produce the good life. Touchdown Jesus is the intimate chronicle of Notre Dame's 2004 football season as seen through the eyes of a fan base unlike any other.
A tapestry of vivid character portraits and descriptive narrative, Touchdown Jesus explores this phenomenon and reveals the story behind one of the highest-profile head coach firings in the history of college football. When the story begins in September 2004, it had been sixteen years since the Fighting Irish had won a national championship, and eleven years since the team had even been a contender. The Irish were coming off their third losing season in five years, a span of failure that had sparked fears of permanent decline. Over the course of the season, the target of the fans' angst grew to include not only head coach Tyrone Willingham, but also the caretakers of the university, whom many fans believed were sacrificing football to the prerogatives of an elite academe. As the losses piled up, the arguments for and against Willingham went to the very core of the identity of the university and its fan base: the pressure to win, the Christian ideal, and the uniquely American role of big-time athletics in higher education -- Notre Dame football at the center of it all.
Borrowing its title from the celebrated mosaic of Christ the Teacher that adorns the south facade of the university library and overlooks the football field, Touchdown Jesus is the story of faith and fanaticism and a university struggling to maintain elite football, elite academics, and traditional Catholicism -- each an imperative, without any room for compromise.
Post your Notre Dame Fighting Irish football memories below in the comments to win!
Fanblogs would like to thank Scott Eden and publisher Simon & Schuster for their participation in this promotion.
Comments:
AgRyan04 said:
posted on October 11, 2005 5:43 PM — 24.160.80.2 — link — abuse?
My biggest regret of college was week 1 of the 2000 season. It was the first football game of my freshman year at Texas A&M and my buddy (and a van full of friends) invited me along. I wasn't really into football at the time and didn't know any better so I passed on the offer. What I would give now to be able to see an A&M game in South Bend....
Jeff said:
posted on October 11, 2005 7:28 PM — 24.197.126.228 — link — abuse?
I have memories of some Notre Dame games in the past and I'll post them but I'm not doing it in an attempt to win the drawing just to bring up some past games.
I remember some of my friends in 5th grade (1984) being excited (one of them went to South Bend with his parents) when South Carolina defeated Notre Dame in a big upset. That was the year the Gamecocks started out with 7 or 8 straight wins and then lost to Navy at home, if I remember correctly.
I also have heard about the Clemson win at South Bend in '79 (which I have a DVD of) as well as the '77 game in Clemson. Joe Montana remarked that Clemson was one of the toughest places he ever played later because of the noise.
Irish coach Dan Devine had written the ACC office asking that the ACC refs be ensure to enforce the crowd noise rule (which some claim was enacted solely because of Clemson - there was a crowd noise penalty in Raleigh one year because of the visiting Clemson fans) in Death Valley, which then had neither upper deck.
The letter became public before the game (the ACC may have relased it) and Clemson students and fans came up with a unique way of handling it. The gave the Irish the silent treatment.
From what I've heard from people who were there, the Clemson fans were dead silent as warm-ups took place. As the game was about to begin, the band started lining up to form the entranceway for the team as they ran down the hill. The band was silent too, but the band members all pantomined playing their instruments as all the Clemson fans pretended to clap their hands together. As the cannon sounded for the team to come down the Hill, the crowd erupted and the band started playing. The effect apparently made things sound louder than usual. Notre Dame won the game in '77 and there was some controversy as Devine apparently gave the finger to some Clemson fans.
I've already teased some of my future in-laws who are Notre Dame fans that the last two times a team from the state of S.C. came into South Bend it resulted in an Irish loss and those teams have never been on the ND schedule again since then.
Jamie said:
posted on October 13, 2005 1:13 PM — 12.163.232.221 — link — abuse?
I had the ultimate opportunity as an Irish fan in the 2003 season. I got to stand on the sidelines with a photo creditial for the USC game. I stood between Joe Theisman and Dan "Rudy" Reutiger for the whole first half. ND lost that one, but not many can say that they were on the ND bench for a USC game.
Jeff Shutter said:
posted on October 14, 2005 11:57 AM — 24.152.216.174 — link — abuse?
I remember Tommy Clemmens completing a big pass to secure the win against Alabama to win a national championship. I was a very young pop warner football player and the excitement of that game has made me a football fan forever.
Hippster in KC said:
posted on October 14, 2005 12:41 PM — 12.4.181.2 — link — abuse?
I don't mean to sap things up, but here goes...
I graduated from ND in 99 and spent my ealier years driving to ND from Wichita, KS for lots of games. I was at the Miami game in 1990, the Florida State game in 1993, the Penn State game in 88, and a few USC games before that. In football terms, nothing will match the 93 FSU game. FSU was considered one of the best teams of all time that year, and the hype was unbelievable. We handled them pretty well although Lou's conservative playcalling in the second half and a fluke touchdown catch made the game closer. But that game was unbelievable.
But in the spirit of Eden's book, my favorite memory of ND is one that embodies everything that makes ND so special to the people lucky enough to go there.
Early senior year one of my buddies had some sort of aneurysm in his dorm room. By luck another buddy found him and noticed something was wrong and got him to the hospital just in time. At the hospital our buddy went into a coma. Things didn't look too good. I remember getting to the hospital to see about 15 our our buddies there. It was pretty terrible.
We didn't know what to do, but our dorm organized a mass. The guy coached the Lewis Hall girls' football team, so a bunch of Lewis girls showed up as well as pretty much our whole dorm and many, many others. The little chapel was packed and it was an unforgettable night. ND's open embrace of Catholicism specifically but religion generally is one reason ND is so revered by its alumni, and this night exemplified that. Following the mass was a 24-hour vigil in the chapel. We were asked to sign up for 30-minute intervals, and there was no shortage of volunteers. It was a very moving night, and one of my favorite memories of being an ND student.
And now the football part. Later our buddy pulled out of his coma but was understandibly a little out of it. One night about ten of us were in his hospital room with his parents, making stupid jokes and whatnot with him. In walks Bob Davie. Davie gave him an autographed ball and whatnot, and talked to our buddy for a little.
It wasn't long before our buddy starts peppering Davie with questions regarding playing time and strategy. I think we had just been pounded (surprise) by Michigan State and our buddy (who was in a hospital bed and whose head was partially shaved, exposing a ridiculous scar from his brain surgery) was giving Davie the business. Our buddy was rattling off stats like no one's business. It was high comedy.
Davie was surprised but had a great sense of humor about it. Davie couldn't coach but he was great to our buddy that night (and later on). No one but us knew about his visit to our buddy, and I will always give Davie credit for that even though I thought he was pretty worthless as a coach.
It doesn't sound too great to say that my buddy's aneurysm is my favorite ND memory, but it is. It might sound stupid, but to many, many people lucky enough to go to ND, the two things that make it so special are its relgiosity and football tradition. It might sound trite to non-Domers, but Touchdown Jesus truly is the embodiment of what Domers love about ND.
John Amari said:
posted on October 15, 2005 12:49 PM — 165.127.158.213 — link — abuse?
Notre Dame- Duke 1966: My Uncle Pete and I took the California Zephyr to the Palmer House in Chicago and the bus to the game, (this one preceeded the Game of the Century- ND/MSU),.
ND had one of the best teams ever in college football: Hanratty, Blier, Page, et al. It was a cold, grey November day and the Irish rolled 64-0.
Those were the days, my friend.marie said:
posted on October 15, 2005 8:16 PM — 71.97.151.55 — link — abuse?
We just got home from the local sports bar.......USC and ND.......what a game. We thought we won and the kids started rushing the field. My son was one of them. Of course we were disapointed.....mad as h@ll when we found out USC had 7 seconds. The bar was dead silent. We lost. After I got home we had a string of messages from my son while at the game. The best message was the last. He said "we lost but we're not defeated." Yep that sums it up nicely.
best wishes marie
Irish Steve said:
posted on October 16, 2005 3:50 PM — 207.200.116.133 — link — abuse?
There are so many to choose from...but i'd have to say it's the one and only Notre Dame game i've ever attended. It was against Stanford in 1997 at Stanford Stadium. We ended up losing to the Cardinals but it was my most memorable because I went to the game with my dad who has been a lifetime Notre Dame fan, and who game me my love for the Fighting Irish. Watching the games with him every weekend, and I mean every weekend, is one thing, seeing them play live even in a loss is something that neither of us will ever forget.
Please note that all comments are subject to the Fanblogs Comment Policy.
Senor Pez said:
posted on October 11, 2005 9:43 AM — 63.162.183.2 — link — abuse?This one's easy...
1997, Purdue vs. Notre Dame. Standing behind the endzone bleachers before pregame, my rank leader said, "March your best; this is the biggest crowd you'll ever be in front of."
Not only was he wrong (four years later, I'd be at the Rose Bowl), but the game marked the beginning of Purdue's resurgence. They beat a good Notre Dame team, brought life back into a flagging rivalry, and followed it all up with their first bowl season in a long time.
A shame this year looks completely different.