People don't play sports becase its fun. Ask any athlete, most of them hate it, but they couldnt imagine their life w/o it. Its part of them, the Hate/love relationship. its wat they live for. They live for the practices, parties, cheers, long bus rides,invitationals, countless pairs of diff. types of shoes, water,Gatorade, & coaches you hate but appreciate. They live for the way it feels when you beat tha team next to you by 1 pt. in overtime, & you know those 2 extra sprints you ran in practice were worth it. They live for the way you become a family with your team, they live for the countless songs you sing in your head when youur running ALL those suicides. They live for the competition, they live for the friends, the practices, the memories, the pain, its who they are. It's who we are. WE ARE ATHLETES! ?
THE IRISH, BY THE NUMBERS.
NOTRE DAME'S FOOTBALL HISTORY IS FULL OF FANTASTIC FACTS AND FIGURES.
.881..... WINS in Notre Dame history, second alltime among major-college football programs.
.7435..... ALLTIME winning percentage at the start of the '06 season.
8..... AP NATIONAL championships, the most of any program. (Knute Rockne's 1924, '29 and '30 titles occured before the AP poll began in '36.)
12.....UNBEATEN and untied seasons.
.881..... WINNING PERCENTAGE for Knute Rockne, the best among all major-college coaches.
5..... PERFECT SEASONS for Knute Rockne's Team's.
8..... HEAD COACHES who were alumni of Notre Dame.
58..... YEARS that George Gripp held the school rushing record (2,341 yards.)
4..... WIDE RECIEVERS who have had more than 1,000-yard seasons while at Notre Dame.
46..... PLAYERS and coaches from Notre Dame who have been inducted into the National Football Foundation or the College Football Hall of Fame, the most of any college.
453.....PLAYERS from Notre Dame selected by NFL teams since the draft began in 1936.
5..... NFL NO. 1 draft picks overall who played for Notre Dame, a tie with USC for most of any college.
7..... HEISMAN TROPHY winners who played for the Fighting Irish.
27..... BOWL appearances by Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish are 13-14 in those games.
2..... QUATERBACKS who have lead the Irish in passing in all four of their collegiate seasons.
30..... VICTORIES over Notre Dame by Southern California, the most of any opponent. In turn the Irish have beaten the Trojans 42 times.
2..... KICKOFF RETURN touchdowns by Rocket Ismail in 1988 againt Rice and again in '89 against Michigan , making him the only player in NCAA history to run back two kickoffs for touchdowns in a game twice.
79..... TIMES Notre Dame has faced Navy, the most frequent opponent for the Fighting Irish. Notre Dame holds a commanding 69-9-1 lead over the Midshipmen and has outscored them by more than 1,300 points.
Notre Dame National Champinship's
Here Come The Four Horseman '24
The Traveling Champions '29
A New Stadium, Another Title '30
The Advent Of The Modified T '43
The Boys Come Home And Win Again '46
Bigger And Stronger From Start To Finish '47
No Match For Old Notre Dame '49
Ferocious Battle, Unsatisfying Result '66
Just One Point Makes Notre Dame Champs '73
A Perfect Game Turns No.5 Into No.1 '77
Talking The Talk, Then Backing It Up '88
The Campus is imposing enough just lying there, all leafy and self-haunting. The dome pokes into the Indiana sunlight like a giant golden skullcap, the black robes move quietly through the rust and amber of the trees, and the whole scene hits you with a great, intolerant splat of tradition, mystery, and nostaglia. But Notre Dame has always done this, ever since Knute Rockne told his hired help to run that ball and fight-fight-fight-fight, his speeches marking either the end or the beginning of pep talks. Now give the Fighting Irish another powerful football team, and one with something extra special- the Baby Boomers. Why, you haven't got a chance. The most accusing, cynical, irreverent infidel among us would be choked into submission by what Notre Dame IS and what Notre Dame WAS.
A Young Boy fidgets in his pew at Sunday
Mass on an autumn morning in the early 1970's stealing
glances at the clock on the facing of the choir loft.
The sermon goes long, and then the pastor chooses communion
prayer number two, which is painfully long when your on
you're on your knees and especially when Notre Dame Football highlights begin at 11:30. Finally the boy is sprung, and he desperately sprints more than a mile home
through the streets of a small town in upstate New York,
as far from South Bend as you can imagine. He throws himself across the sofa in a household in which nobody
attended Notre Dame, and he lets the gold helmets cover the television screen and the voice of Lindsey Nelson fill
the room, bringing the Fighting Irish to Life.
