Monday, October 6, 2008

"Victory March" Centennial

I had the pleasure of returning to Notre Dame to march at the ND vs Stanford game with the Alumni Band. We celebrated the 100th anniversary of our fight song, the Notre Dame Victory March, written in 1908 by the Shea brothers (both recent ND graduates at the time). It's always great to be back on campus!


Notre Dame Bagpipe Band


The University of Notre Dame was founded in 1842, and the Band of the Fighting Irish dates back at least to 1846. As announced at the beginning of pregame before every home football game, 2008 marks the 162nd year for the ND Band and the 121st football season. The ND Band website has more band history.


Check out this future band member!


This kid has an adorable and intricate replica of the ND Band uniform


The plaid is officially registered (in Ireland and/or Scotland... not sure) as the Notre Dame plaid. There are definitely some conglomerations of Irish and Scottish culture in Notre Dame traditions. For instance, our Irish Guard actually dances a Scottish-style clog when the band plays Damhsa Bua after touchdowns and final victories.


6 of the 9 Notre Dame Olympians who competed in Beijing
stand in front of the student section at the Pep Rally


You can easily spot Knott, Michael's dorm, dressed in orange just to the right of center in this shot. I'm fairly certain that Farley's Finest are in the green a couple sections to the left of Knott (but not on the far left of the picture).


Band entrance (led by the Irish Guard) at the Pep Rally


Band crowding in for the Pep Rally


With the lights dimmed in the JACC,
it's hard to take pictures of the football players dressed up in suits


Saxes at the morning marching rehearsal in Loftus


Michael had plenty of time to be a creative photographer during marching rehearsal


Lining up in front of the Dome
("Inspection" is waived for the Alumni Band)


Alumni Band Marchout


Marching to the Stadium


Current band Pregame Show


Football team kneels in the South End Zone to pray before the game


Jeff and Melissa sitting in our field seats


Melissa and Jeff on the field


Post-halftime apples are the best-tasting apples in the world


Melissa and Adam (former drum major)


The scoreboard shows ND 21 to Stanford 7 in the 3rd quarter. It was a great game, but I almost lost my voice cheering on the Irish. A Notre Dame victory (final score 28-21) completed our nostalgic return "home."


Michael on the field with the ND huddle in the background


Michael followed the Alumni Band through the tunnel and sat with us on the field. It was great to show him the energizing vantage point from which I used to watch the games. You truly feel involved in the game and can see the plays unfold very well, but you have no depth perception (to the point that you often can't tell whether you gained yards or lost yards when the action's on the other end of the field).

1 comment:

magda said...

It looks like you had lots of fun! (And it's Damhsa Bua, never mind that the announcer always says it wrong. Arg.)