Here’s the press release. Below are things we find notable, and thus we take note here and add the flourishing touch of commentary.
“Rally on the Green,†a hospitality village located on Irish Green (adjacent to the south side of the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center), will be in operation from 3 to 6:30 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. to one-half hour before kickoff for each home game. Access to the area will be free of charge and open to the public. It will feature entertainment on a main stage (including bands and speakers), plus roaming “kid-friendly†entertainment throughout the grounds. Food and beverages (including alcohol) will be available for purchase, and Follett’s and other vendors will be on site.
Hrm. Thus far it sounds like “improved football weekend experience” translates to “increased revenue generation.”
* The hospitality village will close in time for the pep rallies, which are scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. on Friday evenings. Due to the renovation of the Joyce Center, pep rallies will be held in several locations, as follows:
- Sept. 4 (Friday), Nevada – on the South Quad as part of the annual Dillon Hall rally
- Sept. 10 (Thursday), Michigan – an on-campus event at the Stepan Center for the Sept. 12 road game at Ann Arbor
- Sept 18 (Friday), Michigan State – on Irish Green
- Oct. 2 (Friday), Washington – on Irish Green
- Oct. 16 (Friday), USC – tentatively Notre Dame Stadium
- Oct. 23 (Friday), Boston College – on Irish Green
- Nov. 5 (Friday), Navy – on Irish Green
- Nov. 20 (Friday), Connecticut – in Purcell Pavilion in the Joyce Center
Alright, while I’m not tremendously stoked about the Dillon Pep Rally being moved to Friday and, in all likelihood, undergoing more editing and political correctness checks than your typical State of the Union Address, it is sort of cool that the boys of Dillon get their pep rally and students get to sort of “own” the first pep rally of the season. I’m sure Crackhead is eagerly awaiting an invitation to make an appearance. That said, A) the pep rallies, like the English, are too many. There should only be 2 pep rallies with a schedule like this. One to start the season and one to appropriately recognize the SoCal game weekend. Not only are all of the home games getting a pep rally this year, but the freaking Michigan (sucks!) game is getting a pep rally. What? B) Pep rallies outside after the calendar hits November? At 6:30 pm? Nothing like the raucous sound of a few thousand pairs of mittens clapping.
A corps of Notre Dame guest service representatives, identifiable by green blazers, will be stationed around the campus beginning at 9 a.m. on game days to answer questions, offer maps and lists of activities and otherwise be of assistance to fans.
…and watch you. All of you. Don’t try anything.
The University has created a sportsmanship document that outlines ND Game-Day Courtesy Guidelines, including the rights and responsibilities of all fans. Additional signage will be available in parking lots and at Notre Dame Stadium gates to encourage positive fan behavior.
“No standing. No loud behavior. No breathing too loudly. No anything that might offend the geriatric crowd or cause the guy-sitting-next-to-you-who-took-his-bored-8-year-old-daughter’s daughter to complain that your volume level is hurting her ears. But please feel free to get up from a sitting position if and only if you need to go buy more concessions at any point in the game. Like now. Yeah. Now. We don’t care that there are 2 minutes left, the opposition’s got the ball at ND’s 30, and it’s 3rd and 2. Sit down and be quiet. Unless you want to buy something.” In all seriousness, we absolutely can’t wait to see this thing. We’re sure it’ll be online at the new website mentioned in the release, but that new website isn’t up yet. We love the idea though, sort of like we love the idea of the Pontiac Aztek; An idea so obviously bad that it just had to be allowed to grow and spin out of control.
In an effort to encourage appropriate behavior, fans will be able to utilize a new text messaging system to report any instances of unruly or disruptive behavior in conjunction with home games, including inside Notre Dame Stadium. The system will be in place beginning at 8 a.m. on Saturdays. Fans can simply text 41513 and type into the message the word “Irish†followed by a space, followed by a brief description of the issue and its location. Ushers, public safety personnel and/or University officials will respond as needed.
Yeah. THAT wont get abused either by overzealous soccer moms who only came to the game because their husbands promised them a trip to Tiffany’s in Chicago the next day or by drunk dudes looking to just randomly send the brute squad on wild goose chases. I wonder if we could flash-mob the entire thing and have the Southern Cal visitor section of the stadium vacated by halftime. Oh, and this is all predicated on actually having cell phone reception inside the stadium? During a game?
The University will continue to work with its community partners to provide the safest and most welcoming and enjoyable environment possible on game days – including a newly designed integrated command center in Notre Dame Stadium to respond to any issues.
Hey, look at that, all that glossiness! It’s so glossy! I haven’t seen anything glossed over like that since I stopped working in that nail salon. I was paying the bills! Don’t criticize me for working and contributing to the GDP!
Ahem.
Anyway, even if this press release promised all that we could possibly want to read and more, there’s no telling how things will actually work until the football season starts, so we wont really pick on what’s said in this thing too much. Perhaps ND finally formulated a partnership with state and local law enforcement to ensure that horror stories of visitors who may or may not have had too much to drink are not getting roughed up, or that alums aren’t being milked for every penny that they might have otherwise fed into the local economy. Who knows? I just have a feeling I’ll be glad that I’m not going to see version 1.0 of these new policies in action. After all, Bill Kirk is still part of all of this.
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DMQ–I’m starting to get the feeling you are a Braveheart fan.
ha, my favorite quote ever – the english are WAY too many. well done.
wow, the freaking ‘tattle tale texting technology’ is a freaking joke. are they f-ing serious? the first 80 year old that tries to use his arthritic fingers to blackberry Kirk and get me in trouble for standing and cheering will have a broken hip before i get pulled screaming from the stadium.
#414513: Irish… I’m being held against my will in a cell under the stadium stands.
#41513: Irish… I can’t find my seats. Where am I?
#41513: Irish… Why don’t they throw it deep to Tate?
#41513: Irish… My hotdog is cold.
#41513: Irish… Whoa, dude, don’t text #41413. They’re naughty!
Domer, I totally dont share your disdain for prep rallies. I think your philosophy that they somehow “honor” our opponents is contradictory to my opinion that they serve as a means to fire up the home crowd fan base. In that regard, we need them MORE for crummy teams because the game itself doesn’t totally do the job. But maybe it’s my Subway status that I just dont “get it.”
I love your idea about the txt police getting sicced on SoCal buffoons. We seriously should do that. I’ll drop a couple hundred from Texas to aid in the cause. And saying that gives me another idea…can we still use that at the Wazzu game in San A? It is a HOME game, remember…
My problem isn’t that they honor opponents, Trey. My problem is that they’re just boring as sin, largely because there are too many of them. Have you been to one in the last decade? They’re really embarassing. The only people entertained are kids under 11. The players are usually bored to tears. It’s certainly not pepping them up. The speeches almost always suck, with the rare exception. There need to be fewer so that the ones that do remain have any actual value at all.
I saw Lou last year vs. UM(s!). I was sure pumped.
trey, you have to understand, that was a HUGE exception to the general rule of ND pep rallies.
Most of the complaints last year centered around ushers hurting the pre-game and game atmosphere. Most of the “solutions” this year center around having more ushers (they’re not ushers! they’re wearing green, not yellow!) to control the pre-game and game atmospheres. Am I missing something, or is this just blatent ND football doublethink?
And speaking of out-of-control beaurocracies, the tattletale texting service reminds me a bit too much of the recent White House “health care reform lies” tattletale email address.
Why is ND drafting a whole new batch of policies catering toward 12 year olds? Don’t curse. Don’t drink. Here’s some clowns and balloon animals. Can’t figure out the campus/tailgating/football? Here’s some men in green jackets. No, no, the men in green jackets are NOT here to watch your every move and throw you out if you commit one of the following violations: Cursing, drinking, cheering, standing, booing, clapping, moving, or anything sound above a “6 inch inside voice.”
Why are they tring to be MORE welocming? Has anyone ever been to West Lafayette/East Lansing? South Bend is the most welcoming college football town on Earth! Notre Dame stadium couldn’t be more welcoming and safer without becoming a hospital.
I’m also glad people don’t have to yell “down in front” at me anymore. I’m going to put my phone number on the back of my shirt and people can text me to sit down.
The best solution is to make the end zones the “family friendly” sections and leave the rest of the stadium to the fans so they can go nuts and make some noise.
@Matt ’09… yeah, why can’t the White House go back to the good ‘ol days of the previous administration with warrant-less monitoring of all domestic communications. So much easier than actually having to send an email. Oh the humanity!
No politicizing ND football, fellas. Red, Blue, Purple… we can all commiserate over ND football together.
Besides, we’ve seen what Politics can do to otherwise sane ND football fans. Just look at the politics board at NDN.
The only people entertained are kids under 11. The players are usually bored to tears. It’s certainly not pepping them up. The speeches almost always suck, with the rare exception.