Win or lose, this will be the scene at Notre Dame Stadium (via 125.nd.edu)
Last season, after a home loss to Oklahoma, there was a lot of confusion as some Notre Dame players hung around for the alma mater while others went into the locker room. To no surprise, this sudden development created massive amounts of anger and confusion with the fanbase.
The “tradition” was instituted in 2005 by Charlie Weis who felt that the team should salute the students after the game regardless of the result. Weis also extended this to standing behind any armed forces opponent as they sung their alma mater as well.
The confusion that happened that day stemmed from a policy that was instituted prior to the 2012 season. Kelly felt that the players should be able to regroup as a team after a home loss, which does make some sense as the alma mater after a bad loss would sadly morph into an exercise to see who was pissed off enough to not sing, remove their helmet, or just look angry in general.
Of course, the 2012 team went undefeated so a home loss didn’t happen for some time and it appears half the team forgot about the change.
Regardless of the reasons, confusion, and hair-pulling the players decided to place this policy into their own hands late Monday night:
BREAKING: Student leaders of @NDFootball decided today the team will join the student body in singing the Alma Mater after every home game.
— The Observer (@NDSMCObserver) August 26, 2014
The @NDFootball players met with @NDstudgov today to finalize the decision.
— The Observer (@NDSMCObserver) August 26, 2014
Personally, I liked that the team started singing the alma mater to the student section during the Weis era. I thought it was a fantastic touch.
However, I’m also of the belief that my warm and fuzzy feelings on the situation do not matter. This should be a decision that the players make and stick to.
So I’m happy they’ve taken control of the situation themselves (and I’m sure Kelly doesn’t care either way). Especially since it will remove any kind of “controversy” that is really nothing more than excess noise.
Texan by birth, Irish by choice.
Born and raised in the great state of Texas, Tex is a first-generation Domer and a former student manager. After graduation, he left the cold winters of South Bend behind and returned back to his home state with a computer engineering degree in tow. Missing the daily grind of working football practices and talking football with fellow Irish fans every day, he took to blogging, a path which eventually led him to Her Loyal Sons. Continuously diving into stats and game film, Tex strives to break down every aspect of Fighting Irish football--even though it's determined to kill him.
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