As a self-proclaimed fashionista the already exciting start of football season is, in my opinion, made even better by alternate uniform reveals. It’s also made more exciting by the usually passionate disapproval of Irish fans who tend to be very comfortable with the traditional and status quo.

Watching the meltdowns is Twitter GOLD. 

It’s important to preface this write-up with the fact that Notre Dame’s uniforms have often been, well, traditional and the same. Navy jerseys, gold pants, gold helmet.

Tradition.

This adherence to tradition makes it a bit difficult for those tasked with designing alternate, or throwback, jerseys to do their job. After all, is it really a throwback if your uniform never really changes?

That being said, having seen the uniforms for Notre Dame’s Senior Day matchup against Boston College I do think Under Armour took a bit of a lazy shortcut on their throwback uniform design. At first glance, the uniform isn’t awful. In fact, it’s pretty good…if it were marketed as their everyday-home-uniform.

It’s not. It’s an alternate. 

The idea behind the uniform is for it to be a nod to the jerseys worn during the 1988 season by the team that would go on to win the national championship. Super cool idea (who doesn’t love the idea of mixing old and new and giving a nod to a successful team of the past!?), poor execution.

As I mentioned, Notre Dame’s uniforms are iconic and haven’t undergone many major changes, so it was crucial for Under Armour to highlight the most defining elements of the 1988 uniforms, and I think they missed the mark. The 1988 uniforms were mesh, the numbers were squared off and boxy, the ND logos on the shoulders were two defined letters, not an intertwined design, where the “N” was outlined separately and pasted on top of the “D”, the pants and helmets were a bit of a different gold then they are now, and the cleats were back.

Let’s evaluate. 

Under Armour tried to hit the highlights with black cleats and a mesh number–well, mesh look-alike–it’s not mesh at all, it’s an overlay that looks like mesh, and a lighter gold pant. Nice try, good effort but huge opportunities were missed in my eyes.

The entire jersey not being mesh seems like a huge miss as well as the different font and design of the ND logos on the shoulders. Of course, throwbacks are supposed to be a nod to the old and not an exact copy, so I’d be fine with either a similar numeric font style or the same old ND logo, but going rogue on both makes them seem almost too similar to the modern day Under Armour designed uniforms to call them a throwback.

I expect the fact Under Armour didn’t stray too far from the usual will please most fans (as will the sideline gear), but I’m definitely hoping for a bit more creativity and excitement from the Shamrock Series uniforms. Green jerseys circa 1977, anyone? *crossing my fingers* 

The post Notre Dame Throwbacks: A Fashion Review appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Likewise the bookstore unveiled what’s always a much anticipated – probably the most anticipated – clothing item of the year: The Shirt. I’ve reviewed The Shirt the past 2 years and I figured, why not emerge from my ND blogging void to bring you my reaction to this year’s design? After all, some things never change and this girl can’t say no to anything that combines Notre Dame football and fashion. Of course, I’d love to know what you think as well, so be sure to leave your comments and opinions below!

Welp, there you have it folks! The 2016 version of The Shirt (I apologize that blogging doesn’t lend itself to super exciting reveals, although I’m not sure anything could compare to BK peeling off his top layer, holding his arms up in the air TD Jesus style, and rocking this tee tucked into a pair of pants…bold move, Mr. Kelly)

I’m going to break down The Shirt as I have in the past, considering the following elements; color, the front design, the back design, and my overall thoughts. So, here it goes! The fashion police are officially on patrol.

Color: Let me first address the (multicolored) elephant in the room. The color is still not uniform, and not only is it not uniform, it’s still not always an official school color…unless, the Irish have adopted this bubble gum as of late and didn’t tell anyone.

Honestly, this color isn’t shocking in that it’s new, because it’s actually very similar to the blue of the 2011 The Shirt (I’ll give you a second to dig it out of the depths of your dresser drawers if you don’t believe me..told you!) What is shocking, however, is that they used it again. It’s a nice color – don’t get me wrong. But what’s wrong with green or navy or gosh I don’t know…classic white? Even if green and white aren’t technically official team colors, I think they would serve a much better canvas than this radical blue. I’m interested to see how it sells, because year after year the fan base expresses their desire for consistency as far as the color of The Shirt is concerned, and year after year we have to wonder if it’s going to be flesh-toned gold or kelly green (I’d vote for the second one every. single. time)

Design, Front: Ummm, there’s a football, and the date, and the name of the team. Yeah, that about covers it. Something about the front of this year’s The Shirt makes me have major deja vu. Like, haven’t we seen this design before? The front definitely seems as though it was a design pulled from the stock photo archives. According to the description on theshirt.nd.edu the front design is evidently a nod to the 1991 shirt, “which featured ‘Irish’ with a football graphic.” Something tells me 25 years later, we could have gotten a bit more creative. But, if the front is this plain, certainly the back will have a certain level of interest and intricacy to balance it out…

Design, Back: …or not. The back is equally as plain, or minimalistic, as the front. I will say that the two quotes, “Surrender to Excellence” and “Rise Above Ourselves” are pretty dang awesome and inspiring. Both quotes are from a longer block quote from the late, great Fr. Ted who said, “There is no academic virtue in playing mediocre football and no academic vice in winning a game that by all odds one should lose. … There has been a surrender at Notre Dame, but it is a surrender to excellence on all fronts, and in this we hope to rise above ourselves with the help of God.” *cue chills* I absolutely love that! I don’t however love how it was just sort of placed on the back. The back also features “banners” emblazoned with the years the Irish took home a National Championship. I look forward to the year they have to mess around with the spacing to add another banner! All in good time…

Overall Thoughts: Okay, so I’m sure if you’ve read my thoughts on each individual category you can already sort of take a stab at where I stand on this year’s design.

I’m not a huge fan.

*Cue gasps, and clutching of pearls*

This year is my first slightly negative review, but I’m just not wowed. I will say that it’s a nice, simple tee that really hits all the traditional, expected design points, but that’s not really what I expect from The Shirt. I sort of miss the images of specific players chest bumping each other after a huge TD, and the more traditional colors (I am my father’s daughter, huh?!). I mean, it is 100% cotton and available in a women’s cut this year which is nice (goodbye boxy shoulders), but I’m just not feeling it. Give me kelly green and a picture of The Rocket circa 1989 returning a kickoff against Michigan and a bit more of an avant garde design and I’d be a happy camper. I just can’t get excited about our student section wearing these. But hey, a winning record always has a way of making things like a sub par The Shirt design seem like a very minor detail in the grand scheme of things.

The post Fashion Review: The Shirt 2016 appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Make sure to stay tuned, HLS TV will continue this season. Also, as a final parting gift from my co-host chair, I have Google Hangout Video the boot and did this episode via Skype and a fancy little recording plug-in. Staying connected the entire time (and not having to edit the hell out of the video) was pretty cool.

Enjoy!

The post HLS TV (Episode 20): Goodbye to Undefeated Records & Tex appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

In this episode, we cover the great (for 58 minutes at least) performance of the defense. We deal with yet another Irish injury and ask if celebrations in general are to blame. There is something resembling a preview of UMass as well as a discussion of our superstitions because why not!

As always you can find the video and podcast version below. Be sure to subscribe to both our YouTube and iTunes feeds!

The post HLS TV (Episode 18): Victory Buzz appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, and children of all ages – gather around as we tell you one of the greatest stories in Notre Dame Lore. It’s a wonderful story of two princesses who ruled the Notre Dame kingdom and those of you who aren’t down with that, we have two words for you… GO IRISH!

Once upon a time, in a kingdom far away in the land of Notre Dame lived two princesses, Princess Molly and Princess Anastasia. Princess Molly was a soft spoken, intelligent, and beautiful princess who knew how to motivate Her Loyal Sons into defending the Kingdom. Princess Anastasia, on the other hand, was brash, strong-minded, and known to drink the men under the table throughout the Kingdom. Together, the princesses’ goal was to bring a championship to their Notre Dame Kingdom.

Unlike Alabama and several other SEC schools, the princesses didn’t believe in claiming fake championships that they didn’t win. Thus they trained their army of Fighting Irish to destroy the other kingdoms. This year presented new challenges. The first to invade the Kingdom was the Longhorns of Texas, to summarize that massacre…the Longhorns were checked into Smackdown Hotel on the corner of Know Your Role Boulevard and Moose Krause Circle. Next, our army of Fighting Irish were drawn into Virginia Cavaliers’ Kingdom. This was a hard fought battle and many were lost including our battle leader, Sir Malik Zaire. Just as things looked lost for Notre Dame and the two princesses, things got as hot as an oven and the Cavaliers felt the Rise of the Kizer. Legend says Sir DeShone Kizer came in with his arm of gold with a touch that would make the ladies blush. Sir Kizer smashed the air out of the Cavaliers’ Kingdom and avenged Sir Zaire and the rest of Her Loyal Sons that were lost in battle.

The Princesses were filled with joy. The Rise of the Kizer brought hope back to the Kingdom when all seemed lost. Princess Molly took the time to study the playbook with him, while Princess Anastasia taught him how to trash talk. Would he fulfill the prophecy where every time there is a Triple Crown winner in horse racing that Notre Dame has won the Championship? Only time will tell as a new threat has invaded the Kingdom. Unlike past threats, Georgia Tech has selected to attack in three ways. But little does Georgia Tech know, the Kingdom of Notre Dame has the original triple option: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

We go into battle as betting underdogs and predict a victory. “We came here to chew bubble gum and kick ass…and we are all out of bubble gum.” Georgia Tech will feel the wrath of the Notre Dame Princesses. Notre Dame 31 Georgia Tech 28.

As a reminder here are the #CostumeGameDay Contest Rules:

You have an opportunity to win a #CostumeGameDay prize each week. There are FOUR ways that you can have your name entered into a random drawing. For each one of the four things below that you complete, you earn one entry. You can earn up to four entries max per game.

1. Retweet my #CostumeGameDay photo on Twitter (@Mrstruj) until Midnight ET.
2. Retweet the @HerLoyalSons#CostumeGameDay Twitter post until Midnight ET.
3. “Like” this post on the Her Loyal Sons Facebook
4. Leave your Twitter handle name in the comments section of this post until Midnight ET.

Feel free to follow us (@Lluckoftheirish and @Mrstruj) on Twitter. If you have a fun outfit you want to show off, please send it to us on Twitter. You might make the Best Spirited Showcase on Her Loyal Sons!

Don’t forget to have fun, be yourself and forget the haters! As always, Notre Dame is #1! We are ND! Go Irish!

The post #CostumeGameDay: Rise of the Kizer appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

We discuss Malik Zaire’s injury and what it means for the Irish, just what happened with the defense, some other assorted thoughts about the Irish performance, and how the Irish will be able to take on Georgia Tech next week.

As always, the video is below and the podcast version is just below that.

The post HLS TV (Episode 17): Virginia Terror appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Now onto Week 3. I would like to welcome a very special guest joining me this week for #CostumeGameDay, Her Loyal Sons’ Molly Moran (@Lluckoftheirish). If you’re not already following her on Twitter, I suggest that you do! Not only does she has some great tweets and fashion, she posts some great Notre Dame related YouTube videos.

I know that Georgia Tech can pack quite a sting but I believe there’s a magic in the UND football team. Check back in on Saturday for mine and Molly’s costumes and score prediction!

#CostumeGameDay Contest Rules for Saturday:

You have an opportunity to win a #CostumeGameDay prize each week. There are FOUR ways that you can have your name entered into a random drawing. For each one of the four things below that you complete, you earn one entry. You can earn up to four entries max per game.

1. Retweet my #CostumeGameDay photo on Saturday on Twitter (@Mrstruj) until Midnight ET.
2. Retweet the @HerLoyalSons #CostumeGameDay Twitter post on Saturday until Midnight ET.
3. “Like” Saturday’s #CostumeGameDay post on the Her Loyal Sons page.
4. Leave your Twitter handle name in the comments section of Saturday’s post until Midnight ET.

Here is the teaser for Week 3:

1. Pork and Beans – Weezer
   “ Imma do the things that I wanna do. I ain’t got a thing to prove to you.”
   

    

2. Young at Heart – Frank Sinatra
   “Fairytales can come true, it can happen to you if you’re young at heart.”
   

    

3. Instant Crush – Daft Punk ft. Julian Casablancas
   “That’s all we need because it’s all we can take.”
   

    

4. Country Grammar – Nelly
   “I’m righteous above the law. Player my style’s raw.”
   

    

5. Your Love – The Outfield
   “I just want to use your love.”
   

    

6. Uptown Girl – Billy Joel
   “I’m in love with an uptown girl.”
   

    

Bonus Song:

Dustland Fairytale – The Killers
“Castles in the sky sit stranded, vandalized. The draw bridge is closing in.”

The post #CostumeGameDay Playlist – Week 3 appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Molly Moran returns to host the show with yours truly sitting in the co-host chair. We discuss Notre Dame’s impressive win over Texas and bask in the glow one final time before we move on to Virginia. The full video is below and, just like last season, you can listen to it in podcast form. That audio is also below and should hit iTunes within the next few hours (in the future, I am recording the audio live and uploading it earlier to avoid a delay).

Make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel as well as iTunes (and leave us a review over there too while you’re there)!

The post HLS TV (Episode 16): Smoked Bevo appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

All images via Under Armour’s official Twitter account (“@UAFootball”)

Today was the day! If you asked, “What day!?” Just hop on twitter and scroll through your timeline and I’m sure you’ll figure it out soon enough. Today was the day that *drum roll, glitter cannons* Notre Dame unveiled this year’s Shamrock Series uniforms! Like anything involving Notre Dame and fashion, I was all over it.

I love guessing what the uniforms will look like from year to year and I’ll admit I had some pretty grandiose off the wall ideas for this year’s uniforms. Black and metallic gold! Glow in the dark! LIGHT UP CLEATS! (Would that even be legal? Yeah, probably not). Turns out however, they aren’t quite as alternative as I was imagining (deep breaths, gold seaters!)

The overall design can best be described as well, green. I guess the head to toe green look is pretty darn fitting seeing as the Irish will take on Boston College in this year’s Shamrock Series game at Fenway Park. Get it? Fenway Park? Green monster? Green uniforms!? Oh, Under Armour you’re clever.

While green is definitely the overwhelming majority of this look, stripes are a close second. There are stripes on the shoulders, stripes above the knees, stripes down the sides of the pants, stripes down the middle of the helmet, and stripes on the gloves. Oh, wait! I found more; Stripes in the bottom corners of the numbers. In the words of Oprah…You get a stripe! And you get a stripe! EVERYONE GETS A STRIPE! But wait, there’s more!

Not only does this uniform have a lot of stripes, it’s actually like some sort of stripe inception if you look closely. Many of the stripes, the ones on the back of the helmet for example, are divided or slashed further into 11 separate stripes. 11? What’s significant about 11? (Please tell me you know this…) 11 is the number of national championships boasted by the Irish. Now, don’t get me wrong! That’s a pretty cool nod to Notre Dame’s achievements and I’m usually super into that hidden gem sort of stuff. I just think this uniform chose to drive that point home a little too much. If it were just represented in the stripes on the back of the helmet or the stripes at the shoulders, I would have been totally on board. That’s really a minor complaint, however. Overall I like this look. (I did have a thing for the green Power Ranger as a child, though so perhaps I’m a bit biased)

The helmet, which is a gold base featuring a metallic gold leprechaun face, is absolutely on point. Be sure to take a closer look at the facemask, too. I missed it the first time, but after some staring and head tilting it hit me; they’re not navy, they’re not green…they’re both! The dual colored split facemask isn’t something I love or hate, but it is something I will give props to UA for incorporating. That’s bold my friend.
What’s also bold is that we have some logo mixing. The base layers feature shamrocks on the arms, the center of the jersey has a script “Irish”, and the pants feature a full body leprechaun. Throw in the profile of the leprechaun on the helmet and well, gang’s all here! I like that, though. This uniform does have a lot going on, but I feel like you have to do a lot of looking to find it. In other words, it doesn’t all hit you over the head and clash all at once. At least, I don’t think so.

Basically, we have a green uniform, a really green uniform, accented with some navy and gold stripes and enhanced with a nod to Irish tradition and history. I think this uniform will do a good job of pleasing almost everyone (I mean, we’ve come a looonnnggg way since 2012) and, although not as cool as the all white uniform (cue swooning) I’m really digging the monochromatic look.

I’d give them a solid 8/10. I would have given out another point or two if the stripes had been used more conservatively. Sometimes less is indeed more…except when it comes to championships. Here’s hoping they will have to cut another slash into those stripes next year! What are your overall thoughts? What does your dream alternate uniform look like? Chime in below!

The post Shamrock Series Uniform Review appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Waiting for this year’s event to start, but first…let me take a selfie

I actually posted about this same event last year (feel free to check it out here: http://www.herloyalsons.com/kelly-cares-football-101-review/), describing my attendance as “obligatory”, so much so that I had been to the event 4 of the last 5 years. This year was no different. I requested off at work, was denied, and still made the necessary arrangements in order to make it to “Football 101” for what was my 5th year (I’m basically an old-timer/fifth year sneior at this point in time… no really, I was answering questions of rookie attendees and everything). The event only runs from about 5:30-10:00, and yet I have found it totally worth the 4 hour drive from Cincinnati to be there year after year. I’ve talked to fellow participants who have traveled further. Why?

Well, It’s several things really, some more superficial than others. For one, it’s a great excuse to get up to campus during a pretty non-busy time of year. It’s also a great excuse for a girls’ night out. I heard several attendees explaining that they came with a group of friends or that their husbands had bought their ticket as a sort of get-out-of-babysitting-free-card with an added support-a-good-cause and hello-Notre-Dame-Football-duh! bonus built in. Which brings me to the biggest reasons I attend: the cause and the team.

Embroidery on this year’s jersey. It’s all in the details!

Clearly, I love Notre Dame football. I watch it, I make YouTube videos about it, I tweet it, I blog it, I. Love. It. It’s been a defining part of who I am for as long as I can remember. That being said, “Football 101” allows me another unique way to show my support and get my offseason football fix with a bit more of a hands on approach.

From the moment you walk into the event you are made to feel like a part of the team. Each year participants receive a custom Kelly Cares Foundation jersey that you can wear throughout the night (I opted out this year because it was 90+ degrees an the jersey was navy blue…I now have added respect for the Notre Dame football players who wear both navy blue jerseys and pads regardless of the weather conditions). Throughout the evening you have opportunities to participate in on-field drills and off-field meetings in the Gug, all of which totally make you feel all kinds of official, and all of which have current Notre Dame players stationed and ready to participate with you. (Participation in the various drills is up to you, but the guys can be very encouraging and persuasive! Probably how I ended up running the agility course twice…)  I have to give a shout out the organizers and planners of the event for the variety. You’d think after 5 years of going to the same event I may be a bit bored or disillusioned, but each year presents a good balance of old favorites (like the crowd pleasing fashion show to end the night) and new opportunities (like a lesson on how to properly throw a football from Malik Zaire.

Quarterback Malik Zaire, like all the players, was more than happy to pose for a picture.

As much as I love Notre Dame football, I love helping people even more (Cheesy, but true. I am a nurse afterall!). There is always a moment during the event that I sort of pause, look around, and realize just how awesome of a thing I’m actually a part of. 600 women acknowledging the importance of breast cancer awareness as choosing to come together in support of the mission of Paqui Kelly and the Kelly Cares Foundation. You realize that your attendance is making a difference. I’ve been able to stop and appreciate this fact for five straight years and I already can’t wait until the 2016 installment of Football 101. If you haven’t been, I highly encourage you change that next summer and if you are one of the women who go year after year, I hope to see you next year!

To learn more about the Kelly Cares Foundation including its mission and the various events it hosts throughout the year, be sure to visit their website: http://kellycaresfoundation.org

The post Football 101: Tales from a Fifth-Year Senior appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.