A Day in South Bend....

 So, clearly, the result was not what we liked best about the Notre Dame game.  It certainly wasn't unexpected, though.  No reason to belabor that.  We've had teams I would have loved to take in there, but these guys are just up against it right now.

The rest of the trip.  Incredible.

The gameday atmosphere in South Bend is truly one of the best I have ever been to.  As mentioned before the game, I had a lot of time invested in the mythology when I was a child and I wasn't let down.

The photo to the left is the concourse.  It is hard to see, but those hanging lights were Tiffany-styled, and the hanging banners are vintage program covers, some of which are cartoons and some are heroic and some were art deco.  If you looked up and then looked down, you might expect to see people wearing raccoon coats and straw hats.

The people there were the nicest I have ever seen.  We were welcomed to Notre Dame about 200 times.  People stopped at talked to us at the Top Notch Diner during breakfast.  In Center Pizza we met a couple who were ND fans now but met as students at Bowling Green, about when I was there.  An usher helped us move a couple barricades to get into the stadium without waiting.  How to find will call.  It was impressive.

We stood while the team went by on there walk to the stadium (with the band following).  Inside the stadium, the crowd is just electric.  The band show was great--featuring the old band Chicago along with the marching band.

Again, not the result we hoped for, but I'm glad I made the trip and I'd do it again in a minute.