Football weekend is here again! That, of course, means that campus will transform from a sleepy little place and turn into Disneyland for a couple days.
To celebrate the occasion, we decided to release the official Notre Dame Football Pageantry Power Rankings, 08. (Disclaimer: power rankings are not official.)
Our goal is to rank football pageantry items 1-10. We might not get that far, but we'll give it a college try.
1. The game. This is too obvious. It shouldn't even really count.
2. The Alma Mater at the end of the game. People complained last year that we shouldn't sing it after we lose, or at least the players shouldn't sing it with us, but we should sing it and the players should join us. The Alma Mater is more than a school tradition. It's a prayer. And it's really cool that Charlie Weis and the players are willing to join with everyone else in the stadium for it.
3. Knights of Columbus Steak Sandwich sale. Best grub you can get before the game. Plus, the it raised over $60,000 for charity last year.
4. The jig. I think the jig is more fun than the touchdown pushups. It gets even better when the band speed up the tempo cause someone in the row winds up messing up and everyone falls over.
5. Officer Tim McCarthy from the Indiana State Police. Bad puns are so much fun.
I'm a fan. Only not really. Think about it.
6. Candlelight Dinner. I like food. And the food at Candlelight Dinner is good. This would be higher, but the line is significantly longer than it is at 12:20 on Tuesdays.
7. Trumpets in the Dome. I didn't know about it until sophomore year, but it's worth fighting the crowds to see it. The Victory March is really powerful in the Dome. I like it more than Concert on the Steps because it doesn't spoil the half-time show. But a friend just disputed the spoil factor of Concert via text message. She likes the concert because "you can listen to the music, then you can focus on watching at halftime."
8. Drummer's circle. Between the people climbing the trees on God Quad, the undergrads on the steps of the Dome, and the mosh pit that develops, there's plenty of fun to go around.
9. Going to the Grotto before the game. This is a tip from the same column contributor who advocated for Concert on the Steps: "You almost catch fire because of all the candles."
10. The players taking the walk from the Basilica to the Stadium. Since I live in Sorin, it's pretty easy for me to attend this one, but it's worth a trip.
Moral of the story? Go Irish, beat Aztecs!
