Notre Dame experience.

MWBATL

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Old School said:
Best game day experience I've ever had, hands down! Been to most of the big SEC venues and Clemson and none compare. That campus, and that student body is something special!!
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I have to agree. Most gracious group of fans I have EVER been around. The ones we met were from all over, too. California (two different sets), Georgia, New England..their fans were from all over. And their student body during the game was fabulous!
 
UgagSucks

UgagSucks

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Yep, I had an amazing experience too (besides the final score). Folks were overly-welcoming the entire trip. It was refreshing.
 

Aanderson1839

Georgia Tech Fan
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I used to really dislike ND, then I went to two games there (missed this trip). One game we won handily, and one game they won handily. Fans were awesome both times to their team and the opposing fans. Great place to go watch a football game.
 
iceeater1969

iceeater1969

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Like a vacation. Lots to see on campus, great people, game experience awesome.
Plus got to site see chicago on sunday
 
GTMD

GTMD

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It's an experience that's hard to describe but the whole deal is amazing- they seem to have so many traditions that bind the whole community and the respect they have for God and country is on display.

The band coming out before the team and the precision and size of the whole unit followed by the amazing fight song has to be seen to be understood.

The older gentlemen who were ushers seemed like grandfathers watching over their grandkids

Student section was loud and supportive without being obnoxious or arrogant

The whole crowd laughed at the Indian patrolman who gives a please be careful driving speech over loudspeaker at end of third quarter and then finishes with a corny joke that they all dutifully and good naturedly laugh at

As we left (after the 91yd td) the fans we passed by almost seemed apologetic and said encouraging things to us and a few asked if had enjoyed ourselves and hoped the experience was good - I was shocked honestly, haven't expereienced that behavior anywhere else especially after a beat down!

We went to a restaurant on campus afterwards with our GT gear and the waitress at the end of the meal brought out two huge chocolate chip cookies (had the Notre dame logo in icing but the heart was good) to my two kids. I was so impressed by that- she was a sweet girl in her 20s and to be that thoughtful to the kids of an opponents fans was literally the icing on the cake

It was like you were invited as a guest into their house

The whole experience turned me from a nominal anti-ND person to a big fan unless they play us.
 
YJAlleyCat

YJAlleyCat

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Being in ND's stadium gave me a new appreciation for ours. Yeah, theirs is bigger, but that is about it. I couldn't get the GT app (or any other) to work on my phone inside the stadium, there were ridiculous lines for the restrooms, the scoreboard was about as simple and basic as it gets without going back to pre-electric days, and I can't recall the last time I sat on wooden benches in a college stadium. And as mentioned by others, the sound system was painfully loud and obnoxious.

Much better fan experience in Bobby Dodd Stadium and I can't wait to get back there in a couple of weeks.
 
Supersizethatorder-mutt

Supersizethatorder-mutt

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I didn't have any problem with the wooden benches. They were no more or less comfortable than the metal ones. But the restroom facilities DID leave a lot to be desired, at least as far as size; they were clean. I have been there twice, and the fans were gracious in both defeat and victory. A far cry from the way opposing fans are treated in Athens, something which, unfortunately, the ND fans will experience in a couple of years. I would like to think that the Georgia fans who go to South Bend when they play there will recognize class, but they will probably act their usual classless selves and make fools of themselves.
 
dressedcheeseside

dressedcheeseside

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YJAlleyCat said:
Being in ND's stadium gave me a new appreciation for ours. Yeah, theirs is bigger, but that is about it. I couldn't get the GT app (or any other) to work on my phone inside the stadium, there were ridiculous lines for the restrooms, the scoreboard was about as simple and basic as it gets without going back to pre-electric days, and I can't recall the last time I sat on wooden benches in a college stadium. And as mentioned by others, the sound system was painfully loud and obnoxious.

Much better fan experience in Bobby Dodd Stadium and I can't wait to get back there in a couple of weeks.
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They have a huge jumbotron on order for next season.
I agree on the loud/obnoxious piped in music, but it's no different than any other stadium these days, including ours. They were actually one of the last holdouts with all live marching band music, but Kelly made them change. Kelly made them put in the turf, too.

How many times were you guys "welcomed to Notre Dame" and not just by University staff? Multiple times this guy.
 
Northeast Stinger

Northeast Stinger

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You are all confirming my experience with Notre Dame fans from years ago. This is why there are only a few select teams that I will pull for against Notre Dame.
 
GTpdm

GTpdm

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Supersizethatorder-mutt said:
I didn't have any problem with the wooden benches. They were no more or less comfortable than the metal ones. But the restroom facilities DID leave a lot to be desired, at least as far as size; they were clean. I have been there twice, and the fans were gracious in both defeat and victory. A far cry from the way opposing fans are treated in Athens, something which, unfortunately, the ND fans will experience in a couple of years. I would like to think that the Georgia fans who go to South Bend when they play there will recognize class, but they will probably act their usual classless selves and make fools of themselves.
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Uhh, complimenting Notre Dame for how they treat visiting fans by comparing the experience to being a visitor at uGA is like comparing a visit to your neighbor's country club to a stay in a federal penitentiary. It's really not a fair (or sane ;)) comparison.

ND campus itself was nice, but apparently @YJAlleyCat and I missed the best fan experience--we bused into central campus with the alumni tour group, and missed what it was like in the satellite tailgating areas. It did not come close to our experience at Clemson, where CU fans were inviting us to stop and have a drink with them, before and after the game.

Again, that disparity may be an artifact of how we arrived on campus--maybe ND fans were the same way, and we just didn't get a chance to see it.
 
dressedcheeseside

dressedcheeseside

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GTpdm said:
Uhh, complimenting Notre Dame for how they treat visiting fans by comparing the experience to being a visitor at uGA is like comparing a visit to your neighbor's country club to a stay in a federal penitentiary. It's really not a fair (or sane ;)) comparison.

ND campus itself was nice, but apparently @YJAlleyCat and I missed the best fan experience--we bused into central campus with the alumni tour group, and missed what it was like in the satellite tailgating areas. It did not come close to our experience at Clemson, where CU fans were inviting us to stop and have a drink with them, before and after the game.

Again, that disparity may be an artifact of how we arrived on campus--maybe ND fans were the same way, and we just didn't get a chance to see it.
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The ND fan next to my tailgate got a big hoot out of my "Rudy was offsides" t-shirt. He liked it so much he offered me a ski-shot. That's a snow ski with three shot glasses glued to it so that three people can do a shot together. The guy let our group of kids play with his corn hole, too. Nothing but class up there. I told him the trip was really about spending time with my brother (ND grad) on his birthday and the game was the icing on the cake. I'm disappointed we lost, but I had a great time in South Bend.
 
Supersizethatorder-mutt

Supersizethatorder-mutt

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GTpdm said:
Uhh, complimenting Notre Dame for how they treat visiting fans by comparing the experience to being a visitor at uGA is like comparing a visit to your neighbor's country club to a stay in a federal penitentiary. It's really not a fair (or sane ;)) comparison.

ND campus itself was nice, but apparently @YJAlleyCat and I missed the best fan experience--we bused into central campus with the alumni tour group, and missed what it was like in the satellite tailgating areas. It did not come close to our experience at Clemson, where CU fans were inviting us to stop and have a drink with them, before and after the game.

Again, that disparity may be an artifact of how we arrived on campus--maybe ND fans were the same way, and we just didn't get a chance to see it.
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T here was a lot of camaraderie and good will in the tailgating areas as well. I have been there twice and really haven't seen any of the campus yet, but, from what I hear, the good will exists everywhere up there. I agree that it is good at Clemson too, but you do have your share of rednecks up there. Didn't see anything like that up there yesterday anywhere. Also good and friendly cops directing traffic before and after the game. The Atlanta police could learn a lot from them.
 
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