#40: Traditions

Tradition is one of the most important parts of the Notre Dame experience. Not necessarily because it never graduates or because it was the featured saying on the 2006 version of THE SHIRT (see #2) but mainly because tradition connects Notre Dame Students to a storied past and gives them a bridge to an even more glorious future.

The most obvious place that tradition can be witnessed at Notre Dame is at football games. Despite the fact that the output on the field in recent years has not been worthy of the storied tradition, the gridiron remains as the epicenter of Notre Dame Traditions. Notre Dame Football has seen decades of championship success that Notre Dame Students continue to be proud of. With four legendary coaches, seven Heisman trophy winners, and one of best statistical histories in college football; Notre Dame Football has a history that is truly something to promote hubris.

Furthermore, many other traditions have remained in and around the stadium during football games. Notre Dame Students continue to do the same arm motions during cheers, they continue to do push-up type body surfing after touchdowns, they continue to cheer for Officer Tim McCarthy, and they continue to tailgate heavily before the games. On the field, the band continues to play the same songs, the Irish Guard continues to perform the same motions, and NBC continues to take overly long TV timeouts. Despite wins and losses, the game day experience is deeply rooted in tradition, and one that students love.

Notre Dame Students also have a variety of other traditions that they continue. Aside from refusing to walk up the steps of the main building until graduation and rubbing Rockne’s nose before playing pick-up basketball games, Notre Dame Students are incredibly loyal to their dorm life and everything that surrounds it. Notre Dame Students see the dorm life as one of the most unique aspects of their tradition and seek to continue everything that surrounds it. Students have pride in their dorm, they wear apparel from their dorm, their closest friends are from their dorm, and they continue to sponsor events and parties that are rooted in dorm tradition.

However, many people in the Notre Dame administration have been working to stifle the furthering of critical Notre Dame Traditions. While events such as the Dillon Pep Rally, Alumni Wake Week, Zahm Bun Run, Fisher Zoo*, Keenan Revue, and PigTostal have been a crucial part of the storied past of Notre Dame, administrators such as Fr. Jenkins and resident asshole Bill Kirk have been doing everything in their power to end traditions that they deem are incompatible with the Catholic Identity and family experience of Notre Dame. However, with any luck, the students will force these traditions into enduring not only because they are a link to the past, but also because they are incredibly fun things that Notre Dame Students Like.

*Thanks to the poster that caught my original spelling error. That's the great thing about blogs, you can always go back and rectify these things.