There has been much discussion about the enthusiasm (or lack there of) of the senior section in last Saturday's game against Michigan. Being a senior myself, I was in that section and I have to say that I agree with the fact that the level of enthusiasm was greatly disappointing. While I'll admit that the vast majority of seniors stayed until the end to sing the Alma Mater and this displayed awesome "school spirit‚" there is no doubt in my mind that the senior section was upstaged by the sophomores and freshmen. It was lackluster; the seniors may have been present but they weren't making any noise!
One only has to look as far back as two weeks to the Georgia Tech game to understand that home field advantage can be a major factor in a game if the fans enthusiastically support their team. Georgia Tech, an unranked team, had national championship contenders thinking twice about how good they were; this was because their fans and their team had us undoubtedly rattled. Now, think back to last Saturday where the support, in general was disappointing; in my opinion this was largely (but not solely) due to the lack of senior leadership.
When people say that Notre Dame Stadium is not an intimidating place to play football‚ it aggravates me but I have to agree with them. On Saturday I felt ashamed to be a senior. I wanted to go to the sophomore section - all I heard was background chatter criticizing the team; no support and no noise.
Seniors, on Sept. 30 against Purdue, if you're not going to turn up and make some noise then please sell your ticket to someone who will - you might as well watch it on TV. Feel free, if you want, to sing the Alma Mater at the end of the game with the people you're watching it with at home.
Patrick Hill
senior
off-campus
Sept. 19