With all due respect, I disagree with your opinions about the student section during the recent Stanford game ("Homefield Advantage, R.I.P" Sept. 29). You faulted us on our silence during Notre Dame's offensive drives. Instead, I urge you to look on this as a positive sign. Offensives traditionally need silence to function well, you yourself point out that volume can disrupt audibles and snap counts. In a perfect stadium, the offense would be able to hear every time Notre Dame snapped the ball, and never when the opponent did. To that end, it is of the utmost importance that we don't cheer when Notre Dame has the ball.
You also question the continuation of traditions. Aside from The Shirt, we have many cheers that we use. From the Celtic March, to the "Go Irish!" kickoff, we do precisely the same cheers that student sections have been doing for centuries. However, all of these pale in comparison to the student section cheering on third and short, keys out, and putting as many decibels into the stadium as humanly possible. And who can possibly question push ups? A student section that is in good enough shape to throw their own into the air has to be fairly intimidating.
Additionally, you might have noticed that we continued the "key play" tradition, and expanded it to every third down play. If you need further evidence of our continuing devotion, look no farther than the fourth quarter time out Stanford was forced to take, because the volume disrupted their offense. This timeout was caused, directly, by the student section. Mind you, this heroic effort occurred at a time when the game was pretty much decided. What better example of home field advantage can we get than that?
Finally, I wish to point out the stands in the stadium. The student section uses them for standing, while everyone else seems to think of them as seats. Before you fault our performance, perhaps you could show support for the team by standing up and cheering with the Irish for the entire game!
Tim Bontrager
freshman
St. Edward's Hall
Sept. 29
