Please, please, please bring back pep rallies to Notre Dame. Yes, there is still an event on Friday nights that goes by this name, but pep rallies have been gone from Notre Dame for years.
I remember my first pep rally at Notre Dame as a freshman in 2002. It was Ty's first game. The sound was deafening. The JACC was packed, standing-room only. The energy was palpable. It was a great experience for the students and team, but even this memory pales in comparison to descriptions of the old, legendary pep rallies in the field house or Stepan that were players, band and students only.
What happens now on the Irish Green is a contrived, poor excuse for a rally of any sort. Any energy that is summoned drifts off quietly into the Michiana air. It's almost always cold, you can barely hear what is being said and it's never loud. It's not the students' fault for not coming, it's the decision to put a pep rally that should be in the most exciting environment possible, in the least.
A pep rally should be designed to pump up the team and students. I really doubt you would have a single player tell you they get pumped for the games by the pep rallies. Ask any student or alum what the most exciting pep rally of the last five years has been, and every time the answer is the one in Stepan.
Why are the pep rallies held here? I hear that it drums up business for the Eddy Street Commons. I hear that it prevents anyone from being turned away. But what good is a pep rally that can accommodate everyone if it's an energy-draining affair, rather than inspiring? I can say confidently that I would be happy to never be able to get a spot in at a pep rally the rest of my alumnus life if I knew that the students, band and team were having a rowdy, raucous affair that brings them together and, heaven forbid, actually excites the team.
Andrew Romano
alumnus
Class of 2006
Nov. 6
