God, Country, Notre Dame (In Glory Everlasting)

It’s more than a clever motto. If you’ve ever visited the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on the campus of Notre Dame, you may have seen this phrase engraved deep into the stone above the side door.

For the thousands of Irish fans across the globe, this phrase personifies the place that Notre Dame has in their lives.

But what does this phrase mean, and how does it impact the way Notre Dame Alumni and fans act or feel when it comes to the University of Notre Dame du Lac?

“God, Country, Notre Dame”

Quite literally, this phrase is meant to identify the importance of Notre Dame in the lives of alumni and fans; God first, Country second, Notre Dame third.

Nobody expects that, as a fan, you love the University more than your family, or occupation (you probably do love Notre Dame more than your occupation).

But it is a testament to the passion that the Notre Dame family feels for the University, its education, its athletics, and for one another.

As a Notre Dame fan or as a collegiate sports fan in general, you will hardly ever see a passive Notre Dame football fan.

By that, I mean that you will hardly ever see a Notre Dame football fan that doesn’t follow the Irish with some sort of consistency or passion. Some, however, are more passionate than others.

Not to pick on Ohio State, but I live in Ohio and work with Ohio State football fans. Sometimes in my conversations with some of them, I will bring up a game they had just played a weekend earlier and these fans will say to me, “Oh really, who did we play last week?”

Are you kidding me? You’re an OSU “fan” yet you don’t know who your team plays on a week-to-week basis? These are also the same fans who don’t watch OSU Football games unless they’re playing Michigan or in a bowl game.

I realize that this is just a small cross-section of OSU fans, but when it comes to Notre Dame, you rarely ever see this from a fan. This doesn’t mean that Notre Dame is better than Ohio State...actually, yes it does.

“Here’s to you, hopeless Notre Dame Fan”

I’ve seen the video, and I still think it’s stupid. But, they have one thing right: the passion of Irish Fans.

Every year, Irish fans fantasize about an undefeated season and a National Championship. And for many fans, the season is lost if Notre Dame falls to one opponent.

We will still watch the games and root for our team, but the season isn’t a success unless the Irish bring home a National Championship trophy, which hasn’t happened in a while.

In some respects, it’s a bit unfair, the expectations Irish fans put on the football team. But, they’re warranted.

Notre Dame is historically one of the best teams in the Nation, even if they haven’t been playing like it for the past decade.

Every year, Notre Dame competes for the National Championship and they have players that come to play football who want to do the same thing. And the fans expect that Notre Dame competes for a title every year.

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