The identical claim has been made for Grateful Dead concerts, New Orleans funerals and Japanese Kabuki theatre, but it is assuredly true that there is nothing quite like a Notre Dame football weekend.Football Weekends at Notre Dame: Snapshots and Traditions,by Bill Schmitt, writer and editor for the Notre Dames Office of Public Affairs and Communication, with photographs by Lou Sabo, former South Bend Tribune photographer, published April 15 by the University of Notre Dame Press, is an affectionate exploration of why this is so.
The book is not, Schmitt writes in its preface,a systematic and definitive listing of traditions of gameday weekends, nor is it a detailed and exhaustive history of such traditions.It is instead a snapshot of traditions and connections that the authors found most compelling during their explorations of gameday weekends during the 2005, 2006 and 2007 seasons.
Accordingly, transcending the conventions of sports programs and guidebooks,Football Weekends at Notre Damedoes not restrict its focus to the athletic drama, the traditional pageantry, the singing of the fight song and the marching of the band.It also invites the reader to consider the rich historical, cultural and religious environment which is the gamedays context and cause alike. Students, parents, alumni, visitors from all over the world, Catholics, believers in other faiths, and South Bend neighbors and business owners are all as present in the narrative as athletes and coaches.
Ara Parseghian, Notre Dames head football coach from 1964 to 1974, was among the books early and enthusiastic reviewers.
As head football coach at Notre Dame for 11 seasons, I witnessed firsthand the spectacle of young athletes achieving greatness on the field. But football weekends at
Notre Dame are about so much more than the game,Parseghian wrote.Bill Schmitts book perfectly captures the unique traditionsmany of which go on outside the stadiumthat take place on gameday weekends at the University of Notre Dame.
Football Weekends at Notre Dameis on sale at local bookstores, including Notre Dames Hammes Bookstore, and on the University of Notre Dame Press web site at http://undpress.nd.edu/
_ Contact: Bill Schmitt at 574-531-2613or_ " Schmitt.27@nd.edu ":mailto:Schmitt.27@nd.edu or Kathryn Pitts, marketing manager for Notre Dame Press at 574-631-3267 or " Pitts.5@nd.edu ":mailto:Pitts.5@nd.edu
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