Locations for 2009 pep rallies

Football season is almost here! And, let's be honest, the season is more than just the game on Saturday afternoons. There are pep rallies, scores of events on campus, tailgating, and so on. However, with construction at the JACC this year, the pep rallies must take place elsewhere.

Many of the seven rallies will be held at various spots around campus, including in front of Dillon Hall in place of the dorm's signature event--the Dillon Pep Rally--and on the Irish Green, south of the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center. The final rally of the season, before the UConn game in late November, will be held in the new Purcell Pavilion (the former south dome of the JACC).

The full press release can be found here.

Football overview

If you're anything like me, this Saturday has been circled in red on the calendar for a long time (if you're not like me and are really confused, this Saturday is the first Notre Dame football game of the season). The New York Times, of all papers, has taken an interest in Notre Dame football and its recent futility in this article. I hope that, by January, they'll really have something to talk about!

Five more years of football on NBC

The University and NBC announced today that they have reached an agreement for ND home football games to be on NBC for five more years. The full article is here, and unfortunately, commercials will still be every two minutes during the broadcast.

A feel good story

A few weeks ago, Julie Hermann, the ASC for the ND Club of Dubuque, Iowa , dropped me an e-mail with a story about the Notre Dame/Navy game last year. That's right, this was the game where we lost for the first time in 43 years to the Midshipmen. But, while we may have left the stadium (or couch for those of you watching at home) feeling empty, Julie's story reminds us why we love Notre Dame and why we're so proud to be Domers.

Julie's e-mail was a little long to post on the blog, so I uploaded it as a .pdf file which you can find here.

Thanks, Julie!