Ain’t no party like a Notre Dame basketball party! On Saturday we took the 1.5+ hour trek from Chicago to South Bend to take in the North Carolina vs Notre Dame basketball game. We took along a chipmunk mask, a camera, and captured the sports awesomeness that went down. Here it is.
The best thing that went down was at halftime of the game. The Notre Dame Men’s Soccer team won the 2013 National Championship (congrats) and were honored by allowing them to play a game of knockout. Just because someone is an athlete does not mean they can play any sport and be a baller. This is especially true about basketball, which isn’t something you can just pick up and do. And when you are bad at basketball, you are bad. See where I’m going here? Watch the video to see how they got down and major props to the first and second guys shooting. They were beyond amazing.
The start of our journey.
Legends of Notre Dame. Ron Powlus. This is where we are pre-gaming.
It was a pretty dope spot that crushed the sports side of things. I was surprised to see a Norichika Aoki Brewers jersey be the first thing I notice upon further review it is the jersey of Mik Aoki, a Notre Dame baseball coach. Lame. A Norichika Aoki jersey would have been way better. Sweet Tyler Hansborough jersey. Oh wait, he went to North Carolina. That’s his brother Ben.
I was armed and ready with Rudy jokes before I even got out of the car. How could I not be? Not even 3-minutes into being in South Bend and the first mention of Rudy appears. “Five foot nothin’, a hundred and nothin’ and hardly a spec of athletic ability and you hung in with the best college football team in the land for two years.” – Roc
I have no clue who’s jersey this is so I’ll just say it’s a Sean Lennon Notre Dame baseball jersey because that’s the first thing I thought when I saw it.
Look how good the Bus looks right there. It’s a shame he didn’t make it into the Hall of Fame this year. He’s definitely worthy. Also, nice Rick Mirer reference #randomathlete.
There’s that Rudy guy again. That dumbass thought that he could just show up at the stadium and start playing football. Can you imagine Rudy trying to tackle Rocket Ismail?
I loved watching Tony Rice run the option at Notre Dame. He was the first option quarterback that I remember liking (I would have been 7 or 8 at the time). He was the first version of Tommy Frazier. Also, at that young age I actually bought into the mystique of Notre Dame. Not so much any more.
Of course he did. Because he’s Joe freaking Montana. This was his “flu game” and was probably the start of athletes endorsing chicken soup.
Rocky Ismail deserves to be mentioned without having Rudy in the picture. Remember that he passed up going to the NFL to play with the Toronto Argonauts because of the money? Why hasn’t this happened again (this mainstream)? Why not offer Johnny Manziel $100 million to play for the Edmonton Eskimos? That would get some people talking.
The best part of Joe Theismann is that he changed the pronunciation of his name so that it sounded like Heisman. Take notes Johnny Football.
No shock seeing this sign. I assume it is in every room in South Bend.
You should check out our store where we’ve got dope swag.
Gearing up. G Hunt rocking a sweet Bass Pro Shops hat.
The snow was no joke. You could have gone sledding in the snow embankments on the side of the road.
Sweet leather Notre Dame jacket dude. This thing probably cost at least $300.
On our way to the arena we ran into these Michigan fans running. That’s right, they were running with it freezing cold out and snowing. Talk about dedication. Had that been me I’d already have been two Natty’s deep.
The rafters. The original AD, All Day Adrian Dantley. Did you know that Digger Phelps Notre Dame team was the one to end John Wooden’s UCLA basketball 88-game winning streak? Here’s a great recount of the game. It was crazy.
Say what’s up to my boy Heath. He scored us the sweet tickets. Amazingly no one had ever said “HEEEEEEEEEATH” to him before. I would do this numerous times.
There was a really cool family sitting in front of us. One of their boys was very intrigued by the Chipmunk mask. We decided to have some fun.
RAR!
Because I upgraded from an iPhone camera to a big person camera we were able to take some good in game footage, especially of dunks. There were plenty of them by the Tar Heels.
Throw it down!
Notre Dame fans around us were very amused by the chipmunk mask. Add a little creativity and something unexpected and people will notice you. Mission accomplished.
Notre Dame basketball super fan. This makes me think of St. Patty’s day in Chicago. If you haven’t experience before put it on your list. We get down!
What’s up Roy Williams!
Hubert Davis in the house. While watching College GameDay earlier we mentioned that the addition of Jalen Rose to the cast is definitely an upgrade. Jalen gives the people want they want!
BOOMSHAKALAKA!
Sweet three photo sequence of an attempted block. Look at him go up through the net to block it.
The miss.
But it bounces back in!
Send it down Jerome!
Time for boy #2 to jump in the mix and have fun with the chipmunk mask.
MMM…acorns
It’s a family affair.
No you put it on him…
Like a boss.
Kid tested. Mother approved.
Oop!
With authority!
No, look at us instead!
Foul.
It’s just like Tool Time except they use towels.
The Notre Dame fan section.
MJ approved.
Nuts.
How dare you question Tracy McGrady’s pitching ability.
North Carolina took home the victory. Mother Nature continues to crush us this winter and by the time we left she was unleashing her fury again (which is not good for trying to drive into Chicago, which has traffic on the weekend even without snow.) Of course we got stuck behind the snow plows, which didn’t speed things up at all.
But it’s better to be safe than be an idiot like this guy who got stuck in a snow embankment right in front of the toll booth. How he did this I have no clue. Doesn’t everyone drive a little slower when it’s snowing heavily and then slow down even more when you are about to get to a toll booth? He deserves whatever the outcome of this was.
Despite the 2.5 hour trek home the day was fantastic. Notre Dame’s arena looked good, we got to see some college hoops, some dunks, and have fun with a chipmunk mask. Or as we call it, business as usual.
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