Being an Irish fan where you live....

[InLikeFlynn 261]

I had this thought this morning while getting ready for work.  How is life being a Notre Dame fan where you live?

I am not sure how many on here are from the South Bend area but I grew up in New York where college football wasn't as big as say basketball or baseball so being an ND fan was no big deal.  Me and two buddies watched the games together on Saturdays and win or lose, caught no crap about it from other friends.  However, I have been living in Florida for almost 20 years and what a difference.  I am surrounded by Miami, FSU, Gators and even rabid UCF fans who never let up when ND takes an L.  The owners of the company I work for are big time Hurricane fans.  Being an Irish fan in Florida is not easy but when we win, it's a beautiful thing.  

How is it where you all live?

[FaithInIrish Forever 4,738]

8 minutes ago, InLikeFlynn said:

I had this thought this morning while getting ready for work.  How is life being a Notre Dame fan where you live?

I am not sure how many on here are from the South Bend area but I grew up in New York where college football wasn't as big as say basketball or baseball so being an ND fan was no big deal.  Me and two buddies watched the games together on Saturdays and win or lose, caught no crap about it from other friends.  However, I have been living in Florida for almost 20 years and what a difference.  I am surrounded by Miami, FSU, Gators and even rabid UCF fans who never let up when ND takes an L.  The owners of the company I work for are big time Hurricane fans.  Being an Irish fan in Florida is not easy but when we win, it's a beautiful thing.  

How is it where you all live?

Not great I  live an hour from "Happy Valley" So people here are PSU/Big Ten to the core. Around the churches in the area are ND fans. My job gets PSU tickets and wants to go to a PSU pig roast on the 27th. At least its not the 26th. Most of my family are indifferent but are cultured PSU fans.

[IrishGuy 178]

Where I live, the breakdown is basically 90% tO$U 9% scUM....so life for me sucks. It is not really the overwhelming numbers against me (I have dealt with that my whole life as an ND fan) it is the fact that there may not be a more aggressive and football illiterate fanbase than that of the Buckeyes, and scUM fans are a very close second in both categories.

[InLikeFlynn 261]

25 minutes ago, FaithInIrish Forever said:

Not great I  live an hour from "Happy Valley" So people here are PSU/Big Ten to the core. Around the churches in the area are ND fans. My job gets PSU tickets and wants to go to a PSU pig roast on the 27th. At least its not the 26th. Most of my family are indifferent but are cultured PSU fans.

Man I know a few PSU fans...  Not a friendly, I repeat, not a friendly

[InLikeFlynn 261]

4 minutes ago, IrishGuy said:

Where I live, the breakdown is basically 90% tO$U 9% scUM....so life for me sucks. It is not really the overwhelming numbers against me (I have dealt with that my whole life as an ND fan) it is the fact that there may not be a more aggressive and football illiterate fanbase than that of the Buckeyes, and scUM fans are a very close second in both categories.

Not to say Im glad really even though I am glad to know there are others dealing with the surrounding noise of "rival" fan bases.  I mean, you either Love ND or hate them so I guess every other fan base is a rival

[jessemoore97 1,295]

Lived in Iowa my whole life.  For the most part Notre Dame is treated as indifferent since we haven't played Iowa since the '50s I believe.  We had Iiwa State a couple years ago, but the Hawks overwhelmingly rule the state.

My friends and family give me a bit of a ribbing when we lose sometimes, just not over that weekend usually.  My wife can attest I USED to be a grump the rest of Saturday or even weekend when we lost.  I know quite a few who are just FB fans who will watch ND because we do play in some big games and are slotted at a different time then when Iowa is playing.

Edited August 9, 2023 by jessemoore97

[Rocketsan 773]

I'm in Canada. I get asked if I went to Notre Dame high school in Welland, Ontario.

[AnTostal 766]

I’m in Texas. A lot of fans, a few haters. Mainly pretty indifferent. When Texas was good, I’d catch some grief. Since TCU is the only team from Texas to have made the playoffs, no one where I am says much of anything about ND. But, I do get ‘Go Irish’ comments a lot when I’m walking around in an ND shirt or wearing an ND hat. 
A lot od the sports radio guys, though, seem to be haters.

[mcgov12 1,237]

12 hours ago, InLikeFlynn said:

Man I know a few PSU fans...  Not a friendly, I repeat, not a friendly

Live a few hours away from that cult so I’m not overly close, but I would say a lot of psu fans around and the ones who still worship paterno are among the worst people to be around as fans of any team in any sport. A good amount of ND fans too. Typically get nothing but ND hate renewed recently over the conference realignment stuff and ND remaining independent. 

[Baldy 1,268]

I live in a city about 10 miles southwest of Denver, CO.

There aren’t too many Notre Dame fans around, but I have ran into a few. It’s of course mostly CU fans, with a few CSU fans scattered around. When I wear any Notre Dame gear, I’ll get a Go Irish, and if I see someone with anything Notre Dame, I yell the same!

What’s great is there’s never any hate thrown my way, and no one has ever mentioned any of the matchups between the two teams. I guess CU is the only one to play Notre Dame in football, because I couldn’t find any matchups versus CSU.

I feel fortunate to live in such a great state, and my family and I love it here! Especially with me being former military, and having spent some time overseas, but mostly stateside.

It was my military family that gave me the most hate, which is to be expected, with having people from all over the country. 😂 I worked with and were friends with people that were fans of just about every team, Notre Dame included, of course. 😁 We used to always get together to watch games, and we’re mostly just fans of college football really! Good times for sure!

[InLikeFlynn 261]

20 hours ago, jessemoore97 said:

Lived in Iowa my whole life.  For the most part Notre Dame is treated as indifferent since we haven't played Iowa since the '50s I believe.  We had Iiwa State a couple years ago, but the Hawks overwhelmingly rule the state.

My friends and family give me a bit of a ribbing when we lose sometimes, just not over that weekend usually.  My wife can attest I USED to be a grump the rest of Saturday or even weekend when we lost.  I know quite a few who are just FB fans who will watch ND because we do play in some big games and are slotted at a different time then when Iowa is playing.

I feel your struggle about being a grump.  Took me some years to weather that storm....

[InLikeFlynn 261]

12 hours ago, AnTostal said:

I’m in Texas. A lot of fans, a few haters. Mainly pretty indifferent. When Texas was good, I’d catch some grief. Since TCU is the only team from Texas to have made the playoffs, no one where I am says much of anything about ND. But, I do get ‘Go Irish’ comments a lot when I’m walking around in an ND shirt or wearing an ND hat. 
A lot od the sports radio guys, though, seem to be haters.

The "Go ND" comments in stores or anywhere really are awesome.  Can change the mood of the day.  Especially when you hear it in Florida, its definitely rare.

[InLikeFlynn 261]

11 hours ago, mcgov12 said:

Live a few hours away from that cult so I’m not overly close, but I would say a lot of psu fans around and the ones who still worship paterno are among the worst people to be around as fans of any team in any sport. A good amount of ND fans too. Typically get nothing but ND hate renewed recently over the conference realignment stuff and ND remaining independent. 

I can see that.  PSU fans are pretty bad.  No where close to the Ohio State fans I deal with here and believe it or not, there are a ton!  Alot of Ohio migrants in this area.

[InLikeFlynn 261]

5 minutes ago, Baldy said:

I live in a city about 10 miles southwest of Denver, CO.

There aren’t too many Notre Dame fans around, but I have ran into a few. It’s of course mostly CU fans, with a few CSU fans scattered around. When I wear any Notre Dame gear, I’ll get a Go Irish, and if I see someone with anything Notre Dame, I yell the same!

What’s great is there’s never any hate thrown my way, and no one has ever mentioned any of the matchups between the two teams. I guess CU is the only one to play Notre Dame in football, because I couldn’t find any matchups versus CSU.

I feel fortunate to live in such a great state, and my family and I love it here! Especially with me being former military, and having spent some time overseas, but mostly stateside.

It was my military family that gave me the most hate, which is to be expected, with having people from all over the country. 😂 I worked with and were friends with people that were fans of just about every team, Notre Dame included, of course. 😁 We used to always get together to watch games, and we’re mostly just fans of college football really! Good times for sure!

Thats pretty awesome.  I have heard how beautiful Colorado is and plan to get out there real soon.  I have some family on my wifes side out there.  

[mcgov12 1,237]

7 minutes ago, InLikeFlynn said:

I can see that.  PSU fans are pretty bad.  No where close to the Ohio State fans I deal with here and believe it or not, there are a ton!  Alot of Ohio migrants in this area.

Travel a lot for work, and half my wardrobe is ND stuff…I always get a “Go Irish” at some point or another going through an airport

[FaithInIrish Forever 4,738]

Just now, mcgov12 said:

Travel a lot for work, and half my wardrobe is ND stuff…I always get a “Go Irish” at some point or another going through an airport

Yeah its not horrible here either. I get more annoyed with my Michigan fan friends rooting for Ohio State against ND for the strength of schedule of the big ten. Gross.

[InLikeFlynn 261]

7 minutes ago, FaithInIrish Forever said:

Yeah its not horrible here either. I get more annoyed with my Michigan fan friends rooting for Ohio State against ND for the strength of schedule of the big ten. Gross.

Yeah that's brutal.  There are teams I could never root for, no matter who they are playing.  Michigan and USC to name a couple

[Baldy 1,268]

49 minutes ago, InLikeFlynn said:

Thats pretty awesome.  I have heard how beautiful Colorado is and plan to get out there real soon.  I have some family on my wifes side out there.  

It is pretty great, and very beautiful out here. So much to do, so hopefully you’ll get a chance to visit! 😁

[retch10 121]

I live in an NCAA football dead zone in southwestern NY State.  The nearest teams?  University at Buffalo (hour and a half) and Syracuse (3 plus hours).  Next closest is Penn State (2 hours 40 minutes) and Pitt (about 3:30)

College football just isn't really talked about.  Its watched..of course..but there is no "home" team.  

Growing up, it was Penn State and Notre Dame.  PSU because the local PBS station was out of Happy Valley and I'd watch the weekly highlight show on Sunday AM's.  I'd also watch the weekly ND show..though I don't remember where I watched it. This was late 70's/early 80's.  I gravitated towards the Irish because I was a sucker for the history. In fact, I seemingly root for the "same" team in all my fandom.  The Irish..the Browns..the Maple Leafs.  Storied history..glorious past..current struggles (if we are calling ND's recent past a struggle).

But as far as catching grief over ND..non-existent. Not so much with the Maple Leafs (Sabres fans hate them) and the Browns (Bills fan can't seem to understand why anyone wouldn't root for the Bills. They are actually offended)

FWIW..I've added Pitt as a favorite since my daughter now goes there in the Pharmacy program. I take an annual trip (7 hours) to South Bend and was hoping to make it the Pitt game this year, but it didn't work out.  I'm planning on being in Pittsburgh in '25 for the ND game.

[InLikeFlynn 261]

5 minutes ago, retch10 said:

I live in an NCAA football dead zone in southwestern NY State.  The nearest teams?  University at Buffalo (hour and a half) and Syracuse (3 plus hours).  Next closest is Penn State (2 hours 40 minutes) and Pitt (about 3:30)

College football just isn't really talked about.  Its watched..of course..but there is no "home" team.  

Growing up, it was Penn State and Notre Dame.  PSU because the local PBS station was out of Happy Valley and I'd watch the weekly highlight show on Sunday AM's.  I'd also watch the weekly ND show..though I don't remember where I watched it. This was late 70's/early 80's.  I gravitated towards the Irish because I was a sucker for the history. In fact, I seemingly root for the "same" team in all my fandom.  The Irish..the Browns..the Maple Leafs.  Storied history..glorious past..current struggles (if we are calling ND's recent past a struggle).

But as far as catching grief over ND..non-existent. Not so much with the Maple Leafs (Sabres fans hate them) and the Browns (Bills fan can't seem to understand why anyone wouldn't root for the Bills. They are actually offended)

FWIW..I've added Pitt as a favorite since my daughter now goes there in the Pharmacy program. I take an annual trip (7 hours) to South Bend and was hoping to make it the Pitt game this year, but it didn't work out.  I'm planning on being in Pittsburgh in '25 for the ND game.

Thats awesome.  I would love to be that close to South Bend myself.  7 Hour drive is well worth it.  Only one airport in my area has a flight to South bend so its a bit tricky.   The only game I got to see at the stadium was against Pitt in 2018