The Chicago Sun-Times’s Jim O’Donnell explains the touching gesture that had 80,000 people watching in reverential silence at the end of the ND-Navy game on Saturday:
Moments after Notre Dame’s 42-21 victory over Navy was final, most of the 80,795 fans in attendance remained to watch as Charlie Weis and his Irish players stood at attention while a visiting segment of the Naval Academy band played the school’s alma mater, “Navy Blue & Gold.”A corps of Midshipmen in the southeast corner of Notre Dame Stadium sang along, doffing their white caps and holding their hands over their hearts. Weis later said his team’s participation was hardly impromptu.
“I went to coach [Paul] Johnson before the game and asked him, ‘When do you sing your alma mater? Does anyone come over and honor you when you do this?’” Weis said. “He said, ‘Sometimes.’ So, I said, ‘Well, you don’t mind if we come, do you?’
“We would have done that whether we won or lost. … [Navy players] stand for so much more than college football.”
Indeed they do, and especially on the day after Veterans Day, it was only fitting that everyone salute them.
It was a very nice thing that Charlie Weis and the Irish did, and was truly moving to watch. I was so moved, in fact, that — very uncharacteristically — I didn’t take a picture. I felt it would be disturbing the moment to whip out my camera, what with the accompanying noise of the velcro pouch opening, the lens expanding and all that. It was honestly silent in the stadium, except for the sound of the band playing.
P.S. ND senior Peter Schroeder writes in the Observer :
[T]he most impressive event in that stadium was when 80,795 people did no cheering at all. No yelling, no talking, not even an odd sneeze. Dead silence. That’s what the Navy band received at the end of the game while they played their alma mater. …Remember when we were looking for a football coach, seemingly eons ago? One of the things that is always listed in the job requirements is a guy who gets Notre Dame. He has to get “it.” Notre Dame may not be able to describe in words what “it” is, but the coach has got to have “it.” If people weren’t convinced yet, the end of Saturday’s game proved Charlie Weis has “it” coming out of his ears. After convincingly crushing the opponent, Charlie led the team over to Navy’s corner of the field to sing their alma mater. Just minutes before, these two teams walked on that grass as dire enemies, but now they walked across as one. Hopefully next year Charlie can show Michigan State how a real team celebrates a victory.
With no time left on the clock and the outcome decided, this respectful gesture wasn’t about Navy’s football team; it was about Navy. It was a sobering reminder that what we just poured all of our energy into was just a game. Many times that’s easy to forget at Notre Dame, where football lies in the hierarchy of priorities somewhere between inhaling and exhaling. While we can spend countless hours worrying about Sagarin rankings, passing efficiency, and Mark May, Navy has bigger fish to fry. We may claim that we must protect this house, but Navy must protect something way bigger.
Hat tip: The Blue-Gray Sky (which also has an interesting post positing that, in the last 42 years, Notre Dame’s average margin of victory over Navy under each head coach’s tenure “is a pretty good indicator of overall ND coaching success,” and “Charlie’s inaugural MOV over Navy, although an obviously limited statistical sample, is nevertheless an encouraging 21 points.”)
P.P.S. Thebeef points out that the Mids in the crowd stuck around for Notre Dame’s Alma Mater, “taking off their ‘lids’ and placing them over their hearts. Quite the return salute.” He adds, “It was a proud moment for all in attendance–both Navy and Irish.” Indeed.
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November 15th, 2005 at 12:06:58 am
Two other points that I thought was great about the atmosphere.
1) At one point in the second half, either a small contingent of the Navy Band or a small contingent of the Irish Band (I think it was Navy’s, but I couldn’t see where they were, I think they were standing in an entrance-way to the stadium out of my site) began playing “Anchors Away,” and the ND student section clapped along.
2) The Mids stayed for our Alma Matter, taking off their “lids” and placing them over their hearts. Quite the return salute.
It was a proud moment for all in attendance–both Navy and Irish.
For a good article:
http://www.ndsmcobserver.com/media/paper660/news/2005/11/14/Viewpoint/The-Loudest.Silence-1055624.shtml?norewrite&sourcedomain=www.ndsmcobserver.com
November 15th, 2005 at 12:12:18 am
Thanks beef, I just found that article as well, via Blue-Gray Sky, and linked to it.
I originally included the following in my post, but decided to move it to comments because I didn’t want to detract from the main point of the post:
I found this article via LA2AL-Quds, who unfortunately felt the need to cite it as proof of “Why USC (or Miami, FSU, Michigan, etc. al) will NEVER be Notre Dame.” Right, because Notre Dame is the first and last university in the history of the world to ever do anything classy or respectful. Seriously, it’s sad that some Domers can’t take credit for something positive and classy that the Irish did without using that positive thing as a bludgeon to classlessly bash their opponents with. Like I said the other day… “holier than thou.” It’s really, really annoying, and the people who routinely say this stuff need to realizing that they are tarnishing Notre Dame’s image with their own arrogant and uncalled-for comments.
I stand by the above paragraph, I just, like I said, didn’t want to detract from the overall point about the ND-Navy salute with it.
What really ticked me off about LA2AL-Quds’s post is that that’s all he said about the Navy thing — the potshot was the entire content of his post. It’s like, that’s the best thing he could come up with to say about ND’s salute to Navy. Lame … incredibly lame.
November 15th, 2005 at 12:58:59 am
To paraphrase Rick Reilly: we should all cheer for Navy, especially the seniors. They’ve got a big road game coming up.
November 15th, 2005 at 7:50:23 am
thebeef - covers, not lids. Mids are not cans of pork & beans.
November 15th, 2005 at 8:35:57 am
A contingent from the Navy band also moved around the stadium and played the ND Victory March several times.
The real higlight of the weekend was the ND Glee Club/Navy Men’s Glee Club concert following the game. That’s what everyone was talking about on Monday.
November 15th, 2005 at 10:53:20 am
Very nice.
November 15th, 2005 at 9:59:31 pm
Well, if you’re going to permanently schedule a team that will always be outmanned on the football field (ironically just the opposite when it comes to the battlefield), you might as well be classy about it.
November 15th, 2005 at 10:18:46 pm
Andrew, I’m not sure if you’re aware of the history of the ND-Navy rivalry, but Notre Dame’s president decades ago made a commitment to keep scheduling Navy as long as Navy wants to maintain the rivalry. So it’s not like Notre Dame is some bully that insists on playing Navy every year just so we can beat the living sh*t out of them. The ND-Navy series is apparently considered by Navy players to be one of the best things about playing football at the Academy.
November 15th, 2005 at 10:25:28 pm
Totally overrated.
Support the troops for real: bring them home.
November 16th, 2005 at 9:39:21 pm
Brendan, I’m not sure how your additional information is relevant to the point of my comment. Why the teams continue to schedule each other has no bearing on my view that, if the doormat and the behemoth are going to continue to collide, the behemoth might as well be classy about it.
November 16th, 2005 at 11:18:53 pm
Your comment just struck me as overly cynical re: Notre Dame, sort of the mirror image of the holier-than-thou attitude that pisses me off in some Domers. But perhaps I misinterpreted it, or perhaps I simply forgot that, of course you’re cynical, you’re Andrew. :)