Marchout Mondays

Each Monday, following a home football game, I'll report on the Notre Dame Marching Band's halftime performance from the previous Saturday's game.

This Saturday the Irish played our archrival from Southern Cal. The Trojan band is known to take jabs at the Band of the Fighting Irish and Our Lady's university. Of course, the Notre Dame band outperforms the Spirit of Troy every time.

This past Saturday was no exception. The USC band performed "Karaoke at Notre Dame Stadium" and included many of the songs that our marching band is known for playing. You would think that the USC band would know by know that Jon Bon Jovi prefers the ND arrangements of his songs over the USC version. The USC band also tried to wow the crowd by attempting to dance which just led to moans from the Notre Dame student section.

After the USC band was finished with their "performance" to boos from the stadium, the Notre Dame Marching Band took the field to an erupting cheer. This week's performance honored NASA and a Notre Dame alum who just returned from space. It included the band forming the NASA logo, a globe with a rocket going to the moon, and a rocket bringing an astronaut (costume included) to the moon where he planted a flag and the band spelt "USA." The crowd was awed, including the USC marching band. I'm looking forward to out-performing them again in two years.

View the Notre Dame Marching Band's performance against USC.
View the Spirit of Troy's performance at Notre Dame Stadium.

Review: Notre Dame vs Washington Halftime Performance

The Notre Dame Marching Band performs a new halftime show each home football weekend. Last weekend, the marching band's Notre Dame vs. Washington halftime show was a student favorite.

The first song was "Come Sail Away" by Styx. The marching band sounded great and the marching was perfect. During the performance the marching band first formed the word "Styx." The lines were straight and exactly like the band's logo. Next the band formed a sailboat on water and waves. As the band played, the sailboat moved across the field and the waves flowed underneath.

Next the band played "Walk Like an Egyptian." During most of this song the band stayed in a pyramid shape. I thought that the band could have done a little more with this formation. However, they did take some time to actually dance which added to the interest.

Lastly, the band played "Fire Burning on the Dance Floor" by Sean Kingston. This brought the student section to life. The marching band didn't create any cool formations, but instead focused on dancing. The student section was singing and dancing right along.

Of course, the marching band closed with by forming the traditional monogram ND.

Crazed Eyes

I found this image while looking through pictures from a friend's trip to India. While this may look like just a pile full of fish, that isn't what first popped into my head. The first thing I noticed were the eyes of the fish. Take a look at them. They appear to be bugging out and have a crazed look.

All Irish fans should have this same crazed look. Think of 80,000 screaming fans all crammed into one stadium, packed in so tight that we look a little like the fish laying on this pile. But we all have the same crazed look, cheering on our team and encouraging them to another victory. The marching band leads the way for us, get us pumped up, and injects us with with energy. I encourage you to Get Your Irish Up for the next home game - the biggest of all games - USC. Come out in your full Irish garb, including your crazed eyes, and lets beat the boys from Troy.