Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Coach Dan Devine -- Finally Gets his Statue!


He's the only Notre Dame football coach who has won a National Championship who hasn't been honored with a statue outside a gate at Notre Dame Stadium.  Well, that comes to an end this October 8th when the University of Notre Dame unveils a lifesize statue of Coach Devine.  Congratulations to the Devine family -- I'm glad he's finally receiving this honor!  Here's a link to the story along with a link to a feature on Devine's "GREEN JERSEY" game against USC:

LINK:  DEVINE GETS A STATUE!

LINK:  WEARING THE GREEN AGAINST SC

Mike Lee & Coach Parseghian Tuesday at ND!


Notre Dame boxing champion, Mike Lee '09 -- will be hosting a press conference next Tuesday at the Naimoli Club at Purcell Pavillion on the University of Notre Dame campus.  Mike will be announcing his FIGHT LIKE A CHAMPION event which is scheduled for Friday, September 16th at ND!

The first professional fight ever on the University of Notre Dame campus!!!

Mike's guest at Tuesday's press conference will be none other than Notre Dame coaching legend Ara Parseghian.  The press conference starts at 10 AM -- and if you're in the area you just might want to show up!  Tickets are expected to go on sale this Friday at the Notre Dame Ticket Office -- remember it's the Friday night of the Michigan State football weekend so tickets will go fast!  I'll have a link to the ticket site, once it's made available.

Here's a link to Mike's interview after his KO earlier this month at the Home Depot Center and a recent radio interview he had with WGN:

LINK:  MIKE LEE INTERVIEW

LINK:  WGN RADIO INTERVIEW

"Where Can I Find ND Football Tickets?"

In the past six hours I've received numerous emails from Notre Dame football fans from around the country who were unsuccessful this morning in buying tickets from the Notre Dame Ticket Office (unsold tickets went on sale today) to the game of their choice.  Each email asked this question: "Where can we find Notre Dame Football tickets for sale at a good price for "blank" game?"

Well, that's a good question! :)

Here are my suggestions on what you might want to do:
  1. You will find tickets for sale at STUBHUB.com - they won't be cheap, but you will find tickets to every home and away football game the Irish will play this year.  I have purchased tickets at STUBHUB before and have always had a good experience with them.  If you have to know before you go to ND that you have tickets to the game -- this is your best route.
  2. Get to know a number of Notre Dame alums who have season tickets or someone who works at the University of Notre Dame -- a few of the departments on campus have tickets to every game.   Sometimes these tickets are not spoken for -- Michigan State and USC will be!  I've been able to secure many tickets to ND games, over the years, via this route.
  3. Scout the various websites devoted to Notre Dame football on the internet.  The free site:  www.ndnation.com has had pages devoted, in the past, to the buying and selling of of football tickets.  The pay sites:  www.irishsportsdaily.com -- www.irishillustrated.com -- www.irisheyes.com -- will have subscribers selling their tickets to games they can't attend.  I've had good luck going this route in the past -- you just have to be checking these sites frequently because minutes after someone posts they have tickets to sell -- they're gone.
  4. Keep calling the Notre Dame Ticket Office.  Usually in August, Notre Dame will start receiving the unsold tickets back from the opposition schools on the schedule.  These tickets will come back the week of the game as well -- always a good idea to call the Ticket Office on Monday afternoon of game week.  I've had some luck with this in the past as well.
  5. Just make the trip to Notre Dame Stadium without tickets.  I've done this on many occasions over the years and I've made my best "deals" on tickets this way.  I've found if you stand at the edge of the parking lot between The Purcell Pavillion and Notre Dame Stadium holding a sign or fingers in the air -- you'll find ND alums who have extra tickets to sell.  It helps to have a ND shirt on or hat!  I have never, ever, been shut out of finding a ticket this way.  Just be patient -- and get there a couple hours before kick-off.  Also on Game Day at Notre Dame you'll find a line of people standing outside a "ticket window" on the East side of Notre Dame Stadium -- hours before kick-off.  If there are any un-sold tickets to the game -- they can be purchased here.  I've never tried this -- so I don't know the success rate of those standing in line.
Now, if you go the latter route -- and somehow you don't get tickets.  You can watch the game live on the big screens in the Joyce Center for FREE.  Many people prefer this route, especially on inclement days.

I hope this helps!