<p>ESPN</a> - South Bend fans shower Notre Dame players, police with snowballs - College Football </p>
<p>wow. I really hope this was an isolated incident with one or two drunk fans.... </p>
<p>shocking</p>
<p>I was in the freshmen endzone where there wasn’t any snow so needless to say, we were not particpants in the snow ball throwing-and I’m glad. It was funny at first, but turned annoying as soon as one of our players got hit…then it just got obnoxious. Not only were they hitting the players but the cops and camera men as well. It’s sad that the snowballs came from the junior/senior area-I thought 21-22 year olds would have more maturity but hey I guess that’s what a bit too much alcohol will do to you before a game–turn you into a rude idiot. I admit, it was more than just a few drunk people at first, but it took a few arrests to calm things down…or maybe they just ran out of ammo. </p>
<p>In summary, I was embarrassed for those throwing snowballs at their own team today–I thought people at Notre Dame would have a bit more class than that. It didn’t exactly make us look like the prolific students we are, especially when juxtaposed with the unexpected loss…</p>
<p>It was the most embarrassing game I have ever seen since I have been associated with the university, and only 1% of that is what occurred on the field. We used to have more respect for the team than to boo them, and this was only a few years ago. What the heck happened to my alma mater? It was a very sad day for me.</p>
<p>Give Syracuse credit, they played a heck of a game for their fired coach. We did not deserve to win and we didn’t, simple.</p>
<p>it’s frustrating to watch such a storied program struggle; however, that’s no excuse for such a classless act.</p>
<p>I was reading an article about how it may be frustration that the university’s hands are tied because they have so much invested in Weis. With him being an alum, I would say the honorable thing would be to resign at the end of the season. Yes, the team will be better next year, but he has lost his team. There is no emotion and they are out-played every week. He should be able to recognize this and make a graceful exit.</p>
<p>Irish-I, too, have read something to the same effect. With our troubled economy, I would be very surprised to see money appear for a contract buyout. Maybe a graceful exit has been suggested?</p>
<p>I think the snowball thing has been kind of skewed. I was in the junior section and yes, there were a lot of snowballs being thrown. But most of them were not thrown at the team. There were a couple thrown AFTER we lost that were aiming for the team, but I think before that most of them that hit players were being thrown at Charlie… And most people I’ve talked to did NOT support hitting the players.</p>
<p>I know most people were cheering for other people to be hit (ushers, TV timeout man (after standing for four hours in the cold I tend to agree with that…), the other team, etc.). Some of the people on the field (like the Irish Guard) were even encouraging it. I think for the most part, students were just playing with the snow, no disrespect intended. </p>
<p>Everyone blames alcohol. But it wasn’t really that. We’re college students, we like to play in the snow… It was just supposed to be fun. I was sober and threw a snowball at a friend before the game started (before they started telling us not to). And none of the people directly around me had been drinking at all, and I think pretty much everyone was on the side of the snowball throwers (though, I repeat, NOT throwing them at our own team). All in all, it seems like a pretty harmless activity. And the state troopers dragging a kid who they <em>thought</em> threw a snowball down the stairs seems like a bit of overkill. A lot of people just threw snowballs in celebration- when we kicked off/scored a touchdown/etc. And the seniors were throwing them during their marshmallow fight.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s fair that the media is portraying us as having stopped supporting our team. The vast majority of the students stood for the whole game in the freezing cold to watch our team lose…again. Not many student bodies out there would do that.</p>
<p>I had two sons at the game with their cousins - all are high school aged and younger - they were shocked that the ND students got so out of hand. They said it was funny at first but then it seemed to get really nasty and classless. They were especially disturbed by the boos and snowballs thrown at half-time when they introduced the ND Baseball Alum who pitched in the World Series. What was that about?</p>
<p>We’re college students so that’s an excuse to throw snowballs at other people who are trying to do their job? Yes, the tv time outs are annoying, but one should know to expect those going in. Furthermore, does the guy with the orange sleeve decide when/how long the time outs are? no, he doesn’t–the tv station does.</p>
<p>It’s pretty sad when a couple of high school aged and younger individuals can recognize a lack of class while a college student can not. The announcer repeatedly asked the students to stop. I remember one of his lines “theyll be plenty of snow to play in from now until April.” …“Play”–even the announcer recognized the immaturity of their actions.</p>
<p>So for those who thought that the best way to handle the coach situation was to pelt him with a snowball (yeah…that’ll do a WHOLE lot) but instead hit the team…work on your aim.</p>
<p>For those who thought it was funny to hit the camera guy…if you get a job in a few years, wouldn’t it be nice if I came and repeatedly threw snowballs at you while you were trying to work?</p>
<p>And for those who went as far as to throw snowballs at the various groups who were trying to have their pictures taken on the field…grow up, find some maturity, find some class.</p>
<p>By the way, if the cold didn’t deter him, I’m sure the whole snowball drama didn’t exactly make Te’o anymore interested in ND-not the best game for the number one LB recruit to visit I suppose…</p>
<p>as people have repeatedly pointed out, it was mainly the seniors engaging in the snowball throwing activities. it was their last home game at ND so they were already a bit rowdy going in and watching their team suck it up obviously didn’t help the situation. anyway i didn’t realize people were making such a big deal out of this situation. it happens anywhere else and no one cares. it happens at ND and it’s front page news on espn.</p>
<p>probably because they were throwing the snowballs mainly in the first quarter…before it was obvious ND was sucking it up</p>
<p>this is pretty unclassy. although if the balls were indeed aimed at Charlie, well…cant say i wouldnt have done the same thing</p>
<p>I really don’t think any of it was malicious. I think there were more snowballs being thrown when the game was going well and the energy was up. You don’t go to a football game to sit quietly with your hands in your lap- you go to get a bit rowdy and have a bit of harmless fun. I do think that it got a bit excessive with the number of snowballs being thrown at the camera man. He got hit A LOT because he was up high. But people weren’t throwing snowballs to hurt anyone. It was all for fun and I think it has been blown way out of proportion. And they were throwing them at groups on the field partially because some of those groups were encouraging it- holding their hands out to try and catch them, etc. </p>
<p>Also, as a side note- I think the boos for the alum who pitched in the World Series were probably due to people’s various MLB loyalties. There are some diehard baseball fans here.</p>
<p>Every bad play… I heard Boo’s. If I was in 10 degree weather, I prob would have been cranky too! :)</p>
<p>Charlie has to go. The ND family has lost faith, trust… dare I say, interest? Phillip Fulmer anyone? (150-51) </p>
<p>Theres something mystic about being the coach of ND… get the best of the best…</p>
<p>Well, Greg Robinson is available. And I thought he showed a lot of class by refusing to continue his interview with an ESPN sideline reporter after the game until after the Notre Dame alma mater was done.</p>
<p>I know how you guys feel. Those of us who are Syracuse fans have not had much to cheer about for the past five years.</p>
<p>Charlie Weis, Bob Davie, and Ty Willingham now all have .583 winning percentage in their careers at ND. The majority of the snowballs were thrown in the first quarter and I would say 99% of them were not thrown at the students. Most were thrown at the cops and the narc cheerleader who ratted us out. Also, the one camera guy was on the moving pedestal thingy and closest to the section so he was a popular target. It was fairly classless on the most part, but the extent to which it was thrown at the team (I would say none at all, I did not get that impression at the game) is being grossly blown out of proportion.</p>
<p>Everyone needs to chill about the snowball incident. Notre Dame is held up to a higher standard that need be…just imagine if ANY team in the SEC actually got snow during their games. There would probably be 1,000 arrests and things would have gotten out of control. An isolated amount of Notre Dame fans took it too far–from what started out as fun snowball throwing–but that is not a big deal. It looks bad, but the students were appalled by team’s play and snow was an available medium for venting.</p>
<p>nonetheless, GO IRISH!!</p>
<p>There were a couple snowballs that accidentally hit the team that were most likely aimed at Charlie. Most were aimed at the ushers (if you think that’s uncalled for, go check out ndtoday), the camera man (easy target), the cops who shoved a kid down the stairs (who hadn’t actually thrown any snowballs says my friend who was sitting next to him), or, as CitricAcid said, the cheerleaders who were ratting people out. It was just a way for some very bored football fans to entertain themselves. It got old after awhile, but, well, so did that game…</p>
<p>It amazes me how things get so misrepresented by the media. Now we’ve got alums writing in about how upset they are that we’d throw “chunks of snow and ice” at our “own team.” Except, that isn’t what happened… These are the same alums who used to bring kegs into the stadium and party in the tunnel system. And more recent grads who no doubt participated in at least one North Quad v. South Quad snowball fight during their time here. You can’t tell me that they wouldn’t have thrown a few snowballs at a football game- a relatively harmless activity. We weren’t throwing chunks of ice (it was PERFECT snowball snow: fluffy, packable, and excellent for making snowballs that would fall apart on contact…). I got hit in the head with one at one point, and guess what? It didn’t hurt. Some people have argued that it was distracting for the team to be worried about snowballs hitting them. But if our football team, who regularly get pummeled by 200+ pound football players and who are wearing helmets, are afraid of snowballs (that aren’t even aimed at them), well, maybe that’s part of our problem…</p>
<p>What about the narc cheerleader?</p>
<p>I didn’t see much of the student section action, I was diagonal to them, about 5 rows up. We were by the Syracuse cheerleaders. They got pelted, that was bad, I didn’t participate in any of these shenanigans. We are ND, so we have to accept the taunting that comes with it I guess for being nationally known drunk, self-loathing, snowball chucking, Irish. I’m obviously not a fair weather fan so I think I can stick it out until this whole thing blows over.</p>