Normally this is where my observations on the game would start, but we’ve got bigger fish to fry.  The 22-game streak is over, the 1,136th day dawns brighter, and my ample posterior returned to the not-so-wooden-now seats of the House that Rockne Built version whatever this past Saturday as the Fighting Irish took on the Pitt Panthers.  I promised Dad I’d take an open-minded look at everything, and I believe I have, especially considering there was more everything than I thought.

But first, a word from the sponsor … the 2018 ND band alumni reunion, without which the streak might’ve lasted until next season given the prospects of game temperature at night in November watching a bad FSU team.  I’ve always said the band was a huge part of my life, not only at Notre Dame but since then as well.  Band helped get me into ND in the first place, got me get my first job when I left, and introduced me to some of my best friends along the way, especially the love of my life.  Like Notre Dame as a whole and Irish football in particular, I’m on the record as having some issues with its current iteration, but despite the flaws, I’m not going to stop loving any of those things any time soon.  They may not pre-rally like we used to, but they’re still good kids who work their asses off just as hard as wee did.  And they were properly fascinated by the mechanics of playing a glockenspiel.

OK, schmaltz properly distributed, on to the real questions.  There were things to notice from the time I walked in to the time I walked out.

Signage and paint job.  A lot of the signage has been re-done and back-lit, and all the ramps and stairs seem to have a fresh coat of paint.  Not necessarily meaningful in the grand scheme, but definitely makes things look fresher.

Bathrooms.  Included only because someone told me I would enjoy the improvements.  Honestly, I noticed nothing.  Maybe the upper section heads always have been of higher quality, but I wasn’t about to travel down to the lower bowl (no pun intended) to comparison shop.

Seats.  As previously stated, very much not wood.  Not being someone enamored with splinters in my tush, I have no issue with the switch whatsoever.  In fact, the choice of resin over metal was very smart, since the seats won’t get nearly as cold as aluminum would in the late-season games.

But I do find the decision to add two inches to the seat width surprising.  A great decision, to be sure, but frankly I’m shocked they made it.  3,000 fewer seats in the Stadium is leaving money on the table, which is not something I’ve ever felt was in Jack Swarbrick’s repertoire, let alone the CSC’s.  And yet here we are.

Box seats.  Again, not something I’ve ever been against.  Anything that gets the down-in-front crowd out of the regular seats has to be an improvement.  I’m not sure if the new structures at the top are doing anything to keep noise in, although in principle I would think they would.

Video ribbons.  Added as part of the new seats/press box setup, they do provide a lot of info and are convenient.  But they’re crucial for people sitting in the south end zone since, unbeknownst to me, the north end zone scoreboard was removed entirely.  If they were going to cut a chunk out of the stands so Touchdown Jesus could see the field again, that’d be one thing.  But that’s a change whose point eludes me.  Anyway, ribbons are fine, lack of north scoreboard is a fail.

Within those ribbons, however, are one of my two Outstanding Innovations:  The Break Countdown.  Whenever there’s a timeout on the field, there’s a countdown on the far right side of the ribbon indicating how much time is left before play resumes.  And when that break hits zero, the ball is put in play.

That is an excellent addition.  Knowing when the commercial break is going to be finished makes it much more tolerable.  As far as I know, the televisions breaks haven’t been shortened, but they felt quicker on Saturday.

Television screens.  No, not the big one, small ones.  Every concession stand now has video screens so when you’re in line for food, you don’t miss any of the action.  While it’s impossible to synchronize them to real time unless you made them closed-circuit, the NBC feed is good enough.  Nicely done.

Yards on the down maker.  On to my second Outstanding Innovation.  May not be easy to see in the image, but the stick indicating the line to gain shows the distance on it.  In the play I captured, Notre Dame has 3nd down with three yards to go.

This might be my favorite improvement, one I wasn’t aware of until halfway through the first quarter.  Throughout the game, watching both teams set up for a play, I could remind myself how far the offense needed to get by moving my eyes two centimeters instead of two feet to check the ribbon.  Having that crucial info available while allowing me to keep the focus on the play really adds to my experience.  The Bonger likes.

Field access.  This doesn’t necessarily qualify to be on the improvements list, as it really doesn’t affect the fan’s game experience.  But I did watch how it affected my friends who were performing on the field at halftime.  Getting the bands to and from the field definitely is more difficult logistically and takes much finer planning.  But I heard the new arrangements really pissed off the Michigan band when they visited, so that alone makes it worthwhile in my eyes.  I’ll simply hope none of the drummers takes a tumble down the stairs.

The jumbotron.  Yes yes, you say, but you haven’t addressed the matzo ball.  Fine, let’s talk about it.  For those who seem to get physically pained reading things I write, I’ll start with the tl;dr so you can get on with your lives — More ignore-able than I had feared, but they still have work to do.

I have been opposed to the existence of this thing forever.  Fans staring at the idiot box during Notre Dame home games is not something I want to encourage, and an opportunity to introduce true commercialism into the Stadium should be fought to the last breath.  I’ve seen how the new screen in Purcell Pavilion is used, and sometimes it’s like nails on a chalkboard, so the thought of the same organization being turned loose on football games chilled my soul.

But it’s here, so let’s see how they’re using it right now.

For reference, my seat was in section 112, which put my butt cheeks not on the Across-ian 50 but rather the 10 yard line in the south end zone, facing the west side of the stadium (as my sunburned face can attest).  I say this so when I talk about visual and aural experiences and reactions, you have an idea of my physical location in relation to the screen and how those reactions might be different for, say, my band alum friends who were in the north end zone.

Overall, the usage wasn’t as distracting as I feared it would be.  I actually only looked at it a couple times for various things, and there were only three or four times when a sudden burst of noise from the speakers drew my attention from the field.  The fewer of those, the better.

There were the publicly-announced uses, both positives and negatives.  Replays were shown (although, let’s face it, I didn’t want to watch a lot of Notre Dame’s plays from Saturday any more than I had to).  The 20-yard-line presentations are now on steroids, and while more comprehensive, they certainly weren’t any more exciting.  Due to my seat location, I couldn’t tell you what they do with the screen during plays, and I’m not sure whether or not they show score or stats.  If they don’t, that makes the ribbons just as crucial to the north end zone folks as they are the south.

I do feel obliged to point out a few things in particular:

• When the Pittsburgh team was entering the field, their band (seated in the new visiting band seats just beneath and to the left of the screen), started playing their fight song.  They were immediately drowned out by music and video from the screen.  This happened two or three more times over the course of the game when Pitt’s band started to play and ND’s band was not playing.  I can only assume this was done on purpose, and I found it low-rent and something which should be beneath Notre Dame as hosts.  That’s not home field advantage, that’s rude.  Unless it’s Michigan, because f**k those guys.
• A number of folks on the boards have talked about the broadcast of the team prayer and how they feel that broadcast is inappropriate.  To those voices I lend mine — stop doing it.  Not everything about the weekend experience has to be consumed by the fans, and not every aspect of the players’ game day is a commodity to which non-players are entitled to share.  Anything that happens in the locker room should stay off the tron, especially the prayer.
• My feeling that all the video stimulation in the world isn’t going to fire up a crowd watching a crappy performance was validated in spades.  At one point, they tried showing the “Michigan can’t hear” video.  I don’t think it got people more up then they already were(n’t), and worse, I was disappointed that’s going to be a “bit” now rather than something which was cued up specifically for Michigan.  I suppose on some levels it’s a unique way to exhort for LOUD CONTINUOUS NOISE.

Having said all that, in the final determination, the screen as currently being used is not optimal but, I suppose, ignore-able.  Minor distractions and the feeling of irritation on behalf of the Pitt band aside, it wasn’t excessively different from my pre-screen experiences.

I recognize the potential for abuse remains, since these things cost money to run and there will be no shortage of organizations ready to pay that money to impose themselves on the ND home crowds.  The willingness of the athletic department to spurn dollars in the name of class is our last line of defense.  Yeah, I heard it the minute I typed it.

But for now, I suppose it’s yet another aspect of the Brian Kelly era I’m going to have to get used to.