In anticipation of the launch of NCAA Football 2011, EA Sports is sponsoring a series of posts across the SBNation college blogs about the essence of fandom.  Specifically, the fandom of you, the reader.  Everyone is starting to get the early signs of football fever, so join us in the comments to tell your stories about the beauty that is Notre Dame football.

My story is going to be considerably lamer and less historically exciting than most, but here goes:

I was not a Notre Dame fan growing up in Western PA.  You either supported Penn State or Pitt as your college team of choice, and my dad was a Nittany Lion man.  All through high school my only desire was to go to someplace warm, so I looked south and west in my college pursuits.  I got a Notre Dame brochure and application in the mail one day during the fall of my senior year and applied on a whim.

I got in, so my dad and I took the six hour trek across the abominable wasteland of Ohio to visit the campus.  It turned out the son of one of my elementary school teachers now worked at Notre Dame as the director of intramurals, so I had my first meeting with the incomparable Pete Shoop* and got an unofficial tour of campus.  It was one of those late winter weekends that always seem to pop up when prospective students are visiting, mid-50's and sunny, before the sky darkened and temperatures dropped to mid-April after any prospies had already moved on.

* If you played intramural sports at Notre Dame between 2003 and 2009, you probably had the pleasure of meeting Shoop, one of the best bosses a college kid could ask for and an incredible all-around guy.  He also threw some pretty killer tailgates in the Rolfs parking lot.

More importantly, the fourth-ranked Michigan Wolverine hockey team was in town that weekend and Shoop hooked me and my dad up with tickets right behind one of the goals.  The game was amazing, a 4-1 blitzing of the favored Wolverines, but the thing I remember more than anything else was just the joy of the Victory March and the packed student section singing it.  I was hooked, and even my dad, who had hated the Irish his whole life, had to admit that everything about the place was pretty damn cool.  I actually ended up deciding to go to Notre Dame the same day Chris Thomas announced he was returning for his senior season, which I assure you, was a lot more exciting before that senior season actually played out.

My first two football games as a Notre Dame student and fan were a great mix of the highs and lows you get as a supporter of the Fighting Irish.  In the opening game, a night contest in Provo, BYU and terrorist punter Matt Payne knocked around Ty Willingham's team for a disappointing opening loss.  The very next week in the home opener, a top ten Michigan team staked itself to a 9-0 halftime lead only to get smoked in the second half due to the combined efforts of freshman Darius Walker, Brady Quinn and one long bomb to Matt Shelton.  The final was 28-20, we stormed the field (I believe the last time that's happened at Notre Dame Stadium, not counting the premature storming against USC in 2005) and I was on my way to the heartbreaking existence of a Notre Dame football fan.

Even though Notre Dame was the farthest thing from my mind when I started looking at colleges, I can't imagine going anywhere else now.  I imagine that's the case with 99% of people after they graduate, but I wouldn't trade the experience for anything, even if it means a lifetime of sporting disappointment and raving lunatics on messageboards.