Sometime early in my career as a sportswriter, someone who had been in the profession longer than I had been alive gave me some advice I've tried to follow through the years.

Looking back now, I'm grateful to the late Emil Tagliabue, a longtime sportswriter with the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, my hometown newspaper, for taking the time to impart his wisdom on a kid who had grown up reading Tagliabue's work.

To this day, I cherish memories of road trips we took together when we covered Texas A&I football in the 1970s. Tag, as he was affectionately called, and I sometimes roomed together and we enjoyed shooting the breeze until he'd fall asleep. It was during one of these sessions that Tag told me something I've never forgotten.

"Every once in a while," he said, "try to go to a sports event and sit in the stands like a fan. It will help you see things from a different perspective, and that's always important for a journalist."

I thought about Tag as my son, Jesse, and I walked from a downtown parking lot to the Alamodome to watch the Notre Dame-Washington State football game Saturday night. Jesse, 27, grew up rooting for the Irish - and I must admit I had something to do with that - so we were pretty pumped about the opportunity to watch Saturday's game together.

I originally had planned to cover the game for KENS5.com from a seat in the press box, but it didn't take much for my son to change my mind.

"Dad, I was hoping you and I could watch Notre Dame together," he said.

Arriving at the dome more than an hour before kickoff, Jesse and I were in no hurry to go indoors on such a beautiful day. We mingled with the many fans who had gathered on the north side of the dome to drink, eat, be merry and buy merchandise (read: T-shirts and caps) commemorating the "San Antonio Showdown."

It was fun to soak in the atmosphere of a Notre Dame game - in San Antonio. While clearly outnumbered, Washington State fans made their presence known and had their own pregame party on the north side of the dome.

The NFL may rule the football universe, but for my money, college football, with all of its color, pageantry and tradition, has it all over the pro game. The NFL has the Super Bowl, but college football has Saturday afternoons in Austin, Norman, Okla., South Bend, Ind., Ann Arbor, Mich., Columbus, Ohio, well, you get the idea.

Saturday's Notre Dame game was the second my son and I watched in person. We were at Royal-Memorial Stadium in Austin on Sept. 21, 1996, when the Irish beat Texas 27-24 with a field goal on the last play of the game. While nothing but watching N.D. win the BCS title game could top that, Saturday's experience was more exciting because the Irish were playing in San Antonio.

But there's another reason why the game was a little more special: The Notre Dame band made the trip. And did it put on a show.

After hearing high school bands play the "Notre Dame Victory March" hundreds, if not thousands, of times through the years, it was great to hear the Irish band belt out the school's iconic fight song. The N.D. band, nearly 400 strong, dazzled with its pregame show and drew a standing ovation when it formed a map of Texas and played "Deep in the Heart of Texas" at halftime.

By the end of the first quarter, I made contact with two buddies from Corpus Christi, Bobby Gonzalez and Rene Cañas, who had made the trip to watch the game. As it turned out, they were sitting in the section next to ours.

We met at halftime and I reminded Bobby, a longtime N.D. fan, that we were in for a treat before the start of the fourth quarter. That's when the Irish band traditionally plays the "1812 Overture." It's one thing to hear it on TV, but quite another to hear it in person.

And the game itself? Well, it wasn't very intriguing, but then again, it was good to see N.D. enter the fourth quarter comfortably ahead. The Irish beat Washington State 40-14 to improve to 6-2 and become bowl eligible. WSU fell to 1-7.

Before the game ended, Jesse and I made our way to some empty seats behind the Notre Dame band. Knowing the Irish players and coaches always gather in front of the band after a game and sing the school's alma mater, we wanted to have a good view to soak in one more highlight for the memory bank.

As we made our way out of the Alamodome, I thought about Emil Tagliabue and the advice he gave me more than 30 years ago. For a few hours, I sat in the stands as a fan and observed far more than just the action on the field. I was reminded that the game is nothing without the fans.

I'll think about that the next time I'm sitting in a press box.

Leave a comment

Name:

Email:

URL:  

Remember personal info?

Captcha:

Type the characters you see in the picture above.