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There’s nothing in the world like a Notre Dame game day. The parking lots are filled to the brim with cars, people spend the day enjoying each other’s company (and free food) and once everyone has had maybe just a little bit too much of everything... the crowds flood Notre Dame Stadium to experience one of the greatest spectacles the world has ever seen: a Notre Dame football game.

A Notre Dame game is like a trip to Disneyland, if Disneyland sold beer, Mickey Mouse wore a leprechaun hat and instead of Big Thunder Mountain, we had “Shake Down the Thunder Mountain.”

Except... not every student at Notre Dame goes to the games. A select few choose to walk away from the stadium in search of... something else. What are they looking for? What secrets do these elusive students hide?

I’m no expert, seeing as how I attended every single game this season (except for one that I had to watch on my phone inside a Panda Express in Florida), but I’ve heard a few whispers here and there, and today, I can divulge this vital information to all of you.

Some prioritize their studies. They choose to skip our wondrous Saturday pageants of gridiron glory to take advantage of the university’s deserted study spaces and quiet halls; their thirst for knowledge is unquenchable. I can sympathize with them, for there have been various times when I’ve needed to pass up an opportunity for some on-campus (or off-campus) fun to cram my head full of facts and formulas in preparation for an upcoming exam.

My one question is this: How in the WORLD do these people manage to stay focused? Every five minutes (or two, if we’re playing against Syracuse), the stadium ERUPTS with the raucous cheers of the fans, and let me tell you, the strongest noise- cancelling headphones on the PLANET couldn’t drown out an amped-up Irish crowd. To those students who manage to get good work done despite the noise, I applaud you.

Then, especially when the weekend’s game starts late at night, we have the ones who skip the game to catch up on some much-needed sleep. Again, I sympathize, but I still wonder how anyone can sleep with the joyous shouts of the crowd echoing across the entire state of Indiana. I only hope that as they drift off into slumber, their heads are filled with dreams of leprechauns, shiny golden football helmets and huge dubs against USC.

For those of us who enjoy painting the town green, blue and gold most Saturdays in the fall, even with what I’ve told you today, it’s difficult to think of anything much better than watching our glorious Fighting Irish take to the field and send our opponents packing... but those who skip the Notre Dame football games are a mysterious bunch, indeed.

They go toward a place that might be hard to imagine for most of us. I don’t know what it looks like. It might not even exist at all. But they seem to know where they’re going... the ones who walk away from Notre Dame Stadium...