Game Day: Notre Dame Football: The Greatest Games, Players, Coaches and Teams in the Glorious Tradition of Fighting Irish Football

Got this book for my son-in-law and could hardly put it down myself. Great pictures and information. Easy reading, easily find information wanted. This was the perfect gift for my Notre Dame fan.

There really is something magical about Notre Dame Football. Eve growing up as a Michigan Football fan I realized this. Part of it came from growing up in a Catholic family. We'd often visit my grandparents on Saturday afternoons and my grandmother always had the Notre Dame football game on on her radio. The fact that Notre Dame is not in a conference has provided them with the kind of national appeal that other programs don't have. Game Day Notre Dame Football is one of Triumph Books' Game Day series featuring the greatest players, games, and moments in Notre Dame Football history. The numbers are staggering: 7 Heisman Trophy winners, 21 national championships, 179 first team All-Americans. With those stats it's no wonder that Notre Dame has been a football powerhouse since the beginning of the 20th century and the days of the legendary coach, Knute Rockne. It was Rockne who was responsible for developing the modern passing game where previously the pass had been a novelty. Most people are aware of two of the most famous campus landmarks at Notre Dame. First the Golden Dome which was built after a fire destroyed the main building in 1879 and the 132 foot tall Touchdown Jesus. But there are other great landmarks including "We're No. 1 Moses" and "Fair Catch Corby" that are detailed in this great book. It's no wonder the Notre Dame campus is considered one of the most beautiful in the nation. Great players abound in Notre Dame's history. Heisman winners Leon Hart, Johnny Lujack. Paul Hornung, and Tim Brown stand side-by-side with other legends like George Gipp, The Four Horsemen, Joe Montana, Alan Page, and Joe Theismann. Gipp, of course, has become the stuff of folklore. Gipp led the team in rushing and passing in 1918, 1919, and 1920 but died from complications of strep throat in 1920. Eight years later in 1928 Rockne, the story goes, gave his famous "win won for the Gipper" speech just before the team was set to play the powerful Army team. Notre Dame's team was weak that year, coming in to that game with only a 4 - 4 record, but inspired by Rockne's speech, the team went out and pulled the upset. Other great games are highlighted as well including the win over Oklahoma in 1957 which ended the Sooners record-breaking 47 game winning streak, the "game of the century" 10 - 10 tie with Michigan State in 1966, the 1978 dismantling of Texas in the Cotton Bowl, and the 1993 upset of #1 ranked Florida State. As with all the fantastic Game Day books from Triumph it is a beautiful, heavy, hardcover book with fantastic photography and comments from former Notre Dame players and coaches. A great book about a great football program! Reviewed by Tim Janson