So, What's Your Story?

Apparently, our little corner of the internet is getting noticed by other little corners. First off, a big thanks to OC Domer for taking the time to acknowledge us on his blog, and we have kindly returned the favor by adding his site to our collection of bloglinks at the right. It is our hope that our tens of readers can combine with his dozens in order to create a maximum enjoyment effect for all who troll cyberspace endlessly in search of Notre Dame news.

For those of you wandering over from some of the links you may have noticed on some of your other favorite Irish fan sites, like OC Domer's or even the gold standard for us all, Blue-Gray Sky, you may be wondering where exactly we came from and why you haven't heard of us despite an archive that stretches all the way back to 2005. So you wanna know the sordid history of Section 29? Are you sure?

Now that I've built it up sufficiently, it naturally follows that there's not much to tell. This page has undergone a few tweaks and changes to its layout over time, in a desperate and vain attempt to be more like BGS (much like the relationship between Colbert and O'Reilly, we don't view this as infringement or ripping-off, because we're not trying to copy. We're trying to emulate.) But at its core its still the same site it was back in August '05 when I was braving the relatively new world of blogging all things ND and White Sox related on my own.

At the same time, three of our most distinguished feature writers, Thomas, Pat, & Broadway, were forming a joint alliance between Madison & South Bend over at Row 29, Seat 3. You can still read their priceless commentaries in that hallowed space - a personal favorite of mine is Thomas' crack at the TV intro to the '05 ND-USC game. You may find yourself saying, "This is vaguely familiar" as you read. When the decision was made to invite everyone to combine forces under a new name, Section 29 was chosen as an homage to those founding brothers and their first site, as well as to commemorates the section of Notre Dame Stadium we all sat in during our senior year (the exact year being withheld to increase the suspense over how old we really are, but anybody who wants to use the zoom function can find out on the photo of the above ticket booklet.)

While Pat, T-Mac, and B-Way were honing their craft, yet another blog was in circulation devoted to what most newspaper entertainment sections refer to as "The Lighter Side". Here at the Men of Dillon shingle was where we first came in contact with the Philly-centric blogging skills of one KBraun, The Italian Not-Quite-A-Stallion Angelo Suozzi, plus Michigan's finest Brian "Falcron" Fallon. Mike D and Paul were known to drop by as well. That blog lives on in a new iteration powered by Mr. Braun which features hilarious recaps of his hopelessly vertically-challenged youth basketball team and other tidbits from that tight-knight corner of Dillonites.

So that, in a nutshell, is the story of Section 29. We hope you enjoy reading our entries in the weeks and months to come, and to those of you who already knew about us, welcome back! As Walt Disney would say,

"To all who come to this happy place, welcome."

Restrain your objections over how the current administration is trying to turn Notre Dame into Catholic Disneyland. At least until you reach the comments section.