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Cultivating Hope, Part 5: What Would You Fight For?

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Episode Topic: What Would You Fight For? 

Join University President Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C. and legendary broadcaster Mike Tirico for a panel discussion commemorating two decades of stadium excitement and profound mission in the iconic What Would You Fight For? series.

Featured Speakers:

  • Meenal Datta, University of Notre Dame
  • President Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., University of Notre Dame
  • Mike Tirico, NBC
  • Rob Hyland, NBC
  • Lindsay Schanzer '11, NBC
  • Lauren Eglite '28, University of Notre Dame

Read this episode's recap over on the University of Notre Dame's open online learning community platform, ThinkND: https://go.nd.edu/196bad.

This podcast is a part of the ThinkND Series titled Cultivating Hope. 

Thanks for listening! The ThinkND Podcast is brought to you by ThinkND, the University of Notre Dame's online learning community. We connect you with videos, podcasts, articles, courses, and other resources to inspire minds and spark conversations on topics that matter to you — everything from faith and politics, to science, technology, and your career.

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Halftime Impact Montage

Speaker 10

At halftime at Notre Dame. Throughout this season, we'll be sharing with you examples of how Notre Dame professors and students are working on projects that are having a great impact around the world.

Speaker 2

The Bengal Bell began in the days of Newt Rock. God's spirit dwells in all of us. How can we help other people become more generous?

Speaker 3

Notre Dame is helping them find the dignity they deserve. The data set collected is unlike any other study in this field.

Speaker 4

The same skills used by Fortune 500 companies to make a meaningful difference in this world.

Speaker 5

Graduates from the Goodwill Excel Center see a 40% increase in their earnings, and it may even positively impact future generations.

Speaker 6

We then provide a plan to restore social and economic prosperity to their downtown.

Speaker 7

The University of Notre Dame asks, what would you fight for

Speaker 8

to educate children in Ghana

Speaker 9

to protect the brave for those with cystic fibrosis,

Speaker 8

cure brain cancer for NICU babies to serve others above self

Speaker 9

for global justice, for the environment to protect the innocent

Speaker 8

for ethical leadership,

Speaker 10

religious liberty,

Speaker 9

sustainable energy

Speaker 10

to improve hurricane forecasts for our veterans,

Speaker 8

for faster virus detection for community. Generation. We are the fighting Irish.

Speaker 11

Well, welcome everybody. It is wonderful to be together. Good afternoon to you all. Thank you for coming together to celebrate 20 years of, what would you fight for? It's just a wonderful partnership with NBC sports that has highlighted research making a difference in the world. And, you know, um, this series, uh, today's event in fact, is a part of a series, that is, um, focused on our Notre Dame Forum theme. And that theme is cultivating hope. Uh, and what we're trying to do here is have a campus-wide conversation on reasons for hope and how we can be better agents of hope in our world today. We know that there are many people in our world who find it difficult to hope. How can we be agents of hope? In order to be agents of hope? We need to take the challenges in our world seriously. And that's essentially what the white, the what would you fight for series is all about highlighting ways that our faculty and students. Are addressing the greatest challenges in our world through their research and their scholarship. And it's just been an amazing partnership with NBC sports. We're so grateful for that partnership and, um, we gather here today to give thanks and to think about the origins of that partnership, the origins of the what would you fight for series, and have a conversation about it. And I'm really looking forward to that conversation today. First of all, um, I want to thank the amazing faculty members and students who have been a part of this series. It really is your work, your work that has made this series possible in so many ways, your work dedicated to making the world a more humane, just, and peaceful place. I also want to thank our partners. At NBC Sports, uh, what an amazing partnership it is with NBC Sports. I'm so grateful to have Mike Tarico. A few words about Mike in a moment. Uh, but also Lindsay and Rob are here, to talk a bit about their experience working on this series. It's truly grateful to have you all with us here today. Grateful for our, colleagues in the Office of Public Affairs and Communications. Many thanks for all the hard work on these vignettes. They're 117 vignettes that have, been aired over the last 20 years. That's pretty, that's pretty remarkable. And finally, a big shout out to the Dhani family, uh, for their incredible support of this series. without their support, it really wouldn't be possible. And so I'm so grateful for the support of the Dhani family. Let's give them a great hand. And I can think of no better person to moderate today's conversation than Mike Tico. Mike, I think you just returned from the Olympics in Italy not so long ago. And, uh, and he is truly the voice of NBC sports' biggest events. He is been the voice of Sunday night football. And on NBC, he is also been somebody who has, who's actually taken a lead role in being, uh, the lead play-by-play announcer for the most recent Super Bowl. He's the winner of five sports Emmys and also, uh, was just inducted just last year into the. National Sports Media Hall of Fame. So, uh, another hand to Mike for Mike Tarico. And for six years, for six years, he did the play by play for Notre Dame football and NBC sports. Those were six glorious years, six glorious years. So, with no further ado, please uh, join me in warm in, uh, in giving a warm welcome to Mike Tico.

Mike's Notre Dame Journey

Speaker 10

Hey. So, okay. Like you,

Storytelling and Higher Ed

Meet the Panelists

Speaker 12

hi everyone. Good to see you. How are you? It is so great to be back on campus. I, I have to say Father Bob. What, what an honor. I don't think I've received three rounds of applause in two minutes ever in my life. So if I can just come back on a regular basis and you can introduce me, that, that would be great. it, it's an honor to be here, especially. As, uh, an alum of Syracuse University. First off, thank you to Marcus Freeman of the football team for not hanging a hundred on us last fall. Just shows our love for this institution and it's also good to be here on the first day of the NCA basketball tournament because we're out of it and we don't have a coach, so I'm miserable right now. So I'm glad to be surrounded by friendly faces. I am a Syracuse alum, as I mentioned so too is my wife, but we live in Ann Arbor, Michigan. So for the six years that I had the honor and pleasure of calling games in what I like to refer to as the Cathedral of College Football, Notre Dame Stadium, I'd make the drive on Thursdays, down I 94, I 69, and then on 80 90 to come here. And it was so great today to get in the car and not have to put an address in the GPS and just know exactly where I was going. To pass those wonderful landmarks that I haven't seen for the last couple of years, like the RV and Mobile Home Hall of Fame in Elkhart. Right. Have you seen, have you ever been in, has anybody ever gone in there? Actually, is it good? Is it worth it? It's nice. Okay. Because for six years I drive by and go what's in a hall of fame for RVs and motor homes, except old RVs and motor homes that people didn't want anymore or don't work. So that's what it is. Okay. Well I haven't missed much, I guess. And then it was nice on, you know, as we had freezing rain this morning when I woke up at home and start driving and of course every time you get closer to South Bend the weather becomes beautiful. Right. It always happens. And, and as I'm doing that today, I got to see those two reminders that spring does start. I believe it starts officially tomorrow that those two reminders that spring is here. The last little bit of snow pi snow pack is just down to the very end. And then the construction crews putting the orange barrels out. They were gonna sit behind for about five or six hours. So it's, it's that time of year. So here we go. my connection with Notre Dame starts as a kid growing up in New York and watching Notre Dame football highlights on Sunday. How many times have you heard that from people? Right. But it's true. And then for the rush of the stretch after that, I had no connection to Notre Dame. I was covering college football at ESPN and then, I hate to say divine intervention, but I will. I come to EST for two NBC after 25 years at ESPN in 2016, and I was supposed to be the announcer for Thursday night NFL games. Some political, something happened, which nobody cares about, but it ends up that my football option was not there for the NFL and the option to be a part of the Notre Dame football games was what a life-changing experience. It really was, for five years. Five and a half years, I should say. I had the wonderful opportunity to share the story of Notre Dame football every Saturday with a very loyal, very passionate, very passionate fan base who sometimes didn't understand that we were broadcasting the game for both teams.'cause every, every word about the opponent would be, wait a minute, it's our show. You're our network. We managed to navigate that along the way, but what I will say is I had an experience that really was life changing for me by meeting the people who make Notre Dame, Notre Dame, and I mean the student athletes, I mean the administrators, the people on campus. We'll introduce Rob Hy in a minute. He produced most, I think all the games that I did here, say for one or two. And we actually in the last year, talked Rob into moving our meeting back an hour so we could go to mass in the Basilica on Friday afternoon. It was that. That exciting, that wonderful. And the, the journey to the grotto on Saturday morning to light a candle became something that my late grandmother would've loved. And my mom was really proud that we, I was a part of. And I will say that I do travel the country covering Sunday night football, the Olympics, other events. And I hear very often from people, boy, we had, we wish you had come back. We had such a good time when you were the Notre Dame announcer. I don't wanna remind them that the record was unbelievable when I did the games. It really, it really goes back to Brian, Kelly and Ian book and some amazing players along the way who put together a great run of Notre Dame home games. I think they may have lost four home games and my five and a half years or so, and beat number one Clemson on the night when everybody was distanced because of COVID. And then everybody rushed on the field and there's a shot overhead of thousands of students altogether and go, well, this might be a good time to not say anything. It just let the crowd noise take it. Right. So my Notre Dame experience is something I cherish and. I think when I look at what we do on a day to day in day out basis in television, in sports, we tell stories'cause there's laundry. The uniforms that's out there, you'll root for anybody in a Notre Dame uniform. You'll root against any against anyone in maybe a Miami uniform, let's say. Right? But there's something about sports that makes you care if it's not your team, when you can tell the story of the individuals who are wearing those uniforms. And that's why it's been a privilege for the last decade to be one of the many proud people to represent NBC sports.'cause I will proudly say with no disrespect to our colleagues, I think that's what our group does best. We tell stories, uh, at the Olympics. We make it care about somebody who's laying down on a. Really what is amounts to a, uh, a tray in a lunchroom and sliding down a track and calling it skeleton and go, what, what are you doing? But we make you care about them, right? We give you a reason to be invested in their emotions and their results for the next 65 to 75 seconds. And that's what, what would you fight for? Really does. I was always uncomfortable with it because like, it's Notre Dame, we don't fight, right? It's, you don't put that with, this is this institution. But then when you see the stories and you understand the premise and the reach and the connection, this is incredible. It really is. I mentioned I'm a Syracuse alum. I have the honor of being on the board of trustees there. And one of the things that I think we all fight to do is to reinforce the importance of higher education in America in 2026. Uh, there's online education people, some of the most successful people in our country. Dropped outta high school and they were working in their garage or their basement and they created multimillion dollar companies. You hear those stories all the time, but those of you who spent your four years here or elsewhere, you know that experience on campus or those who are in the middle of it, the students who are doing it right now, this experience is life changing and those are the people you're still in touch with. Those are the group chats that you love to hear everybody weigh in. Those are the people who are at your wedding. Those are the people you're with. At the worst times that campus community's foundation are the faculty, professors and staff, and to be able to share their stories of not just what it means in the Notre Dame community, but what it means globally. That's the power of Notre Dame. And what better place to share that for the last two decades than at the ultimate front porch to a university?'cause athletics is the front porch, right? No matter what's done in a classroom. It doesn't make the same impact as the number one football team in the country being on TV with millions watching. However, when you can marry those two vehicles now, it's more than just a football team and a little commercial during the game. It's a story of what an institution is all about. That's why I'm so glad we could gather all today's celebrate, celebrate 20 years of that as we start to celebrate 35 years of NBC's partnership with Notre Dame. What, what an exciting time it is to bring all of these together and introduce some of the people who've made that possible. So I'm gonna stop talking so you can hear from our great panel for today. I guess I'll go, I'll go by age. So Rob, you can come up first. I'm sorry. Rob Highland is the Corey producer for Sunday Night Football on NBC. He just produced the Super Bowl. He is produced multiple Olympics. He's won more Emmys than I can count. Rob spent 13. 13 seasons producing Notre Dame football on NBC. Please welcome Rob Hy Next. Oh, oh, you're there. Think so. So one thing a producer does in tv, if you don't know, they tell you when you screw up. And Rob just told me very discreetly you screwed up because sitting next to me is another person who's a producer of ours at NBC Sports. She has just finished producing the opening and closing ceremony of the Olympics. In addition to producing the alpine skiing at the Olympics, produces all of our major horse racing events, including the Triple Crown. Has great roots throughout television, is second generation in the family in this industry. And most importantly, well, second most importantly, most important, is that she's the su, the mother of a beautiful eight month old boy named Bo. But second most important, she's a 2011 Notre Dame alum, Lindsay Shanor, who I was supposed to introduce first'cause you're sitting here. Lindsay wouldn't have told me that, but, but I would've introduced her first and I would've been fine. Professor Menil dadada, the DEF Florio Collegiate professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering. Her research is part of one of the stories that has been told on what would you fight for over the last two decades? Her research focusing on deciphering the atypical tumor microenvironment that drives disease progression and treatment resistance in incurable cancers, what I think is most interesting out of her incredible biography, she also researches cancer in the microgravity environment of space to benefit patients on earth. That was what was featured in What would You Fight for in 2025? And we're so honored to have a professor with us here. This afternoon, is that your assigned seat too? Yes. So I, I'm going, I'm right now. I'm over for three apparently. Lauren, I guess you know what seat you're in, like, gimme Lauren. Lauren is class of 28. So you're a sophomore? Correct. Okay. I'm gonna check everything now'cause I'm having a tough afternoon. Please come on up. Lauren Chemical Engineering major. She is from la uh, lake Forest, Illinois, lake Forest, Illinois, where the Bears have their home and where my daughter works, as a matter of fact, she's currently a sophomore at the age of 12. Lauren had a connection with. What would you fight for that? I'm gonna let her tell in a little bit, but needless to say, she is one of the on-campus students who, what would you fight for is a direct connection to her presence as a student at Notre Dame. So please welcome Lauren. Now that there are no more introductions for me to fumble, let's, let's, uh, let's start at the beginning. I would love to go ladies first, but Rob, since you are the oldest here,

Speaker 13

thanks, Mike.

Speaker 12

Other than me, you can take us back to the start of this because, but what we're so involved in college football and tv. Let, let's share with everyone what college football opportunities in a broadcast there are for a university to get its message out and why this one is so unique and so different.

Speaker 13

Yeah. It's starting in the late seventies, televised col collegiate events would have institutional. 32nd commercials that would celebrate that university's, you know, message it, it didn't really ever get done very well. Candidly, it's a lot of beautiful shots of campuses, happy looking kids and test tubes. So, 20 years ago, uh, Notre Dame came to NBC and said, let's do something different. Let's do something that changes how these are told. So, because of this amazing partnership, we found two minutes of time before the second half would start to actually dive in and tell real stories. Like Mike mentioned about the Olympics. We're we're pretty good at telling the stories of the athletes in the Olympic games. My boss, Dick Ebersol, created up close and personal stories about athletes you may not ever hear about except for those 17 days of the game, but you cared about them because you learned their stories and you could relate to them. So could we take that Olympic profile model and turn it into a commercial? Yes, it's an institutional, but it's not scenics and test tubes. It tells the story of an individual and their connection to this university. And the challenge was, oh wait, this is gonna air in a football game. How do we get people's attention? And always the goal was, let's grab their attention in the first 15 seconds, or they're gonna tune out, turn on another game, get up, get a sandwich. and I'm so proud to have been a part of the very first year and in that conference room at 30 Rockefeller Plaza where this idea was hatched, and the number of countries we've been to, uh, the miles we've traveled and the people we've met have truly been incredible.

Speaker 12

And it helps extend the Notre Dame story to the fans and maybe gets them more involved and more interested. That's part of Lauren's story that I'll have her tell in a minute. Professor, I, I'd love to come to you.'cause when the, when the email shows up or the phone call comes in that says, Hey, this. What would you fight for? We wanna feature your work. What was your reaction when that, uh, communication took place here on campus?

Speaker 14

Yeah. I thought they had sent it to the wrong person, so no, I was, incredibly honored. especially as a junior faculty member. You know, I'm an assistant professor here. I've been here for four and a half years, so I'm a super senior and, you know, it meant so much to me that NBC saw value in the story, but it also meant a lot to me because it meant Notre Dame and my community here saw value in this story. And I just felt proud to be able to share that with everyone.

Speaker 12

Because as a faculty member, your work gets out through journals or other, within the profession, publications that candidly, most of the American public is not getting their hands on for light reading.

Speaker 14

Sure. Yeah. It, it was an incredible, uh, opportunity to be able to reach, you know, when I tell my students, get ready to speak to a lay audience, I say, would your parents understand what you're doing? Would, could you tell this to your mom? And I actually, the first person I sent this commercial to was my mom. And I said, do you get it? And what do you think? because ultimately if we're only doing research for ourselves and for this academic community, the benefit stays small and we wanna be able to reach everyone

Speaker 12

and to keep this a politics free zone. But research is so much in the conversation at institutions around the country. Mm-hmm. And I think we see the value of it in features like this and the importance of it. And for those who have not seen Professor Dante's work in this, let's, uh, play. What would you fight for? Segment that ran a couple of years ago about her work. Please look at the screen.

Speaker 16

Anna's like a, a river flowing and if you get in it, you flow with her. She's the rock of our family. So when she was diagnosed with glioblastoma in 2023, it really shook us to our core.

Speaker 17

You know, when they said it was terminal, I thought about the kids. How would it impact them? The time is, um, precious. It's important. I may wanna be here for it all.

Speaker 7

Each year, more than 12,000 people in the US are diagnosed with glioblastoma, an incurable form of brain cancer. The average survival is less than two years.

Speaker 14

Glioblastoma is relentless. It grows aggressively, adapts quickly, and evades the immune system. It's not just a cancer genetics challenge, it's a mechanical engineering problem where gravity has been working against us. So we wondered what if going out of our world might actually be the key to saving lives here on earth?

Speaker 11

3, 2,

Speaker 7

1 take. In 2024, Notre Dame, engineering professor nil dadada and her team launched a first of its kind glioblastoma experiment to the International Space Station. There they successfully leverage microgravity to accelerate the growth of more realistic tumor models.

Speaker 14

We've proven that space allows us to test therapies at a pace we simply can't match on Earth up there. The promise is infinite. And hopefully that leads us to a cure sooner.

Speaker 18

The selection process for the International Space Station is very rigorous. We look for groundbreaking ideas and for teams with a skill and drive to carry them forward. Professor Data's work is bold, innovative, and deeply patient focused.

Speaker 17

To know that people are out here thinking outside the box. That gives me courage.

Speaker 7

The University of Notre Dame asks, what would you fight for

Speaker 18

fighting to cure brain cancer? We are

Speaker 14

the fighting Irish.

Speaker 12

I have like 50 questions for you. Okay. But, and by, and by the way, we're gonna do about 28 minutes of this panel, and then we will be responding to some of your questions. So we look forward to having intelligent questions as opposed to mine to balance the rest of the afternoon. So when that aired. Okay. It's a Saturday, probably late afternoon. Tell me about the emails. Tell me about the text messages. Tell me about the phone calls. What was the flood of information like?

Speaker 14

Yeah, it, it was incredible. First of all, for me, it was, two o'clock in the morning because I was with a group of Notre Dame graduate students at Notre Dame Palmore in Ireland. I knew that this commercial would be airing, but I decided to go on that trip. I'd made that commitment to the students. Uh, it was a writing retreat and, and I wanted to, to spend time with them. So I celebrated with them, in Ireland, our Notre Dame's second home, and seeing the outreach from, sorry. I think, what touched me the most was communication from. Patients from their families, from their loved ones from Domers who emailed me and said, my roommate passed away from this disease from Notre Dame alumni who are still fighting the disease today. And remembering that what we do is for people was, a very important reminder. And I, I think that that was the most valuable response that, that we received.

Why Halftime Works

Speaker 12

Thank you for sharing how emotional it is, because we just treat it as we're No, please don't be sorry. Thank you. Because we just treat this as this is work. This is what you do. And for us, here we are in the football game and it's two minutes and we do this. This is a nice story. Now it's time for the second half, right? But. We don't ever get to hear the reality of the impact that millions get and then seeing it online. And that's, that's the real power of the connection. Lindsay, that just, I'd love for you to be able to share here, the placement of this is very important in the football game because what do we all do at halftime? We get up and get a drink or we get, a snack or something. But the placement of this feature really is in a place where it can connect with a big audience at a key moment.

Speaker 19

Absolutely. I mean, it's, it's a two minute chunk of time, which I know Rob sort of described that versus the standard institutional, but, that's a really, that's a solid amount of real estate to be able to tell a, a, a good story. and sure, maybe at halftime you're getting up and you're what, you're walking away, but right before the second hack kicks off butts in the seats, you know, people are ready to watch again. They're ready to see what's about to happen and. You know, any sporting event at large is a story. You know, you sit down, you one way or another, whether it's you're rooting for your team or you wanna be moved by something you see on the field, the sport in general, you are there to feel something, um, and to see the story unfold. So even though reaching that football audience, you know, with a pretty dense topic across the board is a challenge that we have, it's also not such a challenge because, you know, those people are sitting there preparing to be moved, preparing to feel something, preparing to see a story told. And what we do is try to serve them a different story that they'll understand from a human perspective.

Speaker 12

And it takes a lot to get those stories on the air. And we'll talk about that here with Lindsay and Rob in a little bit. if, if you're a daughter or a dad, if you can check either one of those boxes, you know, the unbelievable value of sharing a football game, especially a team you love with your daughter or your dad. Not that moms and sons don't do that. Daughter, dad. That's kind of like a really cool bond. So, Lauren, your dad's here, right?

Speaker 20

He is.

Where?

Speaker 12

His dad.

Speaker 20

Jan right there.

Speaker 12

Hi dad. What's your name? Eric. Nice to meet you. Pleasure. Is this the rest of your family here, Lauren?

Speaker 20

It's, yes. Why

Speaker 12

don't you introduce him?

Speaker 20

Well, I have my brother Beckham here, my sister Alyssa, and my mom Julie.

Speaker 12

All right. Hey fa, how you doing? Great to meet you all. Alright, so, so you're a sophomore now. So you're at a Notre Dame game with your dad,

Speaker 20

right? I was, yeah.

Speaker 12

Okay. And you're what about 12 years old?

Speaker 20

Mm-hmm. I was young.

Speaker 12

Okay. So I know because now you're 20, you're, your life's, life's pretty much over for your kids. It's been a good run. Thanks. can, can you um, can you tell us how you sitting at a football game with your dad in the stands, how that turned into your connection with this event? And what eventually turned into your Notre Dame Klo connection?

Speaker 20

Yeah, so growing up I was a big Notre Dame football fan, and I was with my dad at a game and kind of by chance a what would you fight for? Video played about fighting for peanut allergies, which is something that I had struggled with my whole life growing up with severe nut allergies. And I just remember seeing it and thinking like, wow, there's kind of hope now for something that I've struggled with my whole life. There might be a cure. And yeah, I was just kind of wondering like, I wonder if I can meet this professor and learn more about the research. And yeah, I was able to actually, thanks to a wonderful lady in the development program, we were able to meet Professor Bashar Cher, who was working on a cure for peanut allergies. And yeah, my dad and Professor Belcher were able to become partners and are still working together to this day to try and get the drug to market. I was able in high school to shadow in his lab, which was a super amazing experience and really learn about what he does and the science behind it. And then thankfully I was able to attend university here at Notre Dame, which is so amazing. And halfway through my freshman year, which was last year, I was reached out to by the what would you fight for? Video teams saying that they wanted to make a follow up of the original video that I had seen when I was so young. So I had the really cool opportunity of being a part of that and just getting to share my story and see how the research had continued. But yeah, it was a really cool full circle moment, I think.

Speaker 12

Well, this was, uh, a game that you were at with your dad in 2017 and, uh, we happened to be on the air covering this game. So love to show you the video of, uh, of what played in the stadium. That was the, uh, Lauren and Dad connection to, somebody who's here now as a proud member of this institution as a student. Go ahead.

Speaker 21

Gunner, come here. It started with a simple kiss, the same loving kiss. I had given my son countless times before, but this time I had to rush him to the emergency room. The peanut butter cookies I had eaten earlier in the day caused him to have a life threatening allergic reaction. Fortunately, he survived. As a parent, it's heartbreaking to see your child suffer and not know if you'll be able to save him.

Speaker 7

In the past 20 years, food allergies among children in the United States have increased by 50%. At the University of Notre Dame, professor Bashar Char is engineering molecules to prevent an allergic reaction from taking place.

Speaker 8

Food allergies can be severe, even life threatening, but currently. There is no medicine that can cure them. Existing drugs only help a body endure the symptoms of an allergic reaction.

Speaker 7

Professor Bill Char and his team are working to create an inhibitor that can be given to a person as a preventative monthly shot or pill, which will eliminate a reaction from starting at all.

Speaker 22

As an engineer, professor Bill Char has brought a new perspective to solving this pervasive problem. His groundbreaking work has the potential to permanently transform the way we treat food allergies.

Speaker 21

I never wanna bury my child. I want to see him live a long life. Life. He's a happy boy and he, he has so much to offer.

Speaker 8

My hope is that our work will make the fear and trauma associated with food allergies a thing of the past.

Speaker 7

The University of Notre Dame asks, what would you fight for

Speaker 8

fighting to cure food allergies? We are the fighting Irish,

Speaker 12

so that that plays in the stadium. And then Lauren told you the rest of the story. And we can tell you a little backstory. We never met until today, but we bonded immediately because I have nut allergies. And we just were able to, I took out my EpiPen and showed Lauren in my bag like, Hey. And as, uh, I, she didn't know anything about, about that. And I opened up my, my, uh, backpack as soon as we met backstage, and I held up my EpiPen. She's like, oh, like we're long lost friends, but I get it. Like I get what, what you go through. And to hear that there was somebody who was out there doing research to try to make our world better. Was really impactful. So how has that impacted your path of study here on campus?

Speaker 20

Well, I definitely think that experience really draw me towards stem. I'm currently a chemical engineering major, which is a little tough. But yeah, I think it was really cool seeing just like what's possible for people to do in kind of those fields. And I think that really drew me there. And I think this video series as a whole really just drew me to Notre Dame. You know, seeing what they represent and how they kind of inspire hope in so many people and the things that they're able to do, all the incredible professors and research that happens here. It's just such a cool community being surrounded by these people.

Speaker 12

Well, that's so cool. Thank you for sharing all of that. And the lesson is always listen to your dad, right? Come to the football game with dad and, and look, look what happens. This, this is great. Ha Has she taken you to a game now since she's a student here? Not yet. Not yet. Well, dad, I, I think you should, you should go to the bookstore in August. Buy the T-shirt, just ball cap play like a student. And Lauren would love to have you hang in the student section, right, Lauren?

Speaker 20

Oh, yeah, that would be great. Did

Speaker 12

I cause a problem here? I'm sorry. It's awesome. Congratulations on sharing that story with us and, uh, continuing to manage, manage this. I, I also was able to share with Lauren, Earl or somebody else earlier, excuse me, that Lindsay produces the Kentucky Derby. Rob has produced the Kentucky Derby for many years before that. And this year, was supposed to be my ninth year, I guess, of hosting the Kentucky Derby. And I only made it one segment of our five hour show because I had a nut allergy reaction. First time I've ever missed a show because of that. And so Lindsay had to produce with Ahmed Fareed, our great friend who just did an amazing job stepping in on a moment's notice. And Rob, instead of enjoying the Kentucky Derby as a fan, he babysat me for two hours with the medics until they got me enough EpiPens and Benadryl to get through. So it's a real, it's a real issue and it's something that a lot of us fear. And there, in just two minutes, it connected to grow a Notre Dame, ambassador for life, if you will, and an alum in Lauren, uh, Lindsay. I started to talk about what it takes to do these.'cause, you know, a, a shoot on campus is pretty simple, like Rob said, fancier shots of the test tubes, talk to the professor in a nice setting. Now we've got a good story, right? But these stories have been everywhere. You've traveled overseas to do some of these, so maybe if you can explain a little bit of what it takes to get these. Too many vignettes throughout the home games in the regular season.

Speaker 19

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I work with an incredible team who's sitting in front of me, as we receive, pitches basically from, all of you who have been a part of these stories and elsewhere in, uh, across Notre Dame's research faculty, with ideas of what they might like to do. And we read all of them and they're, all of the work that's being done at Notre Dame is incredible and there are incredible stories amongst them. But we can only do six pieces, uh, each year, and we decide which work the best for the medium that we have. It's a two minute challenge that we have not a second less, not a second more, which is very unique in terms of the feature storytelling that we do at NBC sports to really be in that exact bucket and try to decide what will have the most impact. Um, and as Mike said, that has sent us all over the world. I don't have the number of countries that I, that we can get it at some point. Um, we just had a crew in Malawi within the past two weeks. you know, prepping one of the stories for this year, um, and we start this process at least the year prior. one of my favorite parts of the year is coming out to the university, sorry, early in January. Um, and getting to speak with the professors and hearing, hearing their research, hearing about their research firsthand, and really getting a sense of, of what, what they're all about and what they're trying to do and what impact they're, they're trying to have. Um, and then we really decide what the right voices are to accompany those stories. So, you know, of course it's the firsthand where the research is coming from, and we'll feature the professor who's doing that research and then, you know, it's the, the human stories that we've talked about, who is it that's gonna tell you their story? Like in the example we just watched that will get you to feel. Really feel that it is relatable to you, whether it is specifically relatable to you or just that it is a human story that you care about. Um, and then often, you know, we, we wanna make sure we have some, uh, expert in the field or elsewhere that is gonna tell you, yeah, this is important. You should pay attention. And this work is, is critical that is being done. So it's taken us all over the place. And, I just wanna say in watching these, you know, I've seen all of these and I'm watching like a third of the screen through the mirror and still tearing up. So I, you know, they're, they're incredible. So shout out to our team and, uh, all the work that's being done by all of you,

Speaker 12

absolutely.

Speaker 19

Each year

Speaker 12

shout out to everyone involved. Yeah. And the whole group that organizes and puts it together does the, the legwork that ends up in, uh, 12 minutes of content on TV a year. It's extraordinary stuff. Rob. The, the challenge of telling stories in a changing media environment. Is one I think we wrestle with on a regular basis, especially in the midst of a football game because we, we've, we have our loyal viewers who are in their sixties, their seventies, they're gonna stay for no matter what, especially loyal Notre Dame fans, they're gonna put the TV on and not move it for the whole afternoon. But Saturday's a challenging environment. People are bouncing around in college football. There's also Lauren's age group now loves, love their school, love football. But sometimes, and I have kids in their twenties, sometimes you all aren't the most patient people and you wanna move on to the next thing and you know, slide up. Right? So how is the needle threaded where we can tell stories for people who are older, people who are younger, but still find a way to connect. And you've seen that evolution from when this started 20 years ago to where it is now?

Speaker 13

It's a great question. I listen, I think back to our very first international shoot in Haiti. Notre Dame has long done great work with mosquito-borne illnesses, and I was down there in Port-au-Prince for a few days and came back changed. I, I knew we had content to tell an incredible story that would begin this campaign. Uh, and that was 20 years ago. I, I think I, I said this a little earlier, but really grabbing the attention of the viewer quickly and having them relate to what they're hearing and seeing very quickly eliminates their chance for scrolling up. Or the other thing, as we left that first shoot, I remember calling our management and saying, unlike those 32nd institutions, we need to lead to these. Our host Tom Hammond or Mike Tico, needs to have a very specific set of sentences that explains what we're about to see, so that it's sort of a cue, oh wait, I'm gonna get something different than a commercial here. What is that? And then how can we come out of that commercial break to a shot of that professor or student that was in that piece in the stands? Or to tease it before it airs. Hey, coming up, we've got an incredible story coming up at halftime. So we never wanted to treat these like commercials. And we're always continuing to play, not tricks, but use new techniques to keep people with us for these and to make sure they're with us, at least for the first 15, 20 seconds. And then it's up to us to stay, to have them stay.

Speaker 12

It's a challenge too, because in storytelling there's an arc to it, right? You wanna set up and build and then do the payoff, but in a challenged environment, we've gotta grab you right away. So the thoughtfulness of here are these three sentences, and those sentences are usually put together by a person who was involved in the story, somebody who can help explain it and set up what you're about to see. And hopefully we grab you and then you can watch. professor I I, I'd love to come back to you and just talk about in general, getting the message out.

Speaker 15

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 12

Because I think what grabs headlines. The shiny things, grab the headlines, the negative things, grab the headlines. There's a lot of positive in research, but sometimes it's hard to get a lot of people to come drink out of that fountain. What does, you know, you've not only seen yours, but you've seen the impact that, what would you fight for has had across the campus and beyond? What would you say is the connection of finding a positive story and it now resonating with the audience?

Speaker 14

I mean, I, I do think that we, as professors, I mean especially those of us who do research, but even those of us who teach, we are trying to have a positive impact with the work that we do. And especially as engineers. I'm so, glad to see another fellow engineer on this stage. You know, we want to solve problems and most often we wanna solve these unsolvable problems. And I think that even though we come from a point of challenge. It's easy to talk about the positives. You know, think about what we could achieve if we overcame these issues. and in fact, when I was interviewing for this position here at Notre Dame, I was sent a series of these videos to watch

Speaker 12

Oh, really?

Speaker 14

To not only inform me of, you know, what do we actually do on this campus, but to show that Notre Dame was invested in, in telling these positive stories and in using non-traditional out outlets like a football game to communicate the positives of the work that we're doing and reaching, you know, what others in, in tech industry and and so on might call the stakeholders, you know, who is really gonna benefit from the work that we're doing. and I, I just think that positive messages reinforce better than, than negative messages.

Speaker 12

Lauren. We, we go back and forth. Uh, we as in adults on your generation, better hustle up and save us from ourselves to, they don't get it right. They're in their phones, they don't get it. This has given you maybe a different window on at a very early age, by the way, as, as a, as a young teen research a campus and what a connected campus can really mean. Just, I'd love if you could share, for those of us who are not students here right now, what are the, what are the thoughts and the conversations of your fellow students about the impact this campus can have on the world, uh, as we get into a world that's a little more complex and sometimes it's scary to think about the world that we all are gonna send you out to in a few years?

Pride of Notre Dame Alumni

Speaker 20

Yeah. Well, I think me and my friends all agree that Notre Dame is a very special school in what it does and the things that like it strives to do. I mean, all the amazing research it does here. But yeah, I think it's just, it's really cool to see how there's such a global outreach and all these things. And I think even in my generation, you know, it's easy to. Kind of get lost in just all of the media and stuff we consume and forget about these kind of stories. But I think they still have such an important impact on people. And you know, there's so like, it's so versatile and they just reach so many people's hearts and connect so many different people, which is really great.

Speaker 12

Lindsay, as a, as an alum here, I know you take great pride every chance you get to come back on campus, but I think your perspective of not just being involved in some of the ideas and the production and the execution of this, but also you watch them through the lens of being an alum. So can you speak to the pride that you feel, I know you said you're emotional, but as you go through all these stories and maybe things that you didn't even know were going on on your own campus when you were here, that now are front and center in your mind as a, as a super proud alum.

Speaker 19

Incredibly proud, overwhelmed. like I said, when I sit in these meetings in January and get to hear it firsthand from the pro professors, just what's being done out there. And by the way, not exclusively professors, sometimes it's students, um, often the work that they're doing. Um, it makes me wish that I were a little bit more engaged when I work here and trying to seek out these stories from departments outside of, uh, you know, what I was studying. But, it's just incredible pride and, think getting to see the stories told. And, you know, I, I suspect many of my friends know that I'm involved in this project, but not all of them. And I hear from people too, you know, when these stories air, every once in a while somebody will, will get in touch with me, you know, did you see that? That was pretty cool. Or, I'll just hear from people that they're watching these and they see the impact the university has and you know, it really does carry, it casts a wide net And, um, I'm incredibly proud to be a part of it and selfishly feel extremely lucky to be a part of this project and continue with the univers. Beyond my, uh, my graduation year.

Speaker 12

Oh. Universities never lose us once we graduate. Right. Oh, always find us. Especially on Giving Day, right?

Speaker 19

Yeah.

Speaker 12

Professor is is has giving day happened here yet? Is it coming up soon? Every day is giving day. That's, that's, that's exactly right. But, but, but you get a sense of, of how far away it gets from you and then how close it still is. I, I saw on, uh, my social media feed,'cause I still follow the university on my ex feed, the formerly Twitter, that the, uh, the, uh, the invitations to students went out yesterday for the class of 2030, right. That, that first I, I immediately closed my phone. I said, no, I must be tired. I'm misreading that. And, um, and just the call out to share the videos of the joy with the students find then you, it never gets old because you know that. People who, um, who are coming, are gonna follow the footsteps that you've gone through. For those of us who are alums of this school or other schools, it's always so exciting. So professor, we have about three minutes and then we're gonna get to your questions, which I'm told are gonna be on this iPad. So if that's a warning that they're gonna be there and I can't screw it up like you promised, we'll find out. How do you, how do you make the first connection to get something on the Space Station? Because I think it's the most fascinating thing. Like do you, is there like a one 800 Space Station number? What do you do?

Speaker 14

Well, I have Spark phone number. Uh, is, uh, is my colleague Tank Tay here? Uh, yeah. Okay. Professor Tanka Luo is here in the, in the middle column. Uh, he actually had, uh, what would you fight for with, uh, Dr. Brandon Asheville. Brandon is here as well. they did amazing work, uh, on using these ionic liquids, this brand new category of, of fluids, for, uh, water purification and uh, pollution detection. and the year that I joined Notre Dame, 2021 Tanke sent, uh, an experiment to the Space Station to look at the behavior of fluids like that in microgravity, thinking that, uh, you know, gravity really bogs down our experiments. Uh, it really doesn't matter what you do in, in science or engineering. Removing gravity lets us, Achieve things and, and see things that we miss, frankly here on earth. And so I saw Tank Fe do this experiment. I emailed him and I said, this is so cool. How did you do this? And he said, well, like anything in research, you gotta get funding. I said, okay, send me a grant to apply for. And he said, and then you hook up with a, a, a industry partner that will build a little box to run your experiment for you on station. You hook up with nasa, you hook up with SpaceX to get it on the rocket. So it's a million moving chess pieces. But I think what was amazing is because of Tank Fe and Notre Dame's prior experience in space, they were willing to take that risk with us. Wow. And so all of these moving pieces came together. The most important of whom, if I can say, was my graduate student, Alice. Uh, Alice isn't here today. She's actually, uh, interviewing for her postdoc, uh, right now as we speak. Right. She's defending her thesis on this work next week. And I called Alice on New Year's Day. and I said, we've been invited, but we have 60 days to prepare. Can you do it? And she said, yes. And 60 days later we were on a rocket to the space station.

Speaker 12

Wow, that's amazing.

Speaker 14

So it's, it's the students,

Speaker 12

it's, well, it's all, it's all saying good vibes Alice's way.

Speaker 14

Yes.

Speaker 12

As she goes through that, I'm sure. Sure. She'll, she'll succeed. if, if I can be rude here for a second, any of the other professors or people who are associated with other, episodes, if you will, of what would you fight for, please stand up so we can recognize you. Don't be shy. Don't be shy. Come on. Thank, thank you for sharing your talent and your treasure. Not just with your university, but with us at NBC and with the large, larger community who's watching Notre Dame football. It's so great. We actually only did that to make sure that the audience wasn't full of just people who are being honored today. Wanna make sure we had some actual live guests who wanted to be here? Uh, before we get to the questions, Rob, I'm gonna lob this last one at you. The power of Notre Dame football is different in terms of a vehicle than almost anything else in sport. How much do you think that has contributed to the success of this, which Lindsay was proudly representing her team, at the Sports Emmy Awards as this series, uh, was it two years ago, three years ago, was honored with a sports Emmy. What, what, what is it about Notre Dame football that gives this the runway to pull this off?

Speaker 13

Well, it's Notre Dame football. It's the New York Yankees, it's the Dallas Cowboys. This is a brand that is bigger than just a university playing football and. I think it's the alumni network that is stronger than any, in my opinion. I didn't go to Notre Dame. I love Notre Dame. I went to a small school, but the, the people that come out of here are so connected to it and are so proud. I think Lindsay could probably better speak to the, the experience of these pieces. I can tell you though, as someone that's covered college football for a long time, there are a lot of athletic directors and sports information directors that are very

Speaker 12

yes

Speaker 13

envious of this campaign. They look at it and say, why don't we have that? And we're really proud that we started that.

Audience Q&A Future and Reach

Speaker 12

As sports pulls farther away from the amateur model that we all, many of us grew up with. For universities, it's so important to keep the sports attached to what happens on campus. This does that. It's a perfect minute for us to say hello and acknowledge and a thank you to Pete Va, the director of athletics here at Notre Dame, who was our boss at NBC for some time. Pete, it's so great to be back with you, and thank you for supporting us here today as well. You were right. The questions are here. I trusted you the whole time. We have some questions from the audience. We'll share them here in our final, 10 minutes or so together, if that's okay. Uh, this is from Margaret, who's a faculty member, and I guess Rob and Lindsay, you can fight over this one. Do you envision any changes to the series over the next 20 years? So, Lindsay, I'll go to you with that one.

Speaker 19

Oh, um, oh, it's hard to say. I mean, of course, sure there will be changes. but I, I think something special about this series actually is that it is always kind of held to that core principle and what we're talking about, which is. Telling human stories and shining a light on the great work that's being done at Notre Dame. And I hope that that carries through the next 20 a hundred, you know, a thousand years, however long we get to do this. So I hope that it doesn't change dramatically, but of course we'll evolve with the times. I hope we get to go to more places. I hope we actually get to send, you know, a camera and a person up to space with, uh, this, you know, research that's being done and take it outside of, uh, outside of our planet, you know, take it as far as we absolutely can. But, um, I hope the core principles stay the same. Really.

Speaker 12

It'll be pretty cool. Professor Donna, you're up for that? Yeah.

Speaker 19

Yeah. Good.

Speaker 12

And it'll, it'll be Lauren's uh, it'll be her research at some point.'cause

Speaker 14

we'll send Lauren,

Speaker 12

mom, we, mom, we cool with that. Your younger brother would, I assume?

Speaker 14

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 12

Do you wanna send your older sister to space? Okay. Always wanna know what the dynamic is, so that's great. Uh, Owen, who is a student, thanks for being with us here today, Owen. Uh, again, I'll, I'll send this towards Robin Lindsay, as storytellers, how do you effectively relate to the viewer when research happens halfway across the globe?

Speaker 13

Take it.

Speaker 14

I just did one. Go ahead.

Speaker 13

Okay. Uh, how do you relate to it when it's halfway across the globe? Well, you hopefully find a connection here and you take a long trip with them to where they're doing their work. And I think that's been the beauty of this campaign. There, there are no limits, uh, there are no boundaries to where this project has taken us, but I think it's really important to find a connection, uh, that could be your next door neighbor. Right? That happens to be doing extraordinary work 8,000 miles away.

Speaker 12

Yeah. That's the key in any storytelling. There's always a hook. And that's why Rob was talking about the start of this, and Lindsay amplify that. Those first 15 seconds, let's get you hooked. And sometimes that could be a scene on campus where you see that professor walking go, oh, I, I walked that path when I was there where I recognized the dome in the distance. And seeing that person and then telling their story from there, or the grab you of, I was worried that my son, that I killed my son because I ate a peanut butter cookie. Right? Like, how, how do you, how do you turn away from that if you, if you have any soul, right? So those hooks are the ones that, as they said before, now, you'll watch TV all differently. Your mouth will be open looking for that hook in the first 15 seconds. So faculty member Jay asks, how are the stories shared beyond games to show the importance and the impact of research and university support with broader audiences? So professor, I might send that to you'cause your story aired and then the game ended. Mm-hmm. But the impact kept going. How, how much did you experience that firsthand?

Speaker 14

It was frankly amazing to see the media machine, you know, behind this campaign and how much larger it is. Then that one two minute ad live during. A USC game in, in this case. And

Speaker 12

Oh, you got the prime position, huh? It's real estate. There we go. Space Station. Oh, you get the USC game.

Speaker 14

Rockets. Rockets get you the USC game now. Um, what was amazing was, first of all, uh, an entire website was built with information about this campaign prior to, uh, the ad being shown. Uh, after that, there were additional short pieces on every social media that I'm sure, some of our younger, uh, folks would use, like Instagram and TikTok, et cetera, reaching people on LinkedIn, being linked to giving days, et cetera. Uh, and it still continues today. I mean, we're talking about it six months later and, for me it, it feels like the campaign never ended. So it's just been more and diverse types of positive and, varied reinforcement of the story that we're trying to tell.

Speaker 12

And Laura, we, we showed the story that you saw when you were in the stands with your dad, and then you mentioned that you did an update of that. So, as somebody who's on social media, I would imagine has a lot of friends, what was the reaction like once people saw your story?

Speaker 20

it was a little interesting. Well, I had no idea it was gonna get posted on Instagram and all that stuff, so that was a little bit of a shock. So open to see my face, but I, I think it was really cool just seeing how everything evolved. I mean, the research and everything. Yeah. I think it goes to show like how the longevity of the series is and how it really continues to stay relevant and impact people.

Speaker 12

Did you have people who didn't know that you had a nut allergy?

Speaker 20

A couple.

Speaker 12

Yeah. Come to you and then say, oh, I didn't know that.

Speaker 20

Yeah. Well also too, I had some friends and family reach out who also have nut allergies, just saying how amazing it was to hear what's being done and that there might be a cure. And that to me was super awesome to hear.

Speaker 12

We had a similar experience when my Kentucky Derby deal happened. I went on the Today Show and talked about it that next Monday. I heard from people who had lost kids who had severe allergies as well. Just said, thank you for sharing with the platform because it let me know about something that I didn't know. So I'm sure you've had an impact and a reach that you never imagined you would just by going to a football game with your dad, right? Mm-hmm. So there it is again. We come back to going to a football game with dads and daughters, right? Okay, student, Molly, thank you for this question. How have you seen these stories bring about a sense of unity and being a force for good that the university strives for? It's a great question. We jump in on that one. Lindsay,

Speaker 19

what's the best way to answer it? It just feels kind of like what it is, you know? I dunno. It's, it's being here, it's all of these people showing up. It's hearing from your peers, your colleagues, your friends, and the impact it's had on them just to watch it. I think. I don't know, maybe my perspective on it is a little bit too small, but it's just, it's, like I said, it's coming here, it's hearing the stories, it's working with the team here at Notre Dame. it's going to present, uh, not present. It's going to accept the award at the Sports Emmys and having people come up to me afterwards and saying how much they love this campaign, it's hearing from other ads and people at different universities that they're envious of what we have built here. it's really wide ranging, but I think, uh, it's very special

Speaker 12

a as a good producer. You segue to the next question without even knowing it. Uhoh, you're brilliant faculty member Mary, and staff member Brian. You've teamed up on this question, huh? Uh, I see. We're not gonna do a story on you, just'cause you team up for a question. So did the Big 10 copy Notre Dame Smiley face, apparently that's that. Just seriously. Has any other university and or network tried to replicate this series? Is this only possible and desirable because of the alignment in values and partnership between NBC sports and Notre Dame?

Speaker 13

I could probably turn to Pete right now, but I won't. When we were negotiating for the Big 10, television contract, we actually presented the Notre Dame model to them. Uh, Kevin Warren at the time was, uh, over seeing the negotiation. He loved the idea, but not every university wanted to do it. Some did, some didn't. and. They've, some have copied it to some degree, but it's not the same. And I'm very happy it didn't work out. But we definitely, um, we definitely presented that as a selling point of what we could do for each university, but they were not unified in, in their approach. So thankfully it is still one of one.

Speaker 12

And, and that's the value of that NBC Notre Dame partnership that we talked about and whoever asked before, how do you see it evolving for the next 20 years? I'd like to thank you for helping Pete negotiate a 20 year deal between our two sides. I think that it sounds great. I'm all for football independence. Is this being recorded? I've been impeached as a vice chair of the board at Syracuse. Thank you. Will you have me here? Okay. From Lauren. Oh, I'm sorry. For, from student Carolyn, for Lauren. Lauren, do you know Carolyn, by the way?

Speaker 20

I think I do.

Speaker 12

Okay. I now, now you have to stand up'cause you did this to your friend. Hi, welcome. That's cool. Thanks for being here to support your friend. Sorry for embarrassing you. So it's a great question though from Carolyn. How do you foresee, what would you fight for and your research continuing to shape your Notre Dame experience?

Speaker 20

Well,

Speaker 12

it's a great question. I

Speaker 20

think saying my we research is a bit of a stretch, but I think yeah, definitely the research they've been doing here. I mean, as far as I'm aware, I think that they are pretty close to getting a drug to market that would help cure peanut allergies. And I think that'd be just so amazing for me and so many other people that suffer from allergies. I mean, even just feeling more secure, go to the dining hall and go to the restaurants. Just, I don't have to worry. I'm gonna to eat something that might send me to the hospital like. I think yeah, it'd just be such an amazing thing.

Speaker 12

Absolutely. It certainly would. Thank thanks for supporting your friends, and it's a great question too. Next year you can host the panel and I'll just sit out there and fire out questions to embarrass my friends. Yeah, that's, that's the coolest part of the college experience, right? On a, an afternoon in the, the first nice afternoon in three months out here, you come inside to support your friends. That seriously, that's truly what the Notre Dame spirit and college in general is all about. Alright, last question. This is from a staff member Krista, it's for Mike, Lindsay and Rob. So I'll turn it to Rob and Lindsay for those interested in a career in sports broadcasting. Can you share a bit about your career paths and the key experiences that led you to your current roles?

Speaker 13

Oh, me first?

Speaker 12

You got it.

Speaker 13

Uh, well, I, I loved sports growing up. I played sports in college. I wasn't good enough to be a professional football player. The NFL was not looking for a six foot 1, 235 pound offensive lineman, unfortunately. Uh, but I wanted to continue covering sports. At first, I wanted to be an orthopedic surgeon working on athletes, but I got this bug. I had one internship before my senior year at Williams College, at our local TV station in la and I just fell in love with it. And what I fell in love with were the stories of the 1996 Olympic Games from Atlanta and the way the packages came together on the, on the athletes that could have been my neighbor that seemed pretty ordinary, but was doing extraordinary things in the Olympic Games. It hooked me. and from that point forward, I said, Hey, my goal is to produce a Super Bowl. I just did my first with Mike a month ago, and it's been an incredible ride.

Speaker 19

Yeah. Um, I, uh, started my career as a runner, which was, um, you know, bringing coffee and sandwiches and scripts to people. Uh, incredibly. It was out at Wimbledon's Tennis tournament in England, which is phenomenal. Um, I was lucky enough to be there bringing coffee to people and, somebody got sick one day, who was, serving a role as a stage manager. They asked me to fill in and that's when I got the bug. Um, that position is sitting in the announced booth, you know, in front of the field to play. Announcers are in front of you. You're wearing a headset listening to the production truck. And it was the first time I really got to hear everything going on from all sides, and I was totally hooked. And, uh, after that it's, it's just where I wanted to be. I started in, um, after that in the Olympic profiles and features department right outta school, which was here back in 2011. And, uh, I just wanted to tell stories about Olympic athletes. And, after a few years of doing that. my career veered into live production and I've been a live producer ever since. But, it's always been about storytelling from day one. And, uh, I feel lucky to keep doing it.

Closing Thanks and Reception

Speaker 12

And, uh, and for me, uh, there are a lot of students on this campus who work at fighting Irish media and they do an excellent job. And the six seasons of being here at Notre Dame, I saw that firsthand. I, I was them many years ago when I went to Syracuse. Syracuse has a well renowned communications program. A lot of announcers have come out of that school, and it attracted me there and is why I still stay involved with the school. But I just had this dream and early on I realized that my athletic career was not gonna take me where I wanted it to. It was either sports media or sports medicine. My science wasn't good, not an engineer. I went to the sports media side and, uh, had the opportunity to be an intern working college radio, and. Next year, I will start my 40th year on tv. And I still love my job every single day. And one of the great benefits of the job is it's taken me around the world to, every continent except Antarctica, uh, to cover sports live on tv, is that you get to meet really special people. And that's the athletes, that's the people you work with. I didn't know Rob or Lindsay. 11 years ago, I would say. Yeah, 11 years ago. And they are now two of my dearest friends. And as Rob said, we got to do the Super Bowl together. And the best part of doing the Super Bowl was I got to do it with as good a friend as I've ever had in life. And that's what this, what would you fight for is really about, it's about connecting people and people's stories and finding other people who are like you, who care. And you together do something better than you would as individuals. And we live that in tv. I know you live that in research. You're living that with your student community and your friends supporting you. And I think this shares why it's special at Notre Dame. And, uh, I'll just take this second to thank you Father Bob, for having us here. It's an honor always to be on this campus. I missed being here the last five years, but as I, as I drove in, I was reminded how lucky I am to have on my resume, and I know Rob feels the same. And Lindsay, as an alum, even more honored on our resume to say, we've been associated with this great institution and the amazing things you do. So thank you for the privilege of being a part of that. Uh, our program is done. The next step in this is. You will get to hear me make those closing comments. I just did. And then I'm gonna invite all of you to join a reception. It's gonna feature faculty, research teams available to discuss the work they featured. There's some tables out there that I saw as we came in showing specific research that was done by members of the faculty. So they'll be by those. And you can find out more about this great program. Professor Lauren, Rob Lindsay. Thank you. Thank you all. Have a great day. And go Irish.