Tuesday, June 12, 2012

A peek at Alumni's renovations


Faithful reader Pete provided this peek into Alumni's renovations. As you can see, the old turf is completely removed. The base wall and padding are also gone.

According to BC, the brick work on the new wall will come first and begin shortly. Construction on the wall will continue simultaneously as BC installs the new artificial turf. The new turf arrives June 25 and installation takes approximately four weeks. The wall will be finished later this summer


9 comments:

Unknown said...

"peek," not "peak."
Sincerely, the grammar police

Big Jack Krack said...

I received this in an email from the Flynn Fund................ First, we are in the process of installing a new state-of-the-art AstroTurf surface. The current technological advances in turf products is amazing and we are thrilled to provide our student-athletes with the best surface available.

Additionally, we will finish off the interior of the stadium by installing brick panels throughout the inner walls and team entrances to blend with the finishes of the exterior of the stadium. This will give Alumni Stadium a complete and finished look for national audiences and visitors to campus.

Philip said...

Mike is your last name aronson?

Big Jack Krack said...

Now that the North Dakota vote lets school scrap Fighting Sioux nickname, as reported in SI - I think it's only fitting that Notre Dame scrap the Fighting Irish nickname.

As a Boston Irish American, I find it very offensive that a midwest school that was named by a French priest in honor of Our Lady to bestow such a nickname as the "Fighting Irish" on itself.

It doesn't make any sense, and we shouldn't stand for it. Let the petition to have the nickname removed begin!

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Next up - Holy Cross "Crusaders".

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Yes, I'm starving for football talk.

mod34b said...

jack - the very concept behind the name Fighting Irish was stolen from the suffering of the Boston Irish. Indeed, it does not belong to ND in any way.

here is a 1953 explanation from a priest at ND:

Why the “Fighting Irish”?

Many people wonder (or worry) about Notre Dame and that word, Irish. To us, it doesn't mean race exclusively; nor is it just another nickname. The fact is, it keeps alive the memory of a long, uphill fight for recognition against a spirit that was not always generous, nor even fair-minded. The Irish, as known at Notre Dame, has an authentic history and a meaning deeper even than race.

Notre Dame began athletic relations chiefly with local colleges founded by various denominations. Press reports would refer to the schools as the “Baptists” or the “Methodists,” and the like. For Notre Dame it was the “Catholics,” or the “Irish.” But the players were never all of Irish ancestry; nor were they all Catholics.

The usage was not original, but a continuing custom from earlier Colonial times. The bulk of the first Catholic immigrants were Irish -- so that Catholics and Irish were identical in the public mind. It is sad to recall now, but few of the original states were without laws against them. Advertisements for ‘help wanted’ commonly carried the restriction: “No Catholics. No Irish.” The Puritans were the first to cry: “Stop the Irish!”

When the religious origin of other colleges lost its significance, the emphasis shifted to conventional names, and to their school colors. But history is recorded remembrance in our blessed heritage here at Notre Dame. Fighting Irish! It’s more than a name; more than a people. It is the Faith!

In narrow, little New England, it began as a slur -- a term of opprobrium. But we took it up and made of it a badge of honor -- a symbol of fidelity and courage to everyone who suffers from discrimination; to everyone who has an uphill fight for the elemental decencies, and the basic Christian principles woven into the texture of our nation. Preserving this tradition, and this meaning of Irish at Notre Dame does honor to everyone of us. It explains why Lewinski belongs here; why Alessandrini is the Irish leader; why Schmaltz belongs here; why Bertrand, and Moreau, Van Dyke, and Larson feel at home here as much as do Leahy and O’Brien.

Big Jack Krack said...

Thanks Mod - that was very interesting to say the least.

Leave it to a priest from ND to come up with that one. They were more interested in creating and maintaining their fan base (it is the faith) than anything else.

At Boston College, located in narrow, little New England not only are we Eagles, but by that definition we are also Fighting Irish.

We'll see you in November, ND - we love to beat on heavy favorites.

Go BC.

Coast said...

Just exactly where the moniker "Fighting Irish" came from is a matter of much debate and legend.

One possibility is that the nickname is inherited from Irish immigrant soldiers who fought in the Civil War with the Union's Irish Brigade. Notre Dame's claim to the nickname would seem to come from the presence of Fr. William Corby, CSC, the third president of Notre Dame at the Battle of Gettysburg. Fr. Corby served as chaplain of the Irish Brigade and granted general absolution to the troops in the midst of the battle. This is commemorated in the painting "Absolution Under Fire," part of Notre Dame's permanent art collection. The athletes and teams at Notre Dame were known by many different unofficial nicknames throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

During the Knute Rockne football era, Notre Dame had several unofficial nicknames, among them the "Rovers" and the "Ramblers". These names reflected the teams' propensity to travel the nation to play its football contests, long before such national travel became the collegiate norm. Later, Notre Dame was known unofficially as the "Terriers," after the Irish breed of the dog, and for some years, an Irish Terrier would be found on the ND football sidelines.

There are several other legends of how Notre Dame came to be the "Fighting Irish." One story suggests the moniker was born in 1899 during a game between Notre Dame and Northwestern. The Irish were leading 5-0 at halftime when the Wildcat fans began to chant, "Kill the Fighting Irish, kill the Fighting Irish," as the second half opened.[1] Another tale has the nickname originating at halftime of the Notre Dame-Michigan game in 1909. With his team trailing, one Notre Dame player yelled to his teammates —who had names like Dolan, Kelly, Donnelly, Glynn, Duffy and Ryan— "What's the matter with you guys? You're all Irish and you're not fighting worth a lick." Notre Dame came back to win the game and the press, after overhearing the remark, reported the game as a victory for the "Fighting Irish."

The most generally accepted explanation by the University is that the press coined the nickname in the 1920s as a characterization of Notre Dame athletic teams, their never-say-die fighting spirit and the Irish qualities of grit, determination and tenacity. Notre Dame alumnus Francis Wallace popularized the Fighting Irish nickname in his New York Daily News columns in the 1920s with respect to the university. In 1927 Fr. Matthew Walsh, CSC adopted the nickname as the official moniker of the University's sports teams.

Source

Sal said...

How the hell did a post about Alumni Stadium renovations turn into a discussion about Notre Dame's nickname? And we like to think that we don't have an inferiority complex with the Irish?

Big Jack Krack said...

I apologize.

The daily SI headline was about the Fighting Sioux nickname being eliminated - so I was just having some fun about the Fighting Irish.

I had already submitted a comment about the stadium and I think the renovations will be very good.

It looked like it would be a slow day.

I have no inferiority complex about ND at all - and I really look forward to beating them in November.

I'm a[n](Irish) city guy, not an Irish corn-field guy.

Go BC.