Sean, Tom, Erin, and I started the day by getting brunch in Philadelphia. After that, Sean, Tom, and I were off to do some historical stuff in Philadelphia. We saw the outline of the president's house where George Washington and John Adams once lived. Then we went to Independence Hall. Tom and I went to Valley Forge last summer and we went to Independence Hall in the winter. So we did that a little backwards, but whatever.
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| The president lived inside these walls in the 1790s. |
The park ranger giving the tour called Independence Hall the most important building in the country. Obviously, it's not today, but you can make the case that it's the most important building in the history of the United States. It's where George Washington was put in charge of the Continental Army. It's where the colonies voted for independence from Great Britain on July 2, 1776 and the Declaration of Independence was signed in August. It's where the Constitution was written. I don't know how it took me so long to get there.
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| The most important building in the country |
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| I've said that our nation was conceived in Boston, but it was born in this room. |
The tour isn't very long and it's free if you get tickets the day of the tour. You can reserve tickets in advance for $1.50 each. The first stop was a court room. Then you go to the most famous part, the room where the Second Continental Congress and Constitutional Convention met. Apparently the chair that Washington sat in during the Constitutional Convention is still there. It has a rising sun on it. According to James Madison, Benjamin Franklin said, "I have often...in the course of this session...looked at that...without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting; but now at length I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting sun." For all of the problems with our government, we still have a great Constitution. And our Constitution would not have been possible without George Washington. The delegates would not have agreed to the way the executive branch was set up if they had not trusted George Washington. They knew Washington would be the first president, and once again, he proved worthy of their trust. Unlike so many others throughout history that abused their power, Washington led our country well and then voluntarily gave up his power. The last stop on the tour is upstairs. Apparently that's been used for different purposes. I think prisoners were kept their when the British controlled Philadelphia during the Revolution. Parties were held up there. Artifacts from the Lewis and Clark expedition were once displayed there as well. Outside Independence Hall is a statue of George Washington in the front. Right by the statue are markers of where Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy made speeches. On the other side is a statue of Commodore John Barry, the Father of the Navy. I always thought John Paul Jones was the Father of the Navy. So I googled it and apparently they're both considered the Father of the Navy.
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| Standing below the Father of the Country |
Following that, we went to the newly opened Benjamin Franklin Museum. It's right by where he lived toward the end of his life. His house is outlined since it no longer stands (the only place where he lived that still stands is in London, I visited last summer). The museum isn't that big. It's good if you have a half hour to an hour to kill in Philadelphia. It was only $5. I was able to take some pictures that I used with my class this week (a copy of Poor Richard's Almanack, a pair of bifocals, stuff like that).
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| This was the second best selling book in the colonies for 25 years. I'll let you figure out what was number 1. |
Other stuff we saw in Philadelphia: the building that was the National Bank that Andrew Jackson killed, the Liberty Bell, Carpenters' Hall, and European Republic. I have some thoughts/notes about each one. Andrew Jackson has no business being on money. The Liberty Bell probably did not ring on July 4, 1776, but apparently it was probably one of many bells rung to mark the reading of the Declaration of Independence on July 8, 1776. Carpenters' Hall was the site of the First Continental Congress. The First Continental Congress didn't do much. They did agree to boycott British goods, but as I know from taking Irish History at Notre Dame, they didn't call it a boycott. How do I know that? The word "boycott" comes from Irish history. Charles Boycott was a British land agent in Ireland who was ostracized by the Irish in 1880. That's where the word comes from. So the colonies boycotted British goods, but that word didn't exist in the 1770s. The First Continental Congress also agreed to another meeting if the Intolerable Acts were not repealed. That meeting was the Second Continental Congress. And we didn't go to European Republic, but I absolutely love the Huntington location. The owner is an awesome guy.
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| The Liberty Bell |
After that, we were off to Aston for curling. There were five curling sheets set up. There were 10 teams of men and women. So all the women's teams played at 4:30 and then all the men's teams played at 8:30. They should have put the women second. They were the main event. Curling is the only sport where I'm more interested in the women than the men. Notre Dame's women's basketball team has been very successful lately. If I had to choose between being consistently in the top 5 in women's basketball (which we have been lately) or being consistently in the top 20 in men's basketball (which we weren't that far off from for the last few years until this year), I'm definitely picking the men being in the top 20. But our men's team is terrible this year, so I'm really rooting for the women to win the national championship (it would be a big upset if anybody other than Notre Dame or UConn won).
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| A panoramic shot of the curling sheets |
Anyway, we saw all of our favorite curling stars. Like Johnson! Johnson 2! Joraanstad! Fenson! And Shuster! All of them are former Olympians. Unfortunately for me, Johnson and Johnson 2 are married and they're Potter and Haskell now. The good news was they were on sheet A, which was closest to the stands. There were times that I was probably 10-15 feet from them. It was eight years ago that they were in the Olympics in their 20s, but they've still got it. Olympic curling trials should just be Cassie and Jamie picking who they want for the other two spots on their team (Nicole Joraanstad and Jessica Schultz would be my choices). Cassie and Jamie took on their 2006 Olympic teammate, Courtney George. Courtney George started with the hammer and took a 1-0 lead in the first end. Cassie and Jamie responded with three in the second end and they were in control of the game after that. They went up 8-2 after seven ends and I was conflicted. I wanted them to win, but I also didn't want the game to end early. I was worried that Courtney George might concede. Fortunately, she didn't and she scored two in the eighth and then stole two in the ninth. So with the score 8-6, they played the tenth end. Cassie made a shot that made it impossible for Courtney George to score two, so that was the game. The 2014 USA Curling Nationals website says the score was "8-6 Final (9)." I thought that was a mistake because they definitely played the tenth end, but I think I've figured out how that was correct. I don't think all the rocks were played in the tenth end, so only nine ends were completed. Cassie Potter and Courtney George both had one more rock, but Courtney George couldn't score two with one rock left.
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| Jamie and Cassie strategize. |
There was another game that went ten ends, two games that went to extra ends, and one that was conceded after seven ends with a score of 12-2. It would have been nice if Cassie had played an extra end, but I'm glad she won. That was the first game of qualifying. She lost her next two, but then ran off six in a row to make it to the playoffs. Curling uses a weird playoff system. The top two teams play each other. The winner goes to the championship game. The third and fourth place teams play each other. The loser is out and the winner plays the loser of the game between the top two teams. Then the winner of that game gets the other spot in the championship game. Cassie was the 2 seed, but she ended up losing her two playoff games and got the bronze medal. Oh well. At least she got a medal. All that really matters is that she gets back to the Olympics in 2018.
After the women's games, we got dinner in Media, where my friend Adam used to live. We went to Iron Hill Brewery. I had a nice seafood stew. Unfortunately, I hadn't been feeling too good for a few days so I decided not to drink anything.
Then we went back for the men's games. When we got there, the games were either in the second or third end. So we didn't miss that much. I was most interested in the games on sheets B and C. Three-time Olympian John Shuster was on sheet B and the greatest curler in US history, Pete Fenson, was on sheet C. Fenson was the skip of the only American team to ever win a medal in the Olympics. One difference between men's and women's curling is that the men are much louder. I could hear some of Cassie's calls. Shuster was one sheet farther away and I could hear just about everything very clearly. Both Shuster and Fenson won. Shuster ended up going 5-4 and not making it to the playoffs. That seems about right if you watched him in the Olympics (sorry, easy joke). Pete Fenson finished the the 3 seed and has won two playoff games. He's playing for the championship this afternoon.
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| John Shuster in the house on sheet B and Pete Fenson in the house on sheet C |
Some final thoughts on curling. There were a lot of sponsors, but the biggest one was definitely Labatt. That just reminds me of Canada's dominance in curling. We need to get an American beer to sponsor it in 2015. It's a great sport to watch on TV when there are enough cameras. I've been watching some of the tournament online and they have very limited cameras. They have cameras that look down the ice from both sides and cameras over the houses (on some sheets). I need those close up shots of Cassie and Jamie. As for watching in person, it was fun. It's easy to follow the games close to you and hard to follow the games far away. I really didn't pay attention to what was happening on sheets D and E, but A, B, and C were not difficult to pay attention to. They were selling beer and it would have been fun to drink, but like I said, I wasn't feeling up to it sadly. I've spent a lot of time thinking about the best seats for different sports. For baseball, I like sitting behind home plate at a little bit of an elevation (those seats are usually way too expensive in New York so I end up sitting behind home plate a little bit higher than would be ideal most of the time). For football, the student section at Notre Dame is the best. But in general, the 50 yard line at a little elevation would be ideal, but I usually end up in a corner somewhere (I usually don't have control over where I sit at Notre Dame). For basketball, I greatly prefer the sideline over behind the basket. Anywhere on the sideline close to the court is good. For the Big East Tournament next week, I'll be at half court high up. I should be able to move down for the late games. For curling, I think the ideal location would be at a little bit of an elevation looking down the sheets. That's where the broadcasters were for the Olympics. We really didn't have much of a choice as the stands ran along the side of the hockey rink closest to sheet A. Given that, curling was a little bit different from other sports. We didn't want to be in the middle. We sat by the house that they shot on during the odd ends. For the odd ends, it was a pretty good seat. For the even ends, it wasn't a particularly good seat. We moved to the other side near the house for the tenth ends for both the women's games and the men's games. It was fun and I'm glad I went. It was my first time seeing curling in person and I hope it won't be the last. I would definitely go again if it was someplace close or if it was someplace interesting that I could get to for a reasonable price. Next year it's in Kalamazoo, Michigan. I could probably get there for a reasonable price, but it's Kalamazoo, Michigan. So maybe in 2016.
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