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| It's always good to be back home at Notre Dame. |
So I met Dennis and dropped off my stuff in his room and then we went to dinner at Rohr’s in the Morris Inn. To drink I had a Space Station from Indiana’s largest brewery, 3 Floyds. When I had a second beer, I ordered the other one they had from 3 Floyds, but I suspect that the waitress brought me another Space Station. But it was good. And now Alaska is the only state I still have to drink a beer from.
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| My 49th beer state |
After dinner, we went to mass at the Grotto. I think I once went to the Rosary with Jim Caviezel at the Grotto when I was a student, but I don’t think I had ever gone to mass at the Grotto before. Jim Caviezel also once drunkenly made his way through the student section at a football game. I'm pretty sure I had a picture of me next to him, but I couldn't find it. Anyway, the mass was at 8:00 and it was still very light out when it was over. The sun sets more than 50 minutes later there than it does on Long Island so that’s pretty cool. What’s not too cool is when you have an early class in the winter and it’s still dark outside when you’re going to class. After mass, I headed to my hotel.
On Friday, I got to campus around 11:00 and walked around for a bit before going to the 11:30 mass in the basilica. Then it was more walking around campus for a little bit. I checked out the Duncan Student Center, which is one of the new buildings attached to the football stadium. That is quite an impressive building. I tried to go all the way to the top to check out the view of the field or of the rest of campus, but the elevator wouldn’t go past the 5th floor (there were nine floors). For old time’s sake, I got lunch at Subway in LaFortune. When I was a student, I pretty much had free Subway thanks to the flex points that were part of the meal plan.
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| Before mass in the basilica |
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| Touchdown Jesus |
Then it was time for my stadium tour. The last time I was in the stadium was pretty miserable. We lost to Duke. We went 4-8 in Brian Kelly’s 7th year. He’s coached eight years and is 0-2 in major bowl games. But he’s still our coach. Great. Anyway, this was my first time in the stadium since the renovations were complete. I had done the stadium tour while the renovations were going on in February 2016. This was very different. We started at the Frank Leahy Gate (on the south end of the stadium) and walked on the west side of the stadium. Our first view of the field was from the student section. Then they took us outside the stadium to the Knute Rockne Gate (on the north side of the stadium) and back inside. From there, we got to go into the tunnel and touch the Play Like a Champion Today sign. Last time, we got to go into the locker room and touch the sign on the way out to the field. But the locker room was not included this time. And then we got to go out to the field. It was cool that we got to run all around the field if we wanted. Last time, we just came out of the tunnel and stood on the end of the field (but the field was covered with snow that time). But I would gladly give up the ability to walk all around the field if we could get real grass back in the stadium. The video board was not on while I was in the stadium, but I noticed earlier when I was walking around in the library that it was one and it was showing highlights from our Citrus Bowl win over LSU (I could see the top of the board from the windows on the second floor of the library). So the tour was cool, but I would include the locker room if possible and they definitely should have taken us up to one of the suites at the top of the one of the buildings on the side of the field. They should be trying to show those off.
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| My first view of the field since the renovations were completed. |
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| Not the best camerawork by one of the tour guides, but I'll take it. |
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| You can see the video board on the other end of the field. |
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| I'd gladly give up the opportunity to stand on the field and a Garth Brooks concert if we could get real grass back in the stadium. |
After that, I went back to LaFortune and watched some Wimbledon and charged my phone while I waited for Dennis to get done with class. I had watched a little of the Isner/Anderson match before the tour. Unfortunately I missed the end of it during the tour. I was hoping it would keep going. It was frustrating to be so close to having an American male back in the Wimbledon final and then lose 26-24 in the last set (but he probably would have fared as well against Djokovic as Anderson did after that match if he had won).
Then I met up with Dennis for some Single-A baseball. It was the Beloit Snappers against the South Bend Cubs at Four Winds Field. The stadium has been around since 1987, but I never went as a student (it’s a few miles from campus). We watched an inning and then took a lap around the stadium. We saw a couple of kids walking around like they had just gone swimming and we were confused. Then we saw a little area out in right field with water shooting around that kids could play in. In left field, there were buildings that had seats on the roof like you have outside of Wrigley Field. The beer selection was pretty good. We both had a Bell’s Amber Ale. Bell’s is from Michigan. The beer was good and there were a few other craft options. But they should get some Indiana beer in there. There were a number of food options and the lines were not too long. We both got cheesesteaks from a stand called Steakadelphia. They were pretty good. The video board was the nicest one I’ve seen at a minor league stadium. Attendance was listed at 6,720 even though capacity is listed at 5,000. So it was a good crowd in a good-looking stadium with good, but not great, food and beer options. I am going to put it at fourth on my minor league ballpark rankings. It’s really close between this one and Joseph P. Riley Jr. Park in Charleston, but that one gets the edge for the superior food and beer options. But I am putting this one ahead of Dickey-Stephens Park, which I had visited two days earlier and liked a lot. I have one more minor league game on the schedule for this year and that will probably be the last one. I’ll give you complete updated rankings after I get to that one.
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| We were in the second row behind the dugout and nobody was sitting in front of us. |
I stopped by the Grotto after the game when it was dark because that was the only time I was on campus when it was dark on this trip. The next morning I get breakfast with Dennis at the South Dining Hall (I almost always ate at the North Dining Hall when I was a student). Then he had some work to do and I walked around campus a little bit more before getting on the bus to head home. It was the third time since I graduated that I was back on campus for something other than a football Saturday in the fall. The first time was in 2009, which was sort of a football weekend. I was there for the Blue-Gold Game, which was combined with my first trip to Wrigley Field. The next time was in 2016 for a stadium tour, a basketball game (a win over Louisville), and a hockey game (a win over Maine). I love going to football games (you know, when we aren’t losing to Syracuse or Duke), but it is nice to be on campus when there aren’t 80,000 people there. This was the first time that I was ever on campus in July (June is now the only month I haven’t been on campus). It looks like I won’t be going to a game on campus this year so I don’t know when I’ll be back. But it was great to see Dennis and be back on campus this time.
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| One of my favorite spots on campus |
I’ll finish up with an updated list of beers I’ve had from 49 states plus Washington DC (in the order that I've been to each place):
1. New York- Bluepoint, Sand City, Brooklyn, Bronx, etc.
2. New Jersey- Twin Elephant
3. Connecticut- City Steam Naughty Nurse
4. Pennsylvania- Yuengling, Troegs Hopback Amber Ale
5. Ohio- Great Lakes Brewing Company, Rivertown Brewery
6. Florida- Cigar City Tampa-Style Lager
7. Rhode Island- Narragansett Lager
8. Massachusetts- Sam Adams, Harpoon, probably others
9. Delaware- Iron Hill, Fordham and Dominion Brewing Company
10. Maryland- Flying Dog Brewery
11. Washington DC- Right Proper Raised by Wolves
12. Virginia- Port City Optimal Wit
13. Indiana- 3 Floyds Space Station
14. Illinois- Goose Island, possibly others
15. Kentucky- Kentucky Vanilla Barrel Cream Ale
16. Tennessee- Memphis Made Lucid Kolsch
17. Georgia- Sweetwater Grass Monkey
18. Michigan- Bell's Oberon, Bell’s Amber
19. New Hampshire- Moat Mountain Every Night IPA
20. California- Point the Way IPA (Golden Road Brewing), Coronado Brewing, Lagunitas, others
21. North Carolina- Olde Hickory Pale Ale, Foothills
22. Nevada- Brew Brothers Redhead Amber Ale, Brew Brothers Carano Extra
23. Arizona- Four Peaks Kilt Lifter Scottish Style Ale
24. Colorado- Boulder
25. Wyoming- Melvin IPA
26. Wisconsin- Leinenkugel's
27. Texas- Shiner (probably some other stuff too when I visited Wilhelm)
28. Washington- Fremont
29. Missouri- Schlafly, Boulevard
30. Arkansas- Diamond Bear Pale Ale
31. Oklahoma- COOP Alpha Hive
32. Kansas- Defiance Fuzzy Knuckles
33. West Virginia- Almost Heaven Amber Ale
34. Utah- Moab Rocket Bike Amber Lager
35. New Mexico- It was probably something from the Sierra Blanca Brewing Company, I remember there was local beer with baseball-themed tap handles, my googling indicates that something from the Sierra Blanca Brewing Company is most likely what I had
36. Alabama- Yellowhammer Rebellion Red Ale
37. Minnesota- Surly, Summit
38. Iowa- West O Blackberry Coco Stout
39. Nebraska- Prairie Pride Trouble in Dublin
40. South Dakota- Crow Peak IPA
41. North Dakota- Fargo Brewing Company
42. Montana- Uberbrew
43. Idaho- Crooked Fence Barrelhouse Welcome to Idaho, Grand Teton Ale 208
44. Oregon- Widmer Brothers
45. Maine- Shipyard
46. Vermont- Long Trail
47. Louisiana- Courtyard Blanch de Orleans
48. Mississippi- Biloxi Beach Blonde
49. Hawaii- Waikiki Brewing Company
50. South Carolina- Palmetto Amber
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