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Post by longsuffering on May 31, 2020 21:51:10 GMT -5
We should play Notre Dame there. Pretty sure ND has nevah played an FCS school....but agree, it would be tremendous. Other football historians bettah than I may elaborate, but I think ND avoided playing other Catholic schools (ourselves included) until about the 1970s when they played BC at Foxboro. I attended that night game at Schaeffer Stadium. My late cousin found a free parking area that I think was in Norfolk and a path that led trough the woods to get to the field. That area is probably all McMansions today.
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Post by KY Crusader 75 on May 31, 2020 22:04:53 GMT -5
Trivia question: when was the first time Holy Cross played at Schaeffer Stadium?
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Post by hc87 on May 31, 2020 22:26:31 GMT -5
Trivia question: when was the first time Holy Cross played at Schaeffer Stadium? Was in attendance as a young lad....1971...a 21-7 loss to BC....one f in Schaefer btw
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Post by bfoley82 on Jun 1, 2020 0:27:37 GMT -5
We should play Notre Dame there. Pretty sure ND has nevah played an FCS school....but agree, it would be tremendous. Other football historians bettah than I may elaborate, but I think ND avoided playing other Catholic schools (ourselves included) until about the 1970s when they played BC at Foxboro. BC and ND played in 1975 at Foxboro. They did not play again till 1983 in Memphis for a bowl game. The first time BC played at ND was in 1987. The original series started up regularly in 1992-2004.
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Post by longsuffering on Jun 1, 2020 1:49:29 GMT -5
Was the '71 game relocated to Schaeffer (the one beer to have when you're having more than one) due to a snow storm? I was at that game in the press box as a reporter for Today News, even though Today didn't have a sports section (what do you want for your nickel in front of Kimball?)
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Post by KY Crusader 75 on Jun 1, 2020 9:35:09 GMT -5
Was the '71 game relocated to Schaeffer (the one beer to have when you're having more than one) due to a snow storm? I was at that game in the press box as a reporter for Today News, even though Today didn't have a sports section (what do you want for your nickel in front of Kimball?) Yes--big snowstorm hit and the game was moved.
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Post by timholycross on Jun 1, 2020 10:09:13 GMT -5
My junior year. I lived in Framingham. The snow line was basically the Natick/Framingham line. Framingham (and HC) got close to 20 inches of snow. Natick (and Foxborough) got torrential rain.
So, in addition to the field being artificial turf, the stands at Schaefer were snow-free. You couldn't have played in Worcester unlike the 1986 game (which they probably should have moved too, the field was so, so horrible; but the stands were clear).
The game at Foxborough was actually on a pretty nice day for the end of November; HC played pretty well in that one.
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Post by timholycross on Jun 1, 2020 10:14:46 GMT -5
Pretty sure ND has nevah played an FCS school....but agree, it would be tremendous. Other football historians bettah than I may elaborate, but I think ND avoided playing other Catholic schools (ourselves included) until about the 1970s when they played BC at Foxboro. I attended that night game at Schaeffer Stadium. My late cousin found a free parking area that I think was in Norfolk and a path that led trough the woods to get to the field. That area is probably all McMansions today. I got BC season tickets for next to nothing because I was a grad student there; it included that game. Yes, I'm sure that Norfolk area is all McMansions now; there was also a dirt road from the end of Washington Street in South Walpole that went right to the stadium. It took that town 2-3 years to catch on and ban parking there. The parking lots on site in the early 70s really sucked, especially getting in and out of them.
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Post by hc87 on Jun 1, 2020 15:22:12 GMT -5
Forgot about those paths....pretty sure I used both ovah the years
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Post by longsuffering on Jun 1, 2020 17:45:08 GMT -5
I attended that night game at Schaeffer Stadium. My late cousin found a free parking area that I think was in Norfolk and a path that led trough the woods to get to the field. That area is probably all McMansions today. I got BC season tickets for next to nothing because I was a grad student there; it included that game. Yes, I'm sure that Norfolk area is all McMansions now; there was also a dirt road from the end of Washington Street in South Walpole that went right to the stadium. It took that town 2-3 years to catch on and ban parking there. The parking lots on site in the early 70s really sucked, especially getting in and out of them. Mentioning Walpole, the Cedar Junction State Prison in Walpole is only a mile and a half from Gillette Stadium as the crow flies and on game day the prisoners, who included Aaron Hernandez during one season, can hear the road of the crowd.
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Post by A Clock Tower Purple on Jun 1, 2020 20:21:35 GMT -5
Don't give rat's ass about prisoners hearing crowds in the distance, but Hernandez didn't, as he was at Shirley, not Walpole.
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Post by longsuffering on Jun 1, 2020 20:41:08 GMT -5
Don't give rat's ass about prisoners hearing crowds in the distance, but Hernandez didn't, as he was at Shirley, not Walpole. I'll concede. He went to Cedar junction-Walpole after his conviction for processing. He was only there for a week before being sent to Shirley but it was long enough for media stories about how close he was to Gillette and how the roar of the crowd can be heard by the prisoners at Cedar Junction, which I remembered. I was thinking it was around one season he was at Walpole before transferring.
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Post by crusader12 on Jun 2, 2020 6:44:31 GMT -5
Foley Stadium is a dump.
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Post by timholycross on Jun 2, 2020 8:15:04 GMT -5
Foley Stadium ain't happening and I doubt is even being considered.
Polar or temporary lights or nothing.
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Post by joe on Jun 2, 2020 11:31:18 GMT -5
I felt that we should have played a game against Harvard or BC at Fenway, instead of playing anyone at Yankee Stadium. I think maybe BC would have found some reasons to do it. Now my feeling is the novelty of football at Fenway has come and gone so it would probably not excite anyone other than the most die hard of fans. For night games there is no better place than Fitton under rented lights. Why would a semipro baseball stadium be interesting?
A big venue game against Colgate, or any other PL opponent is a non starter. No school other than HC travels well. For that matter Colgate doesn’t even get crowds at home when they’re good.
I’m happy with where HC is in football right now and I like the OOC schedule and the anticipation of better success in the post season. Conference play is a formality that gets us from the OOC to the playoffs. None of the schools are exciting football schools at present. I do believe HC is the class of the league right now and it is our championship to lose for at least several years.
If we play in 2020 this may be the year we give BC a run, assuming we figure out who our QB is, which is probably one of the more interesting questions to ponder, perhaps in another thread. Anyone remember how we pulled our starting QB after he took us to a PLC and a playoff birth? Who is our #1 heading into whatever comes next?
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Post by hc87 on Jun 2, 2020 12:21:29 GMT -5
OK, simply to think of almost anything else right now, you are the HC AD....you have lights at your disposal for any 2020 game at Fitton. How would you schedule the kickoff times for the 2020 campaign?
I'd go:
Lehigh Sept 12.... I'd go 7:00 on the same day Yale Sept 19......I might go for a little later kickoff due to Homecoming....say 1:30 Brown Oct 10.....I think late afternoon works best for this game....3:30 Fordham Nov 14.....getting late in the year, but I'd still go 3:30...Family Weekend Bucknell Nov 21....Sr day...this time of year, I'd keep it early 12:30 or 1...noon kickoffs are too early imo
Just an interesting exercise....really not the greatest of home slates next year actually...it's not bad, but no real "wow, I have to be there" type game, maybe both Lehigh and Yale fit that bill for some/many
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Post by timholycross on Jun 2, 2020 13:16:43 GMT -5
I assume you mean on Nov 14 if you had lights for free you'd play at 3:30? Same w/Oct 10. Only the Yale and Lehigh games do you have enough daylight to start late w/o lights.
I do agree a later afternoon start would be more attractive to a lot of people. I'm past the soccer dad phase of my life, but I can see where family stuff on Saturday mornings is a big detriment to going to live games.
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Post by hc87 on Jun 2, 2020 13:33:21 GMT -5
I assume you mean on Nov 14 if you had lights for free you'd play at 3:30? Same w/Oct 10. Only the Yale and Lehigh games do you have enough daylight to start late w/o lights. I do agree a later afternoon start would be more attractive to a lot of people. I'm past the soccer dad phase of my life, but I can see where family stuff on Saturday mornings is a big detriment to going to live games. Yeah....obviously a hypothetical for next season, assuming both lights and no virus restrictions etc Lehigh a night game but Sat. night...Friday nights are dominated by HS football....not ideal for Lehigh and their fans admittedly. I think you almost always keep Homecoming an early afternoon game for historic sense, an event smack dab in the middle of that weekend etc.....Family Weekend the same but maybe movable to 3:30 or 7 depending on the opponent, time of the year etc. Ideal template moving forward imo: 1, maybe 2, 7:00 kickoff games Homecoming and maybe Family Weekend earlier starts. Most other games 3:30 starts given the opponent, time of the year etc The era of all 1:00 games at Fitton just doesn't work (in the sense of drawing decent crowds, creating an atmosphere/event etc) anymore.
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Post by timholycross on Jun 2, 2020 14:21:59 GMT -5
...and even worse are the games that they move up an hour or a half hour for no good reason. Clearly the ones after the clocks "fall back" have to be.
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Post by longsuffering on Jun 2, 2020 14:52:12 GMT -5
A late afternoon start on a warm sunny fall day is a joy, on a cold, damp or blustery one, not so much. Schedule late early and early late, in the spirit of Yogi Berra's "It gets late around here early," referring to the adverse sun conditions in left field at Yankee stadium.
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Post by gerry on Jun 3, 2020 7:34:45 GMT -5
Regarding Navy's scheduling of BC....Navy has no flexibility in regards to football scheduling. They have only fpur OOC games, and play Army, Air Force and Notre Dame anually leaving one OOC spot which 99/100 time will be an FCS opponent. I'm pretty sure BC, Syracuse, UConn, etc would love to schedule Navy. A national program like them should be independent. I'm sure their fans would much rather see traditional opponents like BC, Syracuse, Pitt, UVA, etc than Tulane, Tulsa, or East Carolina
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Post by Tom on Jun 3, 2020 8:00:26 GMT -5
I got BC season tickets for next to nothing because I was a grad student there; it included that game. Yes, I'm sure that Norfolk area is all McMansions now; there was also a dirt road from the end of Washington Street in South Walpole that went right to the stadium. It took that town 2-3 years to catch on and ban parking there. The parking lots on site in the early 70s really sucked, especially getting in and out of them. Mentioning Walpole, the Cedar Junction State Prison in Walpole is only a mile and a half from Gillette Stadium as the crow flies and on game day the prisoners, who included Aaron Hernandez during one season, can hear the road of the crowd. Close enough that you can get work release prisoners to clear snow from the field to assist field goal attempts
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Post by CHC8485 on Jun 3, 2020 8:47:19 GMT -5
Thought Mark Henderson - the snow plow driver - was from the prison in Norfolk not Cedar Junction. And to further derail this topic, doesn't Cedar Junction sound much more like a summer camp or vacation resort than a maximum security prison?
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Post by thecrossisback on Jun 3, 2020 8:55:51 GMT -5
OK, simply to think of almost anything else right now, you are the HC AD....you have lights at your disposal for any 2020 game at Fitton. How would you schedule the kickoff times for the 2020 campaign? I'd go: Lehigh Sept 12.... I'd go 7:00 on the same day Yale Sept 19......I might go for a little later kickoff due to Homecoming....say 1:30 Brown Oct 10.....I think late afternoon works best for this game....3:30 Fordham Nov 14.....getting late in the year, but I'd still go 3:30...Family Weekend Bucknell Nov 21....Sr day...this time of year, I'd keep it early 12:30 or 1...noon kickoffs are too early imo Just an interesting exercise....really not the greatest of home slates next year actually...it's not bad, but no real "wow, I have to be there" type game, maybe both Lehigh and Yale fit that bill for some/many I like it. Night games will draw more students and fans. It has been proven in the past. Playing Brown is lame because they have no fans. HC fans almost outdrew them at Brown. At home vs Brown should be an easy win, but who knows. I want another game vs Dartmouth.
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Post by timholycross on Jun 3, 2020 16:02:44 GMT -5
Thought Mark Henderson - the snow plow driver - was from the prison in Norfolk not Cedar Junction. And to further derail this topic, doesn't Cedar Junction sound much more like a summer camp or vacation resort than a maximum security prison? That's because Walpole got (a lot) more affluent and the newcomers pissed and moaned about the town name being associated with the Big House. Yes, Henderson was on work release from Norfolk, you don't get a guy doing hard time being let out like that. Cedar Junction's a lot closer to Gillette than MCI Norfolk, BTW.
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