Weekend Recap

Friday evening started the weekend with a visit from the Boston College Football team. They had dinner in the PressBox and then toured the museum. They were a group of very nice young men. Surprisingly...there was food left over. Part of the BC team heading down into the museum level

My favorite Friday moment was about 20 minutes before the hall closed a gentleman came in with his high school aged son. He told me how he grew up in Indiana and has been a huge Notre Dame fan all of his life and today he finally had the opportunity to visit and as soon as he drove on to the campus he started crying. He seemed embarassed because he had cried like that in front of his son. His son said it was no big deal and I said to him "Thirty years from now, you are going to look back, and be very grateful for that moment" and his dad just grinned. It was very touching...they almost made me cry.

Saturday morning started at 7am setting up for a Corporate Tailgate Party for Blue Chip Casino. Fun times...a little chilly, but fun times.

Once that was up and running we prepared for Rocket Ismail's autograph session. After he arrived and we were escorting him downstairs I told him that a gentleman claiming to be his high school coach had been hanging around all morning. At that moment the gentleman started walking toward us so I pointed him out and the look of joy and the bear hug that followed (my favorite Saturday moment) led me to believe that Rocket might be a few minutes so I ran down to tell our gang to tell his fans that he is in the building but would be a few more minutes.

During past autograph sessions I have learned that people are REAL specific about HOW they want their memoribilia signed. This sessions most popular request was "Rocket Ismail #25 1988 National Champions" now I know that does not sound like a lot but there was a great deal of stuff to be signed for a great deal of people...can you say HAND CRAMP...so Rocket asked if he could just sign his first name and so we informed the crowd that he would only be signing "Rocket #25" - some people were pretty insistent and this is where I came in - I had the privledge of being the voice of Rocket and telling people "No". When people would still ask him to autograph the entire Constitution on their piece of memoribilia he would smile and start and I would say to them "He is way to nice to tell you no, but I will, he is only going to be signing his first name."

There was also the rule about not coming behind the table...many tried shoving through...so I grabbed a couple of our male volunteers and turned them into Rocket's bookends. There was one exception to this rule: There was this little girl who was decked out in ND gear and she even had a button on declaring that she was "Gabriella Superfan" which was just too cute. So she will be on the website.

After that I had to get the stadium theatre set for a corporate watch party (a group reserves the theatre and watches the game and eats a catered meal in our Stadium Theatre).


While all of that was happening we had people setting up the Press Box for a Post Game Celebration party.


<---Pressbox view showing the windows that look out toward the river.

Pressbox view showing the Heisman Art Gallery --->

During set up, the elevator got stuck - had to fix that, and a toilet got clogged - had to fix that.

At 4:00 I handed the reigns over to Joe A. and rushed home so that we could get to church in time for my husband to get his directions for serving on our First Impressions team during all five services.

Good Times.

2007 College Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival

Okay, I need to pre-empt this by stating...all of the pictures are from my phone so do not give me crap about quality...

The College Football Hall of Fame just celebrated it's annual enshrinement and this year I was a part of that! To be honest, ever since I began my new position there (only a month or so ago) I have been almost DREADING the event. Everyone has been so wrapped up in it that as an "Event Supervisor" they were making me nervous! HOWEVER once the big event arrived I HAD A BLAST!

Thursday evening was the VIP reception and the staff team was playing ALL POSITIONS. I for one had a part in acting as "security" while the VIPs arrived and walked across the street from their hotel in order to "protect" them from autograph seekers. Okay, have you seen me? Have you seen a Football Player? I was having a total Charlie's Angel moment and looked at my shoes and decided that I was prepared...I have 3 inch heels and I am NOT afraid to use them! The reality of the situation is that I was just using my abilities to keep things flowing smoothly and being kind but stern to people who might approach the VIPs that night.

Friday 8am I reported for duty and was given quick instructions on how to operate and drive a scissor lift and spent a couple hours in it doing some decorating. Friday Evening was the Beach Party...There was food, and fun and music and VIPs mingling and having a good time. (By 10am I was sunburned - appropriate for a beach party right? -and was primarily on my feet until 11pm and I was EXHAUSTED and wanted to trade my feet in by the time I got home)

Back in Saturday at 7am to prepare for (more time in the scissor lift) the Parade and Fan Festival which included the celebrity flag football game, football clinic for the kids, lots of inflatables for the kids at the Kids Zone (which I DID NOT get pictures of) and the Enshrinement Ceremony - which not only was I off the clock for, I was done in time to hit the 7:30 pm service at church while the ceremony was happening, nice relaxing church.

Friday and Saturday each had autograph sessions scheduled and, for me - not being a sports fan, I found it funny when I arrived Friday at 8am to find people had camped overnight to purchase tickets to them. I don't love anyone enough to camp out in line for them....well, maybe Jesus...but other than that I doubt it. Both autograph sessions were sold out very quickly on Friday...many people were disappointed.

One thing I did enjoy was being in the Pressbox to help make sure that the autograph line went quick and smooth. It was fun talking to these guys...by the way>>>they are HUMAN. They have families and friends and a life outside of football. The ones I had a chance to speak to are kind and intelligent, and funny. During the first session I was stationed between Frank Sheptock and Mike Rozier. Frank Sheptock is just flippin nice and down to Earth and I kept running into his sister during the weekend who is just as nice and if it weren't for the VIP credentials I would have sworn they were South Bend residents. Mike Rozier is...funny, and quite a character. He could not open his beverage bottle and asked if I had any keys and when I told him the key he chose to use happened to be the key to a church he found it rather amusing considering the beverage. He was like the class clown for the first autograph session.

The second session I was with Chad Hennings and Jessie Tuggle. Chad Hennings and I chatted about the Air Force and he gave me some direction to help Breanna get into the field that she would like to pursue when she begins her journey toward enlistment. Did you know he had to sign a special waiver in order to be a pilot in the USAF because of his height? Apparently there are torso length limitations that they prefer to adhere to. While I was chatting with Jessie Tuggle, I found that he is now coaching high school football and one of his kids is on the team. I guess that both his kids are very good athletes (according to their proud father) and that we should probably watch for them in the future. He was very kind and you could really hear his love for his family when he spoke of them.

So many things to share, but I hesitate to blog a novel - and --though I am exhausted, sunburned, scraped, scratched, bruised, and sore...I am glad I had the opportunity to take part in this event. It was interesting and totally different than what I am used to doing and it was a great learning experience for me. It also gave me the opportunity to spend more time with the College Football Hall of Fame staff and see everyone pitch in and try to create a fun atmosphere for our community.