Last night, my wife plopped a couple of boxes (actually four) from our storage room in front of me and said “go through them and throw some stuff away, please.” At least she said please.” This is not an unfamiliar drill at Grossman Manor. I am a pack rat. I save everything. I have this incredible ability to hold on to something for 20 years, then toss it in the trash only to have someone wonder if I still had that thing. It makes me nervous to throw anything away. You won't see me on any episode of Hoarders anytime soon, but I have a lot of old stuff. So I went through the boxes, one by one. I found some really cool items – old game programs from my high school playing days and pieces of net from the 1985 Culver Holiday Tournament Championship, as well as the 1986 Bi-County Tournament Championship. I also stumbled across a Cubs program where Bill Buckner went 3 for 5 with a home run and drove in three runs. And I found my Grace College Basketball Camp journal and counselor's notes ... including some thoughts from Joe Graham. Yep, THAT Joe Graham. Someday, Hannah and her little brother (we're working on adopting from China again) will go through all of that stuff and wonder what most of it is, and maybe even keep some of it as a memory of me. It made me think of what some Notre Dame fans are going through right now with the installation of field turf inside the football stadium. My traditionalist stance on life is based on the simple philosophy that when something is perfect, you shouldn't try to improve it. So I, and many of the Notre Dame faithful, have bristled at many of Coach Brian Kelly's suggested changes to the stadium and atmosphere. He wanted to play music from the loud speakers in the stadium when the opposing offense was ducking into the huddle for third down plays. He wanted a giant video scoreboard and an artificial playing surface. “We'll be fans longer than he'll be the coach,” I said. The first issue is about Irish fans not making enough noise of our own – mostly because we are too busy closing our eyes so we don't have to watch the defense give up another first down. The video board would be fine if they could put it in a place where it wouldn't block the view of the Golden Dome or the famous “Touchdown Jesus.” Where would you put it? But the turf issue is one change I am totally in favor of. For years, university officials have had to take time and money to replace large sections of sod in between home games. Then at halftime of the guaranteed home game marred by rain, you would have a crew of people walking up and down the field putting grass back in its place. Not anymore. Notre Dame installed field turf this week. It's carpet with rubber pellets embedded in it to make it easier on the knees, softer to fall on and helps with draining water faster. Plus, you never have to mow it, and the lines are always straight and true. Notre Dame put it in, and they did a fantastic job. For the first time in my memory, the interlocking N and D logo is painted at the 50-yard line, and there are shamrocks at the 35 yard lines for the kickoff locations. But there is one thing they left alone – the angled lines in the end zones. A lot of people learned in the last week why those lines are there and that they have a real significance. Those lines are at a 42-degree angle and point directly at the Lady on the Dome. Cool huh? I know Notre Dame fans are slow to accept change. I'm in that group. But the time for changing the playing surface at college football's cathedral had come. It's another reminder that we aren't really afraid of change, just “bad” change. Pass me another box of my memories, would ya dear?
