Boston College Athletics
BC in NYC: The Desired Outcome
December 16, 2014 | Football
Boston College and Penn State will meet on December 27 at Yankee Stadium in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl, and it's as if fates aligned.
At the start of every college football season, the bowl's executive director puts his match-up prediction on paper: Mark Holtzman guesses which teams will be playing at Yankee Stadium in December. This year, Holtzman was dead-on.
"I always put a few teams in a fortune cookie each year and hope it comes true," Holtzman said. "It came true this year, and it's pretty neat.
"It's going to be a classic, Northeast matchup - two renowned, historical programs playing in one of the great venues in America, Yankee Stadium. It's going to be a very special day," Holtzman continued.
Boston College wanted the opportunity to play in the Pinstripe Bowl. Badly.
So badly, in fact, that Athletics Director Brad Bates and head football coach Steve Addazio went to New York just a few days before bowl berths were announced to lobby the bowl's executives and organizers about on behalf of the Eagles.
"It meant a lot to us that both Brad Bates and Coach (Addazio) came down," Holtzman said. "[Bates] didn't bring another marketing person with him; he brought Coach with him. Because the best marketing person you have for Boston College is sitting right next to me (pointing to Addazio). That made a huge statement to us. The passion shined through. It was clear - he even knocked over his cup of coffee he was gesturing with his hands and you could see how passionate he was."
Addazio quickly retorted, "We're just passionate about wanting to be there" with a chuckle. "It's easy to do that when you feel it from the heart. I know what our kids wanted. I know what our program needed ... For me to go in and be passionate about our genuine desire to be there wasn't very hard. It's a natural fit."
And with BC's selection, the Pinstripe Bowl got a classic match-up and a participant they hoped they'd host when they affiliated with the ACC.
"This is our first year with the Atlantic Coast Conference," Holtzman explained. "We're thrilled to be associated with the ACC and the Big Ten. We believe those are the two right conferences for us. One of the major reasons we signed up to be with the ACC was the opportunity to have Boston College play at Yankee Stadium. And not only this year, but many years to come.
"We always root for Boston College to make one of the top bowls, we're right there," Holtzman added.
And the Eagles are looking forward to the trip, and not just because of the game itself. BC - and Penn State - have a host of New York-related activities on the docket, in addition to practice and the game.
"That's part of what makes the bowl special is the bowl experience," Addazio said. "For these kids, it's a reward for having a great season. They get to experience a slice of New York. They have all kinds of things: from going to Little Italy, to the Radio City Rockettes on Christmas night, to the tour of Ground Zero on Christmas morning, to a welcoming dinner at Yankee Stadium on Christmas Eve - just so many great things."
With a week left before the Eagles depart for New York City and final bowl preparations, Holtzman took the opportunity during today's visit to The Heights to share some insight to the Eagles' players: "I want them to savor every moment of playing in this bowl. Obviously the ultimate objective is to win, but this is so much more than a football game. This is a celebration about everything is good about football ...I just wanted the kids to take a step back for a second and really understand the magnitude of what's going to happen over the next few weeks, but also enjoy it, because who knows when you get another opportunity like this."
