Pinstripe Bowl Delivers Full-Blown Bowl Experience To BC

New York City might boast its reputation as a city that never sleeps or shuts down, but the Saturday morning hours ahead of the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl inched closer to a light nap. Clouds and fog rolled from the East River and blocked views of the hulking Revival-steel towers of the George Washington Bridge, and traffic flowed along the Major Deegan Expressway with relative ease as it curled along the Harlem River, and the Harlem River Drive on the opposite side of the waterway moved towards FDR Drive with its own lack of gridlock.

Garbage trucks wheeled their way through intersections dotting the Bronx and Manhattan, and four buses loaded with football players, families, coaches and a Boston College traveling party that spent the previous week partaking in Gotham's fabled holiday season arrived at Yankee Stadium as For Boston blared through an entryway littered with pictures of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Derek Jeter and the Core Four. For the first time in seven years, the Eagles were arriving at a stadium within their geographic footprint, and though they were labeled as the visiting team, they intended to make themselves at home with their first bowl win in three trips to the house built by the Steinbrenner legacy.

The 20-15 final score very obviously failed to achieve that goal, but the week leading towards kickoff provided BC with an extended stay at its so-called "second city." Alongside a Nebraska team with its own unique ties to the tri-state area, the Eagles left a two-sided impression on a bowl that's always welcomed them with open arms.

"Boston College is a phenomenal institution with a lot of New York alumni," said New York Yankees president Randy Levine. "We all have a lot of friends who went to Boston College, and we're honored to have [them] to have this game here in New York. There's nothing like New York at this time of year, [and] I always joke that they make movies and Broadway shows about it and write songs about it. We tried to give the kids, because they're student-athletes, the experience of all that culture, all of the sights and sounds, so they can really appreciate this experience, especially if they've never been to New York City."

Both Boston College and Nebraska enjoyed different events throughout the days leading up to the Pinstripe Bowl, but the Eagles couldn't help but tinge the experience with a BC hue when athletics director Blake James watched BC's current hockey superstars lead Team USA to its World Junior Championships victory over Germany from the Tipsy NoMad, a BC-based pub located blocks from the Empire State Building. By Saturday morning, subway riders awash in maroon and gold rode towards the Bronx alongside their Nebraska counterparts, and the Merritt Parkway in Connecticut routinely saw BC gear stop for coffees at each of its rest stop areas.

"For us to come to New York City, where we have a lot of alumni in this area, is a huge benefit and huge plus," remarked university president Fr. William P. Leahy, S.J. during the bowl's pregame press event. "This is my third time at this bowl, and I know how first class the Yankees organization is with the Pinstripe Bowl. It's quality work, and it's a bowl that values linking the intellectual and the athletic. For us, we are pleased that we can be here and be part of this game, where we enjoy playing a Big Ten institution and doing it in New York City, at Yankee Stadium. I very much appreciate the opportunity to be with such distinguished people at this program."

The outcome of the game very obviously left a sour final taste to a bowl experience littered with positives, but even head coach Bill O'Brien found himself complimenting organizers on the perfect experience for his student-athletes. Bringing BC to the Pinstripe Bowl had been atop his list after the Eagles won their sixth and seventh games to gain breathing room with bowl eligibility, but standing alongside Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule - a New York City native - brought things even closer to home when the teams visited the World Trade Center site for a unique ceremony with Alison Crowther, the mother of Welles Remy Crowther, a BC alumnus known as the "Man in the Red Bandanna" for his heroism during the tragic events of 9/11.

"We tried to embrace the best that New York City offered during Christmas week," said bowl executive director Mark Holtzman. "I think we covered a lot by taking the student-athletes and the traveling parties to a lot of great venues here in New York. Taking them to the 9/11 Memorial and to the museum was a defining moment because it defined this century for living in New York and changed everything forever, especially for Boston College, which had a close connection and a number of alumni that perished that day. Having Welles Crowther's mother there made it very, very special, and that's always a highlight of this event.

"But from taking everyone to Radio City Music Hall, an iconic New York City landmark with the Rockettes," he continued, "to taking the traveling parties on a boat cruise around the Hudson and seeing the Statue of Liberty with a spin in Times Square, what was always very important to this game is the charitable part and leading a charitable charge with the local community."

Echoing the university mission of "men and women for others," BC spent time this week with New York's chapter of the Red Cross while further events brought Nebraska football players to Memorial Sloan Kettering, the world-renowned hospital where the Cornhuskers' university president Jeffrey P. Gold once practiced as a physician.

"We had two head coaches from both schools that were as engaged as any head coaches that we've ever had participating in this game," remarked Holtzman. "Obviously you're here to win a game, and we understand that, but when you're in a bowl, it's more than just the game. It's everything surrounding the game, all the fans coming into the game and really celebrating college football, and both coaches embraced that."

Pinstripe Bowl Delivers Full-Blown Bowl Experience To BC

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