2015-11-21-Cohasset and Boston, MA-ND-BC Weekend

Notre Dame played Boston College in Fenway Park this year, the latest installment of the Shamrock Series in which the ND football team plays a home game in a neutral venue. Friends and ND classmates came to Boston for the weekend from many points on the compass-Jim, Susan, Mike and Emma from Illinois, Gary from California, Bruce from Delaware, Bill from Indiana and Rick from Florida. The days before the game were action packed. On Thursday, Bill, Gary, Tom and Georgia joined for a delicious Italian dinner in Boston's North End. On Friday afternoon, Tom provided Gary and Bruce with a tour of Cohasset and Scituate, old historic coastal towns south of Boston. On Friday evening we gathered for a feast at Georgia's and Tom's house in Cohasset where were also joined by our good Cohasset friends Margie and Rich, a BC alum. On Saturday afternoon we all converged for a "tailgate" at Jillian's, an enormous sports bar very near Fenway Park. Months ago, Peter, Rich's former colleague from the Boston Globe, secured a private room at Jillian's which served as a perfect venue for pre-game festivities and it was only a five minute walk to Fenway Park. The old ball park and surrounding area were very nicely dressed up for the event. Since about thirty four thousand of of the thirty eight thousand seats were allocated to ND, the Back Bay and Fenway areas were thick with Notre Dame fans. The game proved to be more exciting and nail biting than ND fans had hoped it would be. The Irish played poorly and the BC defense was stout, but ND hung on for a 19-16 victory. All in all it was a memorable event and a great weekend--Boston and Fenway Park proved to be very special venues for the Shamrock Series.