Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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ND SPORTS Unique Pregame Ritual For Men's Lacrosse Going Strong BY DAN MURPHY airport on the way to each road game draws a lot of puzzled looks. If only those curious travelers knew what was inside, Power can't help but think. "I get some weird looks and people T he old yellow toolbox that Irish se- nior Colt Power carries through the ask, 'What's in there?' " Power said. "Then I tell them that it's my bagpipes and they're like, 'OK, no, really what's in there?' " For the past decade, the yellow toolbox has served as the case for the official Notre Dame lacrosse team bagpipes — surely one of the most unusual items found on the equip- ment closet floor of any college sports team in the country. Before each game, Power pulls the blowpipes, bag hide and chanter out of the box and assem- bles the instrument. Then, in full team uniform, he leads the Irish into battle to the drones of "Scotland the Brave." Power starts at the far corner of the field and slowly marches toward the Irish sideline. His teammates flank him in two long lines on either side. They eventually race past him as he makes his way to midfield at a pace as mea- sured as his song. The routine is the same as it was three years ago when Power made his musical debut as a sophomore. It has changed very little in the 200-plus games that the Irish have started this way since the tradi- tion began in 1996. "It's a very cool tradition," said head coach Kevin Corrigan, who has watched all 17 years of the bagpipe entrance from the tail end of the team's procession. "Our guys love that we do it, and when they hear the bagpipes firing up they know it's time to strap it on and get ready to go." If you have ever listened to bagpipes Senior Colt Power leads the Irish into battle to the drones of "Scotland the Brave" before each game. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME MEDIA RELATIONS discovered the hidden talent, they pressed him into service for opening day. He thought that would be it, a one-time friendly hazing for the new guy, and intentionally left the instru- ment at home when they went on the road for the next game. Meehan's teammates, unbeknownst to him, brought the bagpipes with them, and they've appeared at every game since. The team takes a lot of pride in its there's a very good chance you've heard "Scotland the Brave." It is the instrument's most recognizable song, which is probably why the senior class of 1996 told freshman defenseman Sean Meehan that is the song he would be playing the first time he set foot on a collegiate lacrosse field. Meehan, who comes from a family of bagpipers, started playing in high school and brought his pipes to South Bend with him. When his teammates 54 MAY 2012 pregame ritual. In the beginning, it was a nod toward the strong sense of tradition at Notre Dame, and an at- tempt for a budding program to start a tradition of its own. Six NCAA quar- terfinal appearances and two trips to the Final Four later, the song has be- come a trademark for the perennial top-10 program. "I thought it was more than just the pipes, he was in the airport after the Irish lost to Georgetown in the NCAA Tournament to end Meehan's senior season. DeBolt was a freshman and didn't want the tradition to disappear on his watch. He had never played an instrument before, but his first lessons began in the terminal while waiting for their plane. That summer, DeBolt walked on to the Notre Dame football team, held down a part time job and taught him- self how to play a very complicated in- strument. He spent his summer earn- ings on a $1,500 set of pipes and pored over the short instructional video that Meehan made for him. That tape, or a version of it, was bagpipes," said 2002 graduate Chad DeBolt, who saw to it that the tradi- tion didn't die when Meehan's career ended. "I thought it was something that the program stood for. I think it helped us for games. It embodied a lot more about the team than just what the bagpipes were." When DeBolt first approached Mee- han about learning to play the bag- handed down from DeBolt to fellow football walk-on Dan Hickey, from Hickey to future All-American Regis McDermott, and from McDermott to Power. All of them hand-selected their successor. They used the video to learn the proper fingering for "Scotland the Brave" and then how to keep the bag full of air without fainting — a task that usually takes about a year to learn, according to Meehan. The quality of the music, DeBolt ad- mits, was shaky for a time period and BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED