July 19, 2009
Notre Dame, Ind. – Two-a-days are over and the Notre Dame Football legends are packed and ready to head to Tokyo to take part in the Notre Dame Japan Bowl.
On Sunday, the 58-man roster will depart for Tokyo to spend a week helping to celebrate 75 years of ‘American Football’ being played in Japan. The highlight of the visit will be a game played against the Japanese senior national team at the Tokyo Dome in the nation’s capital city on July 25.
Cultural classroom… Between practices the traveling party was given the lowdown on what to expect from their visit to the Land of the Rising Sun during a Japanese Culture Presentation at the Hammes Auditorium at the University of Notre Dame. The group learned how to greet people, were told about the kind of foods they can sample and learned several key phrases to help them communicate in Tokyo.
It’s a long way from Notre Dame Stadium… South Bend to Chicago’s O’Hare airport measures 111 miles and then from Chicago to Tokyo is a total of 6,299 flying miles. The team will leave on Sunday morning, is due to arrive in Tokyo on Monday afternoon local time and because of the fact they will cross the International Date Line, will not see the sun set during the journey.
Injury report… while there may be plenty of aching muscles and tired bodies, the team did not report any fresh injuries following Saturday’s practices.
CBS College Sports Network, the original 24-hour sports network, will broadcast the Notre Dame Japan Bowl to a nationwide audience in the United States on Monday, August 10 (9:00 PM, ET; taped 7/25/09) as part of the Network’s “Countdown to Kickoff Week” programming.
For more information on the Notre Dame Japan Bowl 2009 and the Notre Dame Football Legends, visit www.NDJapanBowl.com. The full roster is also available at that website.