Grant's new facilities are well worth the trip

When you're a high school sports reporter and you cover a football game, you can view the action from one of two places: the sidelines or the press box.

I'm a press box girl myself, mostly because I feel like I can see the game better from up high. But I will admit, my preference is due partly to the fact that I'm a big wimp when it comes to the elements. If the temperature dips below 70 degrees, I'm cold. Seriously.

So, having been to just about every high school press box in Lake County, I can tell you that I consider myself a bit of a connoisseur on the matter.

There are some really nice ones in this area, and for fear of leaving one out, I'm not going to list them. I'd hear about it for weeks if I forgot one, believe me.

Of course, there are also some dud press boxes out there.

The Grant press box used to be among those at the top of my "thumbs down" list. And I can say that without sounding mean because the key words here are "used to." Plus, the school superintendent passionately agrees with me.

I told Dr. John Benedetti during a recent conversation that I used to fear climbing the dark and narrow stairs leading to the top of Grant's ancient press box. Clearly, no measuring device was used during its pre-Civil War construction because the rise between one step and another was at completely different heights.

Fun.

I told Benedetti about how I used to hold on for dear life and say a little prayer, "Please don't let me fall, please don't let me fall," when I had to climb those steps - especially while pregnant.

"If I were you, I would have never done it," Benedetti said with a laugh. "We probably should have closed that thing years ago."

Well, the clock finally ran out on the old press box last fall.

Seemingly minutes after the Bulldogs played their final home game, the wrecking ball was summoned.

"I wanted that thing to come down so fast," Benedetti said. "Trust me, I was bringing my own equipment from home to bring that thing down."

So was anything saved as a memento?

"We saved nothing," Benedetti said.

Not even a single brick? Or how about one of those legendary stairs?

"Nothing," Benedetti laughed. "We didn't want to remember that."

Indeed, the folks at Grant were ready to make new memories. In style.

So, the old press box was replaced with a brand new state of the art press box which is accessed by normal stairs and features wall-to-wall windows and two levels of seating.

Nice.

But Grant didn't stop there.

While the press box was being replaced, brand new bleachers were installed - on both the home side and the visitors side.

Then came brand new lights and, best of all, a brand new artificial turf field. FieldTurf, to be exact.

The turf's versatility and durability has made it all the rage and Grant is now the eighth high school in Lake County to get it. Carmel started the trend in 2004 and since then, Libertyville, Lake Zurich, Stevenson, Lake Forest, Grayslake Central and Grayslake North have also added turf.

At Grant, the new field, which will be debuted next week in the Bulldogs' home opener against Plainfield North, looks sharp, and is loaded with splashes of red and black.

"I'm a really big fan of it," Grant football coach Kurt Rous said. "We don't have to worry about it getting torn up in the rain. It's absolutely fantastic, surreal. Sometimes I go out there just to look at it. I don't think the newness is ever going to wear off."

And not just the newness of the field.

Upgrades are hitting the Bulldogs from every direction.

If the stadium improvements weren't enough, Grant is also in the final phases of a $38.5 million project that has added new wings of classrooms and a brand new 2,600-seat fieldhouse that sits in the south end zone of the football field and will house locker rooms and meeting rooms for the football and soccer teams.

And to think that a couple of guys from the football team told me that last year it was exciting when they were presented with new uniforms. They didn't know what they were in for.

Now, not only will the Bulldogs be dressed like a million bucks, so will all of their facilities.

"I'm psyched about all this new stuff," Grant starting quarterback Justin Cokefair said. "It's like a brand new school."

"It's going to be awesome playing here this year," starting fullback Dan Hourihan said. "It makes you feel like the program is really going in the right direction. You almost kind of feel spoiled."

And that's so not Grant.

Whenever I talk to coaches from other schools, the first thing they say about Grant athletes is that they're hard-working, blue-chippers who just put their noses to the grindstone and get the job done.

Is it possible that all this shiny new stuff will detract from that image?

"I don't think so," Hourihan said. "We'll still be the same athletes out there."

"I think we'll all play even better," Cokefair added. "The facilities are so good and we're going to want to play good, too."

Hmmm. Good point.

Looks like I'm going to have to step up my game when I go to Grant now, just so that I can fit in. No more using a harrowing trip up the press box stairs as an excuse for writer's block.