This past weekend, the John Carroll Community said goodbye to one of their most iconic buildings. No, not the Dolan Science Center or the Boler School of Business but a building much more legendary. 2355 Warrensville Center Road aka the Vatican was the single greatest house in the long history of JCU. On Sunday May 31st, 2015, the last piece of furniture was taken from a downstairs bedroom and with it every single great memory in the past year. This place started off as a place where a few of my friends lived and hung out. And within a few short weeks it turned into the raging capital of University Heights. It seemed that every Saturday night for the entire first semester following a JCU win we would be there celebrating, and following the two losses we were bound in misery together. I can't think of any better team building exercise than that.
The Vatican, or the Can as it became known, even adopted their own language and terminology. Annoying tasks became known as a hassle including but not limited to moving the cars in the driveway (hassle whips), cooking food (hassle food), and other tedious activity. Nicknames became popular by referring to someone as a kid. If one consumed too much alcohol and became lackadaisical, similar to a dead person, they were dubbed the title "body kid." If someone were to hurt their foot and require either a rolling object to help get themselves from one place to another or a pair of crutches they were "scooter kid," or "crutch kid" (sometimes simply "boot kid," if in a walking boot only). And if someone were to experiment with the use of marijuana in the house they were the "stoner kids." As the year went on, each Vatican Council Member would refer to each other as "Dave" in honor of the Seth Rogan and James Franco movie, The Interview. These words and phrases won't be on dictionary.com any time soon but they made sense at the Can nonetheless. Despite not being on the lease I pretty much lived there as it was my place of choice to go on the weekends. Whether it be cramming 30 people in Jake's bedroom for a Jam Rock banger, bumping tracks with the lit water speakers in Dom's room, putting signatures onto a wall that probably was not made for it, giving Watson the work in 2K, drinking PPD out of a Gatorade cooler or Kravchuk running a naked mile in 2 feet of snow, it's safe to say that lifelong memories were made. I was fortunate enough (or unfortunate, depending on how clean you like your house) to live at the Vatican for the past three weeks and it has been a great way to cap off such a great year. As long as I live and as long as people are at John Carroll, they will hear about the legend of the Vatican and everything that characterized it. If you somehow weren't kicked out by Kravchuk, there were endless jersey parties, case races, and even jean short shorts themed parties (ok maybe it was just me and Krav). This was almost every week. So I want to say thank you to Mark, Watson, Korno, Jake, Dom, Kravchuk and AC for an incredible year. It's unfortunate that night's like these will most likely not happen again, but it was a great run while it lasted. But remember, it's just a pregame.
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Pat O'Hearne
Just a kid from Boston trying his luck in Cleveland Archives
March 2017
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