Dusk at the Rose Bowl – a significant reason why it’s considered the premier stadium in all of football. Not just college football; Football, period. Photo courtesy of twitter.com
ONCE AGAIN, THE ROSE BOWL PROVIDED AN EPIC GAME FOR THE AGES…
Which considering that the two teams that played there, Michigan and Alabama, were vying for a spot in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game in Houston on January 8th,
Which considering that those two programs have the two highest number of wins in the history of college football – Michigan with (now) 1,003 and Alabama with 926,
And which considering that those two programs have combined for 25 national titles, Michigan with nine and Alabama with 16,
Shouldn’t have surprised anyone, least of all the 96,371 fanatics of the Crimson Tide and the Wolverines who packed that Rose Bowl on Monday afternoon and evening,
Who certainly got their money’s worth as the game went overtime, Michigan scoring the last 14 points in their 27-20 win that gives them a chance to win their first “natty” since 1997.
Along with Washington’s battle with Texas at the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, it’s safe to say that the committee that chose the four teams that would play in the College Football Playoff semis got it right as in the Rose Bowl’s case in particular, both Michigan and Alabama were evenly matched and, as they were clashing, led me to think this old and very tired cliche…
“It really IS a shame that someone has to lose this game.”
And gave a big boost to college football in general, reminding people why it – along with the NFL – is the most popular spectator sport in this country.
Here are some sights from the Wolverines’ big win over the Tide…
Michigan running back Blake Corum (#2) getting yardage in the Rose Bowl Game. Photo courtesy of yahoosports.com
Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy, the Rose Bowl Game’s offensive MVP…
Corum trying to get yardage early in the game.Photo courtesy of thedetroitnews.com
Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe (#4) scurrying away from Michigan’s Michael Barrett. Photo courtesy of thetuscaloosanews.com
This bearded Alabama fan is dressed quite appropriately for the occasion! Photo courtesy of rolltidewire.usatoday.com
Michigan fans cheer before the Rose Bowl game against Alabama in Pasadena, California on Monday, Jan. 1, 2024. Photo courtesy of Mlive.com
I’ve always really liked football teams lining up on the line of scrimmage – this photo is no exception! Photo courtesy of twitter.com
Check out this military jet flying over the Rose Bowl while the Michigan Marching Band’s on the field! Photo courtesy of twitter.com
An incredible photo of the Rose Bowl looking north toward the San Gabriel Mountains! Photo courtesy of twitter.com
The top stadium in American football, which I have been blessed to have been to roughly over 150 times in over three and a half decades as a UCLA student and alum, including the 1999 Rose Bowl Game between the Bruins and Wisconsin. Photo courtesy of twitter.com
ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO TODAY IN THE ARROYO SECO IN PASADENA (as of this writing),
THE STADIUM THAT’S CONSIDERED THE BEST IN AMERICA,
THAT HOSTS WHAT IS CONSIDERED THE MOST PRESTIGIOUS COLLEGE FOOTBALL GAME,
THAT HAS HOSTED SEVERAL SUPER BOWLS, WORLD CUP SOCCER FINALS, AND CONCERTS FEATURING “A” LIST ARTISTS,
WAS BUILT.
BEING THAT I HAVE ATTENDED MANY FOOTBALL GAMES THERE AS A UCLA STUDENT AND ALUM OVER NEARLY 35 YEARS,
I THOUGHT I WOULD SHARE SOME MEMORIES OF THAT PLACE…
Saturday, September 3, 1988.
That was the day I went to an event at the Rose Bowl for the first time after – like about a billion people worldwide – seeing that stadium on TV every January 1st for years.
Being that I was a brand-new UCLA student as I was in a summer program geared toward acclimating transfer students (I had transferred from Santa Monica College, fulfilling my longtime dream of becoming a Bruin), I was excited as the student rooter bus I was on traveled on the 134 Freeway and I got my first sight of the Rose Bowl from my window.
The Bruins were playing San Diego State and, led by future Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman, made it a no-contest affair in blowing out the Aztecs 59-6, on the way to what would become a ten-win season, a win in the Cotton Bowl, and having the distinction of being the top-ranked team in the nation for two weeks in the middle of that campaign.
A couple of weeks later, I joined the Bruin Marching Band and a couple of weeks after that, on October 8, 1988 to be precise, I got the privilege to march, stand, and play music on that Rose Bowl turf for the first time.
Six weeks after that, on November 19, even though the Bruins lost that clash I had the thrill of marching and playing “Sons of Westwood” and other tunes in front of over 100,000 fans as that was my very first Crosstown Rivalry game vs USC.
Thus began my relationship with that most iconic of stadiums.
Over the next three decades-plus,
I estimate that I have been to the Rose Bowl roughly 170 times for UCLA football contests.
I can safely say that I have seen games and moments in games that will be etched in stone in my memory banks even if I end up getting Alzheimer’s or Dementia.
Here are some of the games featuring my alma mater at that Rose Bowl that particularly stand out, the first one being a memory that I’m ashamed and embarrassed to think of today…
I. Crosstown Rivalry Game, 1994 – By this time I was a member of the UCLA Alumni Band, joining such three years before and doing pregame tailgating concerts at Lot H, the grassy area south of the Bowl, then sitting in the bottom ten rows of Section 2, which would be my home at the Rose Bowl forever after.
I was, admittedly and regretfully, also a loose cannon who had a bit of trouble controlling my emotions when it came to the crosstown rivals in particular; which manifested itself when I threw ice at USC’s Trojan horse mascot,Traveler, during the fourth quarter and got myself kicked out of the game, almost getting arrested and spending the rest of that fourth quarter at Lot H waiting for my friends. Even though the Bruins beat the Trojans that day 31-19, I couldn’t really celebrate that triumph as I was full of remorse.
II. Crosstown Rivalry Game, 1996 – The only overtime game in Crosstown Rivalry history in which everyone was so intense, especially at the end as UCLA not only came back from 17 points down to tie ‘SC in the fourth quarter, overtime was forced when what would have been the Trojans’ game-winning field goal was blocked.
Throughout that back end of the fourth quarter and those two overtime periods, I was standing there with my arms folded while everyone else was going crazy nuts, watching the action intensely and making a point to lie down and thank God when that last Trojan pass was intercepted to seal the Bruin triumph.
A big post-game memory was watching a USC fan who was obviously devastated throw a temper tantrum in kicking trash all over Lot H; that rivalry game was that intense.
III.Rose Bowl Game, 1999 – The last time UCLA’s football team played in the “Grandaddy Of Them All”, and the first time I saw that iconic American affair in person. I camped near the famous intersection of Colorado and Orange Grove the night before to get a decent spot for the Rose Parade the next morning, spending that New Year’s Eve freezing in thirty-something degree cold.
But although the Bruins ended up losing that game to Wisconsin, 38-31, it was more than worth it to see the Rose Parade in person as everyone should do that at least once in their lives, being that with all the flowers it even smells good.
I performed at the edge of Lot H after the parade and before the game with the UCLA Alumni Band, then my friends and I went to see the game; I still have the ticket stub to this day.
1 Jan 1999: Jermaine Lewis #23 of the UCLA Bruins carries the ball during the Rose Bowl Game against the Wisconsin Badgers at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. The Wisconsin Badgers defeated the UCLA Bruins 38-31. Mandatory Credit: Tom Hauck /Allsport I was at this game! Photo courtesy of gettyimages.com
The Bruins coming out of their tunnel before facing Oregon State at the Rose Bowl in 2019…
IV.UCLA vs Michigan, September 16, 2000 – The overwhelming memory from that marquee contest – which the Bruins won, by the way, 23 to 20 – is summed up in one word:
HOT!!!
It was 110 DEGREES at that Rose Bowl that day, which I believe is still a record, and the roughly 90,000 fans felt it as after I got home, feeling the temperature fall twenty degrees as we crossed the Santa Monica Mountains over the Sepulveda Pass on the 405 Freeway going from the San Gabriel and San Fernando Valleys to the Westside, I put bags of ice on my chest and the back of my neck and turned on the TV where the local news was playing, the lead story being how fifteen people who were at that game had to go to the hospital for heat exhaustion.
I was just glad that with my sunblock, squirt bottle fan and LOTS of water, I managed to get through that day.
V. UCLA vs Ohio State, September 22, 2001 – This was a memorable affair because it was held on the first day that sporting events were allowed after the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City eleven days before.
I remember everyone at the stadium remembering the victims of that tragedy with a big moment of silence beforehand after restrictions such as no bags or backpacks in the stadium were enforced, the Bruins’ and Buckeyes’ cheer leading squads holding hands together as someone screamed “God Bless America, yeah!”
I remember asking some Ohio State fans what a Buckeye was, being told that it was a nut native to that state.
And I also remember UCLA winning that game, 13-6.
VI. UCLA vs Washington, October 1, 2005 – This game was memorable due to history being made that evening;
It was the first time in the history of college football that both teams – that were not from Historically Black Colleges/Universities (HBCUs) – were led by African American head coaches in a game, Tyrone Willingham for Washington and Karl Dorrell for UCLA.
Which being Black myself, I had good feelings about as that was a clear sign of racial progress in college sports.
I barely made it to the UCLA Alumni Band’s pre-game concert as I had a work-related function that I had to attend, but the game itself was quite exciting, the Bruins staging one of what were several fourth quarter comebacks that they had that season in beating the Huskies, 21-17.
VII. Crosstown Rivalry Game, 2006 – December 2nd to be precise;
An evening that would live in infamy for the Trojan Family and an evening that would live in ecstasy for the Bruin Nation as UCLA, a 23 point underdog, played like men possessed in beating a second ranked USC team that was one win away from the BCS National Championship Game, Eric McNeil intercepting John David Booty before Aaron Perez sent Desmond Reed back twenty yards with the greatest punt in Bruin history.
In starting the painfully obvious, it was the biggest upset in Crosstown Rivalry lore.
And I had the pleasure to have been there, Perez’ booming punt happening right in front of me and the rest of my UCLA Alumni Band mates.
VIII. Crosstown Rivalry Game, 2012
November 17th.
A Crosstown Rivalry Clash that would go a long way in deciding the Pac-12 South.
Where for the first time since 1961, it rained.
Looking back, I shouldn’t be that surprised regarding how UCLA played that wet afternoon, the Bruins having been humiliated by ‘SC at the Coliseum the year before 50-0, the two teams trading blow after blow before Anthony Barr delivered the proverbial knockout punch with his vicious sack of Matt Barkley as he was driving the Trojans, who were ranked #1 in the preseason, to a score and ending his college career.
I remember thinking that I shouldn’t have worn my regular hoodie as it got soaked.
And I shouldn’t have screamed “F**K ‘SC!!” after the game was over.
But it was a great day all the same.
IX. Crosstown Rivalry Game, 2018
This one was memorable for the shock value, being that with a pathetic Bad News Bruin-ish record of 2-8, that football team of my alma mater’s was the worst in my lifetime that year.
While although at 5-5 USC wasn’t that much better, being that there was no way they would beat an undefeated Notre Dame team that was headed to the College Football Playoff the Trojans HAD to beat the Bruins in order to earn bowl eligibility.
So what happened that day, as I sat in my usual Section 2?
Nothing much, as Joshua Kelly gained a Crosstown Rivalry record of 289 yards on the ground and UCLA shocked and essentially humiliated USC’s world, winning 34-27.
Though it was a happy shock on my part, it was still a shock as I found myself consoling Trojan fans with the speculation that their coach, Clay Helton, was probably getting fired in their team’s locker room as we spoke, having lost to a two-win team.
Which he – again, shockingly – didn’t as he was back on the sidelines losing to Notre Dame the next week, his walking papers not coming for another two and a half years.
SO AS ONE CAN SEE,
I have a lot of memories of being at the Rose Bowl over the decades.
There are more memorable games that I saw there, but if I mentioned them all this post would turn into a full-fledged book.
Outside of games, there were other personal Rose Bowl memories that stand out…
Playing with the UCLA Alumni Band – It’s safe to say that I have spent my entire post-college adult life playing tenor saxophone with this alumni group, walking around Lot H playing for the tailgaters, doing our pre-game concert under our tent and having the UCLA Spirit Squad join us for some tunes during such, then playing for another half-hour for the fans at the Rose Bowl’s Court of Champions in front of the place before walking through the visitor’s tunnel to our Section 2 for the game. Being that the Alumni Band is quite popular in the Bruin Nation and being that it has been and is a great way for me to stay connected with UCLA, I have not only enjoyed the experience, I am looking forward to continuing such.
The (now-defunct) Alumni Cheer Squad– Featuring Frank Foellmer, who went to UCLA in the 1940s, Lucy McClave, who attended UCLA in the late 1930s (Rest In Peace to both), and the greatest yell leader of all time, Geoff Strand, with his “I want every man, woman, and child!” in leading the Bruin spell-out, and “Not yet, not yet, but now!!” in getting us in the alumni section to scream our heads off when the opponents were threatening to score and the rest of the Rose Bowl to do the same when the game was on the line.
The UCLA Marching Band Alumni Reunions – Where I both enjoyed and enjoy saying hi to old band mates and meeting band members from before my time, hearing stories about what the Bruin band was like back in the day before practicing our halftime show and getting free UCLA gear – shirts, shoes, back packs, hoodies, commemorative glasses – for the occasion and getting to go onto the Rose Bowl turf to perform at the half.
Like I said,
My memories and experiences of that stadium in west Pasadena are many.
It has been a big part of my adult life.
I compare it to an old friend that I’ve known for three and a half decades that I reconnect with every fall,
That every time I do so, despite the renovations to the place it’s like nothing has changed.
I’ll be there for UCLA’s Homecoming game vs Stanford, doing my duties with the Alumni Band at Lot H and the Court of Champions.
And I’ll be looking forward to saying hello to my old friend once again.
A nice shot of the Rose Bowl turf during a UCLA contest; I’m sure I’m in the stands facing the ten-yard line. Photo courtesy of ucla.edu