The calendar was kind this year.
Usually I am ready to cuss when January 1 falls on a Sunday. I know what that means. The Rose Bowl will be played on January 2nd. It has always been that way. God Bless the folks in Pasadena. They exclaimed “Never on a Sunday” so many years ago.
Me, I was glad it was another day to hang on to The Rose Bowl as we know it. And I was glad it was a Big Ten team, Penn State winning over Utah, to win the final Rose Bowl as we have known it.
When I was on The Rose Bowl turf in 2018, I never imagined we would be here. All I could think about was PAC-12 v. Big Ten in perpetuity. That is all I have ever known.
I can’t tell you how emotional I was knowing this was the LAST Rose Bowl as I know it.
Next year the Rose Bowl will be one of the College Football Playoff Semi-Final Games. That means no guarantee of a Big 12-Big Ten matchup. In 2024, The Rose Bowl will be a part of an extended College Football Playoff and who knows will be playing in the Faux Rose Bowl.
But, I can forever say I was there in the best of times when The Rose Bowl was still real.
Will Schnell was the Rose Bowl Superintendent in 2018. Will and I talked about the history of The Rose Bowl. He did not know me before this day. He grabbed my arm and told me he was glad that I understood, as a fellow Midwesterner, the significance of The Rose Bowl. I doubt another North Harrison Football T-Shirt has made it to Pasadena. Go Cougars!
Yes, Will is a big deal!
Will led me out to the Rose Bowl Stadium Field. Entering the field, I walked over the corner of the end zone where Texas’ Vince Young scored to win the National Championship over USC in 2007. Keith Jackson was on the call for the last time. None of this was lost on me. I remember every moment.
Will and I talked about Rose Bowl history as my Brownstown Central gym bag circa 1978 listened in.
And then it was time to kick. I did not miss.
Go Cougars!
Thank you for humoring me. I have no idea how many times some of these photos have made it on this space. I know I never tire of reliving it. After all, it is The Rose Bowl.
This is my Dad walking through a Rose Bowl tunnel. You have to experience to understand.
He found this. I am so glad.
Dad and I watched this year’s Rose Bowl together, as is our custom. Being there changes everything.
GUESS WHAT!
I am sooooooooooo pissed at the horizon of college football with changes in the bowl games and the NIL and the players opting out of bowl games…I have made a WONDERFUL decision! Staring in 2024, when USC and UCLA being Big Ten play, I will be treating the UCLA and USC Big Ten home games as MY Rose Bowl Games!!
I am looking forward to the Big Ten 2024!
And when the Indiana Hoosiers go to play UCLA in the Rose Bowl, chances are better than not I will be done. I will move on from football watching to bird watching.
After all, not unlike the Indiana Hoosiers of The Rose Bowl 1968, I have been there and done that!
Speaking the rights…
Danny Johnson