OT - Rose Bowl
Good Evening All,
Last week I was in L.A. for business and I had to stop by the the grand daddy of them all. They give public tours the last Friday of every month. I highly recommend it. They recently put in a new brick entrance and a Keith Jackson broadcast center. There's just something about the Rose Bowl in the Arroyo Seco framed by the beautiful San Gabriel mountains. The field is always perfectly manicured and of course the weather is ideal. I could almost feel Keith Jackson's presence walking on the tour.
My questions for you are:
1. How many Rose Bowl's have you attended? What years?
2. What's your favorite Rose Bowl memory?
3. Will you attend Michigan's next Rose Bowl?
4. Outside of the Big House, is there another stadium you like as much the Rose Bowl?
January 1 2005- amazing game despite the loss
January 1 2007- complete shit show
Rose bowl game against Texas and have to agree. One hell of a football game despite loosing it.
Rose bowl is a great facility and all college football fans should see at least one game there.
April 29th, 2018 at 11:03 PM ^
You'll be at the wrong stadium if you're there on Jan 1, 2019... the Orange Bowl and Cotton Bowl are the CFP semifinal games this year.
Michigan will be so good, their B team will play in the Rose Bowl while the A team plays in the CFP.
April 29th, 2018 at 10:10 PM ^
Was in the MMB for the 1987 RB against Arizona State. I was surprised that it didn't look as well-kept as Michigan Stadium on the outside. It needed some refreshing. The game was disappointing, as it felt like Bo just couldn't quite get the guys going. Of course we landed Cooper out of the deal, so I suppose it was a good investment.
As part of the band, it was actually a difficult bowl trip. The parade starts so early, and of course it's New Year's Day, so you're exhausted the whole day. And Michigan's marching style back then was physically demanding. Other bowl trips gave a lot more free time and were just more laid back. I also thought the parade route was underwhelming. Pasadena seemed a bit more slummy than I expected. But of course I would still have preferred to go to the Rose Bowl every year. Only got to go once.
The Fiesta Bowl (1986) was actually the most pleasant one to go to as a band member. M beat Nebraska, which was great, and there seemed to be a lot of money floating around where we got treated well and had lots of opportunity to make it feel like a nice vacation. The Sugar Bowl was a lot of fun too, except we lost a heartbreaker. Stupid Bo Jackson...
The only bowl games I've attended since leaving the band were the debacle in Jacksonville for RR's last game and the Orange Bowl a couple years back -- two unpleasant experiences.
But yeah, the Rose Bowl itself is a special place. Second best in football.
April 29th, 2018 at 10:16 PM ^
April 29th, 2018 at 10:17 PM ^
2. i think 5, 3 in the 80's and 2 in the 90's (but not '97)
3. favorite was wheatley going off against UW. we were with the team and it was a gas. a very game UW team, too.
4. probably won't go to another, not my time in life for that and i'm not that big a fan of socal, despite having lived there for ~15 yrs. glad to be home in michigan.
5. i like the rose bowl, but as a stadium its okay. my favorite stadium to play in was jack murphy (now known as qualcomm). i liked playing in the LA coliseum too, i think it has every bit as much history as the rose bowl.
April 29th, 2018 at 10:47 PM ^
April 30th, 2018 at 12:23 AM ^
First in 1989 vs USC as a senior and the second in 2005 vs Texas. Won the first, lost the second, but it was an unreal game.
Also been to the stadium a number of times for UCLA games (once vs Michigan in 2000) and a U2 concert. The stadium itself is in a nice setting, but is not that special. It is also brutal traffic wise to get in an out of the stadium as it is set in a residential zone. UCLA games in general are meh...
Best memory is Rodney Peete picked off in the final minutes of the 1989 game to seal the victory.
As for not liking LA, I used to make fun of the place. Now that I have lived here for 20 years, there are few other places I would live. We live in a beach town that has a small town atmosphere. Yes, the traffic sucks and cost of living is high, but the weather is great, the population is diverse, people are mostly in a good mood, and the economic opportunity is very good. If you can get around the warts of the city (traffic, overdevelopment, and high costs), it is a great place to live.
April 30th, 2018 at 12:40 AM ^
and i certainly enjoyed it whilie i lived there, but as much as i love people, i don't like crowds and have a real dislike of traffic. i love the lifestyle of the UP and NW lower peninsula, farming, weather, hunting, fishing, etc. there may come a time when that will change, but i can't see that time from where i'm at right now.
and for my friend and socal resident ST3: lets not forget flood season, mudslide season, fire season, earthquake season, riot season, and one he confessed a couple of weeks ago: traffic season which is pretty much 24/7/365 and getting worse.
April 30th, 2018 at 10:41 AM ^
April 30th, 2018 at 11:07 AM ^
and of all the people to forget, you'd think a guy that had a (small) hand in the randy kraft case and trial might have remembered that season.
it shows your dedication to your duty, keeping recruits we want out of califorina, that you are so on top of this. i salute your service.
April 29th, 2018 at 10:31 PM ^
April 29th, 2018 at 10:32 PM ^
1. Attended USC (1/1/2004), Texas (1/1/2005), USC (1/1/2007). 0-for-3. Sigh. At least the Texas game was amazingly entertaining and hobnobbing with the Longhorn crowd was fun.I felt better after Vince Young did the same thing to USC the next year.
2. A few days before the 2007 game, I was at Santa Monica beach and lo, the Michigan team shows up to hang out. I had a picture taken with Coach Carr and he couldn't have been friendlier, asking where I was from, what I studied at Michigan, etc. I told him I'd been at the 2004 and 2005 games, he replied "cheer harder." Hah. I tried, man.
3. Any Rose Bowl, I'll be there from now til I'm in the ground. Live in NoCal now so it's not hard but even if I move back to MI or the east coast, I'll be there. All other bowls require thought, Rose Bowl is a no-brainer. Pasadena is so gorgeous, and I get to visit my favorite place in LA, the Huntington Museum/Library/Gardens.
4. Other than those two cathedrals, Wrigley and Fenway jump out. It's just the ambiance and history... I don't care that they're both antiquated and falling apart. Whatever they call the Mariner's stadium now (it used to be Safeco Field) has amazing views out onto Puget Sound from the top deck.
April 30th, 2018 at 12:30 AM ^
I sort of stumbled into it last summer and couldn't believe what a terrific place it was! Why is not more well known? Going back in three weeks.
April 29th, 2018 at 10:35 PM ^
April 29th, 2018 at 10:41 PM ^
My only Rose Bowl was Bo's last game. Phantom hold on the fake punt allows SC to win.
Stanley Edwards' touchdown in 1981 to clinch the win over Washington and Bo's first Rose Bowl is my favorite memory.
Seems like it will be awhile for another Rose Bowl, as it is out of the CFP cycle unitl Jan. 1, 2021. I'll go to that one, though.
April 30th, 2018 at 12:09 AM ^
and 4 other Rose Bowls including 1981, 1883, 1989, and 2007. Bo's first win and Stanley Edwards TD is probably my favorite memory. The phantom hold on the fake punt still sticks in my craw as under the circumstances, with the game tied 10-10 in the fourth quarter, I felt it had completely surprised everyone and was one of Bo's greatest play calls ever.
In a regular season game at the Rose Bowl in 1989, I saw Elvis Grbac throw a touchdown pass at the end of the game to beat UCLA 24-23. Had a great sight line for that play and that is one of my fondest memories there.
While the field is always beautiful at the Rose Bowl, you are closer to the action at the Big House, and the Big House is my favorite stadium. Really enjoyed Fenway Park. Sense of baseball history is palpable there.
April 29th, 2018 at 10:47 PM ^
April 29th, 2018 at 10:57 PM ^
1969 - USC 10-3
1972 - Stanford 13-12
1978 - Washington 27-20
1984 - UCLA 24-14
1998 - Michigan 21-16
Best game, after 4 hearbreaks, 1998 of course.
I would love to go again. Can't wait.
April 29th, 2018 at 11:00 PM ^
Went in '07. That wasn't fun.
Tyrone Wheatley against Washington,
If I have the cash, I'd do the Rose Bowl trip again in a second. Everything about it is 100% class.
(Ducks) I think the Horseshoe is one of the most amazing places to see a football game, end-to-end. I'd also do the State College trip in a second, had an absolute blast out there. As far as bowl games, the Alamo Bowl is one of the classiest and best bowl sites of them all, too bad the B1G lost that tie-in.
April 29th, 2018 at 11:08 PM ^
I went to UM-OSU at the Shoe three times and it was great. I prefer our own stadium, of course, but objective college football fans can recognize that even the rival's facility is a great setting for sports. It's part of what makes our sport (and the rivalry, when we resume it) so awesome.
twice for The Game in 78 and 80, we won both times. Once for the Columbus Marathon in 1991, it went right past the stadium at about mile 13 (somehow my wife missed it!?). Only time I ever puked after a marathon, so of course it had to be on Columbus!
April 29th, 2018 at 11:07 PM ^
"OT - Rose Bowl"
*sigh*
April 29th, 2018 at 11:07 PM ^
I attended on 1/1/2007 when we lived in Lancaster. A remarkable experience to be reasonable driving distance from a setting that was practically myth for my entire childhood. The game itself was lousy, of course, but it was amazing to finally absorb it in-person, with the mountains and the twilight and the green grass.
FWIW the stadium itself isn't anything special at all. It wasn't in particularly good shape when I went, the concourses are claustrophobically undersized, the seating angle is shallow, the amenities are unimpressive. But as an event and a setting it is peerless.
My favorite result is, of course, the 1/1/98 win. But the best moment has to be Wheatley's 88-yarder I watched in the living room of the Pray family on Thaler, just down the street from the old Chuck E Cheese at Liberty & Stadium. Our moms seated behind us, arms in the air; all of us boys and both dads jumping up and down and going bananas as Wheatley streaked away from the helpless, lead-shoed Washington defenders and into legend.
Both dads are gone now, lost to a car accident and cancer respectively. But the touchdown is forever.
April 29th, 2018 at 11:26 PM ^
Green grass is a thing of beauty when you live in Lancaster, eh? ;)
April 29th, 2018 at 11:33 PM ^
Heh, it's all relative. There's actually a modest amount of green grass there, but it requires the sprinklers to run every day and it has this weird, spongy, almost artificial feel that you worry will dessicate under any sort of moderate use. And very, very few trees. Pasadena feels like a jungle by comparison.
On our annual flights home we would drive under I-94 into Romulus and be shocked by how green the (relatively conventional) shrubbery and lawn arrangements were.
April 29th, 2018 at 11:14 PM ^
April 29th, 2018 at 11:31 PM ^
1968: USC v Indiana. OJ, Earl McCullough for USC; Isenbarger for IU
1977: USC, the Phantom Touchdown
1983: UCLA, we needed a QB
1989: USC, my first RB win in person
1992: Washington, overwhelmed by their D
1998: Washington State, 12-0
2004: USC, game with my daughter - 1968 full circle
2005: Texas, great game - go for it!
I guess that's 8. Let's do 9 for a NC
Favorite memory was 1998. At the end of the game, my 6yr daughter looked at me, then turned to her mother in astonishment - "Look Mommy, Daddy's crying!"
Yes. I'll be there at the next one. You should take advantage of the opportunity when it's there.
No. Michigan Stadium, the Rose Bowl, and nothing else.
April 29th, 2018 at 11:52 PM ^
Never been
1998
It is a life goal for my mom and I to go to the Rose Bowl one day. If Michigan ever gets to the game I may have to find a way. Those pictures of the two of us at the Rose Bowl would be the best ever.
Fenway and The Joe. I may be the only person that loved The Joe. Maybe it is because of the concert/games but I really do love/miss Joe Louis Arena.
April 29th, 2018 at 11:56 PM ^
2. My first Rose Bowl was special because I was a kid and it was my first trip to the West Coast. The game was not fun. My second Rose Bowl was my second-favorite sports experience (first being the ‘97 OSU game). I was a sophomore for what was the best M sports season in a long time. Hopefully that can be topped in the next few years.
3. I would definitely try. The Rose Bowl is something everyone should experience and the BCS/playoff system (not to mention the RichRod/Hoke years) show how lucky we had it to go so often under Bo/Mo/Carr. If we get back I’d love to take my kids.
4. Nothing tops the Big House. Rose Bowl is probably second. I’ll say going to the Cotton Bowl for the Red River Shootout is an awesome experience, especially if your team wins (I’m a Longhorn by marriage and grad school).
April 29th, 2018 at 11:58 PM ^
Of course the best being 98 championship game! The weather was amazing and I was on the field after and got to high five Griese....
The Texas Rose Bowl was still the best Rose Bowl Game I’ve seen in person though.
I went to the Citrus Bowl in Harbaugh 1st year and was probably my fondest memory because we flew from Cali to Florida, I took my 12 yr old boy for his first in person Michigan game!!!
April 30th, 2018 at 12:32 AM ^
Best memory in 84, my roommate and I pulled an all nighter waiting in line to sit front and center of the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. What a professional he was.
Obviously winning a NC was the best memory of 98. Seeing Carol Burnett and the Rose Bowl Parade go down Colorado Blvd. was a great memory. Yeah I like classic TV. Saw Jeopardy! last trip with Alex Trebec, another legend.
I will definitely go to the next Rose Bowl. The Rose Bowl is the best venue in America. I do have some strange idealic fascination to wish I had seen Jackie Robinson in Ebbetts Field.
My son is in the "jock dorm" at CalTech (they have no football team for decades) but every year they get to play a touch football tournament in the Rose Bowl! So jealous.
I
79, 81, 83, 87, 89, 90, 92, 93, 98, 04, 05, 07
Every UM Rose Bowl since 1979
As a member of MMB- 79, 81
Best seats- 1998, 45 yard line 3/4 of the way up on press box side. My wife (a professional journalist) had interviewed the head of marketing for the Pac-12, that was the one and only time in her career that she asked for a favor (and yes, we paid for the tickets). We were smack dab in the middle of a large group of WSU fans, but the view was worth it!
Favorite game- 1989, we came from behind to beat USC, an absolute catharsis. Why not 1998? For some reason I was absolutely sure going in that we would win the game, I can't tell you why.
I still have the programs from every single one of these games, and most of the ticket stubs. My ticket from 1989 was mounted in a block of lucite. We have been away too long...not sure if I will be able to go next time, but I seemed to say that every year.
Loved the experience . I just wish that field goal would have veered off to the right.
Hopefully I'll make my way to the next one seeing how I live in California.
I'd love to hit the Cotton Bowl to experieince the Red River Shootout sometime and head out to the fair afterwards of course. I'd also like to catch a game between the hedges (Georgia) and see one at Wisconsin.
April 30th, 2018 at 10:45 AM ^
April 30th, 2018 at 10:59 AM ^
April 30th, 2018 at 12:35 PM ^
Been to two Rose Bowls and am for better or worse, basically a part-time resident of SoCal. I was there all week last week, can attest to the horrific traffic after 15yrs of contributing to it but can also definitely understand the draw to living there. One thing that those visiting don't always realize is that most who live in LA, stick to where they live and arent' zig zagging all over. For example, if you're in the South Bay, you stick to the SB and if you're in Pasadena/Glendale/N LA, you tend to stay up in that side ...and so on.
As for Rose Bowls - the tailgating on the GC was as good as it is in A2 doing the same. The stadium itself is very much like M Stadium, before the remodel and expansion. As stadiums go, it's got character and great sight lines and wonderful conditions (mostly), but it's not a great venue compared to the newer stadiums.
Sadly I could not swing the 97-98 Rose Bowl and National Championship and instead got to see two losses vs USC ..where the crowd was easily 75% SC fans (not alumni, fans).
The one 2004 loss vs Leinart and gang and a couple years later in 2008 when our boys looked completely overmatched.
I keep waiting for the Wolverines to make it back to the Rose Bowl even if it isn't a playoff game, but I'd happily take an Orange or Sugar or Cotton Bowl over the RB if it is because of the playoff.
Worst Bowl game I attended overall ...the BWW Bowl in Tempe vs KSU. Shit stadium and worse game. That was awful.
April 30th, 2018 at 11:12 AM ^
April 30th, 2018 at 12:09 PM ^
Man OP, you really love the Rose Bowl. representing as your username and 1st posting!
April 30th, 2018 at 12:29 PM ^
3 Rose Bowls - 1991 (1990 season), 1998 (1997) and 2007 (2006)
Favorite Memory: Going bonkers when I saw the refs running off the field after time ran out on Wazzu.
Will I go to next Rose Bowl: Yes.
Love another non-Big House stadium more than Rose Bowl: No. There's not a close second behind the Rose Bowl, though I can live without the traffic before/after games. It's like AA gameday traffic x1000.
1998 and 2004....best memory is the team rushing our corner of the stadium after winning the whole shebang in '98. I was a student at that time and those memories will stay with me forever - I hope anyway.
My questions for you are:
1. How many Rose Bowls have you attended? What years?
I have never attended one in person. Some day, perhaps.
2. What's your favorite Rose Bowl memory? Hmm. I don't know. Obviously the GOAT's interception to seal the 1998 game, but also: Ty Wheatley, Sr.'s 15 attempt, 235 yards (!!!!) 3 TD, MVP performance against Washington in 1993, the last of which tied the game, 31-31, and gave the team a shot to win (and Grbac came through with a TD pass to seal the game); Leroy Hoard busting loose and dragging USC bodies with him most of the way to the end zone in 1989; and Wangler to AC in 1981 to put the game away.
3. Will you attend Michigan's next Rose Bowl? Maybe. Never say never.
4. Outside of the Big House, is there another stadium you like as much the Rose Bowl? No. It's not even close.
great fun, wrong outcome