I remember a time when New Year’s Day sports calendars were a lot less crowded than they have been in recent years. Pro hockey and basketball were exclusively night games, and only a handful were typically played. College basketball games were even scarcer; schools not wanting to even take a small chance that any potential attention to football would be stolen. And the football that was played was limited to the “Big Four” bowls–the Sugar , Cotton, Rose and Orange Bowls. Eventually the Sugar Bowl was lured to the temptation of New Year’s Eve prime time and the Fiesta Bowl found its way into the mix. But that was it.
More recently, the advent of multiple ESPN networks along with ABC created an opportunity for that group to triple up in the early window head-to-head-to-head by incorporating games from the respective ends of I-4, Tampa and Orlando. Those games, without historic conference affiliations, drew teams that just missed the “big ones” and at least one proved to be competitive. But the Rose Bowl was always given center stage on its own, its late afternoon window adjacent to prime time ideally suited both to showcase a typically gorgeous Southern California sun along with the breathtaking first sunset of the year, Keith Jackson typically waxing nostalgic about how it majestically set below the San Gabriel Mountains just as the fourth quarter was about to start. For shivering fans in less balmy climates, it was relocation catnip; I know my own desire intensified every year.
And because it was historically a Big Ten-Pac Whatever showdown, at least one of the participants came from one of those less balmy climates. By the time I made it out to LA I’d marvel at the onslaught of fans that would travel with their schools–you could tell who they were simply by heading to a beach on New Year’s Eve. Even if the temperatire was in the (gasp) 60s, they’d be in shorts and tank-tops, pasty white faces and legs only broken up by face tattoos of thei rooting interest. And they’d be more than willing to pay inflated prices for watered down cocktails and parking.
But in years where the game was part of the rotation for the BCS championship those traditions would get cast aside. There was no guarantee a Pac Whatever team would be hosting. The first such occasion in 2002 at least pitted a cold-weather school (Nebraska) against a warm-weather one (Miami of Florida). The most recent BCS semi-finals offered no such continuity–Oklahoma and Georgia in 2018, Alabama and Notre Dame in 2021 and Michigan and Alabama last year. And with the virtual demise of the Pac Whatever leaving just Oregon State and Washington State as candidates there seemed to be a snowball’s chance in Pasadena that this year’s Rose Bowl was going to resemble the contests of the past.
But thanks to some spirited play and heads-up seeding, we’re actually getting a Rose Bowl game that has historic precedence despite the fact that it’s a rematch of in-season conference opponents. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS’ Greg Beacham explained is his preview released earlier this morning:
Not even the Granddaddy of Them All can remain unchanged by the 12-team College Football Playoff.
Oregon and Ohio State arrived in Southern California only three days before their showdown Wednesday in the 111th edition of the Rose Bowl Game — and both teams firmly declare they’re on a business trip, since this beloved postseason event is now a CFP quarterfinal hopefully leading to two more games.
The Ducks (13-0, CFP No. 1 seed) and the Buckeyes (11-2, CFP No. 8 seed) had no time to make the Rose Bowl teams’ traditional trip to Disneyland, which means there are no photos of stern-faced football coaches shaking hands with Mickey Mouse. There’s also no Beef Bowl, the annual trip to a famed Beverly Hills restaurant where thousands of pounds of prime rib have been shoveled into the bottomless stomachs of hungry linemen since 1956.
The pregame pageantry may be curtailed, but a few things about the oldest bowl game simply can’t change: New Year’s Day still dawns with the venerable Rose Parade, followed by football played through a famous sunset.
In a fortunate coincidence for Pasadena traditionalists, the game that matched the champions of the Big Ten and the Pac-12 for decades lucked into an optimal geographic matchup once again.
These schools have actually competed twice before in this venue. In 1958, the Buckeyes escaped with a 10-7 win and in 2010 they improved their margin of victory to 26-17. Given a second life after their embarrasing regular season finale loss to Michigan, Ohio State is actually entering this game as a favorite, despite the Ducks finishing unbeaten and having the number one seed. That alone makes this matchup fascinating and potentially a classic.
Still, the balance of today’s offerings aren’t quite what they once were. Thanks to the desire for a holiday tripleheader for CFP quarterfinals, which if nothing else will quiet the malestrom of stories touting Penn State as a potential national champ fresh off their second consecutive post-season win last night over Group of Five qualifier Boise State, that logjam of Florida locales is no longer part of the New Year’s mix. Instead, we get a Peach Bowl clash of Arizona State and SEC representative Texas in an exclusive early window, and we get a Sugar Bowl night game between Notre Dame and Georgia in what will undoubtedly be a more somber setting in New Orleans than anticipated (thoughts and prayers to those who may have been in the vicinity of Bourbon Street last night).
The Orange Bowl and Cotton Bowl? They’re now the semifinals, and they’ll be played next Thursday and Friday night, respectively. January 9th and 10th in case you haven’t yet turned the calendar. Days that historically were reserved for meaningless All-Star games.
Quotesanity provoked me this morning with this thought on how to deal with this new reality:
“Change is the essence of life, and those who resist it are doomed to live a stagnant existence.”
Perhaps that will help me deal with the fact that for a change I can actually watch the Rose Parade with no competing live sports distraction–though I’ll confess the allure of College GameDay and Lee Corso possible donning his duck head will get me there before the last float gets judged. He’s still around (thank G-d) and he’s gonna be able to see that sunset in person.
I’m open to change, just not necessarily all of it at once.
Courage…