New Year’s Day, along with 90,000 people, I was at the Rose Bowl to watch the Oregon Ducks play the Ohio State Buckeyes. Even though the game was not close (Buckeyes dominated), it was a great day.
With postcard shirt-sleeve weather and clear skies, I imagine TV cameras panned over the mountains more than a few times. Quite possibly I heard Keith Jackson describing the majestic Rose Bowl Stadium “in the shadows of the broad-shouldered San Gabriel Mountains.”
We have written a lot about the San Gabriel Mountains. After all, whether you are in east Pasadena or west Pasadena (or anywhere in the San Gabriel Valley), the mountains are our most dominant scenic asset. And, it’s the mountains that make the Rose Bowl’s setting so extraordinary.
Last summer, ESPN’s sportswriters ranked the Rose Bowl as the nation’s second best college football stadium (second only to LSU’s Tiger Stadium). The ESPN scribes had this to say about the Rose Bowl:
Broadcaster Keith Jackson used to marvel (repeat it in his legendary voice) about the majestic San Gabriel Mountains hovering in the distance at the Rose Bowl. Good luck finding a more picturesque backdrop for any football stadium on the planet, especially at sunset.
The picture above is of a video screen in the stadium’s 1922 locker room museum. The quote from Kirk Herbstreit, a former college player and long-time sports announcer, made me pause. “The Rose Bowl is the “most magnificent setting in all of sports.”
Hard to get a more resounding review than that.
The 1922 locker room museum was part of a Rose Bowl tour I took last month. I’ve been in Pasadena a long time but the tour gave me a new appreciation for the stadium.
I was reminded of just how big the Rose Bowl stadium is — not just in seating capacity, but in its preeminent place in college football history. I suppose I tend to take the stadium for granted. After all it’s a place where ordinary things happen like a flea market, high school graduation and the start of an AYSO season.
But, it is also one of the most storied and historic football stadiums in the country.
No doubt, the San Gabriel Mountains are a picturesque backdrop to the Rose Bowl, especially as the sun sets.
The setting is beautiful, even if your team is getting trounced, which unfortunately is what happened for the University of Oregon Ducks.
Here is the tour I was on. You don’t have to be a VIP — the Rose Bowl has public tours led by expert docents. You get an hour and a half stroll through the stadium, which is a National Historic Landmark. Locker room to press box, you see the inner-workings of the stadium. But, its the history that makes this tour so unique.
The Rose Bowl has seen more than 100 years of college football and sports history. At every turn, there is a reminder. Super-sized photos and exhibits tell the story and it’s a good one. I highly recommend the tour to locals and visitors alike.
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