My Trip
I'd been planning for months to go to the Rose Bowl, but waited until after the Tech game to buy a ticket. That turned out to be too late to get a ticket to Los Angeles for less than $500, so I flew into Vegas and drove to Hollywood early, early Tuesday morning. My trip got a whole lot more
interesting at 8:30 Monday night, when Wally the Photographer let me know that, much to his shock, the L.A. Times was denied any guest passes. He had ten all to himself last year, but the demand was so crazy that celebrities had to buy tickets in the stands and each team only got 5 passes for former players. He felt really bad but there wasn't anything to be done, and I knew this might happen. It was less than 8 hours before I had to get up to go to the airport, so I decided to go ahead and try to figure something out in L.A. (This picture is one of Wally's. Oh, what could have been!)
I got to L.A. late Tuesday afternoon in time to drive through Pasadena before heading over to my good friend Rob's place in Hollywood. Despite the fact that he went to USC for grad school and works there now, Rob's a perfect gentleman :), and he was so sweet to let me stay with him, especially since he'd just gotten back from a big overseas trip and started his new job as a manager on Tuesday. We went out for some really good Mexican food and had a great time catching up. (You can see the air in L.A. Ewwwwwww.)So I was on my own by Wednesday afternoon when it was time to head over to the Rose Bowl because Rob had to work and I was supposed to go to the game with Wally the Photographer. It was an incredible atmostphere. The tailgating started at 6am and people were having a ball. Tom Arnold was out in the fields filming contests between fans for the Tonight Show (did you see the breathalyzer test? Oh, my.), someone had built a giant replica of the Texas Tower, and
everyone was in a great mood. I've never experienced anything quite like it. Soooo many people were looking for tickets, and there were almost none to be had. I saw 3 that were real and at least 2 fakes, but by and large it was impossible to find anything, even if you were willing to pay $3,000. Even the scalpers didn't have tickets to sell. No one could believe it. LeAnn Rimes sang the national anthem, the paratroopers landed with the game ball, some kind of bomber flew over our heads, and no tickets appeared. I don't know how many people didn't get in, but there were literally thousands who tried and then watched the game from the lots and in the bars in Pasadena. (Daily Texan photo)And, unfortunately, I was one of them. But you get to talking to lots of interesting people in that
situation. I met UT students and UT parents and people from L.A. who just wanted to see the game. I saw a kid who was in my c-group at SWBYC a couple of years ago. And then I met this cute guy who was a former Baylor quarterback and whose daddy was a career NFL player. We decided to hang out and tried to get tickets before giving up and heading into town to watch the game at a really fun place. (Okay, truth be told, the whole evening got suspiciously date-like before it was over, but that's another story altogether.) And the rest, as you know, is history. We were at a great bar with about 2/3 USC fans and 1/3 Texas fans and the game was intense, nerve-wracking, and so much fun to watch, especially with someone who knew what he was talking about. I now know more about reading a defense than ever before. Woo-hoo! (That picture was so not my idea.)After the game ended, we went out on Colorado Boulevard, the main drag in Pasadena, to join the celebration. It was completely insane - Texas fans were hi-fiving everyone they saw and people would just start singing "The Eyes of Texas" in the middle of the crosswalks. I had a Texas flag and got lots of random hugs from total strangers. The Statesman was handing out posters of Vince and the t-shirt guys were quickly moving the "USC 3-Peat" gear out of the way - they had put out their goods just a little too early.
The SC fans, though, were some of the sorest losers I've ever seen. I mean, I know it's disappointing, but it's just a game. The QB thought that it was a result of their having come to believe that their team was invincible. It really did seem that way, like the fans (and the team) just found it inconceivable that they could lose. At one point on the street, this huge guy was walking along and slamming into every Texas fan he saw. He hit me and it hurt! There's just no call for that. A game is a game, and you show your truest self in how you behave when you lose. It got even worse on Thursday morning when I was driving out of town and listening to L.A.'s sad excuse for a country radio station's discussion over whether Reggie Bush had thrown the game. (Their rationale (aside from what some bookie said) was that his numbers were so off. I wanted to scream! Don't look at his numbers; look at the numbers of the defenses USC has played and then compare that to Texas.)
So that was that. It was really disappointing to not get inside the bowl, but I would not have traded the experience of being in Pasadena for the championship for anything in the world. The plane ride back from Denver was packed with Texas fans, so much so that the pilot asked us to sing "The Eyes of Texas" before takeoff. When we were on approach, he came over the intercom and said, if you look to the left, you'll be able to see the Tower lit in full orange. What a beautiful site. (This picture is the only good thing about flying with Frontier.)
The Game
ESPN spent the whole season campaigning for Reggie Bush and USC and they were wrong. The USC 2005 team was NOT better than every great team in the history of the sport (and how
unbelievably arrogant to conduct votes on that). I'm sorry, but while winning 1.5 national championships in a row is impressive, running the table in the Pac 10 is not. Don't even get me started about OU, which every USC fan at the bowl wanted to talk about before the game. OU never had the defense that we have. (And now ESPN tries to placate us? I don't think so, gentlemen. You weren't with us before, why should we trust you now?) (This is Wally's picture of Reggie after that lateral/fumble/whatever in the first quarter - Oh, my gosh, look how close he was. It hurts!)The vindication that came with Texas' defeat of that arrogance is so, so sweet. The fact that they did it in such a convincing fashion, and that they didn't give up when SC's momentum would have shut down a lesser team made it all the better. At one point, the Texas fans in our bar started to get down about things, but I just kept thinking, "we've been here before." Sure enough.
And, well, I'm not one to gloat, but... Wait, who am I kidding? I called it. I don't just mean the score, although I called that, too. I mean the season. Last winter I had to make some big time decisions about going abroad, and the decision in large part came down to my conviction that Texas would make a run for the national title. Hardly anyone agreed with me, but it just seemed like if there was ever going to be a year that it would happen, this would be it. So I'll only say it once: I was right. :)
About the game itself, all I can say is WOW. I don't konw if this was the greatest game in the history of the sport or not, but we're not likely to see many of these again. It was so refreshing to see a national championship game live up to the hype and to give those of us who truly love the game itself a rare treat. Watching SportsCenter on the plane last night (Frontier has DirectTV), I saw Herbstreit say that this is the single greatest performance by an individual athlete in any sport he's ever seen. That's quite a statement, especially when Lance Armstrong was sitting in the stands on Wednesday night. But there's no question that the whole country finally got to see what we've been enjoying at DKR for the last three years, and Vince really showed 'em how special he is. (L.A. Times photo)On to the controversies. Was Vince's knee down when he threw that lateral out in the second quarter? Yes. I don't know where the outbreak of lateral passes came from - did Michigan spread some disease via the Alamo Bowl? At any rate, there's no question that there were bad calls, but they went pretty evenly against both teams, so I guess it all evens out in the end. All in all, it was a great night of college football with remarkably few penalties (except for that facemask call when we really needed the first down). Wow.
Should Vince stay or go? It would be hard for him to accomplish more than he
already has, although of course the Heisman is something he'd love. (Let's remember that soon-to-be Super Bowl MVP Peyton Manning doesn't have a Heisman.) But of course we'd love for him to stay. And I do think that another year would give him some time to develop his skills for the next level. But I also think he's a great player who will do well in NFL regardless of when he goes. I was in the stands three years ago when Mack first put Vince in, and later that week happened to be on the 40 Acres shuttle with him. It's easy to forget how young these kids are - he was nineteen and having to handle all that pressure. He looked young, but he didn't seem overwhelmed. It's been a pleasure to watch him mature as a player and as a person. Whatever he decides to do, will be okay. We can't ask for more from the kid from Houston. (Daily Texan photo)Or from the rest of those boys who work hard in the classroom and on the field and get so little recognition for the things they do - Vince couldn't do it all if he didn't have ten minutes to throw the ball on every play. They kept fighting and they got it done. Way to go, guys.
And Mack, well, what else is there to say? When the game had ended and we were celebrating
with the other fans in the bar, the QB leans over and says, "So. We should fire Mack Brown." Everyone just died laughing. What an awesome thing to get to be a part of a season like this. I'm so happy to be from Texas and so glad that this team got what it deserved. Hook 'em horns!!!The Tower will stay lit with the #1 through Sunday night. The national championship trophy will be on view at the Sears Grand in everything's-pfunner-in-Pflugerville from 10-2 on Saturday and at Cabela's "Your Tax Dollars At Work" outdoors superstore in Buda on Sunday. You can get your picture made with it, but you can't touch. You can listen to continuous repeats of the game on the radio - details here.