The Granddaddy Of Them All

So, because my internship is here in the LA area, there are certain bucket list items I had to accomplish while I was here.  While I had accomplished some through the years of traveling in and out of the city, I had never been to any of the iconic sports venues.  I am a sports nut, and LA has two of the most historical places in the United States.  I previously posted a blog about my trip to the LA Coliseum, the site of the LA Olympics.  This past Saturday, I was able to see the “Granddaddy of Them All”—the Rose Bowl!

View From My Seat

The Rose Bowl has hosted football and other athletics for over 100 years.  It has hosted games for both the men’s and woman’s world cup.  It seats just over 100,000 spectators, and it currently is the site of one of the biggest college football bowl games each year (this year it will also host the national championship game). 

I bought a $20 ticket to the UCLA vs Arizona State football game.  Of course, as it is LA, parking at the stadium is $25, and you really have no choice as there is no other parking for miles.  The rose bowl is actually located in the city of Pasadena, CA, and it is surrounded by golf courses and some very well to do country clubs.  Because of this, in order to provide parking for spectators, they close down all the roads and the golf course, and park everyone on the golf course.  Now when I say park on the golf course, I don’t mean in the rough, I mean, right on the golf course.  They rope off the tee boxes, greens, and sand traps, and then everything else is used for parking.  I have never seen anything like it.  I cant even imagine how much they must pay the golf course to close down all Saturday, allow 30,000 cars to park on its grass, and allow tailgaters to trash the place.

The Golf Course Parking Lot.  Notice The Sand Trap 

The stadium itself was quite beautiful for an old bowl.  It is simple by today’s standards, but that is what I think I like best about it.  The view was better than I thought it would be, and I was amazed at how many ASU fans were in attendance.  I ended up in a section that easily had 8-10 thousand of them.  It was a weird game for me because I am an ASU student, but I have a good friend who is a senior, and current offensive lineman for UCLA.  I kind of wanted him to go out a winner.  But, it was not to be.  They lost after a brave come back attempt.  Still, it was a good game, and another check off of my bucket list.