Well, here's my Rose Bowl/NCG rundown.
I gotta tell you guys that I feel like I am recovering today. My son and I woke up at 5:30 yesterday morning to head out to the game. Exactly 12 hours before kickoff. Now I know that most people, minus the ardent tailgaters, would never get up that early to head to Bryant-Denny for a ball game. But the Rose Bowl is a stadium that, quite frankly, is unique in a lot of ways. It's old and probably outdated for today's fans, and the dang thing has hardly any parking on the stadium grounds itself. Most parking is done on the golf course that lies adjacent to the stadium. When I say adjacent, I mean that the stadium looks like it's built on a golf course. That's how close it is. So with parking being such a hassle we had to head out early. Radio reports had most parking at the RB filling up by lunchtime, if you can believe that.
We head over to CRYPTO's place to follow him up, since I'm not familiar with Pasadena myself. CRYPTO's wife Jennifer came, as well as two other friends (Alabama natives) David and Kevin. We get rolling around 7:00 A.M. and everything was actually pretty good heading up to the stadium. Rush hour traffic was not that bad, and it actually took us longer to roll through Pasadena than anything else.
The town itself is pretty nice. The area around the stadium is all residental and you have to be really poor to live there.

The stadium is also in something of a bowl since it's situated at the foot of the San Gabriel mountains. Plenty of huge "mansions" not only near the stadium, but overlooking it from the mountains. Impressive area.
We pull into the golf course and park a little after 8:00 and everything looks good at first. A little while later we notice that there are a lot of other vehicles with people wearing orange. We're surrounded! We ask the attendant if there is a "BAMA" parking area or what? He says it's mixed parking. It didn't look very mixed to me. We were behind enemy lines big time! A lot of the others that went will probably tell you the same thing; BURNT ORANGE seemed to severely outnumber the good guys at the stadium. For every BAMA fan I swear there were 10 Texas fans. In our area alone, we were virtually surrounded by Texas fans on all sides with a BAMA vehicle sprinkled in here and there.
It turned out to be okay though in the end. Most all of them in our area were friendly and we had a lot of good-natured ribbing going back and forth. People videotaping the tailgating would come through and excite the two fanbases and have them chanting and jawing at one another, but again it was all in fun. One Texas group (who had the whole tailgating thing down to a science) even bleared
Sweet Home Alabama through the sound system. There seemed to be a lot of mutual respect early on with fans from both schools mingling and wondering in and out of the other's tailgate areas.
By about lunch time the infamous poster Porter, a.k.a. P-Ditty rolls into the golf course. You guys should have seen him. Pink cadillac with hydraulics! Porter's bouncing on the ruff.
Gangster's Paradise blears from the vehicle. Big, fuzzy green dice on the mirror bounce rhythmically. Porter gets out decked in an all-white suite, complete with fur-lined cape and walking cane, that would have made Boss Hogg and Snoop Dog proud. :lol:
Anyway, we all hang out at the tailgate area. Porter's wife Tammy, friend Kerry and our very own member Delmonico all came. Some of you may not know Delmonico. He's been on the site for years but is more of a reader than a poster. It's all good. Porter (and probably everyone else) is exhausted since he and his crew have had a hectic couple of days with flying into Vegas, and then getting up to drive down to the Rose Bowl first thing in the morning. The tailgate was alright, but it was getting hot and the one downside was that we didn't have more umbrellas or a tree to sit under. We played musical shade all day it seemed.
So basically we hang out at the tailgate or walk around all day, and that's about it. Walking around was pretty interesting in itself. Remember that this is California, so expect the unexpected. Along with the two fanbases, Elvis, Bat Man, Robin, Elmo and ........ a big-a$$ed bumble bee (??) or something, made an appearance.
Only in Southern Cal.
Oh, and the bumble bee guy actually jumped the fence during the game and securuty had to escort him off the field! lol! Not sure if you guys saw that on t.v. or not? I have not seen a replay of the game yet.
Some of the signs were just hilarious! We run across a group of young BAMA fans who hold a banner saying,
Texas, remember the Alamo. You lost that one too!
:lol::nopity::rofl:
Classic!!!
When it comes to game time we all file into the stadium at around 4:00 P.M. The Rose Bowl itself is nice, but to me, it was nothing spectacular. I think BamaDelta was saying that she just didn't quite get the mystique. I honestly didn't either.
As far as the layout goes, it's a nice stadium and there's not a bad seat in the house IMHO. when it comes to jumbotrons, they are able to get away with using the smaller screens due to the stadium's construction. There's no upper deck that puts you 500 feet above the field. With the way the stadium is designed, I thought the seating (amphatheater-like) was done pretty well.
The one gripe I have is bathrooms. They're located outside of the actual stadium. When you get to the RB you have the main wall/entrance gates, with a swath of pavement between that and the actual structure where vendors and rest rooms are located. Carts run up and down this pavement, along with the pedestrians, and it get's pretty nutty and congested around game time. If you're walking against the current you're fighting a losing battle.
Anyway, here's the thing. Once you're seated, if you have to pee. You're screwed. At least in our section of the stadium. We sat essentially in front of the main gate where the majority of fans come in, and teams do their walk ins. My son and I figure we'll hit the bath room before the game starts and people, I'm not lying. We walk down the tunnel and we peer out....and the line to get into our tunnel is wrapped around several times over with people fighting with the RB staff. I bet there were a thousand people trying to get into our one tunnel and this is literally minutes before kickoff. Keep in mind our entire section of the stadium looks completely filled. Where are these people coming from? Where are they going to sit, because I got news for you........it aint happening.
It was absolute chaos if you had to go to the rest room or get concessions. People were coming back into the tunnel telling us, "Don't try it, unless you don't plan on getting back in". That was far and away the worst thing about the RB IMHO.
As far as the game goes, we had the misfortune of being seated about 10 feet away from the Alabama side. My son and I were in the middle of Texas once again. We were sprinkled in with a few BAMA fans here and there, but there was no mistaking the fan base. It was all orange.
For the most part, the Texas fans were very nice people. I had no problems all day or night. They're a passionate bunch, and I know that's not news to any of you. Many of them on the way out offer congrats and showed a lot of sportsmanship and class. I felt oblidged to tell them that I felt that they had a great team, and deserved to be there. I have a lot more respect for Texas given how they were playing without their unquestioned leader and came back on Alabama. It takes a lot of moxy and character to not pack it in when that would be the easy thing to do. There's no question that Texas deserved to be there last night.
The only real problems fans were the kids. A lot of the younger fans and college kids are completely out of their minds and show little to no sportsmanship or respect to anyone whatsoever. That includes the young BAMA fans. I was ashamed and embarressed at things that were said on more than one occasion by these kids. Part of the problem was obviously the alcohol that was flowing ALL DAY LONG.
For the most part, the older fans were great. I do want to let you guys know that Ramp Lady not only holds court in Tuscaloosa, but has a winter residence in Pasadena as well. Y'all, one of the BAMA fans that was in my area last night was sitting just behind and to the left of me. I get back from the rest room at the beginning of the game and some twit leans up to me and is flashing the "horns" during the Texas fight song saying, "They're number 2. They're number 2. Come on"! She was making reference to the horns and the two fingers and exhorting me to join in with her.
I'm thinking, "Bi***. You're about to get knocked the hell out. If not by them, by me"!
This heifer was screaming. It was blood-curdling y'all! She might have been the most obnoxious person in the stadium. I swear I thought I was going to have to fight my way out of the place a couple of times.
All in all, I had a blast, as you guys can imagine. To be here and have BAMA playing for the National Championship in the town I live in is almost a once in a lifetime thing. The RB was rocking all night. Well, except in my section. It got pretty quiet in the 2nd quarter.

I was glad to have had the chance to hang out with friends here from the site, and only regret that we didn't coordinate better so that more people could have taken part in our small tailgate. I also feel blessed to have such a great wife that would spend such a rediculous amount of money on a Christmas present that allows me to take my 12-year old to not only a BAMA game, but a National Championship game. I can tell you that neither of us will ever forget it.