Bowling for Roses (Happy New Year!)

When word came around that I was going to be able to find some tickets for the Rose Bowl between USC and Penn State, I knew it had to be done. Pete Carroll, Joe Paterno, SC, PSU, The Granddaddy of the All...this was a game that needed to be attended. Especially given what USC traditionally does to Big 10 teams.

And so it was that after a brief nap in the afternoon, I pick up Za shortly before midnight on New Year's, and by 1:30 am, we're on the road to LA. There's no traffic on the road, so we make great time and end up at SC around 6:30 in the morning. Za had never seen the campus, so we took the tour seeing the football practice field, KSCR, the old dorms, the Row and of course Tommy. After that, we cruise over to Pasadena and find a Whole Foods for some tailgate foods, but it's 8am and the store doesn't open til 9. We park in their garage and sleep for an hour.

After buying some snacks, we make our way over to the Bowl and after a ridiculous struggle with parking (who decided that a stadium that seats over 90,000 people should only have two roads in and out?) we find Ray and Bones tailgating in the parking lot. So around 1130 or so, it's beers and tri-tip with js, and around 1:15 we head off for the game. We get to our seats just in time for the national anthem and fly over by a B-52, and are then treated to a massive Penn State ass kicking handed out by the Men of Troy. I hear two great questions...first, an SC fan asks a Penn State fan, "What's a Nittany?" and then at halftime when the game is 31-7, I hear someone ponder, "Is this the best the Big 10 has to offer?" All I can think is that when the Big 10 is 0-6 in their last 6 bowl games, and three of those losses are to SC teams, it really doesn't matter who their best is. Three straight years now we've beat Penn State, Illinois and Michigan badly, and each year those were the best the Big 10 had to offer.

After the game ends, it's around 6:30 and we're back in the car. Za takes the wheel home and we get back to San Francisco shortly before 12. By the time I get back home, it's been about 22.5 hours since we left and we've done the Rose Bowl, a campus tour and a round trip to Los Angeles. How's that for bringing in the new year?

Back in town for the weekend, JackieP was visiting from Germany with her new frau so we had to take to the town. Friday was uneventful aside from a Haight shopping trip, but Saturday was a late one with the crew (T, Jes, Za, McButter, JackieP, Marg, Hal, Bini and Nah) heading to the Café until it closed down and then heading over to crepes. I'm in line for crepes and thinking about calling Gavroche when I look to the front of the line and see him, Mau, Vic, Alla and others already there. After a sidewalk j and some crepes, it's back home.

Up next...the all new NowsInBetween feature....the Domino Scoreboard!