It's difficult to beat the atmosphere of the Rose Bowl.
Towering palms and pines rising up beyond the top of the stadium walls. Stucco villas tucked away in the hills behind that. And the San Gabriel Mountains looming over all of it, bigger than just about anything else around here.
Except for that perfect blue sky to frame it all.
And did we mention temperatures hitting 70 degrees, no need for glass or tarps to enclose the press box on this day?
Hard to argue
that it's not the best bowl venue around.
Of course, there
is a game to be played, too, between Penn State and USC.
But things like
those famous bands and that majestic white horse stepping down the sideline are
all part of the experience.
There also are
the people like Charles Franklin, 72 in a couple of weeks, who owns about the
most distinctive, most authoritative "Get your sou-ve-nir pro-grams" call
around.
Just maybe the
longest-running call, as well.
Franklin, all
5-foot-6 of him, has been hawking game day programs at USC football games,
usually at the L.A. Coliseum, for the past 56 years.
Friends not only
help out by giving him rides and filing his tax returns, they've also started a
Web site for him at
www.program21.com.
(That comes from his Gate 21 position at the Coliseum).
The Rose Bowl
just about has it all.
From odd
concessions, like the Pennsylvania Dutch Funnel Cake stand run by Californians
who aren't from PA. (Oreo cookies and strawberries on funnel cakes?)
To the
former college greats, like John Cappelletti and Ki-Jana Carter roaming the
sidelines.
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