A ROSE BOWL CLASSIC AFTER ALL

I apologize.

In the weeks leading up to the Rose Bowl game I had difficulty accepting the fact that our local teams would be sent away.

What about the tradition that the Pac-12 champion would play in the Rose Bowl game, usually against the Big Ten champion. That's been good enough for a long, long time. Why make a change?

When I learned the game would be between Oklahoma and Georgia I got a little madder. Who cares? What about USC and Ohio State?

The Cotton Bowl in Texas. You've got to be kidding.

If anyone would have listened to me we would have missed a classic.

This was the highest scoring game in Rose Bowl history. It was the first Rose Bowl game that required two overtimes.

The teams were as even as they could have been. And Georgia was good enough to overcome a 31-14 deficit.

I should have realized that college football experts were selecting the teams and they know a lot more than me. I had thought there would be many empty seats because fans would have to travel a long way. I should have realized both schools had loyal followers who weren't going to miss such a marvelous opportunity to take a vacation that would rank with their all-time best.

Lucky them and lucky us.

More than 90,000 fans filled the seats. I don't think many of them live in southern California.

Something else to think about is that USC didn't put up much of a fight against Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl. They fell behind 17-0 and couldn't catch up.

Had the Trojans struggled in the Rose Bowl, regardless of who they were playing it would have been quite a disappointment to their fans. Compare the excitement in the Georgia-Oklahoma game to the lack of it created by the Trojans.

Well, the Rose Bowl folks will have a lot to think about regarding next year's matchup. In the meantime let's be happy with what just happened.

In the 104th Rose Bowl game there wasn't anyone disagreeing with the label of "a classic."