Re: BCS 2013-14: This space for rent
Turns out we were close to the Red Line metro center, but since I was the only one who flew we had a couple rental cars so we just drove. If I was going to do something different I would've spent the cash on the Lakers game NYE, but a few security guards in the Marriott said that nose bleeds are going for 50 bucks a game even with the Lakers being down and without Kobe.
Makes sense. We basically go just for the game since LA is easier to get to for us in general, so anything sans car is preferable, but it sounds like going by car is not as bad as one would expect in LA.
We followed the route for the shuttles. Well, actually we were pointed the wrong way by the people with shuttle signs over to charter buses rather than the public shuttles so we ended up doing about a mile lap around the parking lots and back. That took us to the train station, which we then took back to Red Line Metro.
So did you take the shuttle? Sorry, it's hard to tell if you're saying you did. There was a bit of a messup this year as it appeared the line for the shuttle had two tails, one in the parking area and one near the charter buses. Last year the line started in the parking area, and then when it looked like you were about to get to the turn in the line and be close to getting on the shuttles it actually went on for another half mile past the charter buses, then turned and headed back to where the shuttles where; it was kind of crazy not knowing where the line actually turned. This year it looked like the line from the parking lot just straight-up joined the line in addition to the line from near the charter buses. You'd think the Rose Bowl would have things set up a little better there since they've done this many times before. On the plus side, I got to say hi to Coach Shaw as we waited near the charter buses.
Most likely some overestimation there on my part. Still, I'd like to think of it as an invasion 26 years in the making.
No prob, you guys definitely wanted to be there and it's always fun to have an opponent who wants to be there.
For the first Rose Bowl in my lifetime, that's exactly what I wanted it to be: an old, traditional, pound pound pound game. Why you guys didn't run more deep passes I have no idea. I think you guys were 5/7 or something like that and one was an interception that was more of a completion followed by a strip.
Yeah it was good football even if we lost. I think we get nervous once the passing game has a problem, as it did on that INT, though I can't really fault Hogan for that. One issue is we haven't really gone for any short/intermediate routes this year as much as we used to (when we had Fleener (Colts) and Ertz (Eages)), so the passing game is either boom or bust. Oddly guys like Cajuste would work great for shorter routes, but for some reason we don't use that as much, maybe because we can fall back to the run, but here we couldn't. Hopefully playing a team as talented as MSU is a learning experience for the coaching staff on what to do at the next level.
Just realized how I wrote it came off wrong. I thought the burned couch thing was hilarious. The script and all the antics just seemed forced. With Tech's band it seems spontaneous but something was different with the LSJUMB and I have no idea what. For the burnings, it's pretty annoying how the other students here think it's a cool tradition. I'd like to see how they would feel about someone setting a couch on fire outside of their house off-campus rather than some apartment complex. I hate the monopoly that's going on for EL student housing as much as the next person but the rioting and burning the couches has to stop.
They don't quite have the edge they had pre-2006 when they were suspended for a year. This was actually more put-together than usual, a few OK bits and a nice jab at the other team. I don't think the administration is allowing them as much leeway as they used to. But over the last couple of years either the announcing has sucked or the overall bit was too esoteric, here they kept it simple.
Go Green Go White is pretty much the only cheer we have that doesn't involve the band, and since the sound had some trouble carrying there it was really all we had. Though a new tradition may have been born. I'm not sure where you were sitting or if you could see the student section but our
offensive lineman Travis Jackson did this during the Michigan game and it became a meme. He got it from WWE star
Daniel Bryan. Jackson started to do it in the
locker room celebrations and some of the band members began doing it during the game after scores. The rest of the student section caught on and after Lippett's touchdown I looked around and noticed alumni in other sections were doing it. In the post game celebration we started to do it again, Travis saw and ran over to
lead it himself, which was just awesome. Ok sorry for the links but I think it's hilarious.
Yeah we were 40 or so rows behind our band and it was still near impossible to hear them. Not a stadium really built for band acoustics. That said, I would have liked more time given to the bands rather than piped in music 90% of the time, but that seems to be a losing battle nowadays.
Honestly I thought it was a well officiated game. Though we haven't exactly been afforded the best experiences officiating wise in the Big Ten so my quality gauge may be off.
It seems like a couple of bad calls on each team. I think the DPI was uncatchable on MSU's first TD drive, but I may be biased. And I think there were a couple on you guys that maybe didn't needed to be called. Also, correcting near a whole minute off of the clock late in the 4th quarter of a close game seems like not the best game-running out there.
