tell your Rose Bowl story

Post your story here. I'll post mine later. Had a blast,I know this was close to a pilgrimage for most Spartan fans. I'll say that I was at the game and it was awesome. How did you get there, what did you do, were there any favors called in?

Miami...I found out our tickets cost $1400...

Got tickets through Stanford. Flew into San Diego, drove up for the game and then back after, spent the following day at the San Diego Zoo, flew to Chicago, flight cancelled so rented a car to drive to Detroit and then to East Lansing. Bags arrived about a week later.

Went with one of my best friends - been friends for 16 years. His dad is a biggish donor to the U so we were able to secure seats about 8 rows up in the student section (we both graduated 5 year ago). Being in the student section for the Rose Bowl was the cherry on top of my favorite trip ever. Had a fucking blast - really hope we get to do it in New Orleans this year.

Got 4 tickets through Stanford and so did my brother. Our entire family of 8 was there. 4 sat in the MSU endzone and 4 in the Stanford endzone. We flew from various places into Burbank and stayed there. Went to the parade and the game. Everybody did their own thing after the 1st. The wife and I stayed in California until the 8th and flew home from San Fran. Visited Disneyland and LA, drove the coast, had a great time in SF.

I came.

I went to book my flight the morning after the OSU game from the hotel in Indy after partying till bars closed at Scotty's. The flight costs from DTW were already creeping over 1k but I knew they were only going to get worse. At first glance it appeared that I had some miles, like maybe 17k, but not enough to book on just miles. I decided to peep the reward ticket just to see if buying the remaining points would be cheaper than paying 1k+ for a flight out of pocket. To my surprise it let me step through the entire process and book for a $5 fee. I wasn't quite sure what happened, but I sure as hell clicked "Submit" as fast as I could and read the verification email. Turns out I was looking at my status qualification miles and not my Skymiles. I had like 60k Skymiles and booked the flight for free. bing.

Rented a house in Pasadena off of AirBnB with 3 other buddies. It worked out great. Walking distance to everything.

My friend won tickets and airfare to the Rose Bowl. If I never win anything again in my life I'll be okay, because I won the tickets to Indy and took my friend, where they entered the contest to win the Rose Bowl tickets.

Flew first class there with a connecting flight in Dallas because that's all that was left. Stayed in Studio City, was up all the first night because the guy in the room next to us had a hooker and was the loudest lay I've ever heard in my life. Then when hotel staff told them to quiet down, dude apologized and kicked her out. She went into the courtyard and kept screaming "TRAE. I DON'T EVEN HAVE A PHONE TRAE. THIS IS SO MESSED UP. TRAE!?!"

Went to Universal Studios for NYE, hungout on the Citywalk and had a great time with all the Christmas decorations and the fireworks and the bars. Then walked back three miles at 2 am (awful decision on my part) to our hotel.

Got up the next morning, took a $50 cab to Pasadena, met some good friends and fellow Spartans. Had an incredible time just soaking it all in. Flew back with a connecting flight in Chicago right after the game was over and took the redeye back to Detroit.

I cannot express how blessed and lucky I am to be able to go to both the Big Ten Championship and the Rose Bowl. Never would I have thought I could do it, but I'm very fortunate and have some amazing friends and family who helped out.

Tix on the 35 from MSU .... Went to LA on 12/30. Enjoyed the greatest New Years Day/ game ever.

Left for 5 days in Palm Springs AFTER - which to me, was key. Luckily I have a brother with a ( third) home there- -

Avoided that entire Midwest death storm / cold. Couldn't figure out wtf people were leaving the day after for ... One day of work ??

Awesome time with the gf.

I was working in Belarus, Singapore and India the entire month of December and returned to the US on December 29th.  I had purchased a ticket for the Rose Bowl and parade on StubHub from India and finally picked up the tickets at UPS on the 30th only to learn that I received the wrong ticket (Stanford section instead of MSU section).

Long story short: StubHub put me in a better seat on the MSU side (~15 yard line on S side) for no cost (their standard policy), and then actually refunded my full ticket price a couple days later.  Thus, Rose Bowl ticket cost $0.

Booked a business class ticket from DTW to LAX on the 31st with miles plus $10.  Booked one night in LAX hotel and stayed with a bazillion Japanese tourists.  Caught the pep rally, mingled with other Spartans, caught the parade and game and the booked out of LAX on the 1/1 red-eye back to DTW.

Arrived DTW in the snow, slogged back to East Lansing on unplowed, snow packed roads but at least got back on time (unlike a lot of other Spartans).  Great trip even though I left the family behind.  Will plan better next time around.

Flew up to Indy for the championship game. Had an incredible time and osu fans were actually great. Decided right then I was going to the rose bowl no matter what. Asked the wife and kids if they wanted to spend New Years in Santa Monica. So we booked a room at the casa del mar right on the beach and flew in two days early to sight see and relax. We were all blown away by the shear number of Spartan fans. The day before the parade we drive to Pasadena and parked the car at the rose bowl. They were still completing final prep of all the floats and the venders were setting up. So we stayed and watched them finish up the floats and it was a blast. Bought a bunch of rose bowl gear and drive back to Santa Monica to rest. Next day had breakfast in room and everyone got decked out for the parade. Went to parade and again blown away by how beautiful it was along with the constant chorus of go greens go whites. Of course the game was spectacular and I met up with some friends post game. Then I got a call from ghost, Miami  and forbin and I met up with them. We hit downtown la and partied for another four hours. Miami drive me back to my hotel as I was pretty plastered. Next day did the observatory thing and hit Malibu. Following day flew back to Orlando with a perpetual smile on my face. I was complete.

Flew to LA on NYE, checked into our hotel in manhattan beach, called to pick up our tickets from my uncles friend and he invited us to his suite for the Lakers game that night.

Spent NYE at the Lakers game, partied downtown, got up early and drove to Pasadena where we had VIP grandstand tickets for the parade right next to all the TV networks. Partied at a mansion up the hill from the Rose Bowl between parade and game. Waked down to the stadium early and tailgated with Spartan Fans. Then witnessed glory.

We spent another 4 days in LA just hanging out at the beach and enjoying life.

Phil McCrackin wrote:Flew to LA on NYE, checked into our hotel in manhattan beach, called to pick up our tickets from my uncles friend and he invited us to his suite for the Lakers game that night.

Spent NYE at the Lakers game, partied downtown, got up early and drove to Pasadena where we had VIP grandstand tickets for the parade right next to all the TV networks. Partied at a mansion up the hill from the Rose Bowl between parade and game. Waked down to the stadium early and tailgated with Spartan Fans.  Then witnessed glory.

We spent another 4 days in LA just hanging out at the beach and enjoying life.

Swill ballers be ballin  

Bought tickets through Stanford, took the family, stayed in Redondo Beach in the Pacific. Seen old college friends, drank, and watched a great Spartan victory . Probably the best time you can ever have.

Bought ids off a couple students, opened up a credit card and bought plane tickets for my girlfriend and I after msu hammered Nebraska. Figured if things didn't go our way I could just change the flights around and go to Oregon for the game this season.

Stayed with a family friend in tarzana, ate in n out for the first time and saw the parade. Did our pregaming at an all you can eat/drink tent on the rose bowl grounds. That was awesome

InTenSity wrote:

Miami...I found out our tickets cost $1400...

Damn, I hope you're buying a lot from that guy. You and him are both awesome.

As for my story, I flew out the 30th. Mostly did my own personal car tour around town on the afternoon of the 30th and part of the 31st, checking out the sights, the awesome MSU billboards, etc. Hooked up with InTenSity after the pep rally. I didn't make it down there until it was over, but was still floored by the number of Spartans still down there. Hung out with InTenSity for a little while, then later met up with an old room mate from MSU at Golden Road Brewery.

Got to the golf course around 8am or so on game day and soon found SoCalSpartan and tRCMB tailgate. Left that for a bit and to see my cousin, then back to tRCMB tailgate where I met up with InTenSity, as well as Nedgo and some other posters. gHost and Tanny made it by for a few minutes before the game, but soon had to head to the stadium to have time to be herded like cattle into our areas. By total coincidence, that same room mate that I met up with the night before, and hadn't seen in over 10 years, was sitting two rows in front of me and down a little, and that was in a Stanford section, which makes it even more of a coincidence. Game was amazing, nuff said.

After the game I found Tanny, gHost, and Forbin, and headed down to LA Live for some food, drinks, and Spartan comraderie. On the 2nd, before my flight, I went down to the Manhattan pier for a few, saw some dolphins, then to the airport, where I shared a flight home with McGarrett Kings, Noah Jones, and Justin Williams. Talked to them for a bit, as well as McGarrett's mom, who I'd sat next to on a flight back in September and got to know a little bit.

Pure, absolute, 100% awesomeness start to finish for the trip. The whole experience blew away every expectation that I had, and I had some pretty big day dreams about what it would be like.

Bought tickets through Stanford, when it looked like MSU points weren't going to be enough. MSU tickets came through, sold Stanford tickets on Stubhub.  Flew to Vegas with wife and son.  Bet bowl parlay and was out after first game (Aggies you couldn't even cover against Duke   )

Brother had friend was was gracious enough to let 9 strangers stay in his canal front home in Newport Beach. So spent NYE biking along ocean front paths marveling at the bungalows and locals surfing in December. Never got used to 4:30 sunset on what felt like a summer day in Michigan.

Gameday trafffic going and coming was much less of a problem than anticipated. Got into and off of the golf course with almost no delay. The pregame and game was like a dream come true.  Exceeded expectations that were already incredibly high.

Return to Vegas in time to lose another parlay (thanks tOSU, effing chokers) saw the cirque du soleil Beatles music show.

Redeye home in middle seat was some form of demented torture as was driving in foot of snow that had fallen the night before our landing.

After we osu failed their fourth down attempt I fell to the ground screaming we are going to the freaking rose bowl! I decided I couldn't miss this game. The flight and ticket search was on after the trophy presentation. I was also on the phone with my dad talking about how this was the greatest day ever.

Fast forward a couple days and my boss from high school says he got tickets from a high end donor he is really good friends with. He has 2 tickets for me. 10 yard line about 20 rows up. My gf and I figure out the flight and hotel and we are booked for the best 3 days of my life.

I was in Florida for a family reunion and my flight from Sarasota to Detroit started a long day. Detroit to Philly. Philly to Phoenix. And Phoenix to Ontario. I didn't care. I saw Spartans at every airport giving me head nods and go green go white.

Woke up early to get our tickets and hang out down town la. Went to the pep rally and wanted to punch holes in everything afterwards. So many Spartans ready to explode!

Game day. Arrived bright and early. I'm so fucking excited I can't breathe. That day was PERFECT. 78 and sunny with no humidity. Not a single cloud in the sky! My gf and I drink with my boss and his crew. I visit friends and walk through random tailgates to soak it all in with my fellow Spartans. We did go to the parade for a few which was decent. We got back and took pics in front of the stadium. I feel like a god.

Game starts. Enough said. I can still hear the fight song echoing off the mountains. We were so fucking loud!
I still get choked up thinking about the stop and confetti falling around me. Spartans hugging and screaming together. I remember shaking hands with a group of alums. They all had tears in their eyes and I talked with them for awhile.

I went back and ate in n out and drank with our group at the hotel.

Last day we went to Newport Beach and relaxed. The smile was still plastered to my face. Flight back I was on a plane filled with Spartans from Phoenix to Detroit. We sang the fight song over and over. Great moment.

Detroit was 0 degrees when we arrived and it took us forever to get home. I didn't care. We are rose bowl champs.

Flew into San Diego 12/31/13.
Stayed with Stepson.
Drove with him and 2 friends to Pasadena 1/1/2014 arriving 10am and parked under balloon 8 on golf course.
Got drunk.
Watched 1st half in section 12 until about 5 minutes to go in 1st half
Spent the rest of the game at the Coors Beer tent on the concourse behind section 8. Drank like a fish and saw a woman (MSU fan) that looked exactly like Jackie Kennedy Onasis circa 1970. I told her that and she said she hears it often. Her husband walked-up and looked at me very suspiciously, and for good reason.
Kept pounding Coors 22 oz. until they closed-up in the 4th. Luckily got one just before they closed.
Almost had a nervous breakdown in the last 4 minutes of game.
Became very happy after 4th down smack-down by Ellsworth.
Drove back to San Diego and watched the replay in a bar still very happy.
Flew back to Michigan 1/2/2014 still in state of euphoria.
Best GD Sporting Event I have ever been to in my 52 years and I highly doubt I will ever experience anything better or even close to equal.

Got my tickets for about $300 through StubHub. Drove from Wyoming to the Inland Empire on the first day - left at around 1 a.m. and drove for about 12 hours total. Absolutely gorgeous drive, especially that 30 minutes in Arizona before hitting Nevada from Utah. Did some tourist trap stuff along the way - damn near broke my ribs on that roller coaster at that resort on the state line between California and Nevada.

Drove to Pasadena the morning of the big game - it was a nightmare getting into Pasadena, but that was expected. Tickets were in the upper corner in the second-to-last row of the stadium, but the seats were still fantastic. Saw a few MSU friends that I hadn't seen in years. Wore my old green hockey jersey, which elicited a few "So, that Anastos guy, how do you think he's doing?" questions from the MSU fans that I ran into - I must say, it's nice to actually answer that question in-person again.

The next day I went to Six Flags Magic Mountain and rode roller coasters until I vomited. Immediately after the park closed, I ate at In-N-Out and drove to Reno to see my grandmother.

On the way home, I caught the flu. Up to that point, though, it was clearly the best road trip I've ever taken. Hell, even after getting sick, it still was.

Jethro Bodeen wrote:Flew into San Diego 12/31/13.
Stayed with Stepson.
Drove with him and 2 friends to Pasadena 1/1/2014 arriving 10am and parked under balloon 8 on golf course.
Got drunk.
Watched 1st half in section 12 until about 5 minutes to go in 1st half
Spent the rest of the game at the Coors Beer tent on the concourse behind section 8. Drank like a fish and saw a woman (MSU fan) that looked exactly like Jackie Kennedy Onasis circa 1970. I told her that and she said she hears it often. Her husband walked-up and looked at me very suspiciously, and for good reason.
Kept pounding Coors 22 oz. until they closed-up in the 4th. Luckily got one just before they closed.
Almost had a nervous breakdown in the last 4 minutes of game.
Became very happy after 4th down smack-down by Ellsworth.
Drove back to San Diego and watched the replay in a bar still very happy.
Flew back to Michigan 1/2/2014 still in state of euphoria.
Best GD Sporting Event I have ever been to in my 52 years and I highly doubt I will ever experience anything better or even close to equal.

Dude, you went to the fucking Rose Bowl and didn't even watch half the game (at least not in person)?

MiamiSpartan wrote:

Dude, you went to the fucking Rose Bowl and didn't even watch half the game (at least not in person)?

This. How could Coors light trump anything, much less the rose bowl??

MiamiSpartan wrote:
Damn, I hope you're buying a lot from that guy.  You and him are both awesome.

As for my story, I flew out the 30th.  Mostly did my own personal car tour around town on the afternoon of the 30th and part of the 31st, checking out the sights, the awesome MSU billboards, etc.  Hooked up with InTenSity after the pep rally.  I didn't make it down there until it was over, but was still floored by the number of Spartans still down there.  Hung out with InTenSity for a little while, then later met up with an old room mate from MSU at Golden Road Brewery.

Got to the golf course around 8am or so on game day and soon found SoCalSpartan and tRCMB tailgate.  Left that for a bit and to see my cousin, then back to tRCMB tailgate where I met up with InTenSity, as well as Nedgo and some other posters.  gHost and Tanny made it by for a few minutes before the game, but soon had to head to the stadium to have time to be herded like cattle into our areas.  By total coincidence, that same room mate that I met up with the night before, and hadn't seen in over 10 years, was sitting two rows in front of me and down a little, and that was in a Stanford section, which makes it even more of a coincidence.  Game was amazing, nuff said.

After the game I found Tanny, gHost, and Forbin, and headed down to LA Live for some food, drinks, and Spartan comraderie.  On the 2nd, before my flight, I went down to the Manhattan pier for a few, saw some dolphins, then to the airport, where I shared a flight home with McGarrett Kings, Noah Jones, and Justin Williams.  Talked to them for a bit, as well as McGarrett's mom, who I'd sat next to on a flight back in September and got to know a little bit.

Pure, absolute, 100% awesomeness start to finish for the trip.  The whole experience blew away every expectation that I had, and I had some pretty big day dreams about what it would be like.

That was a great time. My life is now complete. I got two ncs in hoops and a rose bowl win.

Ass Dan wrote:

This. How could Coors light trump anything, much less the rose bowl??

fair question. Many reasons, some related to orthopedic problems and I get too nervous and agitated all cramped into a seat only wide enough for a 9 year old. So I often leave my seat. And that day, the Beer was cold and it seemed it might be bad luck if I went back in as we seemed to begin to take control after I left the stadium. I have no regrets. The formula worked.

Ass Dan wrote:

This. How could Coors light trump anything, much less the rose bowl??

fair question. Many reasons, some related to orthopedic problems and I get too nervous and agitated all cramped into a seat only wide enough for a 9 year old. So I often leave my seat. And that day, the Beer was cold and it seemed it might be bad luck if I went back in as we seemed to begin to take control after I left the stadium. I have no regrets. The formula worked.

After the Championship game, I had jokingly asked one of my suppliers if he could get me tickets to the game. I knew that they were tough to get, but thought prices would come down. This guy told me he could get however many I needed. That got things started for me. I started looking at flights and finally asked my wife if I could go. I felt bad that she couldn't come with me, but thought it would be a bit much to have her and a 2 year old along for the ride, when it was going to be very busy and nonstop for 24 hours.

I forget if Miami told me he was going and got a flight for cheaper than I thought they were, and pulled the trigger. I asked the guy who promised me tickets if he could get me 5 tickets and he said no problem. After Christmas happened and he still didn't have the tickets I started to panic and called around to a couple other people I knew. Long story short on this part, 1st guy came up with 2 tickets and another guy came up with the other 2 tickets.

Met my grandparents, 2 sets of aunts and uncles, and 4 cousins out there. My aunt covered my hotel stay since I got her tickets. Met Miami near the Staples center and we hung out on NYE, went to the hotel and the tickets for him and I were in the lobby. That night, I tried to get to bed early, since I knew it was going to be a long day. 

Went to the parade and stayed for about half of it, then left with family to go to the golf course. At this point, I split up with them, they had tickets to the alumni tailgate and I went off to meet up with Miami. We tailgated and I forget everyone that was there, but thanks again to SoCal Spartan for setting it up. I drank and ate, met quite a few spartans, stopped Delvon Roe and took a picture with him, seemed like a pretty cool guy. Just told him, thanks for everything he did for the University. 

Went to the game, cheered loudly, I think the people in front of us told me to tone down a couple F bombs, which I think I did. The part I regret is that I didn't get to see the awards ceremony. My phone had died and I was paranoid that I wasn't going to be able to find my relatives to get a ride to the airport. After standing around for about 30 minutes, I finally found them. Got to the airport 2 hours before my flight, got bumped up to 1st class for the redeye back. Got home about 6am and called my boss around 8 to tell him I'd be in, but not until around 10 or so.

Was an unbelievable trip and I'm leaving a lot of stuff out. Met a lot of people while out there and would definitely do it again, next time I'd like to take a few days to stay out there though.

GO GREEN!

Tanfan! wrote:

That was a great time. My life is now complete. I got two ncs in hoops and a rose bowl win.

What I don't get is any Spartan fan with the means NOT going to the Rose Bowl last year....and I know many of them. I hope 2013 was the start of a long string of marquee bowl appearances, but nothing will ever touch the experience of the first time back after 26 years.

Part 1 (indy) - Friends and I(all seniors) went to Indy the morning of the game, checked into our hotel(never been to a hotel that let people check in so early), and then grabbed a taxi en route to downtown. Went to some beer tent a few blocks from the stadium, which was about 70-30 OSU fans. It was absolutely epic. The entire time spent in there was a constant shouting match between two fan-bases trying to drown each other out with chants, fight song, etc. Actually started spelling out "MI-CH-IG-AN ST-AT-EEEEEEEE", which surprisingly pissed off OSU fans quite a bit.

Anyway, get to the game, there's this kid in the row of front of us who was hammered, and had also spilled nacho cheese all over his buddy. He occasionally came to every now and then, and actually started eating the nacho cheese off of his shoes. Security knew he was hammered, yet let him stay. He was actually somewhat coherent by the 4th quarter.

Fast forward to Langford's clinching TD: Pandemonium. Everyone in my section going bonkers. There was also an Auburn fan a section to our left who was going just as crazy, which was cool I guess.

We stay for the presentation, celebrate, some of us called our parents to share in the moment before heading back to the bars to continue the celebration. We saw very few OSU fans, but saw several cars with flyers containing details regarding travel packages from Columbus to Pasadena. Karma.

The cherry on top was that I didn't have any Finals, so I got to go straight home for an extra week of Christmas Break on Sunday.

Bizarro Fletch wrote:

What I don't get is any Spartan fan with the means NOT going to the Rose Bowl last year....and I know many of them.  I hope 2013 was the start of a long string of marquee bowl appearances, but nothing will ever touch the experience of the first time back after 26 years.

I had heard way too many people tell stories about how they passed on the '88 game saying that they would go next time, thinking it would happen again in a couple of years.

I'm not sure if anything could top it. From a purely game/success perspective, a football national championship game/win could top it, but I'm not sure if the overall experience could.

Part 2 (Rose Bowl). "Requested" Rose Bowl student tickets Sunday morning. They said we'd find out whether our request went through on December 11. December 11 comes and goes; no confirmation e-mail. Instead, they sent us some BS e-mail telling us they had received 31,000 requests, but their allotment was only 24,000. However, on the evening of December 12 -     

My friend and I both get a ticket, we book plane tickets early out of Chicago on the morning of NYE(Thank you parents again). We spend the night before the flight in Chicago to avoid making the drive at 4 am. Arrive in California around 10 a.m. PST.

The really cool part was that one of our other friends who graduated in December lived about 45 minutes away from Pasadena, so we were able to stay at his family's place for the trip.(Right in the mountains, pool, hot tub, basketball hoop, big screen TV, an In-N-Out 10 minutes away, you name it). He picked us up from the airport, where we promptly headed to the hotel in downtown LA to pick up our tickets(That was the policy for students). Looked in awe as downtown LA was flooded with green and white. I swear I saw more MSU fans in LA than I would for an average home game in EL. We get to the hotel, pick up our tickets(11th row!), then went to the bar to watch the basketball game, where we got to enjoy the victory with Lupe Izzo.

After the basketball game, we met up with other friends of ours(same ones we went to Indy with) to go to In-N-Out before heading back to our friend's place for the night. His family was great, made us a steak dinner, then celebrated NYE with them. Got roughly 5 hours of sleep before waking up to head to Pasadena.

MiamiSpartan wrote:
I had heard way too many people tell stories about how they passed on the '88 game saying that they would go next time, thinking it would happen again in a couple of years.  

I'm not sure if anything could top it.  From a purely game/success perspective, a football national championship game/win could top it, but I'm not sure if the overall experience could.  

Yup. The circumstances will never be duplicated. At least I hope not, because a major contributor was the fact that we hadn't been there in so long.   

Bizarro Fletch wrote:

What I don't get is any Spartan fan with the means NOT going to the Rose Bowl last year....and I know many of them.  I hope 2013 was the start of a long string of marquee bowl appearances, but nothing will ever touch the experience of the first time back after 26 years.

It was a trip I will never forget and I still feel bad for some of my longtime Spartan friends who made excuses and didn't just sack up and go for it.

Part 3 (Rose Bowl Day) - Wake up about 6 a.m., barely ate anything(huge mistake) before heading to the Liquor store for the tailgate(Our friend's dad was nice enough to drive us). We get to the liquor store, we're all 21+, but one of our other friends who we were with had some weird ID(enhanced license maybe?), and they accused him of using a fake, so they wouldn't sell any of us booze. We instead go to a different liquor store, and he just stayed in the car while the rest of us got drinks.

We get to the game about 9:00 and oh my God, it's a full blown MSU home game. We met up with 2 or 3 other groups of friends to tailgate with, and after an hour or so, I went around the stadium to meet up with some of my parent's friends whose tailgates I would always stop by at in EL.

Me and my two friends I was sitting with got into the stadium shortly after gates opened to check out the stadium and such. We each got a hotdog, which would be our only real food for a near 24-hour stretch. We then found out you could order beer in the Rose Bowl, which was sweet(Still don't want it in Spartan Stadium though).

Get to our seats. The stadium is gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. I'm not usually a big picture guy, was I was taking pictures and videos of pretty much everything. Right before our band took the field, the student section joined them in the "YES" chant, which obviously turned out to be semi-legendary.

Game on. The game could not have started any worse, and I'm certain Cook's Pick-6 is the worst throw in Rose Bowl history. However, Ellsworth's stop happens, and again, pandemonium. However, because of our angle(endzone seats), we weren't entirely sure we stuffed them.

However, when the ref announced the play stands as called -         

Stuck around for nearly an hour after the game, including the trophy presentation. I loved how after the presentation ended, they started a 20:00 clock, which signified when they wanted fans to leave the stadium. Those 20 minutes come and go and the party's still going. We snagged some grass from the field, which I currently have in my Rose Bowl ticket laniard/sleeve. Partied for another 90 minutes or so outside of the stadium before getting picked up to head back to our friend's house.

We spent the next day relaxing at the beach before watching Alabama lose to Oklahoma. We went to the bars that night, headed back home on January 3rd. The 5 of us who ended up staying at our friend's house pitched in $20 each to buy a gift card for a restaurant they really liked.

All in all, not sure I'll ever have that much fun again in my life, and the fact that it was my senior year made it that much sweeter.

Sorry for the multiple long posts, but I had too much fun reliving those stories. Go Green!

Molon Labe wrote:Got tickets through Stanford. Flew into San Diego, drove up for the game and then back after, spent the following day at the San Diego Zoo, flew to Chicago, flight cancelled so rented a car to drive to Detroit and then to East Lansing. Bags arrived about a week later.

  

We flew into SD and were going to do a hit and run. Flight out got cancelled so we rebooked for two days later and just had fun in SD. Biggest mistake ever. In the next 48 hours the entire airline network went ape shit because of the snow. Ended up, eventually, at Midway and drove back to the Detroit area. Black ice and white outs the whole way. The car would slide on I80 laterally when the wind would blow. We were the only passenger car driving down a freeway littered with semis in the ditches. I took 10 hours to drive it. At some points going 15 MPH.

On the flip side, the dude who rents out his front yard for parking here is legit as shit. https://www.google.com/maps/@34.154612,-118.168171,3a,75y,237.06h,83.6t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sSDRYanGqHyV9KdjocWSxiA!2e0

My wife was well aware for years that I was going to the Rose Bowl if/when MSU ever returned. So, when MSU won the B1G Championship, it was just a matter of if she and the kids would be coming along or not.

We decided to make a week long trip out of it. We drove from Denver to Vegas, stayed a couple nights, picked up my ticket from a tRCMBer while in Vegas, then drove out to California.

California was a mix of kid stuff (Legoland, zoo, Santa Monica Pier) and adult stuff (well, mostly visiting breweries).

We had a place across the street from the ocean in Huntington Beach, so the drive to Pasadena on the first kinda sucked. Still, the wife and kids went to the parade (and were not going to the game) while I hiked it to downtown Pasadena. I met up with gHost, Al, and a few others for drinks before heading over to the stadium. I never did make it to tRCMB tailgate, as Tanfan and I both wanted to ensure we made it into the stadium in time.

The game was great for many reasons, but one of the things I remember most was that I was confident MSU was going to win, so I was surprisingly calm the entire game.

The drive home was awesome in that at some random highway rest stop near the Nevada border I counted 10 people wearing MSU gear, and at a gas station in Green River, Utah (which is along a long stretch of desolate road), around midnight or so there were two other groups of Spartans.

Once in a lifetime trip - especially considering the previous drought, and the years leading up to last.

Johnny Alpamayo wrote:My wife was well aware for years that I was going to the Rose Bowl if/when MSU ever returned. So, when MSU won the B1G Championship, it was just a matter of if she and the kids would be coming along or not.

We decided to make a week long trip out of it. We drove from Denver to Vegas, stayed a couple nights, picked up my ticket from a tRCMBer while in Vegas, then drove out to California.

California was a mix of kid stuff (Legoland, zoo, Santa Monica Pier) and adult stuff (well, mostly visiting breweries).

We had a place across the street from the ocean in Huntington Beach, so the drive to Pasadena on the first kinda sucked. Still, the wife and kids went to the parade (and were not going to the game) while I hiked it to downtown Pasadena. I met up with gHost, Al, and a few others for drinks before heading over to the stadium. I never did make it to tRCMB tailgate, as Tanfan and I both wanted to ensure we made it into the stadium in time.

The game was great for many reasons, but one of the things I remember most was that I was confident MSU was going to win, so I was surprisingly calm the entire game.

The drive home was awesome in that at some random highway rest stop near the Nevada border I counted 10 people wearing MSU gear, and at a gas station in Green River, Utah (which is along a long stretch of desolate road), around midnight or so there were two other groups of Spartans.

Once in a lifetime trip - especially considering the previous drought, and the years leading up to last.

The number of vehicles with MSU decals bearing Michigan plates driving along totally desolate stretches of highway was impressive. That's a long ass drive.

Bizarro Fletch wrote:

What I don't get is any Spartan fan with the means NOT going to the Rose Bowl last year....and I know many of them.  I hope 2013 was the start of a long string of marquee bowl appearances, but nothing will ever touch the experience of the first time back after 26 years.

Same. I have at least 2-3 very good friends who passed up on it, all due to varying degrees of extenuating circumstances. Sorry, but when this happens you make your own circumstances.

WhiteBoyHatcher wrote:

Same. I have at least 2-3 very good friends who passed up on it, all due to varying degrees of extenuating circumstances. Sorry, but when this happens you make your own circumstances.

I told my best friend that all he had to do was make it out to CA, maybe rent a room and I would get him a ticket. I think he looked, but once the price of flights went over $1k or so he backed out. I can't fault him for that, though. 

My Grandparents got the whole trip as a xmas present. My Grandpa had promised my Grandma in 88 that they would go to the next Rose Bowl. My Grandma was beside herself that she finally got to check that off her bucket list. Watching a game with her is stressful, she will walk out of the room and say things like: Why can't Cook just complete a pass?! It can't be that hard to throw the ball!

InTenSity wrote:My Grandparents got the whole trip as a xmas present. My Grandpa had promised my Grandma in 88 that they would go to the next Rose Bowl. My Grandma was beside herself that she finally got to check that off her bucket list. Watching a game with her is stressful, she will walk out of the room and say things like: Why can't Cook just complete a pass?! It can't be that hard to throw the ball!

Tanfan is your Grandmother?

Bizarro Fletch wrote:

Tanfan is your Grandmother?

I've imagined some of the posters in my grandmothers voice before. She is hilarious, she can't watch the end of close games, will actually get up and pace around her condo. She used to be upset that Izzo wouldn't wear a green tie, especially if it was a nationally televised game, I think she actually bought him one and sent it to him. She hates the fact that her brothers never went to UM, grew up in Mason and rooted for UM. She graduated from MSU in the 50's, and her and I would always watch games together.