(Pasadena, CA) – It’s all smiles for the Frog faithful as TCU’s football team completed a perfect season with a stirring two-point victory over Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl. We were on hand to support our daughter, a TCU freshman, and the remarkable run of her school's football team.
The biggest news, on a personal level, to come from this day is the fact that we actually saw our daughter. Although we had the same destination, we traveled separately. We had been here for a couple of days and had heard rumors that she was nearby, but our first glimpse of her came at 3:50 a.m. on New Year’s Day. With four friends in tow, she gained unauthorized entry into her parents’ hotel room following an evening of revelry. They promptly piled into the bed and crashed.
All of this was made possible by our pre-dawn departure to the Tournament of Roses Parade. We’re glad we saw it, but there was a significant misery quotient. When we arrived at our assigned parade viewing seats, the temperature was in the 30’s. Since we arrived before sunup, the temperature continued to fall. We were incredibly cold; especially if you consider that we’re in southern California.
The parade, a New Year’s Day tradition, loses a little something when it’s not on TV. You can admire all the obvious work that went into the floatsand other parade preparations. This is primarily a football trip, so naturally I enjoyed seeing the entries from the particiating teams.
It’s one of those things that you’re really glad you did, but if the opportunity presents itself again, you’d probably rather stay in bed.
From there, it was onto the Rose Bowl, where we tailgated TCU style. This is in stark contrast to a tailgate event at LSU, where everything is loud and intense. A TCU tailgate is laid-back and exceedingly pleasant, and the setting for this one certainly set it apart.
Meanwhile, the sleeping beauties back at the hotel arose from their slumber in time to make it to the stadium,but we didn’t see our daughter until we got to our seats. It’s good we were sitting together; otherwise we may not have spent any time with her at all on this trip.
The game was thrilling, coming down to the final minute. Wisconsin was a failed two-point conversion away from sending it into overtime. But when the potential tying pass was batted down, the purple people produced pandemonium. When the Horned Frogs recovered an on-side kick and ran out the clock, the party was on.
Not for us, though. We had been up since 3:50 a.m. We went back to the refreshingly empty hotel room and ordered a pizza. We’re thrilled for all the Frogs, though. Happy New Year!
Sunday, January 02, 2011
Purple Pademonium in Pasadena
Friday, December 31, 2010
Seeing Stars in L.A.
(Los Angeles) - I am not often star struck, but I admit I lost my composure a little bit this afternoon at the TCU Rose Bowl pep rally. I was standing around outside the Staples Center just taking it all in, when I saw a man standing on a planter, rising above the crowd. It was CBS News living legend Bob Schieffer, host of “Face the Nation,” former anchor of the CBS Evening News and TCU alumnus.
How large a figure is Mr. Schieffer at TCU? The journalism school there is the Schieffer School of Journalism. He’s an icon.
For me, it was like seeing one of the Beatles in the 60’s or something. I lost my mind and made a bee line for him. “Mr. Schieffer, would mind if I take a photo with you?” I have been told more than once to be careful if you meet your heroes because they can disappoint you. Not Schieff! He smiled and said “Certainly.” He let me tell him my little story about how I spent a lifetime working in local news and I thanked him enthusiastically. What a highlight for me!
It’s been a strange, “local news” couple of days. 
For example, there’s Fritz Coleman. According to the enormous billboard hovering over Hollywood Avenue, he’s a comedian and he’s a weatherman. I’m guessing if you live in southern California, Mr. Coleman is a celebrity. He’s certainly on the local news and apparently he’s a comedian. And a weatherman. And….He’s in an out-of-focus photo with my wife and me!
We underappreciated it at the moment, but grasped it a little more when we saw the billboard.
Meanwhile, back at the pep rally, where a sea of purple flooded Nokia Plaza…
We were minding our own business standing under a statue of Magic Johnson when we saw a familiar face: Gerry May, the anchor at the ABC station back home in Shreveport. He is a huge TCU fan and I knew he would be here, but to be standing within 30 feet of him and his wife was just a crazy coincidence. So, of course we posed for photos.
I know, I know…when you’re in Hollywood, these are not the kinds of celebrities you expect to see. Movie stars, TV stars; who knows you will see? How about The Man of Steel?
I’m still recovering from my close encounter with network news royalty. I need to try to get the stars out of my eyes. Seeing Schieffer was, with respect to my composure, was like being exposed to kryptonite.
Could It Be a Sign?
Other things we saw: Badgers.
Yes, Wisconsin fans found their way to Hollywood, finally. Some of them are trying to taunt purple-clad TCU faithful, but the Frogs aren’t taking the bait. Not only are Frog fans nice by nature, they also remember that their team got crushed in the Fiesta Bowl last year. So, there’s not much smack talk out on the streets, no matter how hard a bellicose Badger may try to start some.
As we made our way down the Walk of Stars, dead center in front of the legendary Grauman’s Chinese theater: Shreveport people! TCU parents who have a daughter the same age as ours, who we’ve known for more than fifteen years. We were thrilled to see one another. They expressed similar sentiments about wandering around feeling a little lost, not really knowing anybody. I started a sentence, “If we were on an LSU trip….” And he finished it: “…we’d know a hundred people.” Yep, I know just how you feel.
We start football-related activities in earnest later today. There’s a TCU-themed New Year’s Eve party tonight in our hotel. No Badgers allowed.
Burbank, Badgers and Boardwalks
(Burbank, CA) – Following the TCU football team to the Rose Bowl has been sort of surreal. I’ve felt like an immigrant trying to acclimate to new environs where everything seems eerily similar to home, but slightly altered. Before our daughter decided to attend TCU, we had no allegiance to it. While we are thrilled to be here and to have an excuse to go to the Rose Bowl, there’s really very little emotion involved. If we were on this trip with LSU, we would probably know as many as fifty people, possibly more. Here, we know about four and we haven’t seen any of them yet.
So, on day one, we went our own way. Our first stop was to NBC Burbank. A former co-worker, Rich DeMuro, has recently landed there and seemed eager to show us around. We went into studios for “Access Hollywood” and the news. We got to sit at the anchor desk.
The Tonight Show is on hiatus for the holidays, so there was no Jay Leno for us, but we got to see the place.
The highlight of the afternoon, though, was catching up with Rich over an executive-type lunch at Morton’s. We hung around the newsroom for a while and talked with a couple of Rich’s colleagues, then hit the Pacific Coast Highway.
Our goal was to see the sun set over the Pacific and we achieved it. This isn’t something you get a chance to witness in Louisiana, and it was worth the drive and the time spent.
It really was a peaceful day, just my wife and me strolling along the Venice Boardwalk. There’s a homogenization of humanity there.
Tourists, street vendors, even a freak show. What more could you ask?
It’s interesting to observe the travel dynamic among Rose Bowl visitors. We have noticed that TCU people by and large have congregated in Hollywood, while Santa Monica and points south seem to have attracted throngs of Wisconsin fans. We were unintentionally behind enemy lines, so my wife decided to consort with a few of them before she was overrun by Badgers.
It didn’t matter if the visitors were wearing red or purple, everyone had traveled a long way to spend the New Year’s weekend in southern California. Most of us were fascinated that from one spot on the coast you could look west to see the beach and the ocean, then simply turn around and see snow-capped mountains.
It’s hard to judge which group of fans seem more wrapped up in the outcome of the game. Everyone we’ve encountered is just thrilled to be at the Rose Bowl. There’s no question this trip is a real change of pace.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Gone to See Granddaddy
(Hollywood, CA) – We have arrived in Hollywood in advance of the Rose Bowl. The fact that we’re here is a testament to the oddest confluence of circumstances. Our daughter is a freshman at TCU, and the fortunes of football have led the Horned Frogs to the “Granddaddy of them all.” (I have friends who will cringe upon reading that. It has become so cliché that we tend to avoid using the phrase. I surrender, though, because it’s ON THE TICKETS).
The game typically matches up the champions of the Pac 10 against the champions of the Big 10, but the Pac 10 champ, Oregon, is playing for the national championship. That opened a spot for the next-highest ranked team which was the unlikely, undefeated Horned Frogs.
Seeing this as a one-in-a-lifetime excuse to visit with Granddaddy, we jumped on a plane and soared toward Los Angeles.
We arrived very early on a Thursday morning. So early, in fact, that our daughter the TCU student hadn’t started her journey before we arrived at LAX. See, she wanted to travel with her friends. So, they’re going by car. Sounds like fun, I suppose; but I don’t envy the 24-hour-plus drive. So, while she’s burning up the road somewhere in Texas, we’re secured in our room looking at the Hollywood Hills. 
There’s a lot to be seen in southern California. Got to get moving.
