My New Year's Day will be spent huddled in front of the TV as I watch my Ducks of the University of Oregon play in the 2010 Rose Bowl versus the Buckeyes of Ohio State University. For all you non-Duck and -Buckeye fans, four other bowl games will also be played: the Outback Bowl, Capital One Bowl, Konica Minolta Gator Bowl, and Allstate Sugar Bowl.
But The Grandaddy Of Them All is the only one I care about. The Rose Bowl itself is actually part of a larger celebration known as the Tournament of Roses, which includes a parade and other festivities in Pasadena, California. Here's how the numbers crunch:
- $180 million was pumped into the local economy by the 2009 Rose Bowl Game.
- $18.3 million will be paid to each conference with an automatic berth in a Bowl Championship Series (BCS) game. The Rose Bowl is a BCS game.
- $14.5 million will be paid to both the University of Oregon and Ohio State University for playing in the Rose Bowl.
- $145--The official cost of 2010 Rose Bowl tickets. The asking price on ebay.com is $475-$800.
- No. 7--the Pacific-10 Champion Oregon Ducks ranking coming into the 96th Rose Bowl Game.
- No. 8--the Big Ten Champion Ohio State Buckeyes ranking coming into the game. (The Big Ten does realize that it has 11 teams right?)
- 1902--the year a postseason college football game was first played during the Tournament of Roses. This was also the first postseason college football game ever played.
- 3rd--the quarter that Standford gave up in after being outscored 49-0 by the University of Michigan in the 1902 game. (What do you expect from a school who's mascot is a tree and nickname is the Cardinal--not the bird, the color? Also how did my Ducks lose to them this year?)
- 1922--the year the Rose Bowl Stadium was built. The first New Year's football game was played in 1923.
- 91,000--the capacity of the Rose Bowl Stadium.
The Ducks have only won one previous Rose Bowl game, all the way back in 1917. But two is the number I hope they've won by Friday night. Go Ducks, Rose Up!
--Jens
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