No Setting Quite Like Rose Bowl

There is no substitute for this.

The biggest game ever. The best game ever. The most venerable venue ever.

There is absolutely no equivalent for the tenacity of Texas.

Or the radiance of the Rose.

The USC-Texas championship game Wednesday night was hyped as the biggest game in college football history, and that's why this setting was so perfect. After all, shouldn't the best game of them all be played on the grandest stage of them all?

The Rose Bowl.

If college football had any soul left, it would play every national championship game right here at this majestic stadium where the history and heritage of the sport are handled with the same delicate care by which the little old ladies from Pasadena nurture their hybrid tea roses.

Sure, the Rose Bowl has made some concessions to stay on top, but it has made them grudgingly. Unlike other bowl games that have auctioned off their names to the highest corporate bidder, the Rose Bowl has not. The Rose is the Rose is the Rose and always will be, although it has allowed itself to be "presented by Citi" -- a credit card company.

Unlike the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, which wall-papers the stadium with countless logos trumpeting the tortilla-chip mega-corporation, the Rose Bowl tones down the sponsorship visibility, almost as if it is embarrassed by its crassness. Much like Augusta National in golf, the Tournament of Roses Assn. figures a football game in this vast and venerable venue should be enough. No loud music during timeouts. No elaborate halftime shows.

All the Rose Bowl organizers care about is putting on the best parade and hosting the best bowl game. Any questions?

If only the BCS worked this well every year. If only all championship games could be like this one. If you used your imagination and gazed up at the magnificent San Gabriel Mountains surrounding this stately stadium, you almost could see Bear Bryant, Bud Wilkinson and other legends taking in this phenomenal game from their spot on college football's Mount Rushmore.

But you didn't have to use your imagination when you looked down to the playing field and saw college football's living legends live and in color. And, now, Vince Young becomes the biggest legend of them all.

MIKE BIANCHI

\o7Orlando Sentinel

\f7 *

Reggie Bush's parents ought to consider moving the Heisman Trophy to a safe location.