The big game

They always call him Mr. Touchdown.

They always call him Mr. Team.

He can run, and kick and throw.

Give him the ball and just look at him go!

Hip, hip, hooray for Mr. Touchdown!

He's gonna beat ‘em today!

So give a great big cheer
for the hero of the year!

It's Mr. Touchdown, U.S.A.!

        -- traditional

The Rose Bowl was built in 1922. It cost $272,198. Two years earlier, officials decided the original stadium in Tournament Park wasn’t safe for the growing crowds. Some 210 fans put up $100 each to help cover the cost of construction.

Those contributions got the building project off the ground; it also guaranteed the donors prime box seats in the new stadium for ten years.

Of course, much more has been spent on upgrading from wooden bleachers and expanding to house over 100,000 fans; but it’s worth noting that even rich fans paid less than $10 for 50-yard-line seats in the good old days.

Tickets offered last week on E-Bay ranged in cost from $135 for a single seat high in the end-zone student section to $25,000 for a luxury skybox seating up to 16 people high above the 15-yardline.

Most Rose Bowl and many other college and pro athletic contest tickets are sold by brokers – at prices above those printed on the tickets.

Students are often an afterthought, placed in less desirable sections and offered a limited number of tickets. The emphasis is on high rollers who don’t see high ticket prices as a barrier and generally spend hundreds, if not thousands more on travel and other items that round out their bowl experience.

I drove by the Sun Bowl in El Paso on Sunday and saw some of the preparations underway for these wealthy fans.

Two huge tents had been erected and seating for several hundred people was set up for a pre- and/or post-game party or dinner. No doubt these folks were shuttled between hotels and the stadium and, no doubt, other venues by limo or bus so they weren’t delayed or otherwise affected by commoners from the cheap seats.

When I began attending San Diego State, the football program was in ascension. Still a level-two team, the Aztecs began winning just about every game.

Home contests were housed on campus in the Aztec Bowl – a facility that had been adequate to the demand for many years (I believe it was a WPA construction project back in the ‘30s).

But during my freshman year (1966), the Aztecs had a dream schedule that had them playing two or three other top-ranked Division II teams (Utah’s Weber State and North Dakota State).

After the red and black came from behind to win in Utah, officials moved the North Dakota contest from campus to the 35,000-seat stadium in Balboa Park – where the Chargers were then playing.

The joint filled to capacity and the Aztecs, by then ranked #3, defeated the top-ranked Bison, 35-0.

That win put wind in the Aztecs’ sails and when the new stadium opened in Mission Valley, all home games were held there. Aztec Bowl was relegated to high school football, soccer, rugby, band and cheerleading contests and other events until it was torn down to make room for a new basketball arena.

I was a member of the marching band. We had a reserved section in the Aztec Bowl – right on the 50 yard-line and in the middle of a huge student section that occupied the center of the home side of the stands.

When we moved to the Valley, our spot was in the end zone, under the scoreboard. A good place from the fans’ perspective, but we no longer a factor in cheering our team to victory and were isolated from our fellow students.

Those other students, by the way had a small section near field level and straddling the 50-yard-line, but were mostly relegated to upper levels and the end zone opposite their band.

Broken into separate seating areas, the students sort of melted into the crowd and became little more than part of the general crowd.

Were things better in the “good old days?”

I’m not sure. I do wish I could more easily afford to attend college sports (a women’s basketball game at UTEP cost $7 for a single ticket).

And I did feel that the band was a central part of the program when we were closer to the action and surrounded by other students.

On the other hand, I now sometimes get to see my alma mater on national television and most people are aware that my school exists.

Oops! I’ve got to go. Another bowl game is about to get underway on television…