THE AIRING OF GRIEVANCES: The Rose Bowl

Congratulations, Rose Bowl officials! You got what you wanted: Big Ten vs. Pac-10, tradition. And lo, what a grand tradition it continues to be.

Quick, what do you remember from any Rose Bowl from the last ten years aside from either of the Vince Young games? Not much, huh?

The largest point spread of all 32 (yes, thirty-fucking-two) bowl games and a matchup of the hottest team in the country versus a middling three loss team that wasn't even ranked going into the second to last week of the season notwithstanding, everything really seemed to point to another Rose Bowl to remember. And just because the Big Ten hasn't won the game in eight years and was suffering through one of its most mediocre seasons ever doesn't seem to be any reason mess with "tradition," right?

After all, the excitement in the stadium was palpable. Even Jim Belushi- yes, THE Jim Belushi- was on the sidelines to cheer on the Fighting Illini. With such a hilarious, beloved man there to cheer them on and introduce their starting lineups for home viewers, there was no way the Illini could lose. There seemed to be a sense of "we belong here" on the Illinois sideline and Illini coach Ron Zook had his eyes set to runaway-bride. For a moment, it felt like this could be a game. Then the game started.

49-17. A barely watchable drubbing of a completely overmatched team. To be fair, Illinois was still technically in the game at 21-10 in the third quarter, but a receiver fumbled near the goal line and, seeing as Juice Williams ain't exactly John Elway, that essentially ended it. (Even at 21-17, I see no reason to think that USC wouldn't have marched right back down the field on their next possession- Illinois was never really a threat.)

There's lots of blame to go around for this debacle, and to a certain extent, the debacle of last night's Sugar Bowl and the entire BCS. Most of which falls squarely on the heads of the old, rich white men who are more interested in protecting a parade than they are in fielding a competitive football game. According to a recent report in Sports Illustrated, Rose Bowl officials, including the commissioners of the Big Ten and Pac Ten, are the single largest obstacle to a playoff system ever being put into place. Why? Because they think so highly of their game and of the unrelated and uninteresting parade and pageantry that go along with it that they would never think of stooping to the level of and being grouped with the boorish and ill-mannered common bowls that dot the "postseason" landscape. For God's sake, the Papajohns.com Bowl doesn't even have frilly decorative floats or Shriners in little cars.
So don't blame Illinois. They did about all they could in a game where everything was stacked up against them. And I actually feel bad for the Illini because they shouldn't have even been in that position. So take heart Illini fans, your team came up short, but they did their best. Well, maybe not their best, right Buckeyes? And though I'm sure they were excited when they found out they had made the Rose Bowl and would be playing on New Years Day, and I'm sure their fans were thrilled to be back in the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1984, I find it hard to believe that anyone outside of that team's locker room, even the most ardent of Illini supporters, actually believed that was the right place for this team or that they had a chance in hell of winning that game.

In the aforementioned SI article, Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen calls playoffs an "injurious" proposition to the Rose Bowl (read: I'm not going to get as much money as I want). While Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany bristles at the suggestion of a playoff and denies that he and Hansen are forming an obstruction to what the majority of fans and others involved in the sport want. Therefore, as the Rose Bowl continues to plug the "tradition" and pomp of their game going forward, they'll also continue to bend everyone else over the proverbial chair in the process.

"I don't feel like we're takers," Delany tells SI. "I feel like we're givers."

Couldn't have said it any better myself.