Smelling The Roses

Categories: Sports

It was awesome seeing the hometown bring in the New Year…just in time to hear something wonderful, see a rainbow, and smell the roses.

So this morning it seemed like the birds were chirping “It’s a Wonderful World”; or maybe that was “Somewhere over the Rainbow.” And I don’t know for sure but I coulda sworn the sunrise on this, the third day of the year, was Cardinal and Gold.

And last time I looked, we still had a President who didn’t tweet, didn’t grab, and spoke in complete sentences without inventing words like, gulp…”bigly.”

Yeah, on the day after New Year a couple of cousins and a friend joined me for a brisk walk down to the Arroyo and the Rose Bowl. And after several hours of comradery, cold frosty beverages, and Claro’s subs, we experienced the agony of something half way between mostly dead and almost defeat, and the pure joy that comes with your alma mater winning a football game in front of 94,268 Pasadena guests, another 20 million on TV, and even over a million more streamers.

2016, for me, will always be a year impersonating a thief. At this point, with apologies to Webster (19th century Noah, not the TV kid,) “innocence” seems to be a little outdated. But did last year really need to take out “Decency” while it was killing off what seemed like half of the gifted creative world community?

And I know it’s just a game. And in this case, it really was a shame that there had to be a totally mislabeled “loser.” Because, I swear, seeing 20-year old kids compete and remain mentally tough throughout a physical and emotional struggle carried out at the highest level is indeed a memorable experience. But then seeing the same young men being reduced to tears for the winning or the losing and accepting the hard fought authentic outcome with a handshake is beyond memorable; it’s inspiring.

And I’m as partisan as they come. Thankfully, I only figuratively live and die with the Trojans. USC’s star quarterback/leader is only 19-years old; he’s athletically gifted and mature beyond his years. As time was stealing opportunity away near the end of an instant classic contest, the kid kept it simple in the huddle, “Just do your job.”

One of my Facebook friends vowed to stay up until midnight just to see 2016 die.

I’m sure glad I was around to see January 2, 2017. It was awesome seeing the hometown bring in the New Year…just in time to hear something wonderful, see a rainbow, and smell the roses.