Since Rose Bowl is located in the Southern California, I don't know since when this game has been associated with the Disneyland of Southern California. Disney original character Mickey Mouse is the honorary referee of the Rose Bowl game. He flips the coin in the coin toss before the game. I believe it's the promotion and reason for both Disneyland and the Rose Bowl, the participating teams are invited to the Disneyland every year. The Texas Longhorns visited Disneyland last year. From what I heard from the local sports radio, senior running back of last year Cedric Benson was a big fan of Pocahontas and current junior Michael Griffin rode a roller coaster ride four times. They are returning to the Disneyland this year to visit another part of the theme park: California Adventure.

I'm all for having both participating teams to visit the Disneyland. It has emerged itself as part of the great Rose Bowl. The visit serves as a reward for the players and coaches at the end of a long season of hard work. I avoided using the word "relax" here since they do have a football game ahead of them, especially when the national championship is on the line. But the visit is on the first day of their preparation in Southern California, they can relax a bit for now. The visit to Disneyland benefits us the fans as well. This is a great chance for us to see the players and coaches having fun and enjoying themselves, Vince Young playing catch with Mickey Mouse and Mack Brown posing for a picture with Mickey Mouse. (From what I heard from sports radio, senior of last year Cedric Benson was a big fan of Pocahontas and current junior safety Michael Griffin played a roller coaster four times) We can see the other side of them outside of the football field.

However, the visit to the Disneyland is the start of a slew of festivities in a packed schedule leading up to the actual Rose Bowl game. Festivities include media day, countless interviews, sponsor events, and banquets. All these events in the schedules had not only distracted players from the preparation of the game, they also disrupt the rhythm and order they have established during the season.

To make the matter even worst, the national championship game is played one whole month after they played the last game of the regular season or their conference championship game. The layoff in between is so long that I believe some players had already gone out of shape. All they had going during the long season are erased. It's not hard to observe this from the bowl games already played so far. Teams came out playing sloppy and out of sync, especially the defensive side. Teams in the earlier bowl games (such as those before christmas) suffer less than those after. The structure of bowl games push the BCS bowls, including the national championship game, so far after the regular season. The quality of the games and the performance of the teams suffer as a result. The games are no longer a continuation of the regular season. It really doesn't make sense to have bowl games played a month after the regular season while the regular season ifself was barely over three months.

P.S. I have not even brought up the concept of playoffs. This topic will be reserved for later for an entirely different discussion. 12.30.05