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Your best bowl game experience

What was the best experience that you've had at a bowl game?

Rose Bowl 1998.

We lost as you know, but it checked off a bucket list item for me and a seemingly impossible dream of watching in person WSU play in that bowl game. It was surreal being there. I only wish that I had arrived hours before the game to hang around the stadium and enjoy the experience even more.

Our next Rose Bowl was a let down. It wasn't the same not playing a Big 10 school either.
 
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Agree on the two Rose Bowls. Everything went south for the second one. Gesser injury, Price jumping and holding school hostage on coaching the game. Also that Holiday Bowl in Dobas first year was close to the 98 Rose Bowl in terms of overall experience in San Diego.
 
My best overall experience was the 1998 Rose Bowl as well. We paid way too much for the tickets, ended up sitting in the Michigan section and didn't get to sit with our friends but it was a competitive, adrenaline pumping experience that I'll never forget. I'll never be able to listen to "Hail to the Victors" or "It's great to be....a Michigan Wolverine" without grimacing a little, but it was a great game.

The 2003 Rose Bowl was a turkey of a game but I did go to the game with my dad and we hung out together in LA for a couple days. It's the only time that we ever did that and he's passed on now, so it's a favorite memory of mine even though the game itself sucked.

Even though I'm not a fan of El Paso, I had an absolutely great time shooting pool with some Cougs that I had never met, shared pizza rolls with some college kids on their way to NYC for New Years and had a great night before the game.
 
Agree on the two Rose Bowls. Everything went south for the second one. Gesser injury, Price jumping and holding school hostage on coaching the game. Also that Holiday Bowl in Dobas first year was close to the 98 Rose Bowl in terms of overall experience in San Diego.
Totally agree.....the first Rose Bowl was a lifelong dream for any Cougar fan. I always gave my two young sons (at the time) a bad time that they didn't have to suffer through decades of futility before finally reaching the Granddaddy of them all, therefore they couldn't appreciate the accomplishment as much as I could. Even in defeat, it was a glorious day. A close second is that Holiday Bowl and beating a higher ranked Texas team. Winning a high level bowl game was nice....but somehow losing a competitive game to an eventual NC was more memorable.

Glad Cougar
 
Rose Bowl 1998.

We lost as you know, but it checked off a bucket list item for me and a seemingly impossible dream of watching in person WSU play in that bowl game. It was surreal being there. I only wish that I had arrived hours before the game to hang around the stadium and enjoy the experience even more.

Our next Rose Bowl was a let down. It wasn't the same not playing a Big 10 school either.
Agreed on all counts.

By the way, in '98 my seats were in the end zone, so I had a pretty good view of the field and the clock. There was 1 second left.
 
I was at both Rose Bowls and various others, but the Holiday Bowl against Texas had to be my highlight. I think it was probably the best single Coug FB game I've ever seen played live. I'm not sure what more we could have done...and the punting alone was worth the price of admission. How often have you seen a Coug punter be the defensive MVP??
 
The ‘98 Rose Bowl was awesome but dear lord there was a lot of alcohol consumed at the ‘92 Copper Bowl Cougar pre game party.
 
I was super disappointed to miss out on going to the '98 Rose Bowl, but my dad and I made the trip to San Diego in '03, and that was great. Have both games on old vhs tapes in a box somewhere...
 
I attended both the '98 and '03 Rose Bowls with my father, (along with the '02 Sun in between) and nothing compares to the Rose Bowl for the sheer grandeur of it all. The loss in '98 was much harder to get over than the game five years later, but 2003 does stand out as it was the last WSU game that dad and I went to, he died from a malignant brain tumor in July of '03.
 
I've only been to the 98 Rose Bowl. (Love that I have to differentiate... )

It was a whirlwind of events that got me there - from
  • being offered a ticket last minute, to
  • finding a ride with friends of a friend last minute, to
  • the 4 guys stuffed in a 4 runner roadie,
  • staying at friend's family in Oxnard,
  • visiting Six Flags, partying with Topper pre-game,
  • being offered $800 for my single ticket,
  • seeing Tyra Banks at the Hollywood mall and getting our picture with her (we had to ask her friend, who yelled across the store - "Tyyyyyyraaaaaaaa!! These tired white boys wanna get their picture taken with you!")
I probably forgot some stuff, but it was a wild week for sure. Oh yeah, I also got suspended from my job because I had to call in due to my ride wanting to stay an extra day. I missed one day of work over a 9 month period and get a week suspension. Needless to say, I had a new job shortly thereafter.
 
1998 Rosebowl was a ton of fun. We had a chance. 2003 was a bit disappointing. Losing Price. All the empty seats from our allotment and our inept AD (Sterk).calling fans - who said Price shouldn't coach that game - "jilted lovers." It was clear Price was going to be a big distraction and he should have been told to get packing. How is any coach that is moving on to another job, going to be able to put 100% in? None. Sterk is/was an idiot.
 
Rose Bowl 1998 -- senior at WSU. Magical year. Had to get my voucher in Pullman and take it to a booth somewhere around the Rose Bowl to redeem it for a ticket. Stood in line to get the ticket with my friends. Got it and was immediatley offered $$$ by a ticket vendor. Although I want my .02 left on the clock, it was an amazing experience: LA; Disneyland; New Year's Eve, etc. The Rose Bowl ushers were so friendly. I handed an older gentleman my ticket and he smiled and said, "Well, it took you guys long enough to get here!"

Full disclosure: this is the only bowl that I've been to, but I don't see how it can get any better than this.
 
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