PHILADELPHIA — There’s only one guarantee I’m willing to make about what goes down Monday inside the Rose Bowl, Penn State taking on Utah.
It will be memorable.
How is that guaranteed? Because I’ve never walked inside that stadium without witnessing something special. Surely, there have been unmemorable sporting events held there. I’ve just never seen any.
I’ve been there only five times, by the way. But here are my Top Five, in reverse order:
5. 1996 Rose Bowl
When a school hasn’t been to a bowl game since 1949, and hadn’t had a winning season since 1971 … making that Rose Bowl was historic for Northwestern. Sure, Southern Cal was there, too. But that wasn’t the story.
“We didn’t feel left out,” USC coach John Robinson said after it was over. “We were left out.”
Northwestern being in the game was the news going in. The memory, however … Keyshawn Johnson. The Trojans receiver owned the day, with 12 catches for 216 yards, as USC took a 41-32 victory over the team that had led the nation in scoring defense.
Robinson called it “one of the best football games I’ve ever been in.” But only No. 5 on my list.
4. 1994 men’s FIFA World Cup final
This is officially a crazy list when a World Cup final is No. 4. Honestly, the game itself wasn’t that memorable, beyond the heat of the day and the tension that never left the stadium, start to finish.
After a scoreless tie, the lasting memory of the entire tournament … Roberto Baggio missed a penalty kick, sending it far over the bar. Brazil over Italy on penalty kicks.
To understand how big that moment was, you had to be paying attention to the rest of that World Cup held all over the United States. Brazil may have been the dominant team, but Baggio had been the dominant player. (Think Messi or Mbappe in this World Cup, then add a couple of highlights.) I’d covered Italy’s quarterfinal and semifinal wins over Spain and Bulgaria. Lord, what a show Baggio had put on.
My lede from the Spain game in Foxboro, Mass.: “Fallen Spanish bodies littered the grounds yesterday, players lying everywhere on the field, so stunned by one of the most dramatic goals of the World Cup that they could not stand.
“And it was Roberto Baggio who had struck them all down.”
Then Baggio scored twice in five minutes in the semifinal against Bulgaria at Giants Stadium.
“This is my work,” Baggio said right after the game. " This is my life.”
When he missed the PK against Brazil, he just stared after the ball, which had gone into the crowd, as a Brazilian party broke out around him. Baggio stayed in place, staring at the ground, hands on hips.
“I was there in body and spirit,” Baggio said later. “My concentration was good. I don’t know how I shot it the way I did.”
3. 2017 Rose Bowl
Maybe it didn’t have the stakes of some of the others, but what a game it was, USC getting past Penn State at the very end. A 52-49 thriller that took 4 hours and 12 minutes and featured Saquon Barkley seemingly juking past USC’s entire team on one 79-yard TD run and Trace McSorley finding receiver Chris Godwin again and again.
The only reason it wasn’t a spot higher on the list: A national title wasn’t on the line.
2. 2006 Rose Bowl
This was for a national title, and it sure looked like USC had this one too, until Texas QB Vince Young decided otherwise. The future Eagle ran for three second-half touchdowns, including the game-winner with 19 seconds left, the Longhorns taking it, 41-38.
The stories were due right at the buzzer to make the deadline, but the drama was all baked in.
Which brings us to …
1. 1999 Women’s World Cup final
If I had to list the most historic national sporting events I’ve covered, this has to top the list. By the final against China, the United States women’s national soccer team had crossed over into the popular culture, the country paying attention. Maybe if you’re old enough to remember, the striking memory still is veteran defender Brandi Chastain with the last kick of the penalty shootout, then whipping her jersey off.
The real hero of that World Cup had been goalkeeper Briana Scurry, making PK saves. And the biggest play until the penalty kicks had been Kristine Lilly heading a ball away from the line in the 100th minute.
Some days before that final, I’d written a story on goal celebrations, and had asked Chastain about them, since the U.S. had been having a bunch of them.
“It’s a chance to see the person outside the soccer player,” Chastain had told me. “That’s real, when those emotions come out, that’s who that person is.”
I’d asked Chastain what she’d do if she scored a goal.
“I think everyone in their own quiet time thinks about it,” she said. “What would I do if I had a chance to celebrate a goal?”
The world eventually saw her answer. “Momentary insanity,” is how Chastain afterward described her celebration, which simply fit the historic moment, in a place that specializes in them.
