After three days of festivities, the Stanford community cheered the Cardinal to a 45-16 win over the Iowa Hawkeyes in the 102nd Rose Bowl Game. We share some of the highlights of all the fun here.
6:00 p.m.
4:30 p.m.
Let the game begin: Players shine and the Stanford community cheers for Cardinal football. Find more game highlights on GoStanford.com
12:30 p.m.
Before heading to the Rose Bowl, the Cardinal faithful gathered for a huge tailgating party. We spotlight some of the sights and sounds.
Go to web site to view the video.
Go to web site to view the video.
Go to web site to view the video.
9:00 a.m.
On a cool, sometimes sunny morning, the Stanford Band and dance and cheer squads "marched" and danced their way along the 5.5 miles of Pasadena streets for the Rose Bowl Parade.
8:00 p.m.
Earlier today, the Cardinal football team visited the Rose Bowl, where they'll soon face the Hawkeyes.
5:45 p.m.
In honor of the Rose Bowl, members of the Stanford faculty share their thoughts on Cardinal football:
Go to web site to view the video.
Go to web site to view the video.
Go to web site to view the video.
Go to web site to view the video.
2:00 p.m.
More than 1,500 people filled a tent near the Rose Bowl for a kickoff luncheon today, with about half sporting Cardinal red. The Band and cheer squad performed, wowing the Iowa contingent. Among the speakers were Parade Grand Marshall Ken Burns and Stanford Head Coach David Shaw.
10:30 a.m.
Parents of players for both teams gathered for a meet and greet before their sons faceoff on the Rose Bowl gridiron tomorrow. Hawkeyes' mascot Herky the Hawk, as well as the Stanford Tree, and bands and cheer squads from both schools were on hand for the fun.
7:00 p.m.
Go to web site to view the video.
6:16 p.m.
More than 1,000 people gathered at the Santa Monica Place on Wednesday night for a pre-Rose Bowl pep rally. Stanford fans from around the country, and around the globe, watched as the Dollies, players and alums took to the stage to show their Cardinal spirit.
10:15 a.m.
Left, left, left-right-left...
How do you teach a scatter band like the Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band how to march in a traditional parade like the Rose Bowl?
First, you have to set the right expectations, according to drum major Peter Adelson, a senior electrical engineering major from Oklahoma. It'll be Adelson's job to lead the approximate 200-member Stanford Band on the 5 1/2 mile, three-hour wildly popular parade through the streets of Pasadena. Doing so may come naturally to him. His brother was also a Stanford Band drum major.
Marching, however, is not what the Stanford Band generally does. Instead, as a scatter band, members run into performances and scatter into formations. That said, many members of this year's band performed in the parade the last time the Cardinal played in the Rose Bowl and know what to expect.
"We'll be in formation, but it will be our own take on marching," Adelson says. It will be, he promises, an "expression of chaotic energy."
The Band is spending three days at a Los Angeles high school, practicing marching, as well as its two game shows. "We're putting in the time to make sure everyone has the muscle memory during the parade," he says.
Adelson says the Stanford Band will be a "great contrast" for parade and game spectators to the University of Iowa's more traditional marching band.
"Big Ten bands have a great tradition," he says. "They are very good at what they do. We'll be a little more irreverent and a little more untraditional."
– Kate Chesley
4 p.m.
Stanford Tree talks about the fun ahead
As the Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band gets ready for all things Rose Bowl over the next few days, no one will likely work harder than junior psychology major Sarah Young, aka the Band's mascot, the Tree. No matter where she goes, Young surely will be surrounded by Stanford alumni and fans eager for selfies with the Tree.
It's the part of the job Young likes the most.
"One of the very special things about being the Tree is that you are not anonymous," Young says.
"There is nothing better than seeing a kid who is shy and afraid to approach you and being able to lift the flap of the costume and connect with them," she says. It reminds Young of her work with youth theater.
Other college mascots are rendered speechless by restrictive costumes. Those mascots, Young notes, are challenged to connect with their audiences because of their limited facial expressions and body movements.
"I have so much respect for what other mascots do. It is such a skill," she says.
Young hopes to meet her University of Iowa counterpart, Herky the Hawk, sometime during the week's events. She acknowledges, however, that "it's always a little weird to be the one mascot who can talk."
Nowhere will Young's considerable mascot skills be better on display than at the Rose Bowl Parade on New Year's Day before the Rose Bowl football game. The 5 1/2 mile and three hour route winds through Pasadena in front of hundreds of thousands of spectators and millions of people watching on TV worldwide.
How to manage the entire parade while wearing her Tree costume has Young a bit concerned. Like Trees before her, Young created her own costume. Her version gives a nod to a weeping willow.
Young sought advice from previous Trees who are veterans of the Rose Bowl Parade. The route, she notes, is longer than even the campus-wide Band run that inaugurates the school year for new students and is tougher than even football game performances. Unlike other bands in the Rose Bowl Parade, the Stanford Band dances throughout much of the route, displaying its unique brand of funk.
"Previous Trees gave me the usual advice, like stay hydrated," she says. "It's all about mindset. I really want to be able to do the whole parade."
Fortunately former Tree, senior Will Funk, also a member of the Band, will be on hand to spell Young should the Band's exhausting schedule - or the 36 travel hours it took her to get to Pasadena from Ohio - takes its toll. Young says she also has the option of hopping aboard the Stanford float alongside members of Stanford Cheer.
But Young is determined to be able to tell her children someday that their mom danced her way through the Rose Bowl Parade.
"The parade is the time when you get a chance to really dance, and that is what the Stanford Band takes great pride in," she says.
– Kate Chesley