Living it up at the contest of the century

The call came into my home on a Thursday evening, Dec. 22. It was Bob Callahan, a local Newport Beach divorce attorney, who fortunately wasn’t calling as a representative for my wife.

Nope, Bob is first and foremost a friend. He’s noted around town as a guy who can raise money for nonprofits. Big money!

His resume includes tremendous work for Hoag Hospital, where he serves as chairman of the foundation board, and some strong work for the Orange County Youth Sports Foundation, in addition to others.

In fact, as a result of his celebrated status around town, Bob and his wife, Terry, are usually regular inclusions into the annual Daily Pilot Top 103 list.

For me, however, Bob is my connection to the sports world.

Sure we’ve played golf together, but I’m talking about attending sporting events.

Bob has seats 13 to 14 rows up, directly behind home plate at the Angels games -- Los Angeles or Anaheim, whatever you call them. It’s allowed me to attend the World Series, the playoffs and many other games over the past few years.

Bob also has seats at center ice for all the Ducks games.

Still not impressed? With the Ducks, I don’t necessarily blame you.

Take this into account: Bob attended his first NCAA Final Four basketball game in 1975. Since 1979, he and his friends have not missed a-one. During that same period, he’s attended some 28 Rose Bowls.

Bob knows sports. Or, maybe it was Bo who knew sports.

In any case, it brings me back to that phone call. Bob asked me if I wanted to attend the national championship game. You people from SC know the one. It’s the one you’re trying to forget about or replay in your head to a different conclusion. Texas vs. USC. Longhorns vs. Trojans.

In any case, I said yes.

Wow, what a game. What an event.

If you watched on TV at home, there’s no way you could have imagined the electricity in and around the Rose Bowl.

We started the day early. Our tailgate hosts were Wayne and Nancy Gouvion and Fred and Cathy Crook, all of Newport Beach and all dyed-in-the-wool USC supporters. The food was great (even Grandma Arico’s braciole). Fred, who catches any USC action at home or on the road, was pretty confident.

“Twenty to 30 easy,” he said with a smile.

From there, we headed inside the stadium, with still an hour and a half until game time.

Inside, the world seemed to turn to a burnt orange. Texas fans were everywhere! It was almost like we were at the Cotton Bowl. The Texas band, 10-gallon hats, Wranglers and pom-poms filled the field of vision. Some of the Wranglers looked pretty darn good, if you know what I mean.

We found our seats and chatted with the crowd around us prior to kickoff. Everyone was excited.

The pregame included skydivers, fireworks, the blimp, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, and, if that’s not enough, a B1 bomber flyover.

At kickoff the crowd became electrified.

As the first half progressed, no one seemed to let us down, if you can just forget about the mistimed Reggie Bush lateral or Matt Leinart’s pick.

In the second half, all questions were answered. We knew we were witnessing the two strongest programs in college football. Mano a mano. USC gained the momentum, and Texas fought back. Time and time again the Cardinal and Gold seemed to rise to the occasion.

In the end though, it came down to one play and one player. A player that had stood out the entire night. Vince Young rose to the occasion and beat USC. No ifs, ands or buts about it. I had just witnessed the best sporting event I’ve ever seen.

So what have we learned from witnessing the college game of the century? Not much. But expect Bob Callahan to rank high up on next year’s Top 103. In fact, he probably already has tickets for the luncheon.

* TOM JOHNSON is the publisher. Readers may leave a message for him on the Daily Pilot hotline at (714) 966-4664 or send story ideas to dailypilot@latimes.com.

20060106ieuzlukf(LA)