NHL Winter Classic Joins College Bowl Games As New Year's Day Tradition

Back in 1901, the Pasadena Tournament of Roses looked to augment their popular parade by adding a college football game. 

The initial contest was played the following New Year’s Day between Stanford and Michigan. Coach Fielding Yost’s point-a-minute Wolverines traveled all the way from Ann Arbor to crush Stanford 49-0.

Not everyone on the west coast was thrilled with the result, so inviting Michigan back the following year was out of the question. After a series of chariot and ostrich races, the Rose Bowl game became official in 1916. 

Bowl games have long since become a staple of New Year’s Day television audiences. The Rose Bowl game (ESPN, 5 p.m.) grew to be the granddaddy of them all, and is now part of the Bowl Championship Series.

For those not being able to travel, local sports bars have become popular venues for fans to follow their favorite teams.

Most of the large universities have local alumni clubs who create game-watch parties for all their football games. 

The latest New Year’s Day sports tradition is the National Hockey League’s Winter Classic.

This Saturday’s game (NBC, 1 p.m.) will be played at Pittsburgh’s Heinz Field between the Penguins and the rival Washington Capitals. The largest concern, however, has become the weather forecast.

Temperatures in the mid-40s with an 80 percent chance of showers have concerned officials. A sizable amount of rain could obviously render the ice surface unplayable and a postponement will be difficult.

While the first NHL Winter Classic was played New Year’s Day 2008 in Buffalo, the first large-venue outdoor game was played at Michigan State University in October of 2001. Michigan and Michigan State played to a 3-3 tie before 74,544 at Spartan Stadium.

Many believe the outdoor games were inspired by the movie, “Mystery, Alaska” where a group of locals hosted the New York Rangers in an exhibition game.

The last outdoor game, aptly named the “Big Chill at the Big House”, was played just a few weeks ago.  Michigan defeated Michigan State 5-0 before an all-time, world-record crowd of 113, 411 at Ann Arbor’s Michigan Stadium.