86THSUNBOWL
Arizona State hits the road, arrives in El Paso for Sun Bowl
Arizona State started making history the moment they pulled into the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl.
Thursday’s traditional arrival greeting of Ballet Folklorico dances, mariachis and the Sun Court went on as always, but the setting was a bit different.
Instead of the El Paso Airport, or a nearby hangar where charter jets land, the Sun Devils were greeted at the Marriott Hotel they will be calling home for the next four days. They were greeted as they got off the bus after a seven-hour trip, making them the first Sun Bowl team to bus to El Paso since anyone can immediately recall.
“Seven hours, not bad,” coach Herm Edwards said of the eastward trip to El Paso to take on Florida State in the New Year’s Eve game. “There was a lot of bonding on that bus.”
Sun Bowl executive director Bernie Olivas said Arizona might have taken a bus to El Paso in 1992, but he wasn’t sure.
Arizona State flew the last time they were here, just two years ago, but for Herm Edwards this was his first experience of donning a sombrero and dancing with, among others, Tony the Tiger.
“I got this hat on, I’m going to get in trouble for this, the players are going to come after me with the hat,” Edwards joked. “There’s a lot of history in this bowl. I’ve watched it on TV a number of times, I actually played at the stadium when I was at San Diego State (in 1976). I know the fan base down here, they love football. Probably a lot of Cowboys fans, that’s a little bothersome to me because I played for the Philadelphia Eagles. But I get it, I understand it.
“I’m glad for the opportunity. When you get in a bowl game, it means you’ve done something well as a football team. We’ve got a very young football team, this is just another step in our progress of trying to build a good football team. Our young guys are excited to be here.”
Several of them tried to coach their recently promoted defensive coordinator Tony White to the dance area, but he replied, “I did that back in 2000.” White played for UCLA in the 2000 Sun Bowl, four years after wrapping up his high school playing career at Burges.
“This feels like home,” White said of the parking lot scene at the Marriott. “This is home.”
Sun Bowl executive director Bernie Olivas said he never tires of the arrival greeting.
“I know what’s going to happen but it never gets old to see the expressions on the players faces when the girls and the Sun Court and the dancers go out and grab them to dance, that’s an experience they will never forget,” Olivas said.
“That’s what they talk about in years to come. It sets the tone for the rest of the week. We’re a bowl known for great hospitality and I think that sets off the week in a great way. I never get tired of seeing that and I think they love it.”
ASU, though, didn’t have long to stay. As soon as the greeting was over, they quickly changed and hopped back on the buses for the one-mile trip to Burges, to see White’s old alma mater, for a loosening up walkthrough.
That made for an eventful start to their week in El Paso.