The Cougars were first up at the Media Day press conference, held in a series of large tents just outside the Rose Bowl. In one tent, 10 stations were set up for the Cougar players and coaches Mike Price and Bill Doba. The WSU players attending were Isaac Brown, Jason Gesser, Devard Darling, Phil Locker, Tyler Hunt, Rien Long, Erik Coleman and Jeremey Williams. The media moved from station to station, with each player sitting on a stool inside a small raised booth. In addition, the remaining offensive and defensive players were shuttled to smaller tents, one for each unit, and were available for interviews, usually by hometown media interested in a particular player.

The three-ring circus, or 10-ring as it were, lasted about 45 minutes. From there the entire team headed for the lockerroom to change into their Rose Bowl uniforms, then assembled on a set of bleachers in front of the Rose Bowl entrance for a team photo. After the team photo was taken, the Cougs spent about 10 minutes taking pictures of each other in front of the historic entrance, then headed back to the lockerrroom, where they changed back into their sweats.

While the main squad then headed to practice, several players were driven to the City of Hope, a cancer research institute in nearby Duarte, Calif. While there they ran into former Cougar punter Rob Myers (1986-89) and his family. Rob is the Senior Director of Development for COH, working with the hardware and home improvement industry. He told us the City of Hope raised over $90 million last year to fund their operation.

Players attending the COH then hustled to waiting vans for a quick trip to the LA Coliseum for another practice. Practice lasted just over an hour and was closed to all but immediate family members. With practice over, the players boarded their buses for the trip back to the hotel and free time for the rest of the day.