ROSE BOWL / DAILY REPORT : UCLA : Cook Tries Some Last-Minute Cures

UCLA quarterback Wayne Cook reportedly has changed medication and is being treated with a steroid derivative in an attempt to cure his sore throat and allow him to call signals over the noise of a crowd of 100,000-plus in today’s Rose Bowl game.

Cook, out with flu for three days, has been unable to call out plays and snap counts since his return Wednesday, but Coach Terry Donahue said that he expected Cook’s voice to be strong enough to carry out his assignments against Wisconsin.

The family agrees.

“I think he’ll be OK,” said Wayne’s father, Ken Cook, who will be seeing his first Rose Bowl since 1963, which was the last time Wisconsin played in the game.

If not, hand signals and other options will be used.

“I’m not sure you can hear anything over 100,000 people anyway,” Donahue said.

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Asked if he had any advice for Wisconsin’s Barry Alvarez, in his first bowl game as a head coach after nine as an assistant, Donahue said: “Well, I hope he does the same thing I did in my first bowl game as head coach.”

That was the 1976 Liberty Bowl, in which Donahue’s Bruins lost to Alabama, 36-6.

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The difference between coming to town and playing in the Rose Bowl, as opposed to being from Southern California and playing in the game?

“When you come to a different city and play, there is a thrill in all of the events before the game,” Donahue said. “We enjoyed things like going to Disneyland, but I think all of our players have been there before. When you’re in the city, like we are for the Rose Bowl, you tend to say this isn’t as much fun, and the thrill is the game itself.

“Our players don’t know it yet, but the thrill is the game and game day.”

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Parking alternatives are available for those who don’t want to deal with a mob scene around the Rose Bowl.

One is the Ralph Parsons Company parking lot, at 100 W. Walnut in Pasadena, where the cost is $15 before 9 a.m. and $10 afterward. Shuttle transportation will be provided for $1.10 each way, with buses boarding at Raymond Avenue and Union Street after the Rose Parade and operating until game time. The buses return to the Parsons lot immediately after the game.