In the pantheon of sports in the United States, one of the most iconic events is the annual Rose Bowl football game in Pasadena, Calif.

And it is not just the game that captures our attention, which harks back to a time when fewer bowls and less hype gave a certain pride of place to historically important bowl games.

No, in addition to the game, there is something that no other bowl possesses, at least not in the same historic and ambitious scale: the Tournament of Roses parade.

The Rose Bowl parade is a New Year's fixture for television households around the world. Many people who can't tell a defensive tackle from a wide receiver will tune in to watch the pageantry of the parade, with its over-the-top floats and marching bands that represent among the very best in the country.

So, all of us in Durham can and should share in an expansive pride at the invitation extended to the N.C. Central University marching band. The Marching Sound Machine is going west come Jan. 1, 2011, one of 13 marching bands from across the country invited to participate in the parade.

Jeff Throop, president of the Tournament of Roses Parade, summed up the honor succinctly in a video message sent to NCCU and shown as part of its formal announcement on Monday that the band was Pasadena-bound.

"Marching Sound Machine, congratulations," Throop said. "You are going to be performing in front of hundreds of millions of spectators across the world."

For NCCU, it is a tremendous honor. The school's band has long been admired, but even director Jorim Reid is a bit taken aback by how far it has come in his eight years leading the band.

He aspired to the Rose Bowl parade, he told The Herald-Sun's Neil Offen, but not for a while yet. "The Rose Parade was in my 15-year plan," he said. "I didn't intend to submit an application for another seven years."

But life, as John Lennon said, is what happens while you're making other plans. So the Marching Sound Machine is in the hunt for enormous national recognition. The college experience is about much more, of course, than marching band or athletic teams.

But we can't help but think that the affirmation these talented band members have received with this invitation will be remembered warmly long into adulthood.