PASADENA, Calif. — On Friday, Jan. 1, Bayer Advanced will pay tribute to the history of the Rose Bowl Game with a 32-foot tall, 55-foot long float adorned with thousands of dried and live flowers. The We Are the Champions float will include four large floragraphic images of historic games on the gridiron.

Among the images to be seen by millions of people all over the world will be one of Alabama’s own Crimson Tide. And as the team and its diehard fans gear up for the Citi BCS National Championship Game on Jan. 7, the chance to share Alabama’s spirit with the rest of the world couldn’t come at a better time.

The match to be featured is the 1931 Alabama vs. Washington State game. The Rose Bowl Stadium was enlarged from a “U” shape to a larger 81,000-seat oval for this game.

The Alabama Crimson Tide posted a 24-0 win over Washington State in the 17th Rose Bowl Game, viewed by 65,000 fans.

Alabama’s coach was Wallace Wade, who had been a player for the Brown University football team that lost to WSU in the 1916 Rose Bowl Game.

Wade (1892-1986) is considered to be one of the greatest coaches in the history of college football. He is credited with promoting Southern football nationwide by building powerhouses at both the University of Alabama and Duke University.

Wade led Alabama teams to their first two national championships (1925 and 1926 seasons) and took three Alabama teams (1926, 1927, 1931) and two Duke teams (1939 and 1942) to the Rose Bowl Game.

The 1942 Rose Bowl Game was held at Duke on Jan. 1 for safety reasons following the attack on Pearl Harbor a few weeks earlier.

The Bayer Advanced We Are The Champions float will be the 27th unit and the 11th float in the 2010 Rose Parade on Friday. Look for it on TV between 10:30 and 10:45 a.m.

“We wanted to honor the tradition of the Rose Bowl Game because it truly represents the Rose Parade theme of being A Cut Above the Rest,” says Bayer Advanced Rose Care Expert Lance Walheim, who wrote “Roses for Dummies.” “The Rose Bowl Game began the tradition of New Year’s Day bowl games. The football teams who play in the Rose Bowl represent true champions — players, coaches and fans who have gone through a grueling year on the gridiron to be able to play in the Rose Bowl Game.”

The sides of the float are covered with silver leaf, accented by fine cut white strawflower and everlasting, lettuce seeds, eucalyptus leaves and white button mums. The “Rose Bowl” calligraphy is created with whole split peas. The rose logo and decorative roses on the walls of the bowl are made up of dark and light pink strawflower on stems of onion seed and parsley flake leaves.

The floragraphs are “painted” with a palette that includes nori seaweed, onion seed, farina, ground rice, powdered rice, fine-crushed walnut shell, flax seed, ground parsley flakes, sesame seed, statice, strawflower, split pea, parsnip seed, whole lentil seed, clover seed and fine coconut.

The 21 large sculpted roses that comprise the bouquet on top of the championship bowl are covered with red, bronze, yellow, white, light pink and dark pink strawflower; lavender, hot pink and dark purple statice; everlasting; lentil seed, clover seed, cinnamon and lentil.

Cymbidium orchids, dendrobium orchids, cattalaya orchids, mokaras and coco sticks, as well as roses, daisies and carnations in a selection of rainbow colors accent the sculpted bouquet. Roses, daisies and carnations are at the base of the float.