COLUMN: Not everything has to change

I’ve made it known in previous columns how I don’t like the new look of college sports.

The expansions of the Big 10 and Big 12 conferences in football were not a success for me. Too many teams in conferences means there will be too many conference games that are not scheduled. That means too many “what ifs.” The Big 10 started November with its three best record teams not scheduled to play each other. Colorado and BYU, both in the Big 12, played each other in a bowl game last week, not the regular season. I think the playoff format still has a lot of problems even with 12 teams.

All is dumb and embarrassing. I don’t like it. My interest is fading. College basketball might salvage some of my interest, but it’s a different mentality than football.

Not everything has to change. Nor should it.

I spent a couple of days after Christmas visiting family in Colorado, where I grew up. We found some time to dine at Casa Bonita, a piece of Colorado history and a right of passage for at least Colorado kids and residents. In the early 1970s, Bill Waugh visioned a dining experience like no other. And he nailed it. In 1973 he converted a vacant department store building on metro-Denver’s west side into 52,000 square feet of recreating a Mexican atmosphere like you were in Mexico. The details include architecture, fake palm trees and a centerpiece of a 30-foot waterfall with divers. You didn’t go just to eat, but for the experience. About 1,000 people could be seated. You got your waiter’s attention by raising a flag placed on your table.

It’s hard to fully explain. That’s why you must go to experience it. “There is nothing like this in Nebraska,” I overheard another customer say.

It wasn’t just the food. Patrons could hear walking mariachi bands, kids could watch puppet shows, walk through Black Bart’s cave and hope not to get a scare, play 1980s video games. I was very fortunate during my youth. My mother’s parents lived just a few minutes away and my siblings and I each got to spend a week with them in the summer. A lunch trip to Casa was automatic. Grandma always took us for lunch as the crowds were smaller which gave us more time to enjoy the whole place. (She was smart). It made my summers. Maybe it made my year during my pre-teens years. Many kids had the same experiences at Casa.

My visits decreased as I entered adulthood and eventually left Colorado. But there were a few times when I returned to show friends. By now, the place was showing its age and different owners and management. Denver’s massive growth spurt in the 1990s gave Casa much more competition. When you went then, the food may have reminded you of fast food; other times it was more a small-town sit down Mexican place. Such is the risk of the restaurant business; revolving door of employees and reputations that were made faster than putting a chip in a salsa bowl.

The COVID pandemic didn’t do any favors to Casa Bonita. That was followed by serious financial problems; employees claimed paychecks bounced like the rubber balls kids won as prizes in games. Casa Bonita’s menu added Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2021. A piece of Colorado culture was about to be taken off like busboys and plates.

Another piece of Colorado came to save it. Trey Parker and Matt Stone, creators of the longtime “South Park” television show, offered $3 million to buy Casa Bonita in 2021. Their animated comedy started in the late 1990s. I am not a fan of the show.

The two invested tens of millions to bring Casa Bonita back to life in spring 2023. Their strategy was “change nothing, improve everything.” The kitchen and menu were overhauled and still emphasized traditional Mexican entrees. You can still get a basket of sopapillas with honey as dessert. My daughter Kari and her fiance ate there this summer and were impressed. Kari’s first Casa trip was when she was 5 and still remembers it.

At first, it was a lottery to get a table. That has since changed to reservations only - after going through security outside the pink-painted building. During my childhood you could just walk in like you would a Creston restaurant. Kari responded to an email after Christmas through her Casa Bonita membership to get us a table on Saturday.

Parker and Stone kept their strategy true. The place still looked and felt like it did to me in 1984. The food was much better. You still start with chips and salsa and finish with sopapillas. Plates start at about $30 each. There are a few “South Park” references inside, as I expected, but it doesn’t take away from the Mexican atmosphere at all.

I was getting into college football in 1984, thanks to my dad. Chuck Long and going to Iowa State games at Colorado in Boulder were those memories. Those will always be there.

At least some other things haven’t changed - like Casa Bonita.