I am neither a Caltech nor a MIT alumnus. Although I have never visited MIT, I have spent some time at Caltech as a visitor. When I was at Caltech, some people told me that the difference between these two schools is the mentality and maturity of the undergrad students:
MIT -> high school
Caltech -> junior high
I didn't invent the joke. I am just the messenger ;-)
About the imitation, I was more or less poking some good-natured fun at Cal-Tech, not actually calling them out. However, the Rose Bowl stuff in particular is derivative of the tradition of MIT hacks at the Harvard-Yale games that has been going on since at least 1948.
Yeah, I have heard of the Harvard-Yale game hacks. I have also heard of the tradition of putting stuff on top of the great dome. I like this Star Wars hack:
