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For shame, fleeting Bruin fans!

I was astonished at the negative tone of Monday’s Daily Bruin regarding the loss to USC in football. I thought maybe I was reading the Daily Trojan by mistake. Bad as the loss was, the Bruins have nothing to be ashamed of or embarrassed about. Rather, they should be proud of the turn-around the team has made this season, their overall record, and one of the greatest comebacks of all time against Stanford.

The USC team they lost to is not just another Trojan football team. By any measure, it is one of the greatest, possibly THE greatest college football team of all time, which no one has been able to beat for almost three years. It almost certainly has two Heisman winners (maybe a third by next year), and clearly, ’SC got a lot of breaks in that game.

I mean, what do you expect when ’SC’s coach can simply tell the referee to spot the ball a couple of feet further downfield so they will get a first down? (On the other hand, be happy Matt Leinart’s aim was off in the first half.)

The only shame was on the fair-weather Bruin fans who left early, leaving few to cheer for UCLA’s touchdowns except the sarcastic Trojan fans. The Bruins were still playing their hearts out to the end, and the fans should have supported them to the finish.

Sure, USC is not “just another game,” but it is also not the end of the season. I am counting on the Bruins to exhibit that same never-say-die resolve and incredible come-back ability they have shown all year by overcoming this setback and crushing Northwestern in the Sun Bowl.

Look at it this way if you want some consolation: USC honors the Pac-10 as a whole and earns UCLA a bigger share of Bowl money by sending a Pac-10 representative to the BCS championship Rose Bowl. Go Bruins! Beat the Wildcats!

John MacDougall

UCLA Capital Programs staff

USC ’71

Supporters proved their lasting loyalty

Despite our devastating loss to the Trojans on Saturday, I left the Coliseum very proud to be a Bruin. While many stadium seats became empty early in the game as our point deficit was growing rapidly, the student section remained surprisingly resilient.

With seven minutes remaining and our Bruin team still without a touchdown, we continued to shout the 8-clap and began to litter the coliseum with blue confetti torn from our pom-poms. We were going wild with pride despite the circumstances – not out of boredom, as Bryan Chu implied in his Monday article. We had accepted that even our “Comeback Kids” weren’t going to pull us out of this one.

Yes, it was a letdown. But life goes on. It is an unfortunate fact that our rival school happens to have the No. 1 team in the country. It certainly was not going to be an easy task to defeat this team that had won 33 straight games. And you know what? It may take a few more tries. But the UCLA community knows that the football game is only one facet of this rivalry. Any Bruin student can recite a list of reasons why they believe our school is superior to USC.

The Bruin supporters showed tremendous spirit and heart in those final minutes. As fans, we did our part. Instead of hanging our heads, we cheered proudly and did our best to ensure that the Trojans will be finding blue streamers falling from their campus trees for weeks to come.

Trisha Hildreth

Third-year, political science

In response to your letter, Mr. Regan...

I know you are probably very upset your early Christmas gift – a win over USC – did not get delivered to you and the Bruin faithful. Very sorry about that.

But didn’t your beloved coach and your team of character get the memo that they had a football game to play Dec. 3? Was that product they displayed on the football field last weekend a result of three weeks and a full season of preparation and character building? Nice game plan. Very smart coaching staff.

Look. Mrs. Clause and I are Trojan fans, but even we were dreadfully embarrassed for the Bruins and all the arrogance they expressed in the pre-game predictions of a win by UCLA. So good luck with your football program, really great, they look like nice fellas led by some great football coaches.

I am off to New York to deliver another early Christmas gift to my beloved Trojans, Mr. Bush and Mr. Leinart.

Yours truly,

Santa

E-mail your letters to the sports desk to sports@media.ucla.edu.