What is USC without football?
First things first – I hate USC.
I know, hate’s a strong word. I’m using it anyway.
Don’t get me wrong, I have friends and even family members who go there, and them I like. And I’m sure there are plenty of USC students and alumni with whom I would get along, too (OK, maybe not plenty, but at least a handful). Still, over the past few years, I’ve come to a valuable conclusion: The University of Southern Cal is one of the most pompous, classless and nauseating organizations I’ve ever encountered.
That’s why Saturday was so sweet.
It was not only a spectacular game that I will remember for a very, very long time that made me proud to attend UCLA, it also opened up an important question about the Bruins’ rivals from across town.
What is USC without football?
As of right now, I have no answer. But I will try.
I’ll admit it, my experiences with ‘SC have made me biased. Having endured middle-aged drunks with their families taunting UCLA students at the Coliseum and old women decked out in diamonds scoffing at opponents wearing the “wrong” colors, I don’t hold much esteem for USC.
All year long, until Saturday at about 4 o’clock, I had heard “66-19” talk of the “non-rivalry” the UCLA-USC football game had become. It was as if that was all they had to hang their hats on.
Maybe it’s true.
What else is there for ’SC, behind the cocky gleam of the Trojan band’s helmets and the “We’ll poke your eyes out” V-for-victory sign?
For starters, they’ve got a great film department.
... I guess that’s for finishers, too, because that’s about all I can think of.
What exactly are USC students paying $47,000 a year for?
Maybe you could count some of the Trojan “traditions.” For example, the rebel-yell thing every ’SC fan hums during one of their fight songs, or the parade they have before every home game, full of Mercedes-Benzes, BMWs, Porsches and Hummers adorned with USC bumper stickers and license plates.
Behind the ostentatious campus and the pretentious show of money, at the heart of the school is maybe just an idea driving it all: “We’re better than you.”
No part of the school would exemplify such a twisted ideology more than the football program. Even Kevin Merfeld, a writer for USC’s Daily Trojan, called his own team out in a column on Tuesday, saying, “An arrogance has taken over the program.”
He’s wrong. Arrogance has not taken over the program – arrogance was born into the school.
Saturday’s upset wiped the smug grins off USC’s bandwagon-fans’ faces and brought the entire school down a couple pegs.
Maybe if football wasn’t all that the Trojans had, defeat wouldn’t be so hard on their heart-broken fans.
Last week, in a column titled “A bad time to be a Bruin,” a Daily Trojan writer wrote that at UCLA, a student is just a number. Actually, I’ve got two.
13-9.
At USC, it’s a bad time to be a Trojan. And whether there ever was a good time, I’m not so sure.
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