• printer friendly
• mail this article
• iPod format
• digg

It has been a good year in UCLA sports.

Men’s water polo, women’s water polo and men’s tennis won national championships. Men’s basketball returned to the NCAA tournament. And football landed a top quarterback recruit.

But one single, miserable, damned play kept it from being a great, even epic, year.

By now, the USC football team has won the national championship and has its legacy firmly established.

But think back to the Trojans’ Dec. 4th, 2004 victory over UCLA.

History will overlook it as just another forgettable win in their perfect season, but that game will haunt me for the rest of my life.

In the weeks leading up to the big game, I became convinced that UCLA was going to pull off the unthinkable.

Did I have a logical argument? Not really.

I just wanted a win so badly that I willed myself into believing.

My senior year. Hadn’t beaten ’SC in six years. Chance to spoil a national championship. And most importantly, I would have already been on the field as a reporter, making me the first idiot to miserably fail at climbing the goalpost.

It was going to be the signature sports moment of my four years at UCLA. If there was any order or reason to the universe, I was destined to see this happen.

That’s why I’m still so pissed.

With the Trojans winning 17-10 with the ball and the second half coming to a close, USC tailback Reggie Bush caught a swing pass, fumbled, and linebacker Spencer Havner scooped up the ball and appeared headed for a game-tying touchdown.

Instead, the referee blew the whistle, ruled that Bush’s momentum had been stopped, and provided me with repeated moments of spontaneous anguish over the coming months.

Every angle on replay showed that it was a terrible call.

Rather than a 17-17 score with 20 minutes of football left to decide the victor, the ref intervened and the Trojans took a 20-10 lead. The Bruins fought hard to overcome it, but fell short.

I’m not saying that UCLA would have won had the call been made correctly. I think it’s a 50-50 proposition.

I just can’t stand that I will never know. With the way UCLA outplayed USC in the second half, it’s not hard to see how the Bruins might have had a very real shot.

And a win very well would have been the highlight of my life.

As it was, when UCLA ironically recovered a fumble down 29-24 with under two minutes left, I was jumping up and down on the field forgetting whatever journalistic integrity I had.

I looked up at the UCLA student section and saw utter pandemonium. It was surreal – exactly as I pictured it might be.

Of course, Drew Olson threw a pick the very next play, but not before I had experienced just a taste of what I had been dreaming about for months.

What’s the point of rehashing this agony?

Unfortunately, it’s my most memorable moment in this year of sports.

Whenever it is that UCLA does beat ’SC, I’ll remember Dec. 4, 2004 and mix some jealousy with my joy.

I just can’t imagine the experience of watching as an alumnus matching that of a student.

And, unfortunately, that’s all I’ll ever be able to do – imagine.

E-mail Peters at bpeters@media.ucla.edu if you also won’t forget that day.