USC vs Notre Dame Football Game

U.S.C. School Spirit? Yes and No.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Today USC plays Notre Dame in football. It’s a long-time, passionate rivalry between the two colleges. I should know as I’ve been watching USC football most of my life. At one time my family was big on USC. My Dad went there; so did my sister, brother, and I. We siblings attended at the same time. Fun for us. Not so fun for my Dad’s wallet.

But over time we’ve become cranky alumni. (Especially after the decimation of my—as well as millions of other hard-working Americans—retirement account as one USC alum who I went to school with, named Christopher Cox, head of the SEC during the Bush administration, was asleep at the wheel and turned a blind eye to naked greed. Yeesh. They don’t let you into the LA Coliseum for SC football games do they, Chris? Doubt it. Cuz I’m sure you wiped out enough of USC alumni’s investment portfolios to fund that school for 100 years.

Pardon my mind snap. Back to my story. My family is no longer enamored of USC. We question what the heck all that money was spent on—other than a great time. (My niece at one time considered applying to USC. My sister’s response: “Over my dead body.”) We don’t follow the school’s academic endeavors or sports programs—other than the occasional football game: vs. Notre Dame and especially vs. UCLA.

Sometimes during a televised game—just to make ye ol’ hubby man cringe—I skip around the living room singing the Trojan Fight Song and wave my hand in the two-fingered victory salute. (I swear I have a bit of Little Edie Beale in me.)

[Side Note #1: I once worked for a real estate development company in Newport Beach, CA that for its Family Christmas Party (at a swanky hotel) hired the Trojan Marching Band to perform. And at a precisely-choreographed moment, the USC mascot, Traveler—a white horse ridden by a Trojan warrior swinging a sword—burst into the ballroom, galloped around the perimeter clacking its hooves on the wooden floor, and galloped out. The speeding horse scared some of the younger children. They clung to their parents. The parents looked stunned. Personally I liked the horse’s performance better than Santa singing “Silent Night.” But that display of alumni spirit was over-the-top for me.]

[Side Note #2: Eighteen months later the company went bankrupt overnight. The next morning the wife of the executive who had planned that infamous USC Christmas Extravaganza burst into the company headquarters—not unlike Traveler—only she galloped around the building taking stuff. In a frenzied looting spree, she tried to take any office furnishings that weren’t bolted down or too heavy. I’m told she took the ashtrays from the conference room and employee coffee mugs from the kitchen. She also took the spare rolls of toilet paper from the supply closet. Maybe the $60,000 bill for the Christmas party wasn’t such a good idea after all? Just think how much toilet paper you could buy with that money.]

Back to my story. In yesterday’s USA Today Pat Haden, a former USC quarterback from the 1970s commented on today’s big game. Pat was a terrific QB back in the day. In 1974 he led his team to victory over Notre Dame (the defending national champs). This was no ordinary game thirty-five years ago. This was a glorious come-from-behind win when USC, losing 24-0 (at 50 seconds before halftime) rallied to win 55-24. That was some game! Some call it the “Anthony Davis Game,” as he went berserk running and scoring. There were also some incredible passes by the QB Pat and catches by his best pal and receiver J.K. McKay.

In the newspaper article about this historic game, Pat Haden said, “I’ve met at least 300,000 people who say they were at the game.” That’s funny because the L.A. Memorial Coliseum holds about 100,000 fans. But I can honestly say I was at that game.

As a student at USC, I worked on campus for the university’s Alumni Affairs office, one of my better jobs. One of the perks was occasionally scoring free tickets to sporting events. I received four tickets to this game on the 45-yard line. Great seats except they were on the opposing team’s side. But they were free!

The three lucky fans sitting with me that day on the Notre Dame side were my roommate (the delightful Cindy), my sister, and a friend of ours from high school named Taco Dave, a student at UCLA.

[Side Note #3 – Taco Dave will be the star of another blog entitled “Taco Dave and the Terrible Dime Incident,” based on an event which occurred after this game. Stay tuned…)

We had great seats great except being engulfed by the entire population of South Bend, Indiana (including a large contingent of clergy). A few rows behind us was a rowdy group of unofficial band members (trumpet, sax, clarinet players). With every first down or touchdown, they stood and blasted the Fighting Irish fight song. It was excruciating to hear that song so many times the first half. (To this day I can still hum that tune.) My roommate got depressed; my sister guzzled beer; Taco Dave cheered along with the other Domers.

I slumped in my seat, surrounded by the enemy, and doubted my team. Hey, wait a minute. Weren’t there Padres in our area? Wouldn’t they have counseled me, “O ye of little faith…”?

Sure enough, as mentioned above, SC kicked ass the second half. The band quieted, the Padres prayed. USC scored a total of 55 unanswered points. Hallelujah!

On the 35th anniversary of that auspicious occasion, I am a Trojan again. I hope they kick ass all the way to the top of the BCS Poll. Thus today I will be singing: