Being a sports fan is an exhausting undertaking.
Especially on college football Saturdays.
There’s just so much to deal with. First there’s the
pre-game hype, then the tailgating, the game itself, the post-game
hype (or perhaps the explanation and excuses), and all the other
games around the country that you have to care about for one reason
or another.
I can handle most of these. But I don’t know if I can
handle rooting against USC anymore.
That’s why weeks like this are nice.
With the Trojans as the 30-point favorite playing at Washington
Saturday, I can concentrate all of my rooting energies on our
undefeated Bruins remaining undefeated when they host Oregon
State.
I feel like there is no chance that USC will lose to the
Huskies. This is a good thing because after last Saturday’s
debacle in South Bend, I had nothing left to give UCLA when I
turned the game on. UCLA was down 21-0, then 28-7, and I
couldn’t feel any emotion.
A small part of me died last week when Matt Leinart spun into
the endzone to shock Notre Dame, just like a small part of me died
when the Trojans stormed back to defeat Oregon and Arizona State
earlier in the season.
Maybe I’m just stupid. Somehow I am able to delude myself,
week after week, into thinking that this is the week it’s all
going to end for USC. Well, not end. But the week that
they’re going to lose. Once. That’s all I want.
I sit in front of the television, watching, hoping, yelling,
screaming, jumping up and down, then staring blankly, introspecting
and feeling like I want to cry.
Last week’s Notre Dame game ended up being perhaps the
worst college football-watching experience of my entire life. Even
worse than UCLA’s loss to Wyoming in the Las Vegas Bowl.
I was so sure that Notre Dame was going to win. My dad and I
were giddy. I had my phone out, ready to make the calls I have now
waited 28 Saturdays to make. The clock read 0:00. Notre Dame had
won.
And then the Trojans won. Again.
I feel like I’m almost obsessed with USC losing. After
UCLA had finished its impressive comeback to defeat Washington
State last weekend, my dad said he would have gladly taken a UCLA
loss if the Trojans had lost, too.
I couldn’t quite commit to that logic, but I
understand.
It’s been a long, long time for Bruin fans. Part of the
joy of being a sports fan is reveling in the misfortunes of your
rivals. Giants losses are great. Yankees losses are even better.
And USC, well, they don’t lose. In football, at least.
So all I want is one weekend. Give me one weekend like the
weekend that USC lost to Cal and UCLA beat San Diego State. It was
glorious, and it was oh-so-long ago. Sept. 27, 2003, if you
care.
I feel that my desire for USC to lose is stronger than
it’s ever been. Part of that is because I really believe that
UCLA has a legitimate chance to run the table, and I selfishly want
attention to be on my school.
Last week, national attention would have been heaped upon USC
regardless of a win or a loss. Now the Trojans are not only a part
of the greatest college football game ever played, but they won
that game, too.
And I’m tired of it.
I still picture the Notre Dame cornerback’s hand being
three inches higher and that 4th-and-9 pass dropping incomplete. Or
Leinart being tackled on the one-yard line as time expires.
I was mentally exhausted. I was emotionally drained.
But now, with USC playing Washington, Washington State and
Stanford in the coming weeks, I’m reinvigorated. I will be
able to concentrate all my attention on the Bruins.
Then comes Nov. 12, when Arizona State visits the Rose Bowl and
USC travels to take on Cal. I know I’ll probably be rooting
harder for the Bears than the Bruins, and I don’t know if my
heart can take it.
E-mail Regan at dregan@media.ucla.edu if you also jumped up
and down with happiness while watching time expire for the first
time in last weekend’s USC v. Notre Dame game.