Every year since I’ve been at this school, it’s been
the same old story.
USC plays UCLA with a possible national title on the line for
the Trojans. Nobody gives the Bruins a chance to win. A
picture-perfect setting for an upset creates itself. But the result
is always disappointment.
Now, I’ve seen my fair share of big games since I’ve
been at UCLA. I was at the Final Four championship game last year.
I experienced the football team’s heart-wrenching loss to USC
two years ago. And I was at the Coliseum last year when the Bruins
were actually playing for something against the Trojans.
But in my 21 years as a Bruin fan ““ not even as a Bruin
fan, as a sports fan ““ I don’t think I’ve ever
wanted a team to win as badly as I want UCLA to win Saturday.
At first glance, that might seem like a foolish statement. The
Bruins have already accepted a bid to the Emerald Bowl. A win
against USC wouldn’t make the Bruins’ record look that
much better. It certainly wouldn’t mean as much to the
program as a win last year would have meant.
But after three years of absolute disgust, there’s a big
hangover effect that’s been toying with me. Just to think of
the USC fans waddling away in their pride, knowing their team is
going to the national title game … just to think of the arrogant
looks on the faces of the ‘SC coaches and players … the
horrible sight of an ‘SC player conducting the loathsome
Trojan marching band … it’s just too much to take.
No doubt the UCLA players, particularly the seniors on the team,
feel all of these emotions much stronger than most fans do.
And that’s why this game is so much more important for
UCLA than any outsider would realize. It goes way beyond the
concept of the rivalry. It’s about way more than bowl games,
and numbers and anything else a sports analyst would typically look
at.
For UCLA, the result of this game will affect the human spirits
of those involved more than ever before.
A win, and the pain of the past will magically transform itself
into a state of ecstasy and bliss. After all these years of
waiting, finally the UCLA football program will have its big
victory. The Fairy Godmother will come down from the heavens to
sprinkle every UCLA fan, player and coach with her magic dust.
And on the flip side of that, the Trojan ego will be bruised.
Not bruised ““ shattered. For the second straight year, Trojan
fans will leave the Rose Bowl not knowing what hit them, but this
time, what actually hit them were the Bruins of UCLA, not the
Longhorns of Texas.
It will be absolute heaven on Earth.
But a loss, and the sick feeling comes back stronger than ever.
It will reach a point that will exceed the limits of the controls
on human emotion.
I, for one, can’t stomach the thought of another loss. It
doesn’t even matter how it happens. A close loss won’t
give anybody any moral victories. It would just make the pain of
what could have been stand out the way it did two years ago. A
blowout will not make the pain subside sooner, it will just rub the
pain in our faces the way it did last year, and the carryover
effect will be even stronger this time around.
So that’s why this game means more to me as a fan than any
other game I’ve ever had a rooting interest in ““ even
more than Games 6 and 7 of the 2002 World Series. Because no matter
who wins or loses, the unthinkable will happen on Saturday. The
pain or pleasure of the experience will be more than words can
convey.
E-mail Azar at bazar@media.ucla.edu if you have similar
sentiments about Saturday’s game.