For USC fans, Sunday’s men’s basketball game against UCLA is it.
No postseason play for the Trojans this year ““ they banned themselves from that as punishment for yet-unspecified violations of NCAA rules. (Bruin fans can direct their thank-you cards to Tim Floyd and OJ Mayo.)
Sunday, then, is the peak point for USC, after which everything slides menacingly downhill until football season saves bored and depressed fans come September.
For as miserable as some UCLA faithfuls have been watching their beloved Bruins fall to cream puffs from Candyland, for once, ‘SC fans might have earned some sympathy.
That is, if they hadn’t gotten themselves into this mess in the first place and rubbed UCLA the wrong way at every opportunity.
This has indeed been one of the more drama-filled and contentious periods in the UCLA/USC rivalry in years, and Sunday will add what will presumably be the latest chapter.
To recap quickly, in the last year, USC pushed Tim Floyd out the door essentially and allegedly for cheating, threw a Hail Mary to rub salt in the wounds of a losing UCLA football team, replaced the clown of a coach who celebrated after that play (Pete Carroll) with one of his protégés (Lane Kiffin) ““ who has learned well and exceeded his mentor in egotism and unethical behavior ““ hired a new women’s basketball coach who, unprovoked, used an expletive to describe UCLA at a press conference, and oh yes, the school is still under NCAA investigation involving wrongdoings committed by its football program.
I suppose that wasn’t “quickly.”
To get some perspective, I called a good high school friend of mine, a guy named Von Geragosian who is the most die-hard Trojan fan I know and goes to USC.
In talking to Geragosian, I wanted to get a sense of the deep shame he most certainly must feel as a student watching his athletic department make all these deeply unethical choices ““ staining his school.
How utterly livid, for example, must USC fans be about not having a men’s basketball postseason?
“We’re upset about Tim Floyd, but he’s gone now, and I don’t think USC had any intention of keeping him,” Geragosian said. “I think that’s primarily why he resigned, because he knew he was going to get fired. It is frustrating, obviously, but it’s like, “˜What can you do?'”
And what of the surely impending football sanctions? Fans can’t want to go through this again with their beloved football team …
“Football, I’ve kind of said it’s been over for the last three years,” Geragosian mused. “Because Reggie Bush is in the pros, and it’s been six years now and I don’t really see anything happening with it. My whole thing is timing. It’s been six years since he graduated.”
That may be ““ but how do you explain Michael Cooper’s derogatory remarks?
“If I was a coach, I wouldn’t do it. I wouldn’t really say those words, but whatever, if he wanted to do that, that’s his whole thing.
“When it comes to athletics, when somebody says something bad about the program, especially when it’s a rival school, I could care less, because that’s what makes it bigger and more intriguing.”
Fine. Then what in God’s name made Carroll throw that long bomb?
“When you take a knee, in my opinion,” he carefully explained, “a knee is showing respect that the clock should run out, that we don’t want to play anymore. In my opinion, if someone calls a time-out, it means they want to still play. They want the ball back. Especially if it’s 21-7, it’s a lead, but I wouldn’t call it a big lead. Especially when it comes to athletics, you can’t really back down.”
I’m out of ammo, defeated by calm logic. My feelings about USC’s athletic department remain scornfully the same. Yet our conversation reminds me to separate USC, the educational institution, from USC athletics.
USC is inhabited by smart people like Von, and stupid people, just like UCLA and everywhere else.
It’s just a shame that all the stupid people occupy the biggest offices in Heritage Hall.
E-mail Stevens at mstevens@media.ucla.edu.