It’s a dirty little secret. Underneath all the rants and
the taunts, UCLA and USC fans hope and pray that the other can
sustain a successful program and remain in the national
spotlight.
Of course, it doesn’t seem that way. The Bruin fans and
the Trojan fans hate each other with a passion. We don’t need
to rehash the reasons. It has been that way for the better part of
a hundred years and won’t change anytime soon.
But all the vicious rhetoric is just part of a self-fulfilling
prophecy that the archrival ““ the supreme nemesis ““ is
constantly thinking about you. Always filled to the brim with an
inferiority complex. And maybe most of the verbal thrashings are
heartfelt, but don’t for one second think UCLA sports fans
want USC to be pitifully mediocre or vice versa.
Some Bruin fans might deny it, citing their intense hatred for
the Trojans. They’ll say they want to see ‘SC lose at
everything all the time, no matter what the situation or which
sport is being played. Erroneous on all counts, my adoring
readers.
Anyone who says they take as much joy in the drubbing of a weak
‘SC squad (no matter the sport) as they do in the defeat of a
nationally respected Trojan team is lying through their teeth.
Face it, the spirit of a rivalry can only be felt when the two
teams are competing against each other at the highest of levels.
And for the USC-UCLA feud, it is essential they fight for every
inch of every field in every sport they play. In a perfect world,
USC and UCLA would only lose to each other, giving the rivalry a
feeling of impending doom. It’s a little melodramatic, but
you get the idea.
So there is no reason to be angered by the fact that USC’s
women’s soccer program just gathered the top recruiting class
in the nation (with UCLA chiming in at No. 2). Word on the street
is that USC’s Amy Rodriguez and UCLA’s Kara Lang will
dominate women’s soccer over the next few years while
limiting the perennial soccer powerhouses of North Carolina and
Notre Dame.
The balance of power in women’s soccer shifting towards
USC doesn’t dilute the rivalry; it only heightens it. Instead
of coach Jill Ellis and her national powerhouse annually pounding
‘SC into submission, the two soccer teams might have to spend
the next four years battling for city supremacy.
How refreshing. If only every single sport was as even matched
and as pressure-packed! Then maybe the rivalry could be taken to a
new level, one that makes this particular rivalry as classic as
Yankees-Red Sox or Republicans-Democrats.
Not only does an evenly matched rivalry make for more excitement
around Southern California, it more importantly makes the rest of
the sports world stand up and take notice. Despite the obvious
differences, UCLA and USC are together in their fight to steer the
publicity away from East Coast-bias schools and put it more
directly on West Coast athletics.
Bruin fans need to put aside their loathe for the Trojans and
gain a little bit of perspective. With every win USC can amass, it
only provides UCLA with that much more of an opportunity to
puncture the overblown ego of a Trojan fan. And quite honestly, it
works both ways. Maybe it’s a little masochistic, but a
little bit of despair makes a rivalry that much better. The sweet
just isn’t sweet without the bitter every once in a while.
That being said, no Bruin team should make it a habit of losing to
the Trojans either.
E-mail de Jong at adejong@media.ucla.edu.