Any given Saturday

Over the past 50 years, Elizabeth Reynolds, 81, has never missed a USC tailgate weekend. Every home game during the football season, she parks in the same structure, sits in the same spot on campus and brings the same tailgate food – some sandwiches and soda – in preparation for the game. Sporting a bright cardinal USC cap and a white Trojan shirt, the 1952 alumna still flashes her victory sign in a determined "fight on" for the day's game.

"I love seeing the next generations of Trojans and people-watching. At USC, you feel togetherness," she says proudly. "The Trojan family, it's a feeling of excellence."

Like Reynolds, hundreds of other USC fans show their devotion to the school and team by gathering every weekend on the campus to tailgate -- a pre-game ritual during which fans pitch party tents, set up grilling stations, share homemade recipes and talk lots of trash about the other teams – oh, yeah, and down gallons of alcohol. The party starts early in the day and builds to a fever pitch around kick-off time.

According to tailgating lore, the tradition of pre-game parties began almost 150 years ago when intercollegiate football itself first kicked off, at the first-ever Princeton and Rutgers football game in 1869. Fans going to the game allegedly grilled food at the end of the horse-drawn carriages they used to travel to the game.

Today, tailgates have transformed into an entire sub-culture, one that only seems to be growing in Los Angeles, thanks in large part to the never-flagging rivalry between the football cultures of USC and cross-town rival UCLA.

This same Saturday over at the Rose Bowl, knots of students in every direction shout out the UCLA 8-clap, a cheer that begins when a student or fan raises his or her fingers in the air, summoning Bruins across the Rose Bowl to clap in unison all the while barking the holy letters, "U…C…L…A." The cheer ends with fists in the air, "UCLA fight, fight, fight!" Sometimes, in the heat of pitched battle with their rivals, the end of the chant slides into profanity.

As the day progresses, the cheers devolve to a sloppy state, thanks to beer. Beer is the thing here: gulped from beer-bong stations – homemade racks with funnels and hoses to send it down fast – pumped from giant kegs, sucked up while hand-standing on those same kegs in what is known in gymnastics circles as a "keg stand." First a drink, then they proceed to gobble up the buffet of hamburgers and potato chips flooding the tailgating field.

Rain or shine – in the case of last weekend, rain – devoted UCLA alumni and local supporters carry on with traditions passed down since before the Bruin's move to the Rose Bowl from Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 1982, where USC now plays.

Those traditional meals are hardly all quick-fixes with the George Foreman grill, either: despite the rowdy student atmosphere, many tailgaters put on elaborate gourmet spreads with tablecloths, candles and nice wine. A fair number of them are even catered.

No matter who UCLA is playing, the spectre of USC is never far removed. UCLA fan David Martinez Jr. recounts that, during the 2006 UCLA vs. USC game, his father loaded up three generations of family members and friends and arrived at the Rose Bowl in pitch darkness at 4:00 a.m. Family friend Josh Redha recalls cracking open his first beer at 6:00 a.m. That day, Martinez Sr. planted a sword into the ground directly in front of his grill, on top of which he hung a UCLA helmet. David Martinez Sr. was 52 at the time, but his son said he also took on a bunch of USC students in a push-up contest. We have no official record to rely on, but Martinez claims his father put them to shame.

Still, most of the students try not to let the rivalry get out of hand.

"I try to provide an environment where people are friendly but there is still a competitive spirit," said fourth-year UCLA student Keith Teague, on behalf of the Bruin Woods tailgate, his voice almost drowned by the aggressive 8-clap in the background.

Back at USC, a rolling thunder of fierce "Fight On!" chants seems to move through the campus. Leonard Borrmann, class of 1980, has his entire family at the tailgate and says he's a regular season-ticket holder. He's hardly missed any games in the past few years. Eating carne asada, marinated chicken, and chips and salsa, he blurts: "I bet UCLA is munching on chrome," referring to how their eating pales in comparison to USC's.

"You're a Bruin for four years," he explains. "But you're a Trojan for life." He adds: "I would never hire a Bruin."

Twenty-two-year-old USC senior Vincenzo Nocerino does an impressive keg stand, his buddies lifting his legs high in the air while giving each other spirited high-fives. The beauty of tailgating is that it's not just the students who push the party to the edge: everyone from college students to a 70-year-old woman is hitting a nearby beer bong. Middle-aged men drink Absolut with frat boys as they clink their shot glasses like old friends.

"Fight on!" they scream.

A tantalizing odor of sizzling barbecued meats, alcohol, and side dishes wafts across the lawn from where Sandra Fuentes, 28, is grilling her famous pollo asado and carne asada. Having set up at 6 a.m. that morning, Fuentes says her loyalty for her alma mater is about more than being an alumna.

"This is our entire lives during fall," she says of herself and her husband. "Every year we put aside money for the national championship game and the Rose Bowl, and our lives are planned around the games."

And about that rivalry? The beauty of this question is that every year it can be settled. This year, however, the fans need patience. The USC-UCLA game is both teams' last regular-schedule game this season, taking place on Dec. 6. Until that day, fans content themselves with the greatness of their pre-game parties.

"Tailgating is important to us," said Leonardo Genzon, 30, from USC. "It's more than food, beer, or even football. It's life."