Topic A : A Different Spin on the World Around Us : Cross-Town

It’s not a matter of life and death. It’s a little more important than that.

--Former UCLA Coach Red Sanders

Come Saturday, the Big Game is back. But can we forget about hang times, blitzes and toss sweeps? Instead, let’s put on our thinking caps (this is American Education Week) and ponder just what distinguishes these two institutions of higher learning.

Team Names: USC has the Trojans; UCLA has the Bruins. USC got its name in 1912 from Owen Bird, then sports editor of The Times. The Bruins began as Cubs, baby versions of the state animal, but became Grizzlies in hopes of improving team performance. But when a Montana team charged the Grizzlies with stealing its name, the Bruins were born.

Class Consciousness: At USC, especially during Troy Week (which began Sunday), the most popular T-shirt says, “My Maid Went to UCLA.” Runner-up: “I Went to UCLA Until My Dad Got a Job.”

Annual Tuition: USC, $16,020. UCLA, $2,335.

Famous UCLA Alums: Francis Ford Coppola, Ralph Bunche, Carol Burnett, Mayor Tom Bradley, Agnes DeMille, Jim Morrison.

Famous USC Alums: Herb Alpert, Ron Howard, Marlo Thomas, Buster Crabbe, Marilyn Horne, Tom Selleck.

Watergate Co-Conspirators: Trojan grads include Dwight Chapin, Donald Segretti, Bart Porter and Gordon Strachan. But UCLA produced H. R. Haldeman.

“One of the concerns was that the people from SC who were involved (with Watergate) were on the second echelon, while the people from UCLA were on the first echelon,” a former USC dean told authors of the book “60 Years of USC-UCLA Football.”

Judicial Facts: Three of the seven justices sitting on the California Supreme Court are USC graduates. So is Judge Joseph Wapner.

Political Leanings: John Wayne went to USC. Angela Davis was at UCLA.

Game Preparations: At USC, traditional pregame events have included Drag-a-Bruin Day, Dunk-a-Bruin Day, Roof-Test-a-Bruin Day and Burn-a-Bruin Day.

At UCLA, there will be a 5K Trample the Trojans run and a Trojan pinata.

Too Painful to Bear: In 1929, the score after the first matchup was USC 76, UCLA 0. The next year USC won 52-0. The year after that and every year until 1936, UCLA wouldn’t play.

So far, the score is: USC, 34 wins; UCLA, 20 wins; ties, 7. (USC has been to the Rose Bowl 27 times; UCLA just 10.)

Good-Heartedness: On Thursday night, both schools will hold bonfires where effigies will be burned and canned goods will be collected for the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank.

Parting Shots: From Aaron Lowenberg, football writer for the Daily Bruin: “The best thing I can say about SC is that they’re all really wealthy. The worst I can say is that it makes them all awful spoiled. . . . And most of their football team ended up there because, academically, they couldn’t get into UCLA.”

From Matt White, assistant sports editor of the Daily Trojan: “Yeah, yeah, yeah, but just remember, (UCLA) hasn’t beaten anybody this year except Oregon State.”

Hardly anybody. UCLA beat Oregon on Saturday.

Editor’s note: Warrick is neither Bruin nor Trojan.