Coliseum Leaves NFL, Trojans Feeling Empty

The push is still on to convince the NFL that the Coliseum is the place to play its games, and the folks who promote the Coliseum peg their argument around the USC experience.

This might explain why no one in the NFL has any interest in the Coliseum, because if it’s anything like the USC experience, then it’s only a reminder to NFL owners of just how empty and depressing this place can be.

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NOW I wouldn’t want to go someplace where I’d have to sit next to a USC fan either, so I can appreciate the every-other-seat occupied look to the Coliseum when the game began, but an outsider might wonder what it takes to draw a full house here.

The Trojans are ranked eighth best in the nation, playing a worthy opponent with the same number of wins on a beautiful, clear Los Angeles day, and USC -- if the Carson Palmer Heisman hype is to be believed -- has the best player in the country throwing footballs all around the place.

But on homecoming Saturday, this place had a Raider-Arizona Cardinal feel to it, and while the fans looked a lot more wholesome and better dressed than the criminals the Raiders attracted, this was no advertisement for the return of the NFL.

The Trojans announced a crowd of 73,923, which tells me those who announced the attendance at the women’s tennis tournament in Staples Center got their education at USC. If USC counted 73,923 fans coming through the turnstiles, 20,000 of them remained stuck in concession lines and never made it to their seats.

Maybe it’s the Coliseum, and how it looks when not filled to capacity, but -- like going to a crowded movie theater to enjoy a good comedy with everyone else laughing -- there’s a different feel to a packed stadium, and that was missing here.

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I’VE THOUGHT for some time now there aren’t many Trojan fans.

Since 1993, when the track was removed and more seats added to bring the fans closer to the field, USC has played 59 home games in the Coliseum but has attracted crowds of 60,000 or more only 19 times.

Take away the large crowds for Notre Dame and UCLA, and the Trojans have attracted more than 60,000 here 10 times in 10 years, including Saturday’s bogus count of 73,923.

Now if you’re going to talk about your program in the same reverential tones as Notre Dame, Michigan and Tennessee, how do Trojan fans explain their own sorry showing most of the time? On many Saturdays, the 300 or 400 fans sitting in the end zone and rooting on the opposition hold their own with Trojan fans.

This Saturday should have been significantly different, considering the backdrop. There is talk of USC playing in a bowl championship series game. The Trojans are still in Rose Bowl contention, having already won seven games. They’ve won their last seven games in the Coliseum, sending everyone home happy. Coach Pete Carroll is the picture of excitement. Senior USC safety Troy Polamalu has gotten all kinds of TV and newspaper publicity. A couple of weeks ago Arizona State was the surprise team in the Pac-10, and tied for first place.

So how do you explain USC emerging from the tunnel and not finding a sold-out crowd going crazy?

Throw in pregame hype in newspapers reporting Lisa Leslie, Tim Salmon, Robert Horry and Pete Vagenas would be here for a halftime ceremony to honor the Southern California-area champions, add the horse, band and cheerleaders and what more does it take to attract the casual L.A.-area football fan?

But is this just the USC experience? The Coliseum? Would a renovated Rose Bowl make a difference? Or is this Los Angeles, and there’s a message there for the NFL?

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PALMER HAS had five or six great games in a row to cap off a disappointing career that includes 47 interceptions, and now to mention him in the same Heisman Trophy sentence as Miami quarterback Ken Dorsey is ridiculous.

Dorsey, who is 35-1 in three seasons as Miami’s starting quarterback, led his team to a national championship last year and has the Hurricanes undefeated this season.

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T. McKIMMEY e-mailed to say: “Do you know the NCAA has forbidden the Notre Dame High School band of Sherman Oaks from playing at the Notre Dame-USC game [in the Coliseum], where they have been playing for many years? They say it is a recruiting violation.”

A USC spokesman said the school was unaware of any change in plans, but since the University of Notre Dame invites the band to play on its behalf, there might be a problem and USC has yet to be told. I’m sure there’s a lot of competition for Notre Dame High’s tuba player, but I’d hate to see this whole thing end on a sour note, preventing him and his friends from attending a big-time football event.

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GARY PLAYER is captain for “The Rest of the World” in its Warburg Cup battle with the U.S. team led by Arnold Palmer, and in 1961, Player won more money in 30 tournaments than any other player on the tour -- $64,000. Each loser in the Warburg Cup competition today will receive $100,000.

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ARIZONA’S WIN over Cal suggests that Coach John Mackovic’s tearful apology to his players earlier this week worked. If I’m Clipper Coach Alvin Gentry, the way things are going, I’d give it a try today.

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TODAY’S LAST word comes in e-mail from Jim and Joyce Roberts:

“T.J. Simers addressing the [San Fernando Valley Ventura County] Trojan Booster Club? Please cancel our subscription.”

No need to panic. I survived -- to write, and trash USC again.

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T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com.