Trophy Was a Lemon, Now It’s Just Priceless

I have made some unflattering remarks in the past about the Lexus Gauntlet Trophy and the ridiculous competition between USC and UCLA inspired by a creative ad agency seeking more exposure for its car-selling client.

In fact when I saw the Lexus Gauntlet Trophy sitting as the centerpiece in the Heritage Hall lobby at USC last year, I referred to it as nothing more than a big gaudy hunk of metal.

Well, I think it’s important to admit when you’ve made a mistake, so I’m here to tell you, when I saw that beautiful testament to athletic excellence sitting in the Morgan Center lobby at UCLA on Wednesday, it was like viewing priceless art.

I had never noticed the craftsmanship, the silver shine, the letters “U C L A” on it before, which only goes to show that sometimes you should slow down in life and count the number of times in a given year UCLA kicks USC’s butt.

*

BEFORE THE ceremony to officially award the trophy to the top athletic university in town, which is UCLA, I chatted with UCLA associate athletic director Glenn Toth.

“I went to this same event at USC last year,” Toth said, “and I remember [USC Athletic Director] Mike Garrett getting up to accept the trophy, and I’m paraphrasing here, but he said, ‘This is a very special award, made more special because of who we have to beat -- the dirty little Bruins.’ ”

I gasped. To be honest, I can’t recall a time when I’ve heard Garrett say something and I haven’t gasped.

“I have to give Garrett credit, though, he didn’t know someone from UCLA was there,” Toth said. “When he learned I’d been invited, he came to me and apologized.”

That’s the good thing about the folks at USC, if they get caught saying something behind someone’s back, by Garrett, they’ll own up to it every time.

*

BOTH SCHOOLS compete against each other in 18 sports. Ten points are awarded to the winners in football, basketball and women’s volleyball, while all the other sports get five points for winning their season series.

This year they tied with 55 points. They remained tied after going to the first tiebreaker -- head-to-head competition, but UCLA prevailed when it went to head-to-head in the postseason, winning 4-0.

That left USC the big loser.

When I asked the Lexus folks if they got any trouble from Garrett when they had to remove the trophy from Heritage Hall to bring it to UCLA, Coleen Delvecchio, account supervisor for Lexus, said, “He had chained himself to it.”

She said later she was kidding, but I couldn’t tell if she really meant it.

Each school receives $375,000 from Lexus, while the overall winner gets the bonus of displaying the gaudy/beautiful trophy -- depending which campus it’s on.

The trophy has nameplates in place through 2013, although Lexus has signed just a four-year deal with both schools -- leaving room open, I guess, for this to become the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Gauntlet Trophy down the road.

*

UCLA Athletic Director Dan Guerrero, who has already fired Bob Toledo and Steve Lavin for failing to secure any Gauntlet Trophy points and who accepted the award on behalf of the school, said nothing of real interest at the ceremony.

Dan Swartz, the Lexus rep who made the Gauntlet Trophy presentation, had no idea who won the big football game between the two schools when quizzed. A short time later the Lexus car man excused himself, and I was sure he was going to come back with an answer from his general manager.

*

UCLA’s ATHLETIC domination over USC prompted me to call Garrett for comment, but he never returned the call.

I also called USC President Steven Sample and told his secretary I wanted to talk to the “prez about the Lexus Gauntlet Trophy and the demise of the USC athletic program.” She said she’d get the message to him. (I wonder what he does with all those messages).

I’m worried, though, that might be why Garrett hasn’t called back. I sure hope Sample isn’t taking it out on Garrett just because it’s official now -- UCLA has better athletes than USC. I’m sure the gutty little Trojans gave it everything they had.

*

DODGER GENERAL Manager Dan Evans is talking strategy now, which should send every Dodger fan screaming into their bedrooms and covering their heads with the blankets until next season starts.

Evans said he’s going to keep the team’s plans secret when it comes to making a trade. Some secret. The guy dropped the Dodgers in the standings the last two years with some of the worst midseason trades ever made. Mike Trombley? Hello? Tyler Houston? Yikes. Terry Mulholland? Going, going, gone....

This is the time of the year when the team ought to give Evans a vacation.

*

ERNIE HARWELL, the great Detroit Tiger broadcaster, wrote a column for the Detroit Free Press the other day under the headline: “I’ve heard them all, and the Dodgers’ [Vin] Scully is the best.”

I’m taking for granted he has never heard Steve Physioc and Rex Hudler.

*

TODAY’S LAST word comes by way of news out of New York:

The NFL offered a pacifier Wednesday to Rose Bowl officials, who had left Philadelphia last month whimpering and feeling unwanted, and the Pasadena rubes swallowed it whole. Our Sam Farmer writes today that Pasadena City Manager Cynthia Kurtz said, “And they [NFL] assured us that Pasadena is a very serious proposal to them.”

They assured the guy peddling a toxic dump site in Carson the same thing last month.

*

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