The Battle of Los Angeles

As the college football season winds down, regional rivalries are in annual bloom, as colorful as the fallen leaves. Minnesota and Wisconsin scrimmage for Paul Bunyan’s Ax. Ohio State players win golden charms shaped like football pants for beating reviled Michigan. Texas and Texas A&M; shoot it out in the Lone Star Showdown. And, this afternoon, underdog UCLA will try to end No. 1-ranked USC’s dream of playing for a national championship by ringing the Victory Bell.

This gridiron rivalry dates to 1929, when USC students mocked their crosstown counterparts at what was then the Southern Branch of the University of California by calling them “twigs.” (Fortunately, the fan humor has improved over the years.) The rivalry has sparked its share of pranks -- some mischievous, some that crossed over to criminal. That’s why UCLA’s Bruin statue in Westwood Plaza goes into hibernation this time of year and Tommy Trojan’s statue across town is kept under wraps. College football’s only major crosstown rivalry comes with passion and excitement that go way beyond those of ordinary football games, and has even developed its own lore. As the late Jim Murray wrote, it is “the sons of the poor, challenging the paladins of privilege.” Though, with today’s tuition prices, it’s hard to tell paupers from princes.

The rivalry isn’t confined to the playing field. One added benefit is the annual flurry of well-crafted letters to the editor from UCLA and USC partisans. A USC fan managed to find a conspiracy in a scandal that surfaced earlier this year at UCLA: “It has been reported that two UCLA employees have been implicated in a scheme to steal and sell parts of cadavers willed to the medical school. Is it possible that Bruin alums, desperate to compete with the ‘monster’ of USC football, are resorting to extreme measures?” A UCLA fan worried about a long-running legal dispute that was threatening to sideline Traveler, the majestic white horse who patrols the Trojan side of the field during games: “He was a critical part of the team. Oh, he wasn’t as big or as fast as most of the Trojan players, but he was smarter and did attend more classes. He’ll be missed.”

Speaking of Traveler: On Nov. 3, USC proudly announced that Trojan football fans Bill and Nadine Tilley had donated $2 million to a fund that ended uncertainty over the horse’s future by providing for his upkeep. (At that sum, what restaurant is Traveler ordering from?) A day later, UCLA, which decades ago stopped hauling a real bruin to its games, countered with word that television personality Bob Barker had donated $1 million to fund a law institute to stop animal exploitation. Coincidence?

Fight on!