As hope fades on road, he never loses the faith

IF YOU are a die-hard fan like I am, you hang in there when it looks as if your team might not win. You just gotta believe.

So even though it was the fourth quarter, and we were on the road and losing the entire game -- the crowd just loving the upset in the making -- I had no doubt we would rally to win.

Were you worried? Come on, when’s the last the time our coach let us down?

We were driving, and sure the clock was winding down and pressure was mounting, but we were driving, so I was not surprised when we came back to win.

That’s just what we do at Occidental. We win.

We’ve now won 24 consecutive games, making us the best team in L.A., overcoming a 21-0 deficit Saturday to beat always-tough Cal Lutheran, 28-27.

That’s the difference between our team and what they have at UCLA and USC. When it’s time to play the fourth quarter, and the disgusted UCLA fans are already headed home and the tight-rope walkers at USC are once again leaving no margin for error, we find a way to win.

“Tigers in the front, let me hear you grunt,” as the cheer goes. “Tigers in the back, show ‘em where it’s at.”

UCLA, of course, knows where the rear is, on course to bring up the bottom after setting the ridiculous goal of winning the Pacific 10 Conference title.

“It’s gut-check time,” Coach Karl Dorrell said after the Bruins failed to show up against Washington State. “Our backs are against the wall.”

I’ve spent an entire career looking for the wall that everyone is always talking about, and have yet to find it. But I asked Dorrell if he had given any thought of telling his team it “was gut-check time” before the game.

He said “it’s young people learning” on the job and “coaches, too,” although four years into this you’d expect most coaches to be graduating to a higher level.

THANKS TO Occidental’s Andy Holmes, I have a fine-looking black baseball cap with a striking orange O in the middle certifying me a die-hard Tigers supporter -- until they lose.

And that’s not likely. We’ve already won “the drum” against our big rivals, Pomona-Pitzer, and will go after “the shoes” next month when we play Whittier.

The problem with being successful, though, is there are so many media obligations, and everything else that comes with an undefeated season, which won’t leave much time for our coach, Dale Widolff, to mentor.

Just think what he could for Dorrell, and I have no doubt he could get Pete Carroll, who has lost two of his last eight games, back on track.

Well anyway, go Tigers.

THE FUNERAL march might as well continue. It began before the game, the UCLA players getting off buses, then trudging through the “Fun Zone” crowd almost unnoticed, arriving at the Rose Bowl to find more police officers than fans.

Someone wearing a Bruins jersey with “Easley” on his back, yelled, “You should be fired, Dorrell,” and it’s a good thing it’s not a UCLA tradition to have the team file back through the fans at the end of a game.

A week after witnessing the spirit that precedes a Notre Dame game, the experience here was as flat and as uninspiring as the Bruins’ performance.

And this was homecoming, although a lot of folks stayed home -- both end zones about three-fourths empty. A spokesman said UCLA is now devoting all of its attention to USC week rather than homecoming.

When the WSU buses arrived, the players were given a loud welcome by a bunch of fans dressed in Cougars colors. At least WSU felt right at home.

DORRELL’S POSTGAME comments were somewhat contradictory. He said, “That wasn’t anything close to the game I was expecting. We came in with a good plan, but didn’t execute on either side of the ball.”

That made it sound as if the coaches had done their jobs, but the players hadn’t held up their ends.

But a moment later he said, “To me it was all coaching; it’s all on me.”

Tough to argue that point, because it was his job to rally the troops after the sapping loss at Notre Dame, but instead of pouncing on WSU, the Bruins pecked away at the Cougars with field goals.

It probably would be different with Ben Olson, everyone knowing an injury to a starting quarterback is tough to overcome for any team, but it didn’t appear by the sound of the boos coming from Bruins fans that they are much in a mood to be sympathetic or understanding.

Next week UCLA gets the chance to change all that against California.

Or the funeral march continues.

WHAT HAVE they done to Donald Sterling?

Instead of waiting until the summer for Chris Kaman to get offers, the Clippers then getting the chance to match, the organization took the uncharacteristically aggressive step of offering a five-year contract extension beyond this season for an additional $52 million.

The Clippers not only made the offer, but Kaman signed it, and there were no immediate reports of Sterling needing to be revived.

Sterling will get the opportunity to explain himself Wednesday, and he doesn’t do that very often, when he joins the father/daughter gabfest on 570 with Uncle Fred Roggin.

TODAY’S LAST word comes in e-mail from Amy Martin:

“Kobe did not tank Game 7. But I’d be happy if The Times tanked you. How you even managed to have any children is amazing to me. How some woman was even willing to enjoy you in an intimate way with [you being so] negative, I’ll never understand.”

You’d be surprised how positive I can be when necessary.