Those were the days

Friday, November 22, 1996

Good-natured games replace inventive pranks such as manure
dropsBy Annie Yang

Daily Bruin Contributor

In more than just the usual sense, the city of Los Angeles will
once again become a battleground tomorrow.

In lieu of gunfire, combatants will employ streamers, card
stunts and airhorns. In place of tanks will be local news vans and
ardent tailgate parties. Over the years, the barrage of artillery
has included spray paint, blowtorches, 500 pounds of cow manure,
gallons of soap and a Clydesdale horse.

Among the casualties ­ an ancient Roman soldier and a giant
ursine. To the victor goes an old railroad bell, a whole lot of
pride and boasting rights for the next 355 days.

The eve of the "Big Game" is here, and the air between UCLA and
USC is thick with almost 70 years of sportsmanship, tradition and
rivalry.

To many, the fabled rivalry between the crosstown colleges seems
as old as time itself. But actually, it all began on Sept. 28, 1929
when the two institutions first faced-off on the gridiron.

Never before had there been two universities comparable in
stature, sharing the same small, in 1929, city. The score was a
shattering 76-0 in favor of USC. Shortly afterwards, the precedent
of prank-pulling was set.

During the historic week preceding each game, mischievous minds
from both campuses turn their attentions away from finals and
toward engineering The Supreme Prank.

Notable pranks through the decades have been spray-painting
Tommy Trojan in regal blue and gold, using salt to burn emblems
into campus fields, and pouring soap and dye into campus fountains.
These pranks as well as many others are immortalized in several
editions of the annual The Goal Post, a football-program
publication released every year since 1929.

One fateful year certain loyal Bruins bombarded Tommy Trojan,
and the helpless individuals guarding him, with 500 odoriferous
pounds of manure from a rented helicopter.

Another year, some innovative students and a heavy-duty
blow-torch created a Tommy Trojan who appeared to be stabbing
himself in the back with his very own sword, according to a 1953
Goal Post edition.

One night during the week of the UCLA/USC game of 1974,
according to a Daily Bruin article of the same year, a few rowdy
Sproul Hall residents decided to create their own unique display of
pride. Using a pattern of lit windows, the side of Sproul facing
Drake Stadium proudly proclaimed a four-letter obscenity aimed at
‘SC.

In 1982, when the annual game was permanently moved to the Rose
Bowl, a controversy arose over the appearance of the Trojan Horse
mascot, Traveller IV, at the games. Efforts by students and alumni
to get the equine banned were unsuccessful, and a prankster’s sense
of comic justice prevailed.

UCLA students reasoned that if Tommy Trojan would be allowed a
four-legged companion, so would Joe Bruin. According to Dennis
Bitterlich, the College Library archives assistant, students
managed to borrow a Clydesdale from the Anheuser-Busch Company and
perched Joe Bruin up top. The duo made an appearance every time
UCLA scored a touchdown.

Though the majority of pranks have caused minimal damage, total
estimates of repairing buildings, Founder’s Rock, and the Bruin
Bear have reached more than $20,000.

In response to whether the prank tradition is maliciously
destructive or just harmless amusement, students from both campuses
claim that moderation is key.

"Its all good fun if you’re not defacing anything permanently
… chalk is okay, but spray paint is just rude," said Goli Samimi,
a fourth-year microbiology/molecular genetics student and executive
director of Campus Spirit for the Student Alumni Association
(SAA).

Trojan Pride, the SAA counterpart on the USC campus, agrees.

"There’s a sense of professionalism today … we seek to foster
rivalry in a positive way," said Traci Nakagawa, a third-year
communications student and president of Trojan Pride.

Encouraging good-natured rivalry, a game of Spirit Ball is
scheduled today between the UCLA Rally and the USC Trojan Pride
committees. Other SAA events this week have been a piñata and
pie-throwing contest and a car smash demonstration rally.

These activities and others seek to arouse not only the deep
rivalry Samimi said, but also a greater sense of school spirit.
Samimi feels that Bruin pride is lacking on campus today.

"I think it’s apathy but I also think it’s that students have a
lot of things to do," said Samimi.

She cited events like UCLA’s recent Homecoming Week that had a
small turnout compared to even four years ago. Gone are the massive
all-night vigils posted by the Bruin Bear. The jam-packed rooter
buses of the ’50s and ’60s have also disappeared. Beat $C parades
and spirit gatherings have all but vanished.

The absence of these overt displays of spirit is a signal to
some students that the Golden Days of UCLA/USC rivalry have
passed.

"The rivalry doesn’t become especially apparent until you go to
the game … student enthusiasm has definitely lessened over the
years," said Michelle Toy, a third-year business economics
student.

To others, it simply means the competition has toned-down a
notch.

"The way we express it is different … I still think the
rivalry is there, the way we express it has calmed," Samimi
said.

Although the surface hype surrounding Beat $C Week has
diminished, the underlying rivalry remains at the heart of Bruins
new and old.

"The rivalry and pranks will continue ­ it’s tradition,"
said UCLA Rally Committee Section Supervisor D.D. Durbin.

Tradition also includes the famed "Victory Bell," once owned
solely by ASUCLA but now a co-owned trophy that oscillates between
UCLA and USC.

UCLA has been sole guardian of the bell for the last five years
running, helping to maintain Bruin morale.

"We want to be the supreme team of L.A.," Durbin said. "If we
win, people are much more spirited."