UCLA-USC opposition overshadowed by NBA rivalry
By Ryan Eshoff
Feb. 15, 2012 2:21 a.m.
Tis the season for couples, and you either love or hate Valentine’s Day for it. Tuesday’s holiday exists almost exclusively to celebrate a particular relationship status, which is awesome for those who have someone special and not necessarily anything super special for those who don’t.
“Good things come in pairs” is a popular cliché, one you’d most likely find on a candy heart if the little only-good-one-day-a-year buggers were big enough to fit more text than “Fax Me.”
I’ll let you argue over whether or not being a part of a relational pair is really worth celebrating with a special day, but for some things there’s no denying that two is better than one.
Peanut butter and jelly. Penn and Teller. Pride and Prejudice. Lasagna and rice. Starsky and Hutch. An English degree and an unemployment check. Some things just make perfect couples, and that idea certainly carries over into sports.
Rivalries between two teams or schools unquestionably change the dynamic of sports, for all parties. Coaches can find more ways to motivate, players can perform with more pride, fans can loathe and prank and wager and trash-talk, the media get ample story lines, everybody wins.
Basketball fans in Los Angeles are pretty spoiled in this regard. The UCLA–USC hoops hostility, after all, dates back to the early-to-mid 20th century. In those days, John Wooden matched his considerable wits with renowned USC coach Forrest Twogood.
Although UCLA tends to be Big Brother when it comes to basketball, the rivalry has still had its moments. These days? Not so much. Not when UCLA is in rebuilding and retooling mode, and not when USC is fielding a team that on some nights would lose to the five members of my apartment.
Generally, the lack of any real buzz surrounding UCLA or USC basketball might be frustrating for a local basketball fan of either of the two schools. These days? Not so much.
Not when you’re playing the same sport in the same city as one of the most fascinating developing rivalries in all of sports, that of the Lakers and the Clippers.
The lull in the college basketball landscape in this city has been absolutely trumped by the burgeoning enmity between L.A.’s two NBA franchises, sentiments that began this offseason when star point guard Chris Paul appeared on his way to joining the Lakers before ending up with the Clippers. Partnering with the pogo-stick Blake Griffin, Paul has helped revitalize the much-maligned franchise.
“When you hear the Clippers, it’s not going to be a joke anymore,” Griffin said. “I guarantee that.”
A sport thrives in times of rivalry, when opposing teams create a perfect pair of nemeses and foils. It’s why the mecca of college basketball is the 15-mile Tobacco Road that connects Duke to North Carolina.
The two schools do more than just treat each other like the Montagues and Capulets; they’re also two of the most successful programs in the country, year after year.
Equally high success, equally high contempt for one another. That’s the recipe for an ideal rivalry. UCLA and USC have had it in the past. The Lakers and Clippers have it now.
This season, the matchup between the two college programs feels a lot like a JV game and has taken a backseat to what’s going on between the two NBA teams in the Staples Center (they play in the same building! Take that, Tobacco Road).
“It’s there, you don’t want to say it’s not a rivalry,” Clippers forward Ryan Gomes said.
The Lakers and Clippers are Hollywood’s new power couple. Heck, they probably dislike each other as much as some real Hollywood couples.
But this is about the fans, and that’s who’s benefitting the most. Basketball in L.A. has become a viewer’s delight: dunks, jump shots, blocked shots, all other sorts of high-flying acrobatics. Love is in the air.
If you think his columns should be printed on candy hearts, email Eshoff at
