Bumped...Great take by Aeneas! - Paragon

Like many SoCal families, we are a "house divided." I come from a diehard Trojan family and my wife is a true blue Bruin, yet somehow we manage to coexist. One of our traditions has been to attend the USC-UCLA football game. We each dress in our school colors for the occasion, and our kids follow suit –one is a Trojan and the other a Bruin.

The game always brings out big emotions in everyone, and occasionally some fans get a little rough; but things got out of hand on December 2, 2006, and those that were at the Rose Bowl that evening know what I’m talking about. Perhaps it was the pent-up frustration, but the 13-9 victory wasn’t enough for many of the enraged Bruins. The verbal abuse was incessant and indiscriminate; equally directed at men, women, and children with complete abandon. As she held my arm; my wife in UCLA garb, kids in tow, was called a "condom lover" by some pathetic excuse of a human.  There were reports of physical attacks in the Rose Bowl parking lot, cars getting keyed and other mayhem. For the first time in all my years of attending the game I was in fear for the safety of my family. In all fairness, most of the crowd was just very happy and indeed respectful, but the extreme elements were so numerous and odious that my wife has vowed to never attend the game again.

Trojans and Bruins are proud of their academic and athletic achievements. The competition between the schools has traditionally been accompanied by good natured banter as our teams "leave it all" out on the field. After the competition passions would yield to reason and we would all continue to be good friends and neighbors.

Embellishing the Bush/Mayo allegations or criticizing the Toledo era is good-natured ribbing. Bruins 102 NCAA on Jun 2, 2009 11:07 PM

School pride has morphed into unabashed vitriol and we are left to wonder why. Could it be possible that the noxious environment in the blogosphere is contributing to the extreme fanaticism? Is the continuous drumbeat of hateful accusations causing endless discord? Why do some fans feel justified in taking matters into their own hands? Do the East Coast political oppo bloggers care about the long distance damage they are inflicting on our esteemed rivalry?

This rage seems to be having an effect on the institutions themselves. At the same time Pete Carroll and Rick Neuheisel are trying to re-establish the tradition of wearing home uniforms for the football game, UCLA refused to allow the USC Basketball Band and Song Girls to attend events at Pauley and decided they will not send the UCLA band and cheerleaders to USC. There has not been a satisfactory explanation for this action.

The haters and lunatics shouldn’t be running the asylum. It’s time for the grown-ups to set a good example. Enough with the political operatives. There are fair minded Trojans and Bruins all over town and all over the internet, they value competition and objectivity. A recent CC thread proved we are capable of a higher level of discourse.

Read the thread here.

There are two sides to every story. SuperBruinMan on Jun 1, 2008 9:29 PM

USC and UCLA should resume all the trappings and traditions of the rivalry. Bring back the home unis, bring back the Song Girls and Bruin Cheerleaders, and let’s bring back the bands!

I'll take a dozen Mayo investigations over one of these:

A powerful Japanese gang boss who received a liver transplant at UCLA Medical Center donated $100,000 to the Westwood hospital shortly after the surgery, The Times has learned.

The surgeries took place at a time of persistent shortages of donor livers. In the year of Goto's transplant, 186 patients on the list for livers died while waiting for the operation in the greater Los Angeles region.

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), who has considerable influence on federal health policy and an interest in transplant oversight going back several years, said he was "worried about the credibility of the transplant system" and would demand additional information from the university.

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-me-ucla31-2008may31,0,7495360.story

What do they say about people that live in glass houses?