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November 19, 2006
Everything's Coming Up Roses
USC football is back. Not that it really went away.
Early struggles in Saturday's hot rivalry game against Cal mirrored the fan's inconsistent start this season. But just like Troy's lock-down defense and explosive offense did against the Bears, the fans have come roaring back to the Los Angeles Coliseum. USC now owns a record five consecutive Pac 10 Championships and the worst they can do this season is play in the Rose Bowl. The best? A fourth consecutive bowl game with the national championship on the line, this time in Glendale, Arizona against Ohio State.
We're excited to share a taste of what it's like to be in the thick of the student section during a raucous, come from behind 23-9 victory described by Coach Pete Carroll as "the loudest since he's been at USC."
Here's the crowd getting rowdy just before a huge defensive stop in the 4th quarter.
More video clips and pictures after the jump (::cough:: Song Girls ::cough::) ...
The Spirit of Troy is the only marching band with a platinum album (they recorded "Tusk" with Fleetwood Mac). Maybe that's why they get much better seats than the visitor's band (look up above the retired #5 jersey).
With the game winding down, CSC (private security dudes in bright yellow jackets) seem out of ideas on how to mess up this week (see "inconsistent start" link above).
The Olympic Torch lights the night sky above the Los Angeles Coliseum, the only Olympic stadium that hosts a major college football program. To the left, the scoreboard shows what will end up the final score, while below a Miller Lite sign reminds fans of golden days when the Coliseum still served the golden brew.
World's largest Chinese Finger Trap. Ever.
The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum holds 92,000 fans. That's about one person for each calorie you're going to consume this Thanksgiving.
As promised, the USC Song Girls (often called cheerleaders by mistake).
USC fans politely remind Cal fans that the game is over and it's time to go home. Don't forget your keys on the way out. Thank you for visiting the Coliseum.
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great videos and pictures
and as someone who knows zip about usc's traditions, i must say that those keys are pretty funny
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Traditionally, the keys thing was a dig directed AT us Trojans.
The idea was that other schools would jangle their keys at the Trojan faithful in order to point out that we were a bunch of spoiled brats.
I never really thought that this was much of a dis, especially considering the fact that everyone shaking their keys obviously had cars too, soooo we're spoiled because we have cars?
Second, when I was up in Palo Alto for the SC game at Stanford, the boner Stanford fans were shaking their keys at us too.
Again, I thought that this was supposed to be the "you're a bunch of spoiled private school brats" thing, which works right up to the point where you realize that Stanford is a private school with higher tuition than USC.
I guess you don't have to be all that smart to get into Stanford after all.
Fight On!
Beat the Irish!
Beat the bRuins!
(Does anyone know if the Glendale Fwy goes to Glendale, AZ?)
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Rob is correct that key shaking started as an anti-USC thing. The fans were smart enough to turn it around when USC sends the visitors packing early. Now it's a well-embraced tradition whenever those ESPN "It Was Over When..." moments occur.