We are Carrolling to the Rose Bowl

My older brother asked yesterday why I cared so much about USC football when I didn't even go to school there.

There are so many different answers to that question.

I do know that if being a fan was limited to being part of a program then there would be nobody at any Dodger gamess or Angel game or on and on and on.....

The truth is I'm not quite sure how it started but it's been a long time since I first started rooting for the Trojans. I've told a story for years about how my Dad took us to a USC/UCLA game when I was around six years old.

(Which would have been 1952 when both teams were undefeated)

Both my Dad and my brother were for UCLA and it was raining. USC came back in the last few seconds and won the game and I was hooked.

I'm not really sure that actually happened because recently my Dad said he doesn't remember taking us to a college football game. But then again he is still rooting for UCLA so maybe he just didn't want to remember it.

A friendship was formed in high school that remains to this day....and his family was wacky nuts over the Trojans so that went well. And then in college I fell hard for a beautiful girl at USC and that went well for a while.

I don't think those of us who cheer for college teams, who did not attend the school, should have to apologize......

But I kinda understand that it might appear silly if carried to the next degree. I don't wear USC clothing and I don't have a Trojan sticker on my car and I'm not really sure I own anything that says USC.....

.....but I would put my Trojan Football loyalty level at the same plateau as anyone who attended the school and cheers for them 12 or 13 times a year.

I have never wavered in my loyalty.....ever......and during the UCLA victory streak over the Trojans which lasted for 8 years and finally ended in 1999, I was upbeat and optimistic and sure every year that it would not happen the next year and it kept happening.....year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year.

It was impossible to know a UCLA fan during that time period without feeling the smirks and giggles.

And in 1993 my son Sean and I went to the game at the Coliseum which USC lost and it became a significant game in our short time together. IT being the only college game that we physically
attended. The losing streak that kept going on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on JUST DIDN'T SEEM SO HORRIBLE AT THE TIME.....compared to what had happened in Feb of 1994.

I'm sure I was watching the games but my heart and my soul were absorbed with the reality of life and death.

When Pete Carroll came to USC it seemed to bring a spark of life back into the Trojan family.....of which I am proudly one.

Listening to Mr. Carroll talk over the last several years has been one of the best parts of being a Trojan fan. I love good coaching and when someone can explain it well......it's worth the price of admission.

And explaining the losses is the real talent and he does it as well as anybody who has ever coached at the college level. Of course he's only had to do that only 14 times since 2001.

75 times he's spoken about a winning game.

It's been a extreme pleasure to watch Pete Carroll and if anybody from UCLA doesn't like him it's simply because he doesn't work at UCLA.

He might go down as the greatest college football coach of all time.......if he stays put and doesn't let the glamour of pro football entice him away. I think his personality was meant to help develop young college men...

It's been a great time to be a USC fan........and when I really think about it.....that great time has lasted since 1952.

Go Trojans
Thanks Pete

Michael Timothy McAlevey