“Jim Murray-esque” is a column by Sean Campbell that highlights all facets of USC Athletics in the style of former Los Angeles Times columnist Jim Murray.
Rivalries in sports transcend any one player, game or year. They define a sport.
What’s more basketball than the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers?
Bird vs. Magic, Kobe vs. The Big 3, let’s just say making the finals against each other 12 times — and many more solo — makes it a lot easier to maintain a rivalry separated by almost 3,000 miles. When one team plays another enough times in the biggest, most emotionally driven games, they’re going to want to beat each other that much more.
While some rivalries can be created through greatness clashing, some are formed by proximity. Take the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. The two teams play almost 20 times per season and are only separated by around a four-hour drive and intense cultural pride.
Both sides know every pitchers’ mix, the catcher’s nagging knee injury, maybe even the first baseman’s wedding anniversary. When both teams have that little bit extra to prove — and more time spent playing their rival then at home with their kids — even a bottom-of-the-barrel team turns into a formidable opponent.
These are the games that teams look forward to every year, and when they play, it is an event.
USC and UCLA’s rivalry has the best of both worlds.
What defines college rivalries is the frequency of games played. The teams don’t just play in one sport, they face off on the pitch, rink, court, sand, pool, track and everything in between. And, in USC and UCLA’s case, each one of these matchups are equally critical, as the schools are consistently near the top of many sports’ rankings.
While, sure, everyone talks about football, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is already filled up when the Trojans play Utah State, so the sports that traditionally receive less attention are impacted more by the rivalry.
On Sunday, the teams met in a women’s soccer “Battle of Los Angeles” at Dignity Health Sports Park — the home of the LA Galaxy — with the Big Ten regular-season championship on the line.
With the 1-0 win, the Trojans (14-1-2, 10-0-1 in Big Ten) took their first outright conference title in program history and the No. 1 seed going into the Big Ten Tournament. The Bruins (13-3-3, 8-1-2 in Big Ten) stayed at No. 2 in the Big Ten to earn a first-round bye after No. 3 Iowa fell to Minnesota, 2-1.
Fittingly, the next time the teams clash could be for the Big Ten title, if both teams advance through the bracket, which will be played out from October 31 to November 10.
After attending the men’s water polo “Battle of L.A.” between two of the top-three teams in the country on October 19 — where turnout more than tripled the Princeton game I covered for Annenberg Media on October 16 — I was beyond excited to cover another rivalry battle for this column.
That is, until I realized the game was taking place around 30 minutes away from campus, had a $30 parking fee and was happening right in the middle of an NFL Sunday. Would there still be enough turnout to write about?
Man, sometimes my freshman greenness really comes out.
Hundreds of people showed up on Sunday — fans wearing USC’s cardinal and gold directly contrasted UCLA’s blue and gold — and the cheers and shrieks of the crowd at every turn could be heard in the third-story press box, even over the sound of the Trojan Marching Band blasting its signature tunes for the game’s entire 90-minute duration.
It feels like whenever the Trojans and Bruins clash, everyone shows out, and the play on the pitch between two of the nation’s best teams — the Trojans No. 6 and the Bruins No. 8 pregame — showed just that.
“There’s always going to be that little bit of pressure and that intensity when it’s a rivalry game,” senior defender Brooklyn Courtnall said postgame. “But no matter the team we’re playing, we’re going to come out the same.”
The teams were both in top form. Neither side had taken a loss since early September, yet it always seemed like one of those streaks was going to end — how could a tie resolve this battle of the titans?
When senior forward Maile Hayes scored the game’s lone goal off a clever pass from senior midfielder Helena Sampaio in the 34th minute, the crowd erupted like Mount St. Helen’s.
When the Bruins would get a look at goal, the other side of the stadium suddenly lit up until graduate goalkeeper Laurence Gladu or the rest of the Trojan defense halted their momentum with a stop.
Every call set the stadium on fire, but none more than the final whistle, as the Trojans secured the win against their rival and hoisted the trophy. However, the season is still far from over for both teams.
Bruin senior defender Quincy McMahon said postgame that the team is looking forward to seeing the Trojans in the postseason. The Trojans don’t feel any different.
“We always love a good competition for us, I think it is more fun,” USC head coach Jane Alukonis said postgame. “They’re gonna have opportunities, we’re gonna have opportunities, it’s just a matter of who puts them away. So, if we do see them again, we’ll look forward to it.”
Normally I take the last words in these columns, but I think the rivalry speaks for itself.
“Jim Murray-esque” runs every Thursday.