Every year ahead of the long awaited football game between USC and UCLA, the two universities newspapers join in on the historic rivalry with the annual Blood Bowl – a two-hand touch football game between The Daily Trojan and The Daily Bruin. The 2024 Blood Bowl was held at 3 p.m. on Friday at the Brittingham Field at USC campus.
This long-standing tradition dating back to the 1950s between The Daily Trojan and The Daily Bruin, fuels the spirit with a two-hand-touch football game.
This clash brings together journalists from two historic campus newspapers, offering them a chance to trade their pens for footballs and prove their skills on the gridiron after a year spent critiquing their schools’ teams without having to tackle one another to the ground.
“I know it sounds so militant, but it’s not — it’s supposed to be friendly,” Leila Mackenzie, a junior studying applied math and comparative literature and the sports editor at The Daily Trojan, said. “It’s not because we really care too much about winning this game, but it’s more so a good way for people to just get to know each other and run around.”
“I think it’s a good way to get journalists out of their bubble as well.” Mackenzie added, “We spend so much time in the newsroom, so it’s nice to see people like literally touching grass and sometimes face planting on grass; it’s a good tradition.”
Prior to the match, Stefano Fendrich, senior journalism major and the managing editor for The Daily Trojan, shared his prediction for the game.
“We’re gonna beat the crap out of them,” he said. “I think we’re gonna pull away with our height. We’re gonna be better, and then we’re just gonna get an easy win.”
The highly anticipated game between The Daily Trojan and The Daily Bruin ended in a thrilling victory for The Daily Trojan with a 4-1 final score.
“It’s something really cool and really unique and a chance for us to come together,” Ira Gorawara, a junior majoring in econ-communications at UCLA and The Daily Bruin sports editor said. “We’re obviously two of the biggest schools in L.A. and it’s really cool for the newspapers, The Daily Bruin and The Daily Trojan, to come together, get to know each other as well… [It’s] beyond just football.”