SC is full of a lot of silly, stodgy traditions. First, the horse that trots out before every game, then the ancient Trojan donned in red that takes the giant sword and pitches it into the turf.
There's the team itself... cardinal red shorts, golden pants. That red helmet with the golden man on either side. You also get the crumbling, old-as-dirt Los Angeles Coliseum. I think Troy itself is younger than that thing. It's a dump.
In the crowd is the famous USC Marching band and its accompaniment: drably donned ladies with skirts and long sweaters with a plain "USC" stitched on their front. These ladies call themselves "Song Girls" even though they can't sing a lick to save their lives! Their dance routines are as boring as the walls of the Coliseum. The band: a brassy arrangement that plays the most lifeless repetitive fight song known to man. In fact, it might be the worst fight song I know in College Athletics. No beginning, no bridge, no end, just the same two dozen notes over and over and over in different keys.
Lastly there's the slogan: "FIGHT ON." Huh? Fight on what? Not particularly inspiring as a rally cry. So very inane, so ambiguous. You can't honestly say that with a straight face, can you? There's an aura to all of this that's very lame.
Yet, it is exactly this lame-ness that makes me appreciate USC Football. It's full of tired and overdone traditions, rife with stodginess, but also the very stodginess that seals it's identity. USC knows exactly what it is and accepts no compromises. SC embraces its traditions and is not ashamed to let others know. One who accepts into SC is a Trojan for life, whether as an Alumnus, a Player, or in my case, a mere follower of the program. I've been on this ship for 13 years, and I'll stay right on board as long as there is a football program.
So, well, FIGHT ON!
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