LONG STORY SHORT By Jason Clark  “Why can’t we say we’re from Southern California?” It wasn’t an unreasonable question. Kristine and I were walking around campus at the University of Notre Dame in northern Indiana, nowhere near our hometowns. Still, it made me shudder. Not because of my wife’s cluelessness, but because someone could have heard her. The University of Notre Dame represents one half of what may be the most unique rivalry in sports. The other half isn’t across town or in a neighboring state; it isn’t even a new conference opponent with a joke trophy. No, the other half of this rivalry is across the country, in downtown Los Angeles, at the University of Southern California. There is no love lost between USC and Notre Dame. The feud allegedly traces its origins to a conversation between the USC and Notre Dame coaches’ wives, who decided it’d be more pleasant to spend a winter weekend in sunny SoCal rather than freezing Nebraska. Now, the schools face off every year and have produced some of college football’s most iconic moments. Kristine and I weren’t in northern Indiana to see USC play Notre Dame, but any indication that I rooted for the Trojans would not be well-received regardless. So, when Kristine asked that simple question while we were surrounded by Fighting Irish fans, I wondered if I should brace myself for leprechaun fisticuffs. Fortunately, nobody heard her. Our cover remained intact. Click the play button to watch some Fighting Irish traditions on field. If I’m a USC fan, why were we about to watch a Notre Dame game that wouldn’t feature a single Trojan? Growing up, my goal was to one day join the USC marching band. I wanted to experience the traditions that come with playing in a band at a university with a major football program: playing the fight song after touchdowns, marching on the field at halftime, and perhaps even playing in the Rose Parade. I got a taste of it in high school at Long Beach Poly, and I wanted to continue with marching band in college. But in my senior year, USC—and every other university with a Division I football program that I’d applied to—rejected me. So I ended up at Long Beach State, where I traded marching band for journalism. The decision not only saved me heaps of money but also set me on a path to meet Kristine and eventually landed me my dream job at the Los Angeles Times. If I hadn’t gone to Long Beach State, I doubt I’d be on this trip around the country, checking off a bucket-list item nearly every week. But I still root for USC and love the gameday traditions of college football. I still want to experience those traditions, if not as a marching-band member then as a spectator. That’s why, in addition to national parks and baseball games, I included a few college football games in our schedule. That’s how we found ourselves in South Bend, Ind., walking around campus before Notre Dame’s home opener against the hopelessly overmatched Northern Illinois Huskies.  We followed the marching band from “The Dome” to Bond Hall. “The Dome” is the centerpiece of the Notre Dame campus, a gleaming golden cap atop the Main Building. It’s also the site of a tradition called “trumpets under the Dome,” where, predictably, the marching band’s trumpet section plays a few songs in the shadow of the Dome. We arrived in time to watch the trumpeters play Notre Dame’s fight song, which I knew well. (I played it countless times in high school, although as Poly’s fight song, not Notre Dame’s.) From there, we followed alongside hundreds of other spectators—nearly all of them adorned in blue and gold—as the trumpeters marched to the steps of the nearby Bond Hall and joined the rest of the band for another performance. Then we witnessed the band’s “plaiding” ceremony, a tradition wherein friends or loved ones attached a cut of plaid to the uniform of each new and senior Notre Dame band member. The band then played another few songs and began the march to Notre Dame Stadium, which they would enter surrounded by fans (and non-fans like us) on both sides. Amidst it all, I found that I could imagine myself among them, living the college experiences I never had: playing their fight song, singing their chants, even wearing their colors. Which raises the question—did I still hate Notre Dame? Or did I… maybe… love Notre Dame? Click the play button to see the Notre Dame football team take the field. No. I did not love Notre Dame. As we watched the Notre Dame players run out onto the field from our seats in the north endzone, I remembered who I was. I was a USC fan. No amount of plaid could change that. I could respect the traditions—maybe even love the band—but still hate the football team. Not that my hate would do much good: Notre Dame would surely cruise their way to victory, and I would have to sit there and watch with gritted teeth. But that’s not exactly how the next three hours played out.  Not even Touchdown Jesus could believe that result. They lost. They were 28-point favorites, and they lost. They paid Northern Illinois $1.4 million to be home-opener cupcakes, and they lost. They were ranked No. 5 in the country after beating Texas A&M on the road the week before—but they couldn’t handle a lowly Mid-American Conference opponent at home. They got outplayed all game but still had a 14-13 lead and a sliver of hope as the clock wound down, which made it that much sweeter when they gave up a last-minute field goal…and lost. If my convictions had wavered earlier in the day, they were rock solid now. Because Notre Dame had lost. And, for me, it was glorious.  Kristine isn’t a college football fan and had no idea how rare it was to witness a game like that. A top-five team losing at home to an unranked opponent like Northern Illinois borders on historic. Northern Illinois will certainly count it among their best wins in school history, if not the best.
We’ve still got a few college football games left this season, and I doubt we’ll see anything as unexpected as we did in South Bend. But that doesn’t mean we’ll be disappointed. We have more pregame traditions to witness—maybe a deniming? A corduroying?—more campuses to explore, and more stadium atmospheres to experience. Our next stop is in Ann Arbor, Mich., where we’ll see the Michigan Wolverines take the field. Their opponents? A school from across the country, and with them, a marching band I once idolized. The University of Southern California.
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