A few hoarse Trojans

June Casagrande

The scene wasn’t much to the eye: surprisingly sedate clusters of

devoted but demure sports fans tucked into their respective booths at

the Corner Office sports bar in Costa Mesa to watch USC face off with

Michigan in Thursday’s Rose Bowl. But when USC scored a touchdown,

the ears soon learned what had escaped the eye: This is a USC town

and, here, Trojan fans mean business.

“It’s our local team,” said Edward Lopez, a Santa Ana resident,

whose allegiance to USC goes beyond mere geography. The Mater Dei

graduate can count three of his fellow alumni among the USC starting

lineup. “It’s pretty exciting,” he said.

Longtime USC fans and recent converts alike had a broad range of

reasons why they love their team.

“USC is much more representative of the community than someone

like UCLA,” said Eugene Vargas of Mission Viejo.

“And it’s a very good team this year,” said Erica Bagnall, who

traveled from Santa Ana to enjoy the game with friends.

Even people like Larry Brunelli found reasons to root for the home

team.

“I never liked USC but [Coach Pete] Carroll made me a USC fan,”

Brunelli, an Anaheim resident said. “He seems like a good guy and

he’s a great coach.”

Of course, cowering under the roar of Trojan fan cheers were the

smattering of Michigan fans.

“I’ve always hated USC,” said Gary Burch, a Michigan native turned

Orange County resident who proudly sported his Michigan hat amid the

hostile crowd.

Though Trojan fever had definitely reached epidemic proportions in

Newport-Mesa, crowds at local sports bars were smaller than expected,

perhaps because of the post-New Year’s Eve blahs.

“It’s not as busy as I expected it to be,” said Ryan Gibney, a

bartender at Sharkeez in Newport Beach. “This is definitely a USC

place, but I think people are really hung over from last night. A lot

of them are probably laying on their couches watching the game.”