I grew up as an SC fan. Not many people know this about me. My father finished his graduate work at the University of Southern California and went on to become a Dr. of Optometry. Our home was a bastion of all things crimson and gold and as season ticket holders –we never missed a game.
I dreamed of becoming a USC song-leader and leading the “Fight On” song with bouncy curls and overpriced pom poms.
Until the day I applied to the prestigious school and daddy balked. When costs were considered, my always frugal father had second thoughts. He wasn’t sure he wanted to spend so much money on a “girl child.”
So the pissed off girl child retaliated. She became a Bruin and graduated from the enemy school. From that day forward, the rivalry in the James home began.
We tease, we jibe and we call from games and leave voice mails with the roar of the crowd.
When I was in college, (class of ’98) Cade McNown was in his QB element and the Bruins were on a roll. We ruled the hoops (back to back NCAA champions) and ranked high in the BCS.
But as we all know…it’s been a long time since the glory days and I’ve been the recipient of years of brutal bombasting.
Until now…finally, I sense a glimmer of hope. Coach Jim Mora is staging a comeback!
So when our USC neighbors covered our lawn and trees with toilet paper in broad daylight right before kickoff, we figured it was game on in the rivalry department.
They left a USC sports drink on our porch as a nice little jab.
I love pranks and thought this was classic. I laughed and laughed.
After a FANTASTIC game, which UCLA pulled out (thanks to about 17 errors from USC) we scraped by and won. The Keller home exploded in cheers.
Then we took our UCLA flag down to our neighbor’s home and quickly replaced their USA flag with our tattered Bruin’s flag and took a picture. It hung right next to their large USC flag. We posted it on Facebook and chuckled all the way home.
The payback was awesome…until we received a message from the owner of the home expressing his dismay.
He was not a happy camper.
Confused, I quickly apologized to the wife and groveled.
(It didn’t make any sense…why would the neighbor be so upset when he and his kids had trashed our yard?)
She then explained they weren’t the ones who toilet papered our home. It was another neighbor WHO LET US BELIEVE it was the other family.
Oh Shiznet!
We were FRAMED by a stealth USC fan. And we bought it hook, line and sinker.
Paybacks really are hell when you screw up the payback.
Now who feels like the JACKWAGGON of the century!!!
It’s time for more groveling. A large case of beer and cookies will soon be delivered along with more apologies.
UCLA may have won the game, but in our neighborhood, USC came out on top.
Have you ever experienced a misunderstanding of epic proportions?
Photo Credit: LA Times
