By Jeff Agase
Daily Bruin Staff
Those who subscribe to the idea that journalists can’t
play sports can affirm their suspicions at Sunset Recreation Center
today at 3 p.m. ““ site of the 2001 Blood Bowl football game
between the Daily Bruin and the Daily Trojan.
The seven-on-seven flag football melee has been played the
Friday before the UCLA-USC game since at least the 1950s and
frequently features hastily drawn-up gadget plays that attempt to
mask the obvious physical deficiencies of the newspaper
writers.
The outcome of the Saturday (read: real) game has closely
paralleled that of the Blood Bowl. The school winning the Blood
Bowl has seen its real football team win the next day in eight of
the last ten years.
And like the real football rivalry, the Blood Bowl has been full
of petty animosity and controversy. The Daily Trojan won in a
blowout last year, amid accusations of illegal player
participation.
“It’s well-known that there were ringers last
year,” ubiquitous DB office presence and team captain Chris
Bates said. “I hope they don’t do it this year, but if
they do, we’ll try to find a way to not allow them to
play.”
One such purported ringer was involved in a three-way fistfight
with two DB writers last year. All three were ejected after rolling
around on the turf at USC in front of local news cameras.
Daily Trojan assistant sports editor Mike Cervantes played down
the game’s seething rancor with some semantics.
“I wouldn’t call it hatred,” he said.
“It’s more like dislike. That’s what the football
players are calling it.”
Cervantes is new to the Blood Bowl, however, and may not realize
that the two-hour contest is often the writers’ only
opportunity all year for macho posturing.
Assistant news editor Kelly Rayburn gets the nod at quarterback
for a Daily Bruin team that may fall victim to internal mutiny.
“If (wide receiver and editor-in-chief) Tim Kudo’s
not thrown any passes, we’ll win the game,” said DB
assistant sports editor Vytas Mazeika, who has the remarkable
ability to recite the scores of every Blood Bowl game of his
three-year career.
Bates believes the outcome will be prophetic for the 71st
UCLA-USC game Saturday at the Coliseum.
“Their (UCLA’s) morale is obviously amplified and
impacted by how we play,” he said.
Let’s hope that, at the very least, it serves as negative
reinforcement.