Trojans gain Orange favor

Andrew Edwards

Even a UCLA alum couldn’t deny Tommy Trojan’s vast fan base in and

around Newport-Mesa.

“There’s thousands of Trojans in the Orange County area,” Newport

Beach resident and USC alumna Jennifer Vitela said.

Vitela, a member of USC’s class of 1996, was once president of the

USC Alumni Club of Newport Beach/Irvine. There are about 1,000

Trojans connected to the club, which has a core of just more than 50

dues-paying members, Vitela said.

Tuesday, USC’s football team is set to fight the Oklahoma Sooners

at the Orange Bowl in Miami in this year’s national championship game

of the Bowl Championship Series. The series, designed to use polls

and computer rankings to pick college football’s top teams, was

created to crown a clear-cut national champion for college football.

Its selections, however, have generated annual arguments among

pigskin fans.

In 2003, the Trojan faithful were angered after being denied a

chance to play in the title game. Last year’s USC team was named the

country’s best by the Associated Press, and the team claimed a split

title with Louisiana State University, winner of the BCS

championship. This year, having a chance to watch the Trojans play in

the title game makes the season especially sweet for fans and alumni.

“We deserved to be in the national championship game last year, so

this is twice as important,” Vitela said.

As local fans get pumped for the big game, many have been drawn to

USC Collections, a South Coast Plaza shop that specializes in maroon

and gold Trojan artifacts.

The store is stocked with the usual items -- sweatshirts, jackets

and caps -- as well as the unusual, like a Tiffany-style USC lamp, a

children’s primer on USC life and a USC versus UCLA checkers game.

Not surprisingly, the shop’s big seller is clothing relating to

Tuesday’s matchup.

“Orange Bowl stuff is flying off the shelves,” sales associate

Sean Atchison said.

Sharkeez, a Trojan alumni-owned sports bar on the Balboa

Peninsula, is a hangout for USC fans during games. The bar is set to

host a group of Trojan alumni and a rival group from Oklahoma

University Tuesday night, manager Jerry Burdine said.

The bar was packed with NFL fans watching games on Sunday, and the

crowd included a few locals looking forward to the Orange Bowl. Costa

Mesa resident Jeff Johnson, 30, grew up a USC fan as the son of a

former Trojan track and field athlete.

“I’ve been going to games since as long as I can remember,”

Johnson said.

He plans to spend Tuesday watching the game with his dad and hopes

USC can pull off a win against the No. 2-ranked Sooners.

“He’s a little worried, so am I, but I give them a good chance,”

Johnson said.

* ANDREW EDWARDS is the news assistant. He can be reached at (714)

966-4624 or by e-mail at [email protected].