From: serdar@fawlty8.eng.monash.edu.au (Serdar Boztas)
Subject: The Trojan Horse (was On-Field College Mascots)
Organization: Monash University, Melb., Australia.
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 22:34:37 GMT

pfleming@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Patrick E Fleming) writes:

>Speaking of college mascots, there is one which has never made any sense to me:
>The Trojan Horse.  Wasn't it the Trojan Horse that killed the city of Troy?

Pat,

Of course you are right about the Trojan Horse being responsible for the fall
of the city of Troy. That horse, however, was wooden, large, and had soldiers
hidden inside. If you ever go to Troy (I did) you can have your picture taken 
on the steps leading up to the 'replica' of the horse they have there, or even
look out from the windows they made inside the horse (which I'm sure weren't 
included in the original!). I went to Troy which is in western Turkey, when I was 
about 15, and I hadn't even heard of USC then, much less gone to Graduate school
there...

If reality was high on the list for these mascots, they should have
a Trojan warrior in a chariot run around the Coliseum. The horse is just a touch
of Holywood added to the original... 

On the other hand, if you visit USC, to attend what has recently become the annual
ND victory, go to the Mark Taper hall of humanities, outside which is a short
stone column ~4 ft high, from the city of Troy, donated by the Government of
Turkey to USC. Some high bureaucrat's sibling must have attended SC in the 40's
I guess... 

>     - Pat

Serdar

Fight On!

PS: Speaking of comebacks in the USC-ND series, here's one that required no change
of jerseys in the locker room :-). From the Horse's mouth, you might say:

			THE COMEBACK
		1974: USC 55, Notre Dame 24

In what is regarded as one of the most dramatic and incredible comebacks
in college football history, the 1974 Trojans erased a 24-point deficit
to beat Notre Dame 55-24 in the Coliseum.

USC trailed the Irish 24-0 late in the first half, and the Trojans chances
looked bleak because Notre Dame sported the Nation's top-ranked defense. But
with 10 seconds remaining before halftime, Anthony Davis scored on a 7-yard
pass from Pat Haden (Troy missed the 2 point conversion) to send the Trojans
into the lockerroom behind 24-6... but with a glimmer of hope.

Davis took the opening kickoff of the second half and raced 102 yards for
a score, opening the floodgates as USC rallied for 35 points in the 3rd
quarter. Davis scored 2 more times that quarter, both on short runs, and 
Haden threw TD passes of 18 and 45 yards to Johnny McKay (John McKay's son).

Then before 2 minutes had elapsed in the fourth quarter, Haden hit Shelton 
Diggs for a 16-yard score and Charles Phillips returned an interception 58
yards for a touchdown.

In all, USC blitzed to its 55 points in just 17 and-a-half minutes.

'We turned into madmen,' was how Davis described the comeback.

Added Coach John McKay right after the game: 'I can't understand it.
I'm gonna sit down tonight and have a beer and think about it. Against
Notre Dame? Maybe against Kent State... but Notre Dame?'

The victory propelled USC, which then beat Ohio State in the Rose Bowl
18-17 to the National Championship.

Interestingly that Rose Bowl win was dramatic too. USC trailed the
Buckeyes 17-10 with just minutes left to play. Then Haden teamed
with McKay on 38-yard TD pass with 2:03 to go, and he followed that with
a 2-point conversion toss to Diggs for the victory.

[ Davis had 6 TD's in the Notre Dame game, still a USC single game record,
  the LA Times Sports Page Headline the next morning was:
		
	DAVIS! DAVIS! DAVIS! DAVIS! DAVIS! DAVIS! ]

-- 
Inhabited by absurd fears,  they only discuss  the puerilities with which 
every fool is familiar, and dare not, by turning a bold hand to the human 
heart, offer its gigantic idiosyncrasies to our views.     Sade, 'Justine'
Serdar Boztas \\ serdar@fawlty1.eng.monash.edu.au \\ +(61)3-565-5722 
Newsgroups: rec.sport.football.college