WHY I LOVE THE PAC-12
By John Clendening T
here are certain things that are certain in life. If you have been a sports fan living on the West Coast over
the past half century or so, one of them has been the Pac- 12 Conference. Saturdays in fall? Pac-12 football. Thursday and Satur- day nights in winter and spring? Pac-12 basketball. Time to tally the chips at the end of the academic year?
Pac-12 wins again. Stanford won the 2011 Learfi eld Sports Directors’ Cup for having the nation’s best all-around athletics program? Yes. That’s 17 in a row. NCAA champion- ships? UCLA, Stanford, and USC are ranked 1-2-3 all-time for team titles. The conference’s 400th came earlier this year, when ASU won it all in wom- en’s softball.
Certain things are just certain in life. One
of them is that I absolutely, positively love the Pac-12. I love the Pac-12 because when I think of the Pac-8, I am a young boy again. I am a young boy holding my father’s hand as we stride into the Coliseum for my fi rst-ever college football game. It is November 1970. UCLA is to get the best of USC on this night, and by the time my head hits the pillow the name Dennis Dummit is forever stamped on my brain. I love the Pac-12 because when I think of the Pac-10, I
am a young man again. I am in Tucson for a friend’s wed- ding. My friend is a graduate of Arizona; his bride, too, a former cheerleader to boot. They regale our table with the story of how he proposed outside Old Main. We all sing Bear Down deep into the night, and for the fi rst time, you understand. I love the Pac-12 because when I think of it, no matter how old I grow I am still young at heart. I am a grown man living in Dallas. I take walks through the neighborhood. I always look forward to passing the house with the Wash-
ington banner hanging from the porch. Every time I do, even among the Texas and Oklahoma ones hanging in its midst, I am reminded that I am among friends. On Satur- day mornings in fall when I turn on ESPN College Game- Day, I rejoice at my fi rst sighting of the Washington State fl ag. And every time I call home to talk to my buddy Dave, I secretly hope he won’t answer. For Dave is the Cal grad whose answering machine still features Joe Starkey’s call at the end of the most famous Big Game of all. Harmon’s gotta squib it, and he does. The ball is still loose. And, yes, the band is out on the fi eld. The Oregon schools? Easy. Ev-
ery time I hear people talking about Animal House, I fi nd myself feeling compelled to tell them it was fi lmed at Oregon—with the pride of telling someone it was fi lmed in my own home. Oregon State? Even easier. One of my most prized possessions is my signed copy of Ralph Miller’s autobiography. “With
our thanks and appreciation,” the autograph says, “for your loyalty to college sports, USC, and the Pac-10 conference.” Pac-8, Pac-10, Pac-12. Call it what you want, it feels
like home. Utah and Colorado have now moved in. Which seems to work just fi ne. So welcome Utes and Buffs . . . know you’re in the very best of company. The Conference of Champions? I say it’s The Champion of Conferences. For those of us who grew up on the West Coast and love
college sports, it’s the Conference of Us. Know what? I abso- lutely, positively love the Pac-12. And that’s for certain.
John Clendening earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from USC and currently serves on the USC Alumni As- sociation Board of Governors. He is the author of Love Letters to Sports: Moments in Time and the Ties that Bind.
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