This is my true story about the events around the game and my day at South Bend...

Where do I start?

I have been going to this game since my freshman year at USC. That year I won the "student-athlete" lottery and had seats in the 2nd row of the metal bleachers behind the AWAY end-zone. That year we had Keyshawn and we were 7-0 going into that game. We were up 7-0 and about to score another touchdown to go up 14-0 in the rain. But right then and there I saw Delon Washington fumble the ball right in front of me on the 1 yard line (I was so close to the play I could have jumped onto the field and beat the crap out of him for his mistake!). The Irish went on to score off that turnover and went on to win that game.

Then there was the time we had my good friend Michael Schwab have his mom contact the school to get us tickets for the game (Helen Schwab donated a building that sits on the Irish campus). We were sitting in row B on the 50 yard line. Again it was one of those games in which we started out strong and were winning at halftime but lost the game in the second half. Still it was fun yelling and screaming wearing the cardinal and gold in the Irish faculty section with the President of the school sitting in front of us. He was so pissed off at halftime he got up and moved to another seat.

Ever since those two trips, every trip I have made to Chicago for the game against the Irish has been a success with our Trojans being victorious! I knew in my heart this game would be no different regardless of "Charlie Weiz" and how good the "Domers" had been playing these last few weeks. We were going to go to South Bend and WIN and continue our path to hopefully yet another Championship.

As always I did not have a ticket to the game. It has been a long tradition of mine not to get the tickets to the most coveted sporting events until right before walking into the stadium. I have been successful in getting some of the best seats for all kinds of sports from NBA finals, NHL finals, NFL playoff games, Wimbledon, BCS championship games, and even the World Cup finals. I even bragged about it to my brothers at a family dinner earlier that week (my younger brother was the victim of a con by a scalper earlier last week when he bought 5 tickets to the Chargers Monday night football game for $100/piece and they ended up being fakes).

So we get on the bus and leave Chicago to head to South Bend for the game around 10:30am on Saturday. We were laughing and singing the fight song and the love was in the air (always the case on game days ever since our first experiences as freshmen). We get to South Bend before 1pm giving me until the 2:30pm kickoff to find myself a ticket. My younger brother (who was on the bus with me) disappears to find my other brother (the middle brother who also went to USC but who has liked the DOMERS since he was in 3rd grade... I know, I don't understand it either but he is the way he is and there ain't no changing him) who was supposed to get him his ticket for the game (he had a budget of $400).

I was originally going to take a girlfriend to the game so she could witness my craziness when it comes to my teams or my school and SPORTS. But she had to study so she did not come and I did not push her to, either. So I was SOLO. Also, being a professional in getting some of the best seats, I had the stadium’s seating layout in my head (I have a photographic memory). I was wearing a red shirt with Gold lettering that said, "Yoga Expo 2003: Bikram Yoga STAFF" and my Hawaiian shorts and a pair of old school Air Jordan 4's (The first pair of Jordan's on a cover of Newsweek two decades ago when kids were murdering kids to take their shoes). So basically I was a USC fan in hiding not really showing the USC logo on any of my "neutral" clothing. I wanted to get my ticket first before putting on all the USC gear I usually wear to the games.

To get a ticket without the USC stuff on would be easier if the seller is a DOMER and maybe even at a better price. Twice I saw tickets I liked and agreed to pay for them at a price of $250 and twice some other person came and offered $400 and took the tickets instead, even though both sellers agreed to sell at $250 and I was counting my money before I handed it to them only to look up and see another guy come in and buy them at a higher price… TWICE! You know in the state of California when you "verbally" agree on something you are "liable" for it but we are in DOMER land and they are a big Catholic school and their fans truly have no morals... the ticket goes to the highest bidder even though they might agree to a sale... exactly no morals... no real principles!

At this time I had walked around the stadium a few times and found some tickets but not within the 30-50 yard line that I was looking for. It was 2pm and my bus was a serious walk, but I decided to go to the bus and put on my USC garb and return and PAY whatever to get into that stadium.

It is now 2:25pm and I'm walking to the stadium with all my USC gear on. Fans that see me are all talking trash... hehehe I love it! I'm wearing my YOGA EXPO shirt. I have a USC basketball jersey around my neck like a "cape". I’ve also got my USC 2003 National Champions visor on very low on my forehead so you can't really see my eyes. And most importantly I have my USC ticket holder holding nearly 30 game tickets from my previous games I have attended (If you have seen my Lakers one it has almost 150 tickets now). When fans see that around my neck they take it easy on me more because they know I'M THE REAL DEAL!

While walking to the stadium I notice two guys talking and some other people gathered around them and they have tickets in their hands. As I approach them one of them hands the other three tickets and receives $1200 and takes off. At first glance I notice the tickets are for section 9 (to the right of the 50 yard line) and row D (basically 4 rows direclty behind the USC bench and in the middle of the DOMERS faculty/big time donor seats).

I was giddy and I asked the guy how much? He says $500. I think it over it takes me 5 seconds and I'm like “OK”. So we’re walking because he does not want the police to see him receiving the $ from me. Then I ask him if can I choose my seat out of the three tickets. He tells me he is going to use 2 of these 3 tickets for him and his dad and that is why I get what I get...

I feel re-assured knowing the guy selling me my ticket is going to be sitting next to me as well. I buy the ticket and go on into the stadium. After a quick stop at the bathroom I walk towards my tunnel. My timing is PERFECT. As I walk out of the tunnel I witness the opening kickoff to start the game. The usher then looks at me in awe( with all my USC gear that is) and says, "What are you doing here? Can I help you?"

I just point to my ticket holder and he sees the ticket and say, "Wow how did you get that? Right this way SIR." Then he walks me down to my seat. At this same time the ticket broker also shows up with his dad and drinks in hand. It turns out there are people sitting in our seats. There are these younger kids sitting in the row behind us yelling, "(Bleep) that guy. Check his tickets! These are my grandfathers seats and he is not allowed to sit here!"

The lady sitting in our row has tickets for row E (They are not the authentic season ticket holder tickets they are reprints). She states we need to go to the ticket office because those were her seats and her "original" tickets were stolen from her at the Library at Notre Dame. So we walk to the ticket office with her (myself and the ticket broker). The lady is saying how the ticket office made a mistake when they re-issued her tickets and they should be for row D instead of row E. At this point I walk back into the tunnel to check out the game. They have me sit on row 1 behind the handicapped seats above the railing in section 9. My seat was good and I was sitting with the broker’s father. I watched our first touchdown and their first touchdown. I'm making all sorts of noises and cheering like crazy whenever my team makes a good play. The lady usher close to me constantly is walking to the neighbors sitting around me asking them, "Is everything OK?" (Like she can try to screw with me if it isn't). I have been to enough ROAD games in hostile environments to know what I can do and what I can't do...

I was sitting courtside (3 feet to the end of the Lakers bench – the closest seat to the Lakers bench) in San Antonio two years ago when we pulled off the last 0.4 second comeback with Derek Fischer's shot in game 5 of that series. As I was walking down to my seats people threw stuff at me and I would turn around and say, "Hey good luck to you guys today!" (that is the ultimate DAGGER in my opinion because their fans don't know what to say after that...). After that game I had some of their fans walk up to me to shake my hand for being such a good sport while people threw things at me. I told them how I had been going all over the country following my team and I know how to deal...

And so I sat there watching the game. I then realized the broker that sold me my seats had been gone for a while now. His father was sitting next to me and I was thinking, “what if I get kicked out of here?” I thought I could leave and come back but the usher had made me take out my ticket from my ticket holder and they had my ticket in their possession. Before I knew it the broker returned with an usher and he said, "We have to go!"

I replied, "what?" The father asked the usher, "Hey these seats are fine why can't we sit here?"

Before the usher can reply the son said, "We have to go dad!"

He then assured me that he would return my money when we got outside. I was in shock...

I looked onto the field one last time before walking out and saw the 7-7 score... I was really upset. Internally I was thinking of just disappearing but how could I? – you can point me out from a mile away with all my cardinal and gold on. Shaking my head as I was being escorted out, I realized two things: 1) it being the 2nd qtr now there was almost NO WAY there would be anymore tickets outside the stadium for me to buy to try to get back in, and 2) With all my USC gear on there would also be NO WAY for me to pay off an usher to sneak me back in...

This was my first USC game of the year. I had been traveling all over the globe in the last 50 days (Holland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, France, Colombia, Argentina and Chile) and I finally made it to a TROJAN football game... And this is what is happening to me...

The word, "HATE" or "HATRED" are lost in my vocabulary since I have become a YOGI. I don't hate anyone not even my former Armenian business partner Greg Sarkissian who stole hundreds of thousands of my $ and millions of my friends and families $. I have learned to forgive and forget... But that moment as I was being walked out I had this "inner hatred" towards all the DOMERS!!! I was saying to myself how I hate these (bleep)ing people and I want them to suffer the WORST!! I said to myself, “the score is 7-7 right now and I would rather USC win a close game so ALL THESE DOMERS can be heartbroken as oppose to a thrashing like all the sports book expected” (USC was a 12 point favorite). I asked god “please make it happen like in San Antonio.” Those fans reamed me a new (bleep)hole when Duncan made his bank shot but I never gave up on my team and we did pull it out. A true sports fan NEVER celebrates too early until it is OFFICIALLY over. That night everyone in San Antonio wept... It was a beautiful day but when we left the Alamodome it had started to rain (I think the rain was supposed to wash away the pain for their fans!)

Back to Notre Dame. I went into the basketball arena next door to the football stadium to watch the game with the thousands of other fans that also were unable to get a ticket. I saw my two brothers and they were unable to get a ticket, too. I told them what happened to me and how the DOMERS know better then to let my USC spirit stay in the stadium... maybe by the end of the game I would have brought on a heart attack for some of those handicapped people...

So I was sitting there watching the game with my brothers. During Lakers games I usually put on my jersey when I feel my team needs a momentum change or needs a rebound (it's my sports superstition). I did so with the 8 minutes to go in the 4th QTR and the DOMERS driving inside our 20 yard line up 23-20 already. Upon putting on the jersey it was one of the biggest 3rd down plays. The DOMER QB overthrew his wide open receiver on what would have been a first down inside our 10 yard line.

Then I started to chant, "Norwood, wide right...Norwood, wide right!" The reference is to Scott Norwood, the placekicker for the Buffalo Bills who missed a field goal wide right in the closing seconds of the Super Bowl vs. the NY Giants giving the Giants the victory. Guess what the DOMER kicker did – exactly that – he missed WIDE RIGHT.

USC went on to a long drive and scored to take the lead 28-23. The Domers like they have so many times in the past also went on a long time-consuming drive, scoring to take the lead once again 31-28. Again we pulled it out on what will be remembered as one of the biggest 4th down conversions in USC history should we go on to win the National Championship this year when Matt Leinart completed a pass to my favorite receiver Dwayne Jarrett (#8 baby!) for a crucial first down that eventually led to our final touchdown.

In the final seconds Leinart tried a QB sneak and a DOMERS helmet made the ball pop loose but luckily it went out of bounds. The clock continued and went to zero and the DOMER fans were going crazy inside the basketball auditorium. But I as a true fan know the rules and they clearly state if the ball or the player goes out of bounds then the time needs to stop. I knew the game was not over and being so close to the goal line I could feel the victory.

Fans were running into me and the other USC fans huddled in front of the auditorium. I then lost it kind of and started screaming, "Shut the (bleep) up!" "It ain't over until the fat lady sings! It ain't over until the fat lady sings!" As they made the fans and the players that rushed the field prematurely get off to play one final down the auditorium was beginning to quiet down in confusion. By the time I said, "It ain't over until the fat lady sings" for the second time the auditorium was very quiet and you could hear my voice echo in there...

You all know what happened then. Mr. Leinart called an audible and went for the touchdown and got it. We had done it... we had come back...

But there were still 3 seconds left. I told the SC fans around me, “let's wait until the clock hits ZERO.” After the last kickoff was kicked and the ball was finally down and the clock hit zero I STARTED RUNNING LIKE THE WIND!!!

I ran the hell out of that auditorium. I was running with my USC gear on and holding the NUMBER 1 with my index finger as I have for the past 6 years thanks to the Lakers (2000-2002) and USC (2003-present) and yelling...."OHHHHHHHHHH!"

I did not stop until I was near my bus again. Then, for the next hour while waiting for the bus , I saw thousands of Irish fans walking by me... And I was just smiling... hehehe…

Some of their fans were telling me we got lucky and so on... I would remind them how their school at one point beat USC 14 years in a row! And how payback is a bitch! The best part about the way we are paying them back is that we are winning some National Championships and some Heisman Trophies at the same time thanks especially to some widely viewed nationally televised games vs. Notre Dame.

And our TROJANS need a wake up call. If that game this past Saturday is not a wake up call that everyone is going to bring their “A” game to beat us then we will not get it. The Lakers win in San Antonio was a "miracle" and an "epic" ending to an "epic" game but then the Lakers went on to LOSE in the finals. We won what will most likely be the biggest game in our TROJAN/IRISH rivalry but it will all go for nothing if we don't end up with a victory in the Rose Bowl on Jan 4th.

Robert Horry's shot vs. the Kings will always be remembered in Lakers history books because that shot led us to a Championship...

I'm hoping the same goes for our Trojans last minute comeback in South Bend – that it will also be a piece of yet another Championship puzzle!!!!

I asked god for a heartbreak loss for the DOMERS but I could not have written it better... THANK YOU GOD for not siding with the Leprechaun this time!!!

Screw the Irish they are always pulling (bleep) out of their (bleep). This time around we put one in their (bleep) that they will NEVER forget.

Always remember everything happens for a reason!

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