Tag Archives: USC

Senior Soccer practice

TEXT:

EI: “So basically, on the club soccer team, we have a tradition: when the seniors graduate, we have a “senior practice.” Basically, before we go to the field, we go to someone’s house or apartment and get really drunk, really trashed, and then we go to the field and then just mess around on the field. We play like, small side games. It’s basically the last hurrah in sending them off into life after college. We do it every year for the graduating seniors.”

CONTEXT: EI is a freshman at USC studying business who doesn’t drink. She’s been playing soccer since high school, and she made varsity club soccer in her first year at USC: this is her first year learning about the senior practice tradition.


ANALYSIS: EI hasn’t yet participated in this tradition. She’s learning this as a freshman, and because she doesn’t drink, so she can’t fully participate in the tradition and express her identity as a member of the club team. As for the seniors, the senior practice being one “last hurrah” is necessary from a psychological standpoint: the end of college soccer is genuinely the end of an era. The club soccer team is not professional—this is likely one of the last times that these students will play soccer in this capacity. For that matter, this is the end of their athletic prime in terms of biology. Any league that graduated students participate in from this point forward will take much more effort to play with the same consistency and the same high energy. The senior practice helps provide a bookend, officially marking the beginning of this new era. Even the consumption of alcohol helps solidify their new place as adults. Even though many students illegally drink in college, seniors are finally of age, making the fact that their drinking is legal a mark of seniority.

USC Football Superstitions – kick the lamp post

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 20
Occupation: student
Residence: school - California; home - Washington
Language: English

Text:

NC: “Before a football game, when you are walking to the Coliseum, you have to kick the lamp post right before you leave campus or else USC will have bad luck in the game. I have no idea where that comes from, but my friend told me on our way to one of the first football games we went to our freshman year. We saw a bunch of other people doing it too, so we did it. Now, I always do it because I don’t want to curse the team with bad luck. It’s like subconscious, I mean I’m not superstitious about anything else, but I always do it without fail before the game. You only do it before football games too, nothing else.”

Context:

NC is a undergraduate student at USC. She is 20 years old, and she is a sophomore. She is from Seattle, Washington, and did not most of USC traditions before coming to the school. She originally learned of this superstition in the fall of her freshman year. She does not know the origins of this tradition. I collected this superstition in person and recorded her to transcribe what she stated.

Analysis:

University of Southern California, as do many old and large universities, has many traditions that are passed on through new students in each incoming class. Often, the origins of these traditions are lost over the years, as is the case with this superstition. USC has a very large culture that is very specific to the people who are a part of the community, especially regarding football. These might be hand gestures, songs, objects, or in this case, superstitions. Even though many people who attend this school are not superstitious people by nature, they still partake in this game day good luck action. Kicking a lamp post for luck is not based in reason, and probably seems silly to people who are not a part of the community, as is common with superstitions. However, the desire to be a part of the community and partake in rituals nudges people to take part in a superstition they might initially think is illogical. As a person begins to feel the belonging associated with partaking in certain ritual experiences, the person is more and more likely to do the act associated with the superstition, until they believe in the truth of the superstition themselves, essentially causing an illusionary truth effect. This superstition clearly shows cultural influence on a person’s personal beliefs.

USC Good-luck Sweater

Background: R is a proud grandmother of a USC student and she routinely watches USC sporting events in support of the school. R is a Mexican immigrant and loves to support her grandchildren in all their endeavors.

Text:

R: “I always, always wear my USC ….cómo se dice…sweater….always no matter how hot it is! I am convinced I gave USC football and uh… Caleb… Williams good luck last year when they won all the games. The only game I didn’t wear it was the USC and… Utah game…that was when they lost!”

Interviewer: “Do you wash the sweater?”

R: “Si, I’m not crazy. The sweater‘s powers activate when I put it on… it can’t come off in the washer.”

Interviewer: “Why are you so invested in USC sports?”

R: “Because I want to be supportive of my grandchild and their success of getting into such a good school. I’m so so proud!

Analysis:

Sports superstitions are among the most common superstitions in American contemporary life. Sports fans like to feel like they have some control over the game, even when they’re watching from the stands or their living rooms. They pretend that they take part in the action through insignificant routines/gestures/sayings/or performative rituals, such as wearing the same lucky sweater. In R’s scenario, her sports superstition transcends just wanting to take part of the athletic event, she wants to take part in the success of her grandchildren.

Haunted PED Basement

Nationality: United States of America
Age: 24
Residence: Los Angeles
Language: English

Text:

“Um so this was a story told to me by one of the designers um that I’ve worked with being a wardrobe supervisor. Um because everyone always jokes that um I’m sure both of you are aware but in case you’re not underneath the Bing, not the Bing, underneath PED there is a defunct pool that has been revamped to house all of the costumes for the School of Dramatic Arts. Um I hate it down there *laughs* and um it’s a running gag for all of SDA that it is haunted cause you know creepy pool everyone is like “Oh it’s haunted bla bla bla” *high-pitched whimsical tone* um so we were talking about it one time, I don’t remember which designer told me this, but we were talking about it and um they were like “no, it is legit haunted down there” and we were like “what are you talking about?” And they were talking about one time that they were down there pulling stuff for their show and they heard a voice and um so they turn around and there’s just a person standing there, looks like a student, uh a younger person, and I don’t remember what they said to them but they said something about “oh I’m lost” or “oh I need something” like a “I don’t know what I’m doing around here” and the designer is like “oh”—had never seen this person before—and was like “Oh I thought I was by myself, what show are you working on? What do you need help with?” And they kept not answering the question and suddenly the designer turned back and the person was gone. There was no trace of this person. Umm so I was like “Do we know someone who has died in SDA in recent years?” and he was like “I have no clue” so yeah. Yeah, apparently there is live “evidence” *makes finger quotes around evidence* or an actual report of someone seeing a ghost um in the pool. *laughs*

I’m the kind of person who has always believed in spirits because 1. I think it’s interesting and 2. I don’t know I think I feel shit sometimes, but I also know that theater kids are dramatic *laughs* guilty. But on the other other hand, this was a designer, not an actor so I am—not to hate on my fellow actors, but it did lend itself to a bit more credibility in my eyes that it came from not someone who enjoys being on stage. So I don’t know I think there is a possibility. I definitely would be interested into doing research into if anyone in the program has passed away, there definitely had to be somebody who passed away during their time in this school …I just hate going down there. I feel like it has bad vibes down there I don’t know if it’s just that you can’t see around the corners because of all the stacked clothes or what. I get weird vibes in spaces. There’s something about the space itself, it has classic horror movie vibes what with the old tiles of the pool and it’s musty and gross.

Context:

The informant is heavily involved in the USC School of Dramatic Arts and has spent countless hours working for SDA in PED (Physical Education Building). The informant was first told of the haunting by their boss, a designer for SDA. The informant has moderate belief in the haunting but is not thoroughly convinced.  

Analysis:

I am not going to judge the validity of the haunting. However, I am not surprised that a haunting was reported within the PED basement. People involved in theater, work late nights during show rehearsals, and often the stage crew and behind-the-scenes personnel are working on their own for mini-assignments. Because of these factors, there are many opportunities for people to be alone and tired, at night in an old building. Furthermore, theater shows will often try to foster a sense of community and a shared experience such as a haunted room could aid in building comradery.

Fraternity Term

Nationality: American
Age: 19 or 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 02/23/2023
Primary Language: English
  1. Scope
  2. In a continuation of an interview I did with a classmate of mine in my anthropology discussion class he shared with me some of his fraternity terms and here is what he said: “Scoping is another one, its like to look at. If you are wearing something funny… you can say ‘yo! Scope me’ that’s a few of my fraternity terms”
  3. As he got this term from his fraternity, I find it common knowledge that brother in a fraternity often like to use slang or shorten their words when they talk to each other. This could be to come off as cooler to others or to feel a sense of community knowing you are in a house or organization that has its own language essentially. He did not reveal to me the origins of this saying, but I assume it has been around long enough to become relevant now. I would not personally use this term, but when looking at the definition of the word scope, used in the context my friend did, it seems to make sense. When thinking somewhat historically, people or even animals would “scope out” or look around their surroundings to find someone or something, so this one is not a far reach.