Tommy Trojan feeling blue -- victim of classic prank

While the cat's away, the mice will play.

With thousands of USC students on their annual Bay Area pilgrimage (the football team is playing Stanford this weekend), pranksters doused the school's iconic Tommy Trojan in blue paint.

Formally known as the Trojan Shrine, the life-size bronze statue has previously fallen victim to paint (and worse) during the week before the football game against crosstown rival UCLA. In response, Tommy is traditionally wrapped in duct tape several days before that game and an organization called Trojan Knights stands vigil.

There was no 24-hour guard this weekend. Tommy was pretty lonely, but he wasn't blue until he had an unexpected visitor.

Few details are known at this time. It appears the incident occurred late Friday night or early Saturday morning. Considering the colors, suspicion will immediately point to Westwood. UCLA hosts USC in the Rose Bowl on Dec. 6.

School officials rushed to have Tommy cleaned up Saturday morning. They can't be too pleased, but a good prank can always help keep the rivalry spirited. At least once in a blue moon.

—Adam Rose

Photo: Lauren

Comments

[Enrique]

Maybe it was some eager Dodger fans trying to get ex Trojan Randy Johnson's attention to get him to "think blue"?

[Jon K.]

Tommy Trojan never looked better.

GO BRUINS!

[El Grito]

I think he looks pretty good in blue. ;-)

[KLee]

pure class. its called "rivalry WEEK" what a cheap shot. i bet ucla has their statues on 24hr watch now... classes bRuins at it again

[george sponhaltz]

Now you'll find out what the average I.Q.at
southern cal is, now they'll wrap him up.

G.S.

[Javier]

The one thing I hate more than U$C is a vandal. A prank is one thing, but damaging property is another. This is an act I would expect from an $C fan, all those Raider Nation burn-outs or $poiled Children with no concept of the value of money. Not too thrilled to see how they retaliate. Better put the Bruin Bear into hibernation early this year.

[Ari]

While there may not have been people watching 24 hours, perhaps the pranksters didn't know about the Tommy Cam. The USC website has a 24-hour camera fixed on Tommy Trojan, so any offenders were more than likely caught on tape.

[Jimmy]

So Childish...
Fight on!

[UCLADavid]

The mascot statues are fair game. The rest of the campus is not. I remember in 1988 some Trojans trashed a classroom in Haines Hall with red paint and derogatory comments. We had to move our class to another room . It was probably the most time those Trojans spent in a class room the whole year! GO BRUINS. BEAT 'sc!

[Tristan Macdonald]

Hey YOU CLOWNS LOST AGAIN (UCLA). Thanks for rallying up our football team. We can fix tommy the trojan but when we kick your butts Saturday you will never be able to heal from that defeat. GO USC!
T-Mac