Pac-10 Basketball: Bruins and Trojans and dogs, oh my!
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The Valley River Inn … home to Trojans, Bruins and dogs this weekend. USC and UCLA basketball team’s share accommodations in Eugene during their swing through Oregon. Adding to the hotel’s unique visitors are dogs, and that doesn’t mean a group of Washington Huskies.
The Oregon Truffle Festival is holding a training seminar to teach dogs how to sniff out the highly prized fungi.
Meanwhile, the Bruins and Trojans are holed up here, as has been the case for the past few seasons. The Bruins always occupy the East Wing, which is stark and nearly sealed off from visitors. The Trojans are always in the West Wing, where the lobby, restaurant, fireplace and lounge are located and pleasant views of the Willamette River are available.
Rarely do they cross paths.
“We don’t see them too much, maybe once in a while,” USC guard Dwight Lewis said today. “I guess it’s a little strange staying in the same place, but I’ve gotten used to it.”
UCLA players were unable to chime in, as they are not made available to the media on Fridays between games. The dogs, on the other hand, can occasionally be heard barking.
Hopefully for their owners, the dogs will be more successful than the teams. USC lost to Oregon State and UCLA lost to Oregon on Thursday.
Hotel officials, meanwhile, are proud to promote the canine visitors.
“We have dogs here all weekend and they teach the owners how to train them,” said an employee at the front desk, who asked not to be identified.
As for the basketball teams, the employee said, “I am not at liberty to discuss that,” just as two USC basketball players walked past. Asked if those two players were staying at the hotel,” the employee said, “You can assume that, I guess.”
-- Chris Foster
Twitter.com/cfosterlatimes