Tag Archives: sports

American Football Explained

By Anya Khurana

American Football baffles me. I simply do not understand our fascination with the sport. It’s hard to participate in conversations about team statistics or big games when you don’t understand the sport. If you’re like me, and football makes your head spin, you’re in luck: here is a crash course in all things football- the rules, the history, and other important information.
Football comes from an early form of rugby and grew in popularity through the 19th and 20th centuries. Today, the NFL (National football league) has 32 teams across the U.S. and in 2017, made $8.16 billion. Needless to say, the NFL is very popular and has an almost cultish following, where committed fans attend or watch every single game. Even college football teams, such as our own here at USC, have huge followings and make huge sums of money from ticket sales, athletic apparel, and TV contracts.

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Finding Your Place in the USC Community

By Lindsey Tanita

When I first stepped onto the USC campus, I wasn’t excited, I wasn’t optimistic, I was scared. I worried about how I was going to make friends in this big campus full of people I didn’t know. I worried how I would survive without my childhood friends that had been by my side since I was five years old. I was nervous about living on my own and leaving my comfort zone and the town where I had built my identity.

In hindsight, all these fears were unfounded because I soon found out that USC is a family. I don’t know if it is our incredible support from our alumni, our mutual dislike for UCLA, our undying support our football team, or in a common suffering in our academic studies, but there is an undeniable bond that unites us all together as USC students. No matter what club or organization you belong to, you are apart of something bigger here at USC, it’s just something in the air.

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Need a Break from Football? Check out L.A. Women’s Roller Derby

By Celeste McAlpin-Levitt

As they roar around the track, the roller derby skaters jostle for position at the front of the pack, trying to stay ahead of their rivals from the opposing team. The Varsity Brawlers are trying to unseat the Tough Cookies for this year’s championship. Around the Los Angeles Derby Dolls arena, fans clap and scream their favorite players’ names while munching on food truck fare. The energy is high as the jam comes to a close, with the scoreboard showing the teams nearly neck and neck.

The sport of roller derby dates back to the mid-1930s when Leo Seltzer formed a touring company of teams playing an early form of the high contact sport on roller skates. Throughout most of the 20th century it was a predominantly male sport, but in the early 2000s several all-female, local leagues began to develop in different parts of the U.S. These leagues often had a strong punk or rockabilly aesthetic both in the rink and in the stands, and emphasized a feminist, queer, empowering atmosphere. Enthusiasm for the sport increased rapidly, with 2,000 leagues sprouting up worldwide. The sport gained popularity with the 2009 release of Whip It!, starring Ellen Page as a gifted skater new to the sport.

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