This
past weekend marked the 50th anniversary of the white Andalusian horse
Traveler, the official USC mascot. Many confuse the mascot be Tommy
Trojan, but the two are in fact very separate. We immediately went to
Tommy to find out what he had to say about the anniversary, but instead
of a supportive friend, we found that Tommy was quite… jealous?
“Look,
major props to Traveler for 50 years, but it’s 50 years too many,” said
Tommy out on Trousdale last Saturday. “Mascots evolve. Before, it was
that dog. Tirebiter something. Whatever. Now it’s a horse. I say it’s
time for a dude.”
We then crossed the way to Traveler, who told us, “Neeeeiiiiiiiiiiggggggghhhhhhhhh.”
The
rivalry has been apparently going on for quite some time. The two icons
who face each other every day on opposite sides of Trousdale are not
exactly friends. The problem may be that people would rather take photos
with Tommy than Traveler.
“Duh,” Tommy laughed. “I can flex like every muscle in the human body.”
Why such hostility? We speculate Tommy resents being stuck in statue-form. Traveler, on the other hand, is a statue and a real horse that gets to prance on the Coliseum field after every touchdown. Many think the USC Drum Major of the Trojan Marching Band is Tommy, but the field-stabbing wonder is actually a student named Kyle.
When
we mentioned this, Tommy got a bit choked up. “It’s hard, okay? I mean
I’m a freaking shrine! I want to jump down from here and just live. I
have a bucket list!” After a good consoling, we asked to see Tommy’s
bucket list to try and help him out. We only found a small piece of
paper with the words “RAGE, STAB SHIT, fUCLA” scribbled in sharpie.
Somehow we think he’ll be okay through all of this.
For
now, the current Traveler VII is thrilled to be honored for his
anniversary. The Trojan Marching Band dedicated their Washington game
halftime show to the mascot by playing the “Lone Ranger,” “Conquest,”
and spelling out T-R-A-V-E-L-E-R on the field. Students were able to
take pictures with the horse leading up to the game. When asked how it
felt to finally have so much attention from the student body, Traveler
just snickered and said, “Neigh. Total, neigh.”
Photo credit: Ben Chua
