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deehart's avatar

I like the line, but I don't really understand it. Why was WSU the boats? What is UCLA the city? (I don't really think of LA as a city, it's just a giant horrible sprawl with a rather insignificant downtown)

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Avinash Kunnath's avatar

It's an old Sun Tzu quote.

'When your army has crossed the border, you should burn your boats and bridges, in order to make it clear to everybody that you have no hankering after home.”

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Toohandy's avatar

And it shows how academic Mendoza is by knowing that.

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Bowlesman 80's avatar

Also, Cortez did exactly that, burned his boats.

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Clbear's avatar

I had assumed the burn the boats with WSU as the same as the traditional sense of burning the bridges and leaves no recourse (because that was the first of the three "do or die" game), and then the trees and city are just continuing the theme (because each one was do or die also) and the kids just updated it with a different spin each week.

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concernedparent's avatar

What is your definition of a city and how does LA not qualify?

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deehart's avatar

I'm of course not saying that LA is not a city, but that it doesn't feel like one to me. To me, 'real' cities have a certain density and energy like London or New York, and even SF (past and future, if not present). Obviously, LA has its own strengths and is well loved by many. My opinion about LA is just my opinion, nothing more. Sorry if I offended; perhaps I shouldn't have made the comment you replied to (if you can't say something nice...).

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Alex Ghenis's avatar

Maybe carry over from when their coach was a pirate.

Or the Cal game was their lifeboat to get to a bowl game since they were 4-5 coming in and the Apple Cup was one of their remaining games. So we burned the lifeboats

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