A LITTLE FUN BETWEEN HATED RIVALS.

Byline: TOM HOFFARTH Media

Petros Papadakis immediately saw a benefit to being forced to wear Matt Stevens' '84 UCLA Rose Bowl jersey around town this week while on assignment for Fox Sports Net.

``Now I don't have to dry-clean the only three suits I have,'' the former USC fullback said Monday.

Instead, Papadakis has had to shimmy into Stevens' white No. 11 because he lost a bet. The two picked Pac-10 games for the ``Regional Sports Report'' all season long, but since they each finished with a 26-22 record, they broke the deadlock with a flip of the coin.

Papadakis called heads.

``That's what I always called when I played,'' said the co-captain of USC's 5-7 team in 2000 that lost seven of its last nine and was the school's first-ever last-place finish in conference play. But the Trojans still beat UCLA 38-35.

``At least I won my games never picking against UCLA and picking against USC all year,'' said Stevens, the quarterback who guided the Bruins to an 8-3-1 mark in his senior season of 1986, including a 45-25 victory over 10th-ranked USC in Ted Tollner's next-to-last game as coach.

The Oscar-and-Felix give-and-take between Papadakis and Stevens all college football season - the second year they've done it for Fox - has been turned up a notch during USC-UCLA week. To the entertainment of everyone around them.

The two were involved in a Victory Bell skit on Tuesday night's ``Regional Sports'' program, where Stevens ended up tackling Papadakis and stealing the trophy. They've interviewed players at both schools. This morning, they'll speak together at the Pasadena Quarterbacks Club.

Tonight they make their final predictions - expect loyalty to be involved - and they'll settle a to-be-determined wager on the air Saturday after the game is played.

``Petros has a very bright future in TV,'' admits Stevens, the Bruins' radio analyst on KXTA-AM (1150).

``Even with my lisp?'' asks Papadakis, the Trojans' radio sideline reporter and talk-show host on KMPC-AM (1540).

``I'll be your agent,'' Stevens offered.

Maybe not after what happened Monday night at Papadakis Taverna, the popular San Pedro restaurant run by Papadakis' father, John, and uncle Tom where Stevens was invited to join Petros along with a couple of reporters.

Petros claims he didn't know there would be a meeting of the San Pedro-Peninsula Trojan Club that night - about 120 strong, complete with some band members and song girls.

Stevens was made to get up and speak to the group, then listen to the band's rendition of their fight song most of the night.

``I was ambushed,'' Stevens exclaimed. ``But there is one thing you can say about USC, they've always got great-looking cheerleaders.''

Finally, James Brown, a die-hard Bruins fan who owns the San Pedro Brewing Co. up the street, popped in and invited the group for beers. There, Brown made Papadakis put on Stevens' jersey and take pictures with him underneath a UCLA banner that hung from the ceiling.

``I hate quarterbacks,'' muttered Papadakis, a self-proclaimed obsessive-complusive scatterbrain. ``Girls never flock to the short-yardage fullbacks.''

Especially when they're out of proper uniform.

--The local angle: If Keith Jackson's memory serves him right, the last time he called a USC-UCLA game was in 1999. Before that, ABC's voice of college football was probably bundled up at a Michigan-Ohio State game.

Despite the BCS implications of the Wolverines-Buckeyes game this year, Jackson would much rather take the drive to Pasadena on Saturday.

``With my artificial knees, they jack up the airport surveillance so much that I can light it up like a Christmas tree,'' Jackson said. ``I've been searched so many times, I told one guy, `If you run that wand over my feet again, I'm gonna kick you.' ''

Aside from the annoying airport hassles, the Sherman Oaks resident can appreciate a game in his backyard that's meaningful. Or, as he said: ``It's the first game in some time where there's a lot of marbles and chalk on the table. A lot can come of this for USC - and there's another big one the following week, a chance for Carson Palmer in prime time.''

Jackson, a Heisman Trophy voter, said he's never promoted individual trophies nor made Heisman references during a broadcast because he thinks it's unfair to candidates who don't get the same national exposure.

Even with Palmer's Heisman campaign picking up steam, Jackson sees next week's USC-Notre Dame nationally televised contest game as ``to a large degree, unfair to (Palmer) if it all comes down to one game to sell himself because of the time-zone factors.

``And you never know how many voters are watching, anyway.''

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