DON'T KICK THE BEAR.

Byline: TOM HOFFARTH

PASADENA-Long before the kickoff, Brian Bring was getting his kicks.

The Sherman Oaks resident sat comfortably in his red USC fold-up chair next to a cart path that bordered the seventh-hole fairway at the Brookside Golf Course, a crowded thoroughfare used by those going from their parked cars to the Rose Bowl for Saturday's USC-UCLA football game.

His attire should have immediately given away his allegiance. But to some, it wasn't so obvious.

In one hand, he cradled a cool can of Coors. In the other, he had a rope. Attached to the end of the rope was an 8-inch stuffed brown bear with ``BRUINS'' across its backside.

``Free kicking!'' Bring announced to anyone passing by. ``No charge! Totally free!''

It was as if he'd thrown a fishing line into a stream, waiting to see who was coming upstream to take the bait.

A woman wearing a pink UCLA sweatshirt, distracted by whomever she was talking to on her cellphone, must have somehow heard Bring's sales pitch, because without breaking stride, she took a poke at the bear and sent it tumbling a few feet.

``That's the fifth UCLA fan to do that today,'' Bring said, not even surprised anymore. ``It's funny. Some of them don't even pay attention to what they're doing.''

Since 1998 -- which, before Saturday, was the last time that UCLA had managed a victory over USC in the annual football rivalry, a span of sevengames -- Bring said he's been bringing a new version of the stuffed animal to the annual tailgate bash, harnessing a string around its neck and letting anyone who felt compelled to give it a swift kick.

It was the least he could do.

``The thing takes quite a bit of abuse, so every year, I have to throw the bear away because it gets too messed up,'' said Bring, who graduated from CalState Northridge with a business degree and works in the accounting department for Fox's TV show ``Stand Off.''

``I've been to each of USC's opponents' team Web sites and bought their mascots over the years. If someone got uptight about it, I just told 'em, `hey your school made five bucks off me.'''

It was a noble cause, but not enough to bring Bring a Nobel Peace prize.

The beauty of an even-year Bruin-hosted BBQ is the abundance of frolicking in the autumn mist by the lush golf course that is unceremoniously converted into a bumpy parking lot for 12,000 cars whose drivers decided it wasn't worth taking public transportation and was much more fun to set up the table, chairs and tethered bears for a peaceful mixed-company outdoor lunch party.

Here, red surprisingly blended seamlessly with blue. It was actually a heart-warming sight, watching Trojans commingle with Bruins as they ate, drank and threw Hail Mary passes in perfect harmony.

Aside from the tattered mascot kicking, the only real fan-on-fan abuse came in the form of T-shirt warfare.

The most popular versions worn by USC fans involved variations of ``Don't Let A Little Taser Bruin Your Day,'' a reference to a recent incident at the UCLA library where police used taser force to subdue a non-cooperative student.

In response, the best UCLA shirt we saw proclaimed ``We're No. 1*'' and underneath in small print, it added ``In Basketball.''

Seriously, after all the years of Trojans dominance in the annual series, you'd think Bruins fans would be the ones shooting the proverbial tasers of T-shirt verbiage. Especially after enduring the sight of USC fans walking across their territory with banners that read, ``We're Not Arrogant; We Really Are That Good,'' and spilling margaritas into a nearby sand trap.

After UCLA was finished kicking USC around on the field in a 13-9 victory, we couldn't help but think if Bring had brought this whole thing onto himself. Maybe he was just a little too cocky and took his opponents too lightly, like what may have happened on the field hours later.

Maybe during next year's USC-UCLA tailgate bash outside the Coliseum, some Bruins fan will be sitting smugly in his easy chair with a small, stuffed white Traveler horse all roped up, laid out on the concrete near the Exposition Park Rose Garden, just innocently asking if anyone would like to give it a licking.

And, of course, some Trojans fan will do so, as instructed.

Bring it on.

CAPTION(S):

4 photos, 3 boxes

Photo:

(1) Brian Bring of Sherman Oaks, left, asks a USC fan to kick a small stuffed UCLA Bruins bear on a string.

Tom Hoffarth/Daily News

(2) KOBE BRYANT

(3) MARK McGWIRE

(4) MIKE VANDERJAGT

Box:

(1) sunday punch

(2) HOT ... LUKEWARM ... COLD FISH

(3) The Pop Quiz