October Editors Alley: Football, Halloween, Pumpkin Spice, and Audit in the Air!

I often wonder what it is that draws me to football so much. The all-day tailgate parties with my crew of long-time college friends definitely have a lot to do with it, as does the camaraderie with my tens of thousands of fellow Trojan fans at the LA Coliseum on a Saturday night. But what really brings me back each year is hope. Hope that the mistakes of last year are washed away by a new and improved team. Hope that I get to experience the thrill of victory and a year’s worth of bragging rights over our rivals across town (I’m looking at you, Bruin friends). Hope that THIS is the year they finally get over the mountaintop and win it all.

Supporting a team over the course of many decades has given me perspective, both in football and in finance. Sometimes it feels like your team is a well-oiled machine and you’re racking up win after win. Balanced budgets, clean audits, stable revenue growth…you come to expect those things and can get complacent when your team is making the job look easy week after week. And then out of nowhere, a big setback happens, and your hopes get dashed. Like when a key team member leaves, or a grant deadline was missed, or we are hit with another CalPERS “assumption” change. Or when you fly all the way to Notre Dame just to watch your Heisman trophy winning quarterback throw three interceptions and lose by 28 points. Wait, am I still talking about work?

The point is, the victories are wonderful, and we need to take time to celebrate and appreciate them, even when they are expected. But boy, do you learn a lot about yourself and your team from the losses. Who is in the trenches with you, working to solve problems? Which team members are willing to step up into bigger roles when they are needed? How do you help a staff member recover from a mistake or keep the morale up for your team when they’re short staffed and working long hours to meet deadlines? The way we choose to support each other through adversity will dictate how we recover and will ultimately help build a stronger, more resilient team. It also makes the future wins that much sweeter, because we remember how hard it was to get there.

Back to why I love football, maybe it’s not just about winning championships after all. It’s about the people I stand shoulder to shoulder with every week trying to will our team to victory and cheer for a defense that may never arrive. It’s about the feeling that I’m a part of something bigger than myself, generations of fans dedicated to a common mission. It’s about the certainly of knowing that win or lose, I’m going to be that person that shows up to support my team no matter what, and I like what that says about myself. And I know I’m not alone in this, because I’ve run into CSMFO members all over California and beyond, who are caught up in this crazy football obsession with me! Some of us may be supporting opposing sidelines, but our goals are all very much the same.

And when we ultimately do win that championship – then what? We’ll celebrate for a while, and then we’re back in that stadium supporting our team and hopeful for another victorious season. In other words, whether we succeed or whether we fail, we’re going to keep moving forward and go right back to work either way. I can say with the utmost certainty that wins and losses will come and go throughout a season, a year, and a career. At the end of the day, what really matters is showing up for your team and enjoying the ride. See you next Saturday, Trojan fans.

2022 Notre Dame at USC with Ernie Reyna, Jennifer Becker, Will Fuentes, Terry Shea, John Adams, and Carrie Matson.

CSMFO Communications Committee Chair and Vice-Chair pulling for opposite teams in South Bend, IN, but always working together to bring you the CSMFO News.

2023 USC at Notre Dame with Jennifer Becker, Will Fuentes, Carrie Matson, and John Adams.

Enjoying a close victory in USC’s final trip to Berkeley last weekend with Dan Buffalo.