It rained.

Someday when they’re looking for an excuse to explain why any of this craziness happened, that’s what they will say.

It rained.

When you’re a USC football fan and your team isn’t playing in a bowl game for the first time since 2011, a rainy day can be doubly miserable. When you’re a member of the Latitudes (that really is the name of a group of Orange County businessmen), rain can inspire you.

On the first Southern California rainy day in November, Scott Ostlund called his buddy Mike Arnold.

Scott Ostlund stands next to a photo circa 1920 of 4th Street in Santa Ana and the Spurgeon Building in Santa Ana, CA on Thursday, December 13, 2018. Ostlund is part of a group that is going to 18 bowl games around the country this season. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Jared Murayama shows the USC carved into his haircut in Santa Ana, CA on Thursday, December 13, 2018. Murayama is part of a group that are going to 18 bowl games around the country this season. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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Brian Richardson, Scott Ostlund, Jared Murayama, Mike Fyhrie, Mike Arnold, Matt Genova, Jeremy Skiver, Jim Chiate and Trip Secrist will go to 18 college bowl games in 15 states over a 22 day period. They gathered in Santa Ana, CA on Thursday, December 13, 2018. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Jared Murayama shows his USC painted toenails in Santa Ana, CA on Thursday, December 13, 2018. Murayama is part of a group of friends that are going to 18 bowl games around the country this season. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)



“I’m depressed,” Ostlund said.

“Let’s go to the National Championship game,” Arnold said to make his buddy feel better.

And during the rain, Ostlund suddenly was hit with a lightning bolt of an idea.

“No,” Ostlund said, “let’s go to EVERY bowl game.”

“You’re nuts,” Arnold said.

And then Arnold said one tiny word that means everything.

“In,” he said.

Record pursuit

Over 22 days, a handful of longtime friends will travel to 15 states across six time zones in an attempt to see 18 college football bowl games.

They are calling the trip “Bowlmaggedon.” They had a logo designed and t-shirts made. And hats. And pullover sweatshirts.

This is what some rich dudes do when they want to get crazy. The Latitudes are real estate developers, attorneys, software designers, advertising executives and there’s a former major league pitcher, too.

They will start with the Celebration Bowl on Saturday, Dec. 15 in Atlanta and end with the College Football Playoff National Championship on Jan. 7 in Santa Clara. In between, they plan to drink a lot of martinis and eat enough food – hot dogs, pulled pork, oyster po’ boys and key lime pie are part of their first day’s menu – to challenge even the most steely gastrointestinal tract.

They say their efforts (should they all survive the grueling schedule) will result in a Guinness World Record for most bowl games attended in a college football season.

They will fly home for a two-day football break for Christmas, ostensibly to save their marriages. Then they will head back out for the second half of the trip.

“There are plenty of Christmases, but only one world record,” said Jared Murayama, a software designer who currently has the letters U-S-C shaved into the back of his head and his toenails painted USC colors, cardinal and gold.

‘Brady’ inspiration

The roots of this wild football trip go back to the early 1970s in Fresno where Scott Ostlund would drag his friend Mark Magarian into all kinds of adventures.

“I’ve pulled him around the world with me,” said Ostlund, the leader of the Latitudes and a real estate developer who recently purchased and renovated the Spurgeon building in Santa Ana.

Ostlund said he has been infatuated with breaking a world record since he saw the episode of “The Brady Bunch” in which Bobby and Cindy tried to break the record for teeter-tottering.

Ostlund, Magarian and several buddies went to USC in the late 1980s and several were in the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. Those friendships have lasted more than 30 years.

As they became more and more financially successful, their list of adventures grew more impressive. The name of their group was inspired by the Jimmy Buffett album “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes.”

They have been to USC football games all over the country, including a trip to Fayetteville, Arkansas, in which one of them (they would not divulge the name) ended up in jail for one night after getting in a fight with a local character known as “Fayetteville Jesus.”

They entered a float in a Mardi Gras parade on Fat Tuesday in New Orleans.

They climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro.

They have attended the Sundance and Tribeca film festivals.

In August 2017, they flew to Idaho to watch the eclipse of the sun. That trip may define just how intense about travel they are. They didn’t just want to watch the eclipse. They went to the Snake River to a “zone of totality” so they could see the total eclipse of the sun. They realize they were acting out the lyrics of the Carly Simon song “You’re So Vain.”

The Latitudes are so vain.

“You’ve got to be ready to go anywhere,” Ostlund said.

Fine friends

If you’re in the Latitudes, you get fined $100 for talking about work while having an adventure.

Or, as former major league pitcher Mike Fyhrie found out, you get fined $100 for calling your wife. Fyhrie, by the way, was also fined for compiling only two victories in his major league career.

Dealing with wives is a delicate issue among the Latitudes.

For example, they discuss strategies about how to tell their significant others that they will be going on a 22-day trip before and after the holidays.

They said there is the “trickle” method, in which information about upcoming adventures is leaked out a little at a time.

Brian Richardson, a horse racing executive, said he trickled the news of his upcoming trip to his wife, Maryann.

“She thinks I’m crazy,” Richardson said.

Then there is the “dump” method. That one is a little more treacherous because it involves waiting until the last minute and dumping all the details for the trip at one calamitous moment.

They pointed to Trip Secrist, who is in business development, as an example not to follow.

Secrist has been divorced twice. He will not be going on this trip.

“I’ve got too many ex-wives to pay,” he said.

Lofty goals

There is one adventure the Latitudes dream about.

“The seven summits,” Ostlund said.

That would be mountains Everest, Aconcagua, Denali, Kilimanjaro, Vinson, Elbrus and Puncak Jaya (or Kosciuszko, depending on the list you use).

But they know that trip would put their lives in danger.

So more realistically, they have set their sights on Paris and the Olympic Games in 2024.

They want to see more Olympic events than anyone, still influenced by “The Brady Bunch.”

“We’re going to do it,” Ostlund said.