Slick Rick Gets Tricked

So, Matt Barkley - the No. 1 recruit for the class of 2009 and the first junior ever to be named National Gatorade Player of the Year - announced his commitment to USC last night. I suppose this latest recruiting coup by our man Pete Carroll sets our world straight after all the angst Traitor Chow seemed to be causing this week.

But the take here is that Barkley's commitment sheds new light on a few quotes sprinkled throughout the Traitor Chow coverage - quotes from "experts" that were like flies on Traveler's ass, until Barkley made his commitment public.

The best example is Bill Plaschke's over-reaction to Slick Rick's moves since becoming head PR guy at ucla. With Murshed "Nestor" Zaheed and the "nation" of idiots masturbating over our used goods, Plaschke (who has been among Murshed's enemy journalists at the Times) waxed unpoetically about how Slick Rick is more than just a liar executing "cheap parlor tricks."

Plaschke quoted sources to provide insight into how college football recruiting works, and to suggest that perhaps the Three Stooges (aka Slick Rick, Trader Chow and Dwayne "One Trick" Walker) would now be the "it" thing for five-star high school players.

"Norm Chow has just looked USC in the eye and said, 'Here we come,' " said Steve Clarkson, local quarterback guru. ...

"A kid like that is looking for the best opportunity to get him to the NFL," Clarkson said. "Norm Chow gives him that." ...

"Kids no longer go to the school that they rooted for as a kid, they look at it like a business," said Clarkson, whose celebrated quarterback academy has helped spawn three current NFL starters. "And to say that Norm Chow won't make a difference is to make a serious error in judgment."

If you don't know Steve Clarkson, he is the private quarterback instructor who worked with Matt Leinart. He also tutored Jimmy Clausen, and some "experts" thought he steered Clausen away from USC and toward Notre Dame, following an argument with Pete Carroll at USC's "Pro Day" in 2006. Clarkson has been working with Barkley, so reading the quotes above, you could see how the "nation" of idiots might begin to think that Slick Rick's tricks have already won six straight Pac-10 titles, three Heisman Trophies, five BCS bowls, and two MNCs.

Add to that this quote in Plaschke's piece from Bruce Rollinson, Barkley's head coach at Mater Dei:

"We tell our athletes, marry yourself to your future position coach, that's the guy you'll live with. And now, if you're a quarterback going to UCLA, you're getting the real deal."

Hmmm. If Barkley's personal QB coach and the head coach of his high school are saying things like that, you'd think Traitor Chow would be a lock to put the kid in powder blue. But it turns out that Clarkson and Rollins were pulling a fast one to protect a secret.

Said Clarkson in today's Times: "(Barkley has) had a silent commitment (to USC) since last October. It was a decision he felt good about but never announced until now."

I love it. While Barkley was touring ucla during an unofficial visit with Slick Rick over the weekend, Clarkson and Rollins were getting slick with Slick Rick, with the "nation" of idiots following along.

Now, when Barkley recruits his 2009 classmates to come to USC he can tell them that he's heard Slick Rick's lies and b.s. up close and in person. He can tell them that he could hardly stop himself from throwing up (or laughing out loud) while in enemy territory, knowing that he was, is and will forever be a member of the Trojan Family.

And if you don't think Pete Carroll wasn't having a little chuckle about all this - and a little "this is how we do it" high-five with Ken Norton and Steve Sarkisian - then you don't think like a true Trojan ... and, apparently, you don't think like Matt Barkley.

Congratulations, Matt! Fight On!