I forgot it was a short week, until Beano sent me a little reminder. It was a handwritten letter – Beano doesn’t type – which made it a little hard to read. But apparently he is very excited that USC will again be featured on national prime time television for a game that promises to require many shots of the sideline in order to keep viewers entertained during the second half.
Here’s what I could decipher from Beano's note:
Dear Mr. Displaced Trojan,
May I remind you that your Trojans of USC are scheduled to play a football game against the Oregon State Beavers on ESPN tomorrow night? As tomorrow is Thursday, I am very excited to know that the Song Girls will be in attendance. I’m hoping for a blowout, which would ensure maximum sideline coverage. You know, I live for this stuff, so I’m hoping you will post some good stuff, if you understand my meaning.
Sincerely,
Your Friend Beano
So, there you have it. Thursday night. USC Football with all the trimmings. Have fun with it, Beano.
This is a great week. Not only is USC at the center of the college football universe leading into our “biggest game of the season,” but people are saying stupid stuff all over the nation, which of course I find inspiring.
Sure, we’ve already seen some really stupid stuff before this week, but you tend to appreciate it more when the stupid stuff comes from a hated, albeit respected enemy.
Again, we’ve been away for a while, so I’ll clarify the Displaced take … USC has two primary enemies: Notre Dame, which is hated but deserves a level of respect, and ucla, which is hated and deserves no respect, at all. But I digress …
Not only is Charlie Weis (above) still struggling to figure out this head coaching thing, he remains clueless about how to keep his foot out of his mouth. It’s bad enough that his reputation as an offensive genius is turning out to be merely offensive to Domer fans, but his messed up sense of humor is dragging the Domers down further.
The AP serves up the backstory and the ensuing stupidity:
[Weis] was talking about his expectations for this season, saying his team would make a statement in its opening game against San Diego State.
"Then we'll listen to Michigan have all their excuses as they come running in and saying how they have a new coaching staff and there's changes. To hell with Michigan.” …
Weis said he knew his comment would come up this week. ...
"Anyone who is a Michigan fan should know and understand that that comment pays respect to Bo and his mentality versus when playing an opponent," he said. "So take it for what it's worth. But I think that's a very respectful comment toward Coach Bo's 'To hell with Notre Dame.'"
Actually, anyone who is a college coach should know that Michigan’s players (who weren’t more than four years old when Schembechler retired after the 1990 Rose Bowl) couldn’t care less about the Crew Cut’s historical tribute. “To hell with Michigan!” That’s all they’ll hear.
So, I have to ask: How can this stupid stuff continue to happen after more than three years? I ask only because I want USC’s wins over the Domers to mean something again. We can’t have our storied rivalry be tarnished like this by a loud mouth who does so little (three wins) with so much talent.
Anyway, I can’t wait until Saturday, and I’m hoping against all hope that Beanie Wells will play. We want no excuses.
Speaking of Beanies, I got a note from Beano this week. He said he noticed that we were posting here again and that Thursdays weren’t the same for him while we were out.
I apologized for the long break and said, “Well, Beano ... We’re Back!”
Beano’s response? “That’s awesome. To hell with Scott Wolf!”
WeAreSC.com does a nice job conducting what it calls “exit interviews” with outgoing senior football players. I like reading them because they help fill time between Signing Day and Spring Football, while also confirming that current student-athletes are learning what it means to be part of the Trojan Family.
However ... WeAreSC took a detour yesterday to interview (so to speak) Natalie Nelson about her thoughts (so to speak) regarding her career as a USC Song Girl. It was titled: “Exit Interview: Natalie.”
Of course, Beano read the article and cried. Me? I just about fell asleep.
No disrespect to the interviewer David Chung, but this is the fluffiest fluff piece that has ever been fluffed. In fact, the piece is so fluffy that Chung never mentions Nelson’s last name, as if she’s some sort of character in a reality TV show.
Not that we should expect much in the way of hard hitting issues here, but Chung could have asked Nelson at least a few questions that incorporate the words "bad timing” or “wedgy” ... just to keep things interesting.
After all, Nelson has been the quintessential (if not stereotypical) USC Song Girl for the last couple of years. She’s been a co-captain of the squad. She dated a captain of the football team, linebacker Dallas Sartz. She’s the daughter of Song Girl coach Lori Nelson. She's performed through injuries. She was on the cover of Los Angeles Magazine (left), and she’s posed toward the center of most Song Girl group photos, because -- let’s be honest -- she’s a strikingly beautiful blond who looks great in a Song Girl sweater and skirt.
However ... she is also responsible for this, ...
... and she is the inspiration for this ...
... and this, ...
... which subsequently led to these, ...
... the production of this, ...
... and the over-exposure (so to speak) of this ...
Not to mention her attendance in Senora Ross’s “Spanish III” class.
Yes, we know Nelson isn’t directly responsible for the “wedgy,” but she certainly set the precedent for the college football blogger geek frenzy that resulted from it.
Of course, we’re not complaining about this stuff. We always laugh with the Song Girls, not at them. So, again, you’d think Chung could ask at least one question that doesn’t read like a double pompom over the head waving thing (so to speak).
Instead, to her credit, Nelson mentioned her “bad timing” in response to Chung’s 31st fluffy question. This created the only part of the Q&A worth reading:
WEARESC: What are the toughest parts of being a Song Girl and what will you take out of it after you leave USC?
NN: One of the toughest things was definitely the Photoshopping. It was hard to see myself that way because none of the referees hands are up and I’m just there trying to get the crowd pumped up because everyone in the stands was nervous we were going to lose because they were right in front of us. What’s disappointing for me is that I really know football, maybe even more than anyone on the squad. I’ve grown up around football and I know the sport. It was hard because I know the sport and the picture was just taken at the wrong place, wrong time, and then Photoshopped.
“Photoshopped.” It almost makes you feel sorry for Nelson, if not for her other answers about focusing on a modeling career, doing charity work -- and anything else she might have said before I fell asleep -- all of which tells us that she’ll never have to hold down a real job … ever.
“Such is the life” (as Nestor puts it) of a infamous USC Song Girl. Just another thing to make the jealous “nation” more jealous … and bring Beano to tears.
So, it’s Thursday, and while Beano may be expecting the usual twirl, today we’re going pro. Turns out Sports Illustrated paid a visit to USC recently to take a few photos of the Trojan Marching Band for SI’s 2007 Swimsuit Issue.
Who's to say why the photo editors at SI decided to combine skinny (albeit beautiful, bikini-clad) women with geeky (albeit lucky as hell) USC Band members … on FieldTurf, no less.
Word out here near Bristol, Conn., is that ESPN.com wasn’t about to have a CBS-affiliated SEC school named No. 1 in recruiting yesterday … at least not without a fight.
So, the World Wide Leader -- perhaps with help from Beano Cook -- stacked the deck for its favorite ABC/ESPN-affiliated Pac-10 school (aka conference TV ratings darling USC Football), conveniently placing Trojan signees Joe McKnight, Chris Galippo and Mark Tyler at the very top of its ESPN 150 player ranking.
The result? Yet another top recruiting class secured for our man Pete Carroll. Of course, as we anticipated yesterday, Rivals and Scout have USC’s 2007 class ranked No. 2 and No. 3, respectively. But who are we to argue with the World Wide Leader?
Wait a minute … it’s game day today? With all the stupid stuff going on, not to mention the fools continuing to make fools of themselves, it's easy to lose track.
