Lane Kiffin to Raiders

Steve Sarkisian turned down the opportunity to be the Raiders head coach last week, so crazy Al Davis took the next best thing ... Lane Kiffin (left). Just saw this "scoop" on an ESPN update.

The early take here: USC got ... or rather kept ... the better coach.

Fight On!
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USC Song Girls vs. 'Every Man, Woman and Child'

If you’ve ever had the misfortune of sitting too close to the ugla alumni section during a bruin football game, you’ve seen him. His name is Geoff Strand, and he’s an idiot.

Strand is the annoying guy (if you can call him a guy) dressed like an ugla clown, commanding the bruin alumni (“every man, woman and child”) to cheer on his cue, as if ugla grads are too stupid to know when to make noise for their team. I’m certainly willing to give bruin alums more credit than that, I suppose.

As for the fact that Strand is a fool, the evidence is irrefutable:
The funny thing is this video was posted on the “nation” in reaction to a post by Orson at EDSBS, who used Strand as evidence that ugla fans are apathetic Republicans … or did he really mean Nationalists? I’m not sure what to make of Orson’s point, but the comments it spurred are hilarious (and telling), and the cannibalistic thread that followed the “nation” post illustrates the nature of the ugla fan. Rather than defend their man Strand, the bruins give us this:

If I didn't go to UCLA or was not a Bruin football fan, I'd be clowning that freakinsh show too.

And I would also hurl all kinds of insults.

This is just pathetic. I can see some arguments about having a juggler as part of the band show. But this dude is just a clown. He doesn't belong in a college football game.

Go Bruins!

Never mind the comedic value of comparing a “freakinsh show” to a “juggler” at your own college football game, the irony in this post by “bluestreet” is classic. He says his bruiness prevents him from insulting and making fun of Strand, and yet that’s exactly what he does.

Anyway, “MIMBruin” led off the comments with this:

Do we need some new blood? Abso-freakin-lutely. Student yell leaders of recent years haven't been all that creative or distinctive in their style. I think the last good shtick I saw was the crew that brought a toilet lid with the words "FLUSH 'EM!" or "FLUSH IT!" to spur the crowd onto noise.

Hmmm … I don’t know about you, but toilet humor never got me to cheer at a college football game. Then again, I didn’t attend ugla. Someone else who presumably did is “razksig,” who restored my understanding that at least a few people with brains call themselves bruin fans.

Strand bugs the hell out of me
I just think that the crowd is somewhat apathetic anyway, but having a guy up there saying "don't cheer now, wait till I say to cheer" is so bush league. Fans should be on their feet screaming the entire time our defense is on the field, not just after the opposing team's offense breaks its huddle. Football is one sport in which the home crowd can have the greatest effect on the outcome of a game, and this geriatric clown is one thing holding back an already tame crowd. […] I hardly remember Strand leading our section during the SUC game, which was not the case for every other home game I attended. I appreciate his intentions, but he is terrible.

“Bush league” … “terrible” … that’s a good way to put it. But “bluestreet” was even more to the point in his second go around.

[Strand] is a nice guy and all. I am sure he is a good guy.

But he dresses like a freak. He looks creepy along the sidelines. Frankly I think its kind of embarrassing.

He should limit his little routine to alumni gatherings. But even then, his routine is just silly and embarrassing.

“Freak” … “creepy” … “silly” … “embarrassing” … LOL. Of course, you can’t have a thread at the “nation” without some Trojan bashing, and “babyblue98” delivers on cue:

That guy [Strand] has always kind of annoyed me. i've always said who's to say he gets to be the voice who represents the bruin fan? but whenever that guy gets on my nerves, which is every game i attend, i just think that at least he's not as gay as that trojan wearing a skirt riding that white horse around the coliseum.

We know being gay has nothing to do with this, but really, who is this “babyblue” trying to kid? Anyway, “abby8065” gets the thread back on track, attempting to kill two birds with one stone … or tomato, as it were.

pathetic!
I am sorry but that guy is pathetic! I don't need someone to tell me when to cheer or not; and I never cheer when someone tells me to!

He looks like a circus clown and his voice is too damn annoying. I couldn't even watch the entire video, because I wanted throw something at him.

Now he could definitely get the crowd excited if he wore a Trojan t-shirt and let people throw tomatoes at him!

I would just go to the games to get a chance to peg him.

The fun goes on for a few more comments, until the aptly named “True Blue and Gold” points out the truth (if not correct spelling) to fellow ugla fans …

It's really embarassing the way you go after your own. Geoff hasn't done any harm to anyone. If anything he promotes spirit and entusiasm. I don't know if you've noticed but he manages to get the press box side to yell Bruins while the student yell crew doesn't even tell us that it's going on.

Whether or not Strand “hasn’t done any harm” is certainly up for debate, but it is interesting to see how these bruins turn on one of their own.

USC Trojans, on the other hand, don’t have such issues. We’ll have fun here at the expense of our spirit section any day of the week, especially Thursdays.

But rather than use words like pathetic and freak and creepy when presented with video evidence, USC fans use words like lovely and hot … and wedgy.

Fight On!
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USC: We're No. 1 (Early 2007 Edition)

Being true to my fair-weather fandom of USC “basketball,” I’ve been making an effort to learn more about college hoops in preparation for our impending Trojan Uprising. One thing I don’t quite understand is why everybody cares so much about mid-season rankings.

Nestor of the “nation” tried to explain to me the importance of ugla’s recent No. 1 ranking in basketball. “Exposure” … “recruiting” … blah, blah, blah, he said. But common sense tells us that rankings really don’t mean a damn thing in hoops, especially when a 5th place team out of the Pac-10 can win a championship.

Regardless of this season’s rankings, ugla already has its big recruit secured, as does USC and virtually every other program. And ultimately, everything will be played out on the court. So, what does it matter?

In college football on the other hand, rankings are everything. And lucky for us, USC Football is once again top-ranked.

Just ask ESPN, Sports Illustrated, Rivals.com, and Scout.com … We’re No. 1.

You can also ask msnbc.com’s John Walters, another writer we like, who has USC ranked No. 1 for an important aspect of USC Football that also matters: the Trojans’ play-anybody-anywhere attitude when it comes to scheduling non-conference games.

Thank you, USC. […] While most head coaches and athletic directors concur (be it privately or publicly) with Florida's Urban Meyer, who last week said that he considers a 60-0 win against a I-AA opponent "fun", you […] made a date or two with danger on your schedule. Your non-conference, free-to-date-whomever-you-please schedule. […]

As a college football fan, I say thanks. Thanks […] to always fearless USC, who this year travel to Lincoln, Neb, and South Bend, Ind., to face two of the three winningest programs of all-time (having just smacked around the winningest, Michigan, two weeks ago).

Walters goes on to rank the top 10 non-conference games for 2007, and again, we’re No. 1.

1. USC (11-2) at Nebraska (9-5), Sept. 15
Carroll's Conundrum: The Trojans return ten starters on defense, and that's before Pete figures out how to get super stud freshmen Chris Galippo (LB) and Everson Griffin (DE) into the rotation. Nice problem to have. The Maze Unsheathers will likely toss Pac-10 party boy transplant Sam Keller behind center. It's like "Tommy Lee Goes To College" without the horticulture tutoring sessions. In 2005, while the QB at Arizona State, Keller led the Sun Devils to a 21-3 halftime lead versus the Trojans before imploding in the second half.

While we’re at it, USC is also currently No. 1 in several rankings for football recruiting, having already received verbal commitments from 10 of Rival.com’s revised Top 100 high school players (including nine 5-Star studs in the top 50), with a few more who could commit by Signing Day.

The best part of all this is that we don’t play a single snap against any team until September 1. That’s more than seven full months of unadulterated “USC is No. 1” hype, including the covers of season preview publications, features on ESPN, and all sorts of props throughout these internets. How’s that for an impact on exposure, recruiting, blah, blah, blah? Sweet!

No doubt the only rankings that really matter are at the end of the season. But it’s still more fun when we’re No. 1.

Fight On!
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USC Hoops: It's Getting Funny

Took a few days off, figuring that things were once again back to normal in the world of USC Football … that is, by all accounts, the Trojans are No. 1 heading into next season. Then, I realized that perhaps there was something strange (maybe even funny) going on.

It seems as if people who call themselves basketball fans … as well as some who cover the sport for a living … can't wait for this b-ball thing at USC to get going. Last I heard, we were supposed to wait until next season for some one-year wonder to make people notice USC hoops. Apparently, that’s not the case …

Even after the bruins earned a 65-64 victory Saturday, it appears all anyone wants to talk about is how the Trojans “basketball” program is improving … or how USC’s new Galen Center is a great venue that gives the Trojans a boost … or how the perennially presumed basketball gap between USC and ugla – whose position, as we know, is pre-ordained by history – is supposedly closing.

Beating USC in basketball always is a Bruins priority. If not an expectation.

But the stakes have gotten higher. The task is getting tougher.

USC finally has a serious coach in Tim Floyd, who took New Orleans and Iowa State to the NCAA Tournament, and coached both the Chicago Bulls and New Orleans Hornets.

Floyd is making inroads into recruiting blue-chippers. The sort of players USC used to go decades without landing.

In two years at Troy, Floyd has added 6-9 center Taj Gibson and a pair of athletic, 6-5 guards, Dwight Lewis and Daniel Hackett. Three of his top six players, that is.

The Trojans already look like better athletes than the Bruins. And that's before uber-recruit O.J. Mayo joins the USC show next season.

UCLA can hear the footsteps. The challenge to its SoCal hoops hegemony is overt.

Suddenly, Pauley Pavilion seems less like a basketball cathedral ... and more like an old, primitive facility. (What, no luxury boxes? Galen Center has 'em.)

What once seemed a huge talent gap in UCLA's favor ... now it's more like Ben Howland and the Bruins winning on guile, character and institutional memory.

USC certainly can't be penciled in as a pair of "Ws" on the UCLA schedule.

Their game Saturday could have been a tipping point.

Even sports media out here in New York, the mecca of basketball and the birthplace of one Lewis Alcindor, are eager to see the Trojans challenge the bruins’ hegemony in Los Angeles. Dick “Hoops” Weiss, a columnist for the New York Daily News, wrote last week about a “Trojan Uprising” …

[Tim Floyd] inherited a major rebuilding project from Henry Bibby, who was fired at midseason in 2005, but Floyd won 17 games his first year and beat three ranked teams - UCLA, Arizona and North Carolina. This season, he has transformed the Trojans (13-4, 3-1 Pac-10) into a major player in the best league in the country. Expect USC to make the NCAA Tournament and eventually make a run at competing with the Bruins on an equal basis in Los Angeles within three years. […]

The Trojans might not be ready to make a run at Florida and UCLA this season, but Gibson is right - the battle is on. Floyd has signatures and commitments from enough blue-chip prospects in the next two classes to make the Trojans a Final Four contender. In addition to Mayo, Floyd has signed Davon Jefferson, an athletic 6-8 forward from Los Angeles who is taking a prep year in North Carolina. Floyd also inked 6-8 forward Leonard Washington, the best prospect in Louisiana.

Final Four contender … blue-chip prospects … making the Tournament … And, what’s this about USC beating Arizona, North Carolina and ugla last year … in hoops? I find that incredibly difficult to believe. But, I digress …

Certainly, unlike the state of USC Football, this “basketball” stuff is not normal. But it’s funny, nonetheless. And, like other things we’ve found “funny” recently, all this attention being paid to USC “basketball” has the bruins’ proverbial panties in a bunch.

True to form, the “nation” showed its colors after sweating out ugla's one-point win. Attempting to draw parallels with lies told about “WMDs Found In Iraq” of all inappropriate things, Nestor [no, I won’t reveal his real name again no matter how many times you ask] worked himself into a lather, posting one of his grammatically lacking rants to complain about the Los Angeles Times:

Today it is Robyn Norwood's turn to pimp a basketball program, which hasn't sniffed the NCAA tourney in half a decade an elevate it to the level of Duke, North Carolinas of the world. Ms. Norwood writes up an article saying somehow the gap between UCLA and Southern California basketball program is closing despite the fact this year Trojan lost to UCLA in their brand new gym against a Bruin squad that was playing without its second leading scorer. Riddle me this. How can you claim a program is closing gap with the defending champion of the conference after it loses to the same program it beat on its home floor last year?

“hasn't sniffed the NCAA tourney in half a decade an elevate it” … ? “despite the fact this year Trojan lost to UCLA” … ? “a program is closing gap with the defending champion” …?

"Riddle me this." What’s with the broken English?

Anyway, as if on cue, “Tydides” went out of his way to stroke himself with this:

Here's the bottom line (addressed to the excuse-making whiners):
We won. We are UCLA. We are relevant, you are not. We beat you on YOUR homecourt, in front of YOUR fans, WITHOUT one of our best players. You might think you played well enough to win, perhaps even think you "outplayed" the Bruins, but you know what? You didn't, and the scoreboard shows it. It hurts to have to actually have to care about basketball, doesn't it? Will you still care about it now? I doubt it. You are losers. Thank you and good night.

Not surprisingly, “Tydides” still doesn’t get it. There’s no need to hate. Even if real USC fans actually did care about basketball, he needn't waste his limited capacities to write (if you can call it writing) something like this, all full of misplaced anger.

Why isn’t a bruin win on USC’s shiny new floor enough for the “nation”?

I suppose “Tydides” is trying to put USC “basketball” in its place, where new arenas and top recruits and supposedly good coaching don’t threaten to threaten the righteous present and history of ugla basketball. But why address USC fans in this way … unless the threat is real?

I wouldn’t know. As a tried and true traditional USC Football fan, I honestly couldn’t care less about USC “basketball.”

Obviously, the same can’t be said for ugla. They know their basketball … and they know USC is coming. Funny isn’t it?

Fight On!
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USC Song Girls: The Afterglow

So, I guess we're back to the normal routine.

The stress and confusion of Pete Carroll's future has apparently subsided. All of our 2006 juniors are supposedly accounted for, and we're free now to turn our attention fully to the 2007 recruiting class.

Oh ... and now that the blogosphere is smoking its proverbial cigarette, after a few days of Song Girl insanity came to a climax last week -- although some bloggers are a little slow to the take -- we can return to our usual fare ...


Fight On!

ADD: In case you missed it among all the actual football coverage, Austin Murphy of SI spent some time with our lovely Song Girls for a Q&A that outlines their hectic New Year's Day schedule and other "interesting" details. Surely, if any of us had to wake up at 3:00 am to start curling our hair, before marching in the Rose Parade and fronting the USC Trojan Marching Band with dance routines for something like 10 straight hours, we'd end up with a wedgy at some point during the day, too. Thank goodness Megan could handle it all.
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Pete Carroll Going or Staying ... You Decide

As we’ve stated before, this multimedia stuff on these internets are a wonderful thing. It used to be that sports fans were at the mercy of journalists telling them what’s what, but the Internet and the blogosphere has changed all that.

These days, with everything online, we can easily compare and contrast the difference in perception and interpretation from one writer to another, one paper to another, one region to another. Back when newspapers were purely cellulose this comparative insight was nearly impossible.

More importantly, today we are able to see how quotes can be recorded not quite accurately and presented out of context … how a journalist with supposed “professional” standards can (sub-consciously or otherwise) allow a personal agenda to get in the way of objectivity.

Still, most journalists are capable of presenting a balanced take on an issue. But rather than trust that a reporter is recording and presenting information in context, fans now have the opportunity to hear a story from the source in full. Of course, we too apply our own biased filters, serve our own agendas, and make up our own opinions about stuff for posting on the blogosphere. But we don’t pretend to possess the professional objectivity of a traditional journalist.

Obviously, all this is a set up for Pete Carroll’s statements upon his return from Costa Rica yesterday. We see the usual suspect(s) are playing their roles.

Luckily, AM-570 has the wherewithal to post in its entirety Carroll’s press conference* and what he said about his meeting with Miami Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga.

And, again, for the multimedia challenged, here are the key statements, transcribed verbatim …

Question: “Would you leave [USC] if [Huizenga] offered you the job?”

I’ve never even come close to thinking that. I’ve never come close to thinking that for every year I’ve been here, every opportunity that’s come along, the stuff you know about, and the stuff you don’t know about. I’ve never been close to doing that, and I’m not close to that right now. […]

I think what’s really important is what I do, and it will speak volumes. You’ll all see. I love this place, and I’ve given everything that I have to this program, and I will continue to do that. And I think, if anything, if anybody can understand it this way, that kind of an interaction for me [meeting Huizenga], only strengthens my resolve about being here and knowing what I have and how lucky I am to be in the situation that I’m in. […] I know how it’s going to end. [...]

I absolutely expect to be here next year.

Question: “Coach, you do understand the tremendous amount of interest now, because this is the very first time that you have even admitted talking to someone in the NFL?”

Yeah, well, I think it’s because it’s the only time I ever have. It’s the right thing to do. I’m not going to hide from the fact that I talked to those guys. […] I had a chance to figure something out and understand something further with greater depth. […] For anybody that’s interested in me staying at USC it’s a good thing.

Carroll said that he didn’t think there would ever be a situation in which an NFL owner would allow a head coach to have full control of an organization, like he has at USC. Apparently, Huizenga is willing to grant that level of responsibility to Carroll, which prompted the last question at the presser:

“So, all things being equal, full control there, full control here, you’d stay here?”

I love the Trojans. Yep. I love being here. I love everything about what we’re doing here. I love being in California. We’re in the middle of something that’s really special. We’ve got a bunch of direction that we’ve got going here, with great kids coming in, great kids part of this program, with a commitment to something really special, and I don’t want to take any steps away from that. I think this is an awesome opportunity for me and for everybody that’s involved with our program to keep charging forward and do things that are very, very unique and that we’ll all take great pride in and feel great about our efforts.

That’s it. Listen to it. Decide for yourself if you think Carroll is seriously considering a move, or if he’s jockeying for a pay raise, or if his statements should be taken purely at face value.

I’ve decided to trust our man Carroll for now. He hasn’t given us a reason not to, so far.

Too bad the same can’t be said for every “professional” journalist who covers the Trojans.

Fight On!

* Download the audio recording of the press conference.
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USC Football: You’re Welcome Florida

The way I see it, the Gators owe us one … make that two. First, USC laid an egg (with a tail) during a 13-9 anomaly to put Florida in the BCS Championship game, albeit controversially over Michigan.

Then, the Trojans dismantled the Wolverines in the Rose Bowl to erase any doubt that the Gators should have been in Glendale, Ariz., for the chance to play Ohio State.

You’re welcome, Gator Nation.

Of course, Florida did a pretty good job erasing any doubt all by themselves last night, but the Gators can thank USC for the opportunity.

One plus resulting from the Trojans’ favor to Florida is that ugla can now stop waxing un-poetically about the bruins’ supposed missed opportunities to hold simultaneous national championships in football and basketball … way back in the 1960s.

Listen to ugla fans, and they’ll tell you they would have done it, if not for USC beating the bruins on the gridiron in ‘67 and ’69 when John Wooden and his partner in crime were stacking hoops talent at ugla:

While there are not exact parallels between the current college football landscape and the previous setup (expecially in the 1960s), it is fairly certain that had UCLA defeated USC in the 1967 Cross-Town Rivalry (a game billed as "The Game of the Century" at the time), Tommy Protho [ugla’s head coach] would have successfully completed the unthinkable: UCLA, that 'basketball-only' school, would have held both the football and basketball men's national titles in 1967. Additionally, UCLA had much the same chance again in 1969 - again losing to USC in the Battle for the Victory Bell. […]

So, just in case you're curious about an earlier team that had just as close a chance as Florida as holding both the basketball and football titles in a given year, that team was UCLA.

We know now that Florida didn’t just come close; it closed the deal last night. Although the Gators didn’t accomplish the feat in the same school year, they did get it done in the same calendar year (sorta), giving the media a chance to crown Florida as the first to take the dual titles. And it’s all thanks to USC.

Maybe the Trojans can be second to pull off the feat next year. (Ha!) I laugh, but with the if-we-build-it-Mayo-will-come Galen Center up and running, who knows? Certainly, ugla won’t have to worry about getting “as close a chance” any time soon. But, I digress …

It was nice to see Chris Leak (above) get his due. I’ve made it a semi-point to follow his career since the time he was a major recruit for USC. He had a diary on ESPN of his recruiting process, and he described in one entry his official visit to Los Angeles:

The thing that stood out the most is how so many different USC players pulled me aside to explain to me what a joy it is to play for Coach Carroll. That really stuck with me. […]

Overall, the visit to USC was great. Though I visited California for Elite 11, this was my first time in L.A. And I have to be honest: It was my best visit. I saw the Staples Center, the Hollywood sign, Beverly Hills and the neighborhood where Shaq lives.

Add to that the positive things that so many had to say about Coach Carroll and Coach Chow, as well as the fact that Coach Chow has flown twice from California to visit me in Charlotte and I must say, USC is quickly becoming a very inviting option.

Too bad Leak thought L.A. was too far from home, but when he committed to Ron Zook and Florida, the Trojans turned attention to John David Booty, and that was that. Leak got to play right away, but apparently a black drop-back passer is a concept for which the south isn’t ready, and Leak never got the love he deserved.

After adjusting to Urban Meyer’s “spread option” offense last year, Leak was supposed to be a Heisman candidate in 2006, but when his Bizarro World twin Tim Tebow – a running QB who is white – was inserted to run for first downs and TDs in short yardage, Leak’s role and perceived stature was reduced.

Still, Leak handled the immediate and fervent endorsement of Tebow by Gator fans and the subseqent media-created controversy with class. As Leak said at the post-game presser last night, “When you work hard and you do the right things … eventually your time will come. We’ve been very blessed.”

Blessed, indeed. The Gators got their “dual championship” and Leak’s time came last night … thanks to a rare slip by the Trojans.
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