Yesterday I ventured to a place I rarely go, a place that haunts me in my nightmares: the University of Southern California (or, as girls from my high school used to call it, "that place Daddy went"). I have been to the USC campus three times since December of 2005: (1) USC's 66-19 drubbing of UCLA to end the 2005 football season; (b) Sis's graduation from the Marshall School of Business (don't even get me started; if she hadn't met her husband--more commonly known to GameTime, TBD© readers as my Brother-in-Law--while attending Marshall, I probably wouldn't be speaking to her anymore...okay, that's not entirely true, but you get the picture); and (iii) UCLA's 65-64 come-from-behind victory over USC at the Galen Center, capped off by Arron Afflalo's 15-footer with four seconds left while getting fouled by Nick Young.
You might be wondering, then, how I ended up on the USC campus on a Monday late morning/early afternoon when no sporting events were taking place at that time. I wish I could tell you that I was there checking out the disproportionate number of attractive young women that attend USC, the girls that will invariably be dressed as a "Sexy (interest profession/fairy tale character/superhero/etc. here)" come Halloween. Attractive women, however, were not the reason for my quest into the seventh circle of hell. [Speaking of attractive young women (other than My Better Half), my office is located right around the corner from the Fashinon Institute of Design and Merchandising, "FiDM" for short. In fact, my office overlooks the campus from about a block away. Many of the students at FiDM are attractive young women and you see them walking to and from classes during lunch, proudly displaying their FiDM shoulder bags. Well, I was in Ralph's picking up a sandwich for lunch today and there was a FiDM student walking around with an arm full of sugar-free Rockstar energy drinks and a bottle of water, and she was taking a few bites of samples available around the store. This is the problem with shows like The Hills; they make young women think that diet energy drinks and a few sample size bites of food constitutes a "healthy" diet. And these girls wonder why they get wasted after only two drinks?...but I digress].
Every Monday, the USC Athletic Department hosts an event entitled "Monday Morning Quarterback." It is a lunch followed by a meeting with Pete Carroll. Pete gives a little speech about his feelings on the last game, breaks down some game film, and then takes questions from the crowd. Those in attendance are mostly older alums who have probably donated tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of dollars to the program. Several of the senior partners in my firm attend this event on a weekly basis and when they can not make it, they invite other attorneys to go in their place. I have been invited to attend on several occasions in the past but, as you can imagine, have had no desire to sit in the Galen Center for two hours and listen to a Pete Carroll love fest.
Well, I was invited to go yesterday and I could not say no. This was my chance to go after a USC loss. Not just any loss mind you, but a loss that all but guaranteed that USC will be playing in, at best, the Holiday Bowl and possibly the Las Vegas Bowl. This is a school that has grown accustom to playing in the Rose Bowl or the BCS Championship game; they are used to playing their bowl game after the new year begins, not before it. I just had to see how the alumni responded to that. Although I had to sit through about twenty minutes of USC marching band (I nearly slit my wrists with my car key...seriously...that damn song is worse than a Chinese torture chamber), it turned out to be everything I hoped for.
There was no standing ovation for Pete when he entered the arena; I was informed that that was a first. Although I had watched the game live, when Pete went over some of the game film it became abundantly clear that USC was not necessarily beat by a better team but, rather, were not prepared to play the type of game Oregon plays. When it came time for the question and answer portion, Pete was forced to deal with questions like "Is the offense becoming too predictable?", "Why did you go for it on 4th and 1?", "Why is the team struggling against the worst teams in the league?", and, my personal favorite, "Why are you getting out coached?" Pete, for the most part, gave cookie-cutter answers: dealing with too many injuries, thought they could make it on 4th and 1, the Pac-10 is competitive league top to bottom, blah, blah, blah. But those in attendance were clearly not satisfied with the answers and, had the MC not called an end to the event, would probably still be asking questions. I have never seen a man exit a building faster than Pete Carroll left the Galen Center.
Although I thoroughly enjoyed watching him face the firing squad, I should admit that I have a new level of respect for Pete Carroll (though, it's admittedly low since my prior respect was non-existent). USC fans have become spoiled with their school's recent football success. They forget what it was like during the latter years of John Robinson's tenure. So, I am not surprised that a few alumni have their granny panties in a bunch over two losses. I do not think they even remember that the last time USC lost two games was just last year. Yet Pete stood there and took it all square in the chest. I am jealous that USC fans get to attend an event like this and I wish UCLA did something similar. I would be there every week if they did. But I know that, even if UCLA did have an event like this, Karl Dorrell would not have come out after that loss to Washington State and answered those questions. Ironically enough, I am pretty sure he would have had to answer the same questions I just mentioned.
It is fun, however, watching USC fans struggle to come to terms with reality. Pete Carroll is not the great coach everyone thought he was. Pete had put together a great staff that made him look like a genius. But with most of the staff having moved on to bigger and better things, the true state of the USC program is becoming clear. And I have got to tell you, I like what I see.
So Bruin fans, I invite you to tune in and watch Karl Dorrell coach his last game as the UCLA head coach this coming Saturday at noon. As for you Trojan fans out there, you can tune in and watch Pete Carroll coach his last game as the USC head coach on Saturday, December 22nd when the Trojans take on the mighty Cougars of BYU in the 16th annual Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl.
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