The cultural conditioning just doesn’t seem to work

It’s been 26 years since I arrived in the US as an impressionable young man. I took to watching the NFL a bit, and then college football when I went to USC. I bought in – to the extent that my only true regret related to college not related to dames is that I missed the one USC – UCLA game for which I had tickets to the Rose Bowl, because I was so hung over that my friends abandoned their attempts to get me rolling. Hell, I went to the 1992 Freedom Bowl. My excuse for missing most of the 1990s seasons was that they weren’t on air in Rhode Island and the DC area, and I’m sticking to that.

In the meantime, I suspect that I watched a total of five soccer games live and in person between 1982  and 2006 –  a couple of pre-World Cup friendlies: England – Mexico at the Coliseum in 86, and US – Scotland at RFK in 98 – and then a few DC United games.

And yet, it’s the soccer that catches me. As soon as the SC – UCLA game ended on December, I was done with college football. The next night I nodded off watching a replay of Everton – Aston Villa, notable only because I woke up not to the replays of goals, but in the immediate run up as the announcers’ tone changed. I watched Barcelona – Real Madrid the other weekend and was shrieking at the screen in a way that I rarely do for football. And I was reminded today, watching a replay of Villareal – Barcelona, that soccer brings a beauty in play, sometimes, that catches me in a way that football just doesn’t. After 2/3 of my life in the land of the free, it’s the beautiful game that resonates.

I’ve watched a few minutes of a couple of bowl games, but that’s it. I haven’t had any interest in writing about any of them, in preview or review. I’m looking forward to the Rose Bowl and the MNC game, but have nothing to say that couldn’t be said better by someone else.

And I don’t see the point about writing about footy at the moment, because what can I add to the good games?

So as the new year approaches, family life obligations remain steady, and my workload continues to grow,  and I’m at an impasse. I’m not dropping this blog quite yet, despite the recent radio silence, but I need a rethink of scope and content. I’m not currently adding anything, and there’s a saturated market for pointless blogs.

Third verse, same as the first

There hasn’t been much point in adding my 2 cents’ worth about USC’s season. Plenty of people have identified injuries, penalties, and sone questionable play calling as being the difference between a season that’s heralded versus treated with either befuddlement or disdain depending on how much you 1) thought USC would do well and 2) were upset by that assumption. The game-by-game melodies may vary, but the overall structure of the composition remains consistent.

Odds are that SC will not go to a major bowl, and given their erratic play, that might be just as well. A lot of people made noises of disdain about losing to Stanford, but in some regards they did SC  a favor by getting a team that had no business in the top tier out of that tier. Plus, Stanford’s not really a rival, and Pritchard will dine out for many years on the strength of that game. That latter part is what being a college athlete should be about.

In the meantime, the defense is looking good, the receivers are starting to make some catches, and Mark Sanchez shows real passion for playing for SC – hopefully that will translate into a more dynamic approach from next year’s starter… I like JDB a great deal but I think we could do to switch to someone a little less laconic for next year. I’ll be interested to see how the year turns out… I expect them to struggle with and beat Cal and UCLA, and lose to Arizona State… which probably means that exactly the opposite will happen.

There’s a reason I don’t test my prognostication with the pitiless assessment of the bookies.

back like cooked crack!

I’ve been busy. We moved, we had no internet connection. I was providing vacation coverage at the serious SC blog. Excuses excuses.

However, things are picking up – we’re less than 4 weeks away from the start of college football, the Scottish Premiere League is already on the go, and the English Premier League kicks back into gear this weekend. And much as I enjoyed watching David Beckham demonstrate the value of an accurate forward pass in the friendly against Chelsea – almost as much as I enjoyed watching Gordon Strachan trying not to go purple when Celtic let him down again in an MLS friendly – this is the real deal.

I suppose this is where I should put some kind of predictions, but season previews are for people with energy and commitment. For college football, there’s really no need to go beyond Phil Steele, although the inimitable Sunday Morning Quarterback is probably the next closest authority – and bless Steele’s heart, he’s just not as funny. As for English footie, the top four will try and array themselves for Europe in 2008, and some mid-table team will start strong and fade in the stretch. The usual, unless Roy Keane detonates in early January.

At this point I’m going to get even lazier and copy in portions of an email to my brother and occasional co-author, Thistle71:

Did you see that Celtic could only manage a goal-less draw with Kilmarnock last weekend? At least Rangers were able to beat Caley Thistle. I’m a little more positive about the Gers since they hired DaMarcus Beasley – he’s got the right lack of tactical nous for Scottish football but they’ll like him for putting in the effort, I suppose.

I’m looking forward to having the DVR for recording footy matches – because the evening replay is not always what I want to watch. Being able to catch champion’s league games will be good as well. And I think this might be the year I give in, jump on the bandwagon, and openly support Arsenal. Because there’s something splendid about the fact that Wenger has almost entirely rebuilt the team, and still has no defense. It’s not very Highbury, but it’s entertainment galore. And while I remain intrigued by Alex Ferguson’s efforts to build an attacking midfield of men with no necks, I can’t be an overt Man U supporter.

Speaking of, when we went to Pittsburgh the other weekend, we were having lunch in a Chick-Fil-A in Cumberland, MD, and there was a kid there with either a Man U or a Chelsea shirt on… and I thought, that’s amazing, to see a local kid here wearing that. Turned out the whole family was English. What the hell they were doing in Cumberland, I have no idea.

There you have it… the theme for the season is fans out of place, and the highlight will probably come in September when Thistle71 and his charming fiancée tie the knot in Edinburgh – preceded, if all goes to plan, by a trip to McDiarmid Park in Perth to watch Partick Thistle take on St. Johnstone. Ah, the highland rain, the crap football, the pies… I can hardly wait.

FFFRREEEDDDOOOMMMMM!!!!

While the signing of only two Polynesians signals Oregon’s likely refusal to listen to my calls to put a satellite campus on American Samoa, February has still brought good news out of Eugene. 

The odds of me showing up at Autzen wearing a kilt with a body dyed with woadwent up exponentially when on signing day the Mighty Oregon Ducks displayed their commitment to autonomy and self-determination by landing a two star cornerback by the name of William Wallace.

This commitment to the Live Free or Die ethos was made all the more blatant with the hiring of former University of New Hampshire offensive coordinator, Chip Kelly.

Mr. Carroll, consider yourself and all other liberty hating flatlanders (read: dctrojan and cohorts of troy) on notice.

 

Froliche Festivus

Well, things have been busy lately. I had been going to comment on the madness that was Materazzi’s bicycle kick for a goal last week, then I got distracted.

In any case, Thistle71 and I are undertaking an editorial retreat amongst the California redwoods, and scheming about how to watch at least one of the Boxing Day EPL games without there being severe recriminations from the family — since we are ostensibly spending Christmas with them. I’m not used to footy being on this early, but I shall adapt.

On a more serious note, Frau DC Trojan and I lost a friend today — she had a heart attack at work during the week and never came out of the coma it left her in. She’s survived by her husband and 2 daughters under the age of five.

So, provided that it’s not something criminal or loathsome, for god’s sake remember to do something that puts a smile on the face of someone you love, and have a merry Christmas, happy Hannukah, krazy kwanzaa, froliche festivus, or whatever it is you do to chase away the midwinter madness and clear the buffers for the new year.

where will this SC season fit?

I have a slight sense of foreboding about this season for USC, simply because I haven’t been here — which is to say, waiting for the next stage after a phenomenal team turns over — as a fan.

A quick timeline of my time supporting the Trojans:

1988 – 1992: College. Don’t remember much, frankly, but I know SC was good for the first couple of seasons before the false dawn of Marinovich. Included my personal nadir as a fan, without doubt, when I came home from Rhode Island after a crappy first semester in grad school and went in person to watch Fresno State beat USC in the  Freedom Bowl. It wasn’t so much that SC lost as that they didn’t even try. That was galling.

1993 – 2000: For USC, an uneven stretch. For me, the grad school years followed by the beginning of my rehabilitation as a productive cog in the capitalist machine. I didn’t do anything silly like finish my PhD and frankly I didn’t see that many games while living in Rhode Island either — they tended to show BC and a lot of the Big 10. I do remember buying pitchers galore for uncomprehending friends (who had gone to schools like Puget Sound and Oxford) after USC beat Notre Dame in Holtz’s last game in charge. In the meantime, I got hitched and moved to DC, whence I monitored the slow final descent of Hackett. Went to the 2000 kick-off Classic against Penn State, which was not an accurate indicator for that season, it turned out.

2001 – 2005: To be honest, I wasn’t sure why SC hired Pete Carroll, but it plainly has worked out okay thus far… (!) I’ve managed to see a couple of games in this stretch in person, U-Dub in Seattle in 2003 and the VT season opener in 2004 at FedEx Field in lovely Lanham MD. The best part about the run was not so much the winning as what EDSBS.com referred to as the “mad bastard” approaching to coaching — getting a bunch of talented players together and going for the gusto. I felt sick at the end of the Rose Bowl on January 4th, but not because I felt that SC had been jobbed — it was the final straw after having spent the season on a knife edge over the streak and whether or not USC could repeat as mythical national champions.

So, for this season, I am pleased to see the new team have the chance to start their own streak — or not. I am a little nervous about a number of games, because payback’s a bitch, and there are any number of sides with reason to go after USC… I can but watch and see. Dull it won’t be.

A half-assed SC season preview.

Bloody job. You’d think that they were paying me to work or something.

Anyway, here’s a slapdash season preview, since every blog must have one.

Here’s my $0.02 about the opposition this season.

Arkansas: Will be harder to beat than last year, playing at their stadium with a grudge. However, their best RB is unlikely to play, Houston Nutt might be a better coach than me but that’s not saying much, and the (nominal) OC is fresh from coaching high school. Not encouraging for the Razorbacks. NOTE: since I originally wrote this, Schad of ESPN has been reporting that McFadden is planning on playing, or so they say in Arkansas. That might make enough of a difference, but I doubt it / hope not.

Nebraska: Not easy to beat, but I’m not convinced that Callaher has completed the transition away from three yards and a cloud of dust. Could be vulnerable to USC’s passing game.

Arizona: A strong AZ defense and a developing USC offense could be a bad combination for USC. An improved Tuitama presents a risk but at least SC is better off in the secondary to counteract that. Potentially a low score loss for USC.

Washington State: Gutsy, but I don’t think that they are likely to beat USC. Too early in the season for hail? Too bad.

Washington: Will play hard, but the last several seasons won’t have done much for their recruiting, and I am not sold that Willingham is really going to be able to make a difference for U-Dub beyond leaving a tighter ship for his replacement.

Arizona State: Potentially dangerous, as always, but only truly dangerous if their new receivers are getting better. Pre-season QB debacle is going to look even worse if Carpenter doesn’t work out. ASU has a tendency to choke against SC.

Oregon State: baaaa! baaaa! Now that “possession receiver” Mike Haas is gone, Oregon State will play hard but will need some luck to win.

Stanford: they’ll have to be satisfied with being cleverer again this season, I’m afraid.

Oregon: if Oregon’s corner / safety situation is settling down, and if they have found a way to replace Ngata on the line, and if they have found the way to make best use of Dixon and Leaf at QB, this could be a very tough game for SC. If more than one of those elements is missing, less so.

California: stout running and defense. Wild card, as even my children know, is the QB situation. They can make it hard for USC to win, but if Longshore and / or Ayoob aren’t firing on all cylinders, Cal will struggle in the Coliseum. This is the same team that last season coughed up the Oregon game, and tried to out-UCLA UCLA,  for a couple of narrow and avoidable losses. But they are well coached and genuinely push SC every year now, so should not be taken lightly.

Notre Dame: Their offense is good, but SC’s defense will be better situated this year to at least contain Quinn et al. Weis is, I think, too smart on offense for most defensive coordinators in college, so that’s a real obstacle for USC to overcome. However, no matter how good (and angry) Zibikowksi is, they are going to have challenges against speed from SC’s offense. The ND’s defensive motto of “Play fast” that they are discussing pre-GT game appears to be another way of saying “think fast” — which probably won’t always be enough. If USC focuses on the Chow-ian approach of using the pass to open up the field for the run, I like SC’s chances in this one.

UCLA: Hard to know what to make of this one. Their 10 – 2 season last year had some lucky wins and a couple of blow-outs. The defense is mostly the same personnel, and they have lost starters on offense, so I guess it boils down to this: 1) did the defensive players really learn anything from last year? and 2) will the new DC and QB be enough of an X-factor to make UCLA that much better? That’s going to need some pretty good mojo. Regardless, UCLA is going to be very motivated to avoid yielding the tie in 8-game-long streaks, and this will be at the Rose Bowl, so it has the makings of a real barnstormer. As they say.

Overall prediction. Eh, 9 – 3. I think the real challenges are Arizona, Cal, Notre Dame, and UCLA, but they are all winnable games, so I’m splitting the difference, and adding in an extra loss for either teething problems in the early part of the season, or a late season loss of shit

Fall practice starts

Nothing terribly interesting in the news but fall practice has started. There are some early injuries, including Freshman WR Jamere Holland, but nothing too disturbing. And while it’s to be hoped that Holland makes a speedy recovery, SC does have some depth at that position. In the meantime, Booty claims his back feels better than ever, which might well be so, and Desmond Reed is back on the field. While his ACL is most of the way, he still has some residual nerve damage that means his foot has limited motion.

Buried in the LA Daily News story on the Holland injury and the Reed rehabilitation is the note that Reed’s doctor is Dr. Arnold Ting, AKA the father of the Ting twins and a man under probation for being a little too free with the old prescription pad. Somehow, I think it might be time to get young Mr. Reed connected with an orthopedist and neurologist in the southland — I think there might be a couple of decent docs who are also alums in LA and Orange counties…

….

In the wake of the announcement that Brandon Ting had tested positive for steroid use, BruinsNation weren’t the only ones to wonder about Brandon Hancock, who brings new meaning to the word “ripped.” I had to wonder myself. According to the LA Times, he’s been repeatedly tested not just by USC but also the NCAA, and come up clean each time — so at a minimum he’s smart enough to evade tests; maybe he’s even smart enough not to take the damn things in the first place.

The testing is supposed to be random but fullback Brandon Hancock sometimes wonders. The senior knows that his muscular build and recurring injuries have spurred rumors of steroid use. Hancock said he has been tested eight to 10 times by USC and at least three times by the NCAA.

He said he has never tested positive but joked: “It’s like I’m part of the usual suspects.”

Summary of Pac-10 Media day

Pete Carroll: “I know we lost a lot of players and there’s been all kinds of off-field mayhem, and we don’t really have any experience at running back, but I’m psyched and we’re going to kick ass!”

Other coaches: “We’re still taking USC seriously, they still have a lot of talent, etc., etc., etc.”

There, that saved you some time, and you probably could have guessed anyway. Plainly Carroll is only ever going to be 6 degrees of separation from spontaneous combustion by enthusiasm — as opposed to Ed Orgeron, who I suspect is the answer to the question,” Where will spontaneous cold fusion happen first?”

And the other coaches really don’t have a reason to say anything else. If they get their clocks cleaned by USC, they’re on record as saying it was going to be really difficult to play them. If they win, they can say they were being smart about not provoking the Trojans, and imply that Carroll isn’t as good as he is made out to be, and so on.

But the season’s just around the corner.

Chauncey gets an “A”

Looks like SC might have a tailback next season who is 1) not a freshman and 2) has both knees intact. 

I don't know what to make of the fact that Washington had to skip working out to get the grades, but then I suppose it's amazing what a few extra hours of book time a day can do…  because presumably this is all on the up-and-up. Right?