SB Nation User Blog: ucla7477

NCAA Announces Penalties against USC Football...

ucla7477 — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 01:56:52 -0000

This just leaked from NCAA Headquarters....

"After a very lengthy, albeit not not very penetrating, investigation, we reluctantly announce the severe 'Death Penalty' against the Southern California football oligarchy.

"As is well known on the Internet (but not to the Los Angeles Times), the USC Trojan football program has been point and center in an impressive list of scandals. We refer you to the Bruins Nation's Menelaus file, too large for us to reproduce here.

"We specifically acknowledge that Reggie Bush was accorded extra benefits far in excess of those normally lavished on USC's so-called student athletes. Our judgment is that Mr. Bush has suffered enough through his association with the Kardashian family, so he may retain his ill-gotten Heisman trophy.

"We further acknowledge the zero degrees Kelvin institutional control by President Sample, Athletic Director Garrett, and Chief Ethicist Senora Ross. Our judgment is that everything that happened was the work of one man with nice hair, who has been removed from all university activities (granted, with an eye-opening severance package and a promise not to talk). We refer, of course, to Mr. Tim Floyd. We direct you to the Bruins Nation documentary, "The Sound of SCilence" for further details.

"Finally, we acknowledge the many contributions to bottom-line NCAA revenues gushing from a non-regulated Trojan program. This, in concert with the college's enviable relationship with local law enforcement personnel and the exemplary role-model behavior of the head coach, Mr. Pete Cheat Carroll, results in the following unprecedented sanctions:

"1. Because their behavior is reminiscent of Delta House, they are placed on double-secret probation.

"2. Because they have a poor defense and an untried quarterback and have no chance of making the BCS championship game or even a Rose Bowl berth against a laughable Big Ten team, for this year only the University is banned from post-season play. We understand this will cause great suffering among alumni who would normally flock to the Poinsettia Bowl, Bell Helicopters Armed Forces Bowl, or Chick-fil-A Bowl.

".3 Because they must now compete for academically-challenged recruits against Lane Kiffin and Steve Sarkisian, they are given the additional handicap of losing one scholarship each year through the rest of this decade (i.e., 2010). Please note that as part of the nation's Stimulus Bill, it is acceptable and encouraged for the University to hire marginally-qualified employees whose sons may play varsity without counting against scholarship limits.

"We understand that these egregious sanctions may cause some embarrassment among other schools who have received more lenient treatment in past years (such as forfeiting games). By pounding Southern California as we have, we trust that others who might consider behaving similarly will be fully deterred."

L. A. Times' Predictions...

ucla7477 — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 02:41:42 -0000

I assume everyone saw the first two predictions below, in the Times' October 7 special section on the baseball playoffs. You probably don't know that their third prediction got squeezed out at the last minute to make way for another photo of Donald T. Sterling. So here they all are:

1. Dodgers to be swept by St. Louis

2. Angels to fall in five games to BoSox

3. NCAA to execute swift, fair, and comprehensive justice on the Southern Cal football program.

Colisseum Showdown: The Continuing Hype

ucla7477 — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 04:50:30 -0000

Free your calendar. Set your Tivo. Turn off laptop, cell phone, PDA. This Saturday is the Pac-10, no, the national, game of the year.

As the world knows, two squads will be battling for sole ownership of the Pac-10 cellar, the Cheat Pete Trojans and the WSU Cougars. Wazzu is a heavy favorite to pull out the loss, as they return much of last year's team that had the worst defense in the nation and build upon the 2008 foundation of one conference win, copped against the only college footballers to garner a winless season. USC has an uphill fight to overcome its huge talent gap over the Cougars, its home field advantage, and a 44-point betting line in Vegas. Can Cheat Pete pull this one out and succumb?

It's certainly not without precedent, as with a more skilled (and higher paid and less academically endowed) squad, he choked at home to 41-point underdog Stanford. He is already making excuses for his men, so it appears he is working hard on the demotivation factor.

Prediction: SC 30, WSU 7, and MSM headlines that the Trojans are back

UPDATE: NBC Sports has quickly taken note of this stellar matchup; http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2009/09/23/worst-of-the-weak----land-of-disenchantment/

No. -10 SMU at Washington State . . . This was the "Worst of the Weak" Super Bowl. Two teams locked in a ferocious battle to see who was worse. The competition was so close that they couldn't settle the matter in 60 minutes, forcing the unfortunate 22,319 in attendance to sit through some overtime. As one would expect, it was a pathetic extra frame that saw the Mustangs throw an interception on their only play, followed by the Cougars gaining a grand total of three yards before they kicked a 39-yard field goal to end the festivities. In this particular upside-down corner of the college football world,SMU "won" 27-30. Congrats!

No. -6 USC . . . In addition to the shocking loss at Washington, you can blame Pete Carroll for this ranking as well. According to him,Jake Locker is the best quarterback that his team has faced in the nine years that he's been piloting the Trojans. We could argue that point, but won't. It's more interesting to call into question his previous banana peel incidents that came at the hands ofMatt Moore (Oregon State 2006), Patrick Cowan (UCLA 2006), Tavita Pritchard (Stanford 2007) and Lyle Moevao (Oregon State 2008). Succumbing to those world beaters in recent years earns USC this retroactive ranking.

No. -5 Lane Kiffin's Mouth . . . Urban Meyer absolutely deserves an assist, but when will it end for Kiffin? Will it ever? He's been a collegiate head coach for a grand total of three games, so it's simply remarkable that he's already the poster boy for poor behavior. At 1-2, Kiffin needs to shut up and coach.

From UCLA Connect...

ucla7477 — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 02:56:25 -0000

Renowned Ethicist Named Alumnus of the Year
UCLA Awards exemplify the pride of UCLA. Come honor the founder of Character Counts!, a gold medalist, a public servant, a benevolent dentist and two of UCLA‘s most generous philanthropists.

Through the institute, Josephson founded CHARACTER COUNTS!, the nation's leading character education system. It now reaches 6 million youngsters through the CHARACTER COUNTS! Coalition, a widespread partnership of schools and youth-serving organizations. Every third week of October is designated asCHARACTER COUNTS! Week.

The Josephson Institute also launched the Pursuing Victory With Honor sportsmanship campaign, endorsed by virtually all amateur athletic organizations. Like all institute programs, these projects are nonpartisan and nonsectarian, promoting a common language of core values called the Six Pillars of Character: trustworthiness,respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship.

IN OTHER NEWS, the University of Southern California named as Non-graduating Attendee of the Year, the renowned ethicist Orenthal James Simpson.

Showdown in the Colisseum

ucla7477 — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 03:38:04 -0000

Free your calendar. Set your Tivo. Turn off laptop, cell phone, PDA. This Saturday is the Pac-10, no, the national, game of the year.

Prediction: SC 30, WSU 7, and MSM headlines that the Trojans are back.

The Wazzu of South Central... (contd.)

ucla7477 — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 06:03:17 -0000

Please take note that the conference cellar is shared by USC and WSU, although the latter had a better weekend. Interesting quotes out there include Joe McKnight saying SC was more talented but got outworked by the team with the conference-record 15 straight losses, and another that SC under Pete Cheat has now lost five times by double digits against unranked foes.

Imagine if he had to recruit lawfully and if his "student-athletes" weren't allowed to stay eligible via Senora Ross!

UPDATE: NBC Sports has taken note of this stellar matchup; http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2009/09/23/worst-of-the-weak----land-of-disenchantment/

Found: Lane Kiffin's Playbook

ucla7477 — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 23:58:20 -0000

If this looks familiar, he brought it with him from Pete Cheat U.

1. Recruit the players illegally.

Six secondary violations in seven months; which is all that has come to light so far. Many more are liable to be uncovered, and not just secondary. Check.

2. Purchase the officials. It's okay to overpay.

Multiple "questionable" calls by the zebras. This is home cookin' of the first order in a state that is famous for them. Check.

3. Badmouth the opponents.

Repeated "controversial" quotes, followed by excuse-making. Revenge factor. Use assistant from SC to stir things up. Use spouse as prop. Check.

4. Coach against Karl Dorrell.

Oops!

Prothro vs. McKay: Character Players

ucla7477 — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 03:00:32 -0000

There's an article today about all of the Heisman trophy winners (living and deceased) -- "Where Are They Now?". The link is: http://www.lostlettermen.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=403

Both Tommy Prothro (OSU, UCLA) and John McKay (USC) had 2 selectees. Where the honorees are now gives an indication of which schools promoted character and which did not. Quoted material below the jump...

1962: Terry Baker (Oregon State) – Retired lawyer living in Portland, OR (age 68)

1965: Mike Garrett (USC) – USC athletic director under fire for possible NCAA violations by football and basketball programs (age 65)

1967: Gary Beban (UCLA) - President of real estate company, CB Richard Ellis Services Inc. in Northbrook, IL (age 63)

1968: O.J. Simpson (USC) - Serving at least 9 years in Lovelock, NV prison (age 62)

Who are OJ's Peers in Court?

ucla7477 — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 02:28:08 -0000

On appeal at the Nevada Supreme Court (see link http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_oj_simpson for details), OJ's fellow felon CJ Stewart has a compelling argument.: by being tried alongside OJ, instead of via a separate trial, his defense was hopelessly prejudiced. Here is the key proposition made by Stewart's attorney, referring to defendent Simpson:

"In the history of jurisprudence who else could we possibly imagine would be more prejudicial?" Bryson asked rhetorically about his client being tried with Simpson. "Charlie Manson, maybe? Dahmer? Hitler? Satan? Who else sitting next to someone they have on trial? It was extremely prejudicial."

Meanwhile in other news, John Wooden is selected greatest US sports coach of all time and many articles fondly remember Rafer Johnson as an athlete, a man, and an Olympic torchbearer. Fight on (appeal)....

The Rotten Apple doesn't fall far from the tree...

ucla7477 — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 01:14:53 -0000

From SI.com's FanNation:

Kiffin leads SEC in secondary violations

Tennessee leads most SEC schools in football-related secondary violations since Lane Kiffin was hired as coach on Dec. 1, 2008, according to information obtained through Freedom of Information requests by the News Sentinel. Tennessee has had six. Ole Miss is next with five. Alabama and Auburn did not respond to the FOI requests and Vanderbilt, as a private school, is not subject to FOI requests. Kiffin admits he has made some mistakes, but he does not believe the number to be over the top.

Knoxville News-Sentinel

Now think about how hard Lane must work to get caught 6 times in 7 months. (Guess he didn't take Christmas off.) And to get caught that often, he probably had to commit (or inspire his assistants to commit) about thrice that number. I think the Knoxville paper should ask Lane where he developed these skills, which clearly outclass those of everyone else in the SEC.