Interesting goings on in the sports world …

- Somewhere, TrojanFan is breathing into a paper bag. For the second time in three weeks, the SC football program was dealt the worst loss in the Pete Carroll era, as Jim Harbaugh and his Stanford Cardinal rolled into the Coliseum and rolled over the Trojans, 55-21. For years, people have criticised Carroll and his team for not rolling big numbers against weak opponents – clearly, not a lesson lost on Harbaugh. SC is now 7-3, with games left against a wheezing UCLA and a decent Arizona. It’s not impossible that they’ll end up 8-4 – good for most programs, but enough to remind Trojan fans of the Paul Hackett era. We’ve said it before, but this was a rebuilding season for the Trojans. The losses shouldn’t really worry true fans who understand, but the performance of Matt Barkley should. After an early season when you understood he was a true freshman learning on the job, he’s starting to look suspiciously like a guy who’s tapped out on the potential. He was bad in the Oregon loss, but was overshadowed by the pathetic defensive effort. Against Stanford, there was nowhere for him to hide, and the Cardinal exploited his every misstep. I don’t know who else will be in spring practice for the Trojans, but I’d look for a QB competition – or another long season.

- For most of this decade, the New England Patriots have been the dominant team in the NFL. The combination of QB Tom Brady and Head Coach Bill Belichick have been so successful that their late-game collapse last night was all the more shocking. Leading 34-27 with two minutes to play, Belichick opted to go for it on 4th-and-2 on their own 29. When Brady’s pass danced off the receiver’s hands, Colts QB Peyton Manning made them pay. His touchdown pass with seconds remaining handed the Pats a 35-34 defeat.

- Congratulations to Florida Marlin left fielder Chris Coghlan for his selection as the 2009 NL Rookie of the Year. An infielder who played a total of 1 game as an outfielder in the minors – without ever getting a fly ball – Coghlan was shifted to left field after his May call-up. His prowess in the field (he only had 5 errors for the season) added to an outstanding turn as the team’s leadoff hitter to net him the award. He’s the third Marlin to win the award in this decade, joining Dontrelle Willis in 2003 and Hanley Ramirez three years ago. Expect to see him in the Marlins’ lineup for quite some time.

OK, my mourning period for marlin lost is officially over, so let’s look at the weekend in sports …

- Let’s see … there were all those good stories that could have come out of the possible World Series matchups – a Freeway series pitting the Dodgers and Angels, or the return of Joe Torre to New York to face the team that showed him the door.  Instead, we get Yankees-Phillies.  Let’s be clear- these teams deserve to be there.  They pretty much destroyed their competition all the way to the end, and pushed their League Championship opponents aside they way you might flick a fly off your shoulder.  But c’mon – where’s the excitement?  Yeah, the thought of Ryan Howard and A-Rod trading blasts is interesting, and maybe waiting to see whose bullpen collapses first might bring some tension, but this one just doesn’t do it for me.  Guess I’ll read about it with my morning coffee.

- One interesting baseball story did pop up over the weekend, and it had nothing to do with the games.  Mark McGuire is returning to baseball as the hitting coach for the S. Louis Cardinals.  Big Red has been in baseball exile since his famous appearance alongside Sosa and Palmeiro in front of Congress, and many wondered if his introspective nature would allow his return.  There’ll be questions to be answered to be sure, and he has to know that by putting himself in the spotlight once again he can’t avoid them.  A smart man would make a “one-time-only” statement and come clean – it’s worked for others – but if he goes with the same “I’m not here to talk about the past” dodge he used with Congress, it’ll continue to dog him.  Whatever the deal, it’ll be good to see him back in uniform, and I suspect he’ll have a positive impact on the team – particularly on whether free-agent Matt Holliday – who worked with him during the season – chooses to return to the club.

- One guy we all thought would be returning to the game but hasn’t – at least yet – is Bobby Valentine.  When he took the passive route in response to being let go from his position as a manager in Japan, I just assumed he knew something the rest of us didn’t and had a job lined up.  Sure, he has a seat with ESPN, but we all know he wants back into a big league dugout, and when he was a candidate for the Indians job, I just assumed he was a shoe-in.  But instead, Cleveland went with … Manny Acta??  OK … whatever.  Acta’s old spot with the Nationals is still open, and I suspect there’ll be others, but I was still surprised at the pick.  Of course, with the Steve Phillips firing over the weekend, there’s a full-time job with Baseball Tonight available – maybe that’ll be his home for the next season …

-  This is turning into an interesting season in the NFL, as the rich get richer and the poor – well, they just stink.  The Colts remained unbeaten with a straight-up beatdown of the hapless Rams, while the Saints had to rally from a big hole against a surprisingly strong Dolphins team to keep their perfect record.  Carson Palmer looked like the Palmer of old as the Bengals dismantled the Bears, while Jay Cutler finally looked like … well, Jay Cutler … and Cedric Benson took out his frustrations on his old mates.  The amazing thing is really how great the gulf is between the good and bad teams – and there are some really bad ones.  It’s hard to believe that the two former LA teams, the Rams and Raiders, could possibly be as bad as they are.  But this is what happens when your owners let ego get in the way of good decision-making.  Neither team has had a functioning front office in a decade, and now they’re paying the price.  New ownership will soon take over in St. Louis, and if Al Davis would just go ahead and die, the same could happen in Oakland.  And don’t kid yourself – it won’t be until Davis is gone that positive change will come to the Raiders.

-  No big shockers in college football this week, other than once again showing that there are no real dominant teams.  Florida had to work hard to get past a tough Mississippi State team, and Alabama almost got beat by Tennessee – guess there’s more going on there than just Lane Kiffin flapping his gums.  Iowa remains undefeated, but has to go to Ohio State in two weeks, and TCU is the latest darling of the BCS-bashers.  As for SC, the game itself was less than memorable, as a good but not great Oregon State torched the vaunted Trojan defense for 482 yards and 36 points.  But a win is a win, and Matt Barkley is clearly gaining confidence with each game.  If you missed it, the play of the weekend in college football was his pass to Ronald Johnson, who made a sweet lay out grab for a 22-yard touchdown.  Good things coming, TrojanFan …

We’re back and better than ever … at least that’s our story.  And what better to start with than a wild and wooly sports weekend …

- For quite some time, Charlie Weis and the rest of the golden domers have been targeting this season as the moment when the fates of the USC and Notre Dame football programs would finally swap and the Fighting Irish would regain their footing among the elite college programs.  Certainly, the gods would seem to have been smiling on Weis and Co – they’d run off a string of last-minute wins, led by a third-year QB who was finally showing his potential as a Heisman candidate.  USC, meanwhile, was struggling with a true freshman field leader whose job seemed more to not lose the game than win it, and had already suffered an embarassing loss at Washington.  If Notre Dame was going to end SC’s victory streak, their Saturday tilt in South Bend would seem to be the moment.  As they say, “Sorry Charlie” – not this year.  The athleticism of the Trojan players more than compensated for the enthusiam of their opponents, and SC’s Matt Barkley flat outplayed Irish QB Jimmy Claussen.  Only an embarassing defensive lapse in the fourth quarter allowed Notre Dame to make the game as close as the final score appeared and retain some dignity.  For Barkley, it was a coming-out – he’d saved the day at Ohio State, but this was Barkley in full control of the USC offense and giving Trojan fans a glimspe of how the next few years could be. 

-  Lost in the game hoopla was a commentary by one writer who theorized how things might have been different had Jimmy Claussen made a different choice a few years ago.  At the time, Claussen was the leading prep QB in the country, and he narrowed his choices down to Notre Dame or USC.  As a SoCal kid, you might assume he was leaning towards the Trojans, except for presence of a fellow recruit – a kid by the name of Sanchez.  Claussen opted for the Irish, where he toiled with mediocrity for a couple of seasons before showing his potential this year.  Had he stuck it out, he’d have learned in the USC system for a few years and, with the departure of Mark Sanchez for the NFL’s Jets, would have been handed the keys to the USC offensive juggernaut.  Barkley would be the one doing the learning, SC would be undefeated, and Claussen would be the leading candidate for the Heisman Trophy.  Perchance to dream …

- I’m trying to decide what is the more embarassing beatdown:  Tom Brady and the Patriots rolling up a 59-0 whitewash in a snowstorm against the Tennessee Tuxedos … er, Titans, or the Phillies clubbing the Dodgers 11-0.  I think I’m going with the Dodgers.  After all, the Titans have one QB who once went to his coach and quit, and another who was put on a suicide watch.  They were playing on frozen tundra – literally – against arguably the best quarterback of his generation.  Embarassing, to be sure, but not totally unexpected.  But the Dodgers are supposed to be the class of the National League.  They had the best record, and for much of the season were untouchable.  What we really learned in this disaster is the impact of a long, 162-game season.  Things happen, people change, and rosters need to change with it.  When the Phillies sensed that they needed to step up their game to have a chance to repeat as World Series champions, they went out and got Cliff Lee – reigning Cy Young award winner – from the Indians.  Who’d they beat in the competition?  The Dodgers, who were unwilling to part with Chad Billingsley and a couple of minor leaguers.  Well, those guys are still in the minors, and Billingsley is getting shelled out of the bullpen.  Joe Torre had to go with a guy who took a line drive off his dome a month ago and hasn’t been the same since, and it showed.  Ned Colletti did a great job last year bringing in Manny and Casey Blake, but today’s game is a pitcher-dependant sport and Ned needs to recognize that.  Fortunately, in a couple of days he’s going to get an early start on developing next season’s rotation.

- I know folks get irritated when I talk NASCAR, particularly when I prefer other forms of racing (and a big shout-out to Braun Racing and Jenson Button for wrapping up the F1 Driver’s Championship …) but there’s a truly amazing thing happening on the oval tracks.  No sport is as heavy-handed when it comes to leveling the playing field for their drivers – the old IROC with their identically prepared cars is jealous of the way NASCAR changes rules on the fly to keep things even.  The management of the sport will do anything – literally – to keep things close, and therefore interesting for the fans.  Several years ago, they created the “Chase For The Cup” as a way to tighten things up late in the season, and it would work, were it not for two people – Jimmy Johnson and Chad Knaus.  Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe’s Chevy for Hendrick Motorsports and Knaus, his crew chief, are threatening to run away with what would be a fourth consecutive title – something never done in the history of the sport.  Johnson won again over the weekend, his second win in the Chase races, and he is close to achieving an unbeatable lead.  Considering the bulletproof nature of that car, and the driving skill of Johnson, it will be hard for anyone to catch him.  Sit back, racing fans, and watch the history unfold.

With the marlin season apparently behind me and gale force winds whipping around the Home Office, it seemed a good time to settle in for a little football …

- Wow … tough weekend for several big name college football programs. One of the challenges in college ball is always depth, particularly at the skill positions, and we’re seeing what happens when your #1 guy goes down. SC has struggled with true freshman QB Matt Barkley, but they expected to have current Jet Mark Sanchez at the controls this year. Oklahoma lost returning Heisman winner Sam Bradford, and their BCS hopes dried up with a loss to a resurgent Miami. Both Texas Tech and Florida have lost their leaders to concussions, and it remains to be seen how that’ll affect their programs. Knowing that you’re only one good hit away from disaster makes the impressive BCS runs that Florida, USC and other leading schools have made all the more amazing.

- SC Fan is on a high now that the ship seems to have been righted with a blasting of Cal, but he shouldn’t get too comfy. The next two weeks will be all about the next game in the shadow of Touchdown Jesus, but if anyone thinks that’s going to be their biggest challenge the rest of the way they haven’t been paying attention. Ever since an embarassing performance on and off the blue turf at Boise State, Oregon has gone 4-0, rolling up 94 points verus 9 in their last two games – including a 52-6 beatdown of a WSU team that only gve up 27 to USC. And remember – they’re doing it all without their leading rusher from last year. Then there’s Stanford – 4-0 and looking like a team out to prove last year’s upset of SC at the Coloseum wasn’t a fluke. SC will be very fortunate indeed to end this year without a second loss – or three.

- Watching the pro games yesterday, it’s pretty easy to spot the good teams (anyone with a QB named Manning) and the bad ones (anyone based in Oakland), but there’s a lot of teams struggling to find their identity. It’s hard to believe that Minnesota is as good as their start would have you believe, or that Brett Favre will last a full season without running out of gas. Meanwhile in New England, you get the sense that they’re using a lot more smoke and mirrors than in the past, and Tom Brady’s whining belies deeper problems – like having to sign 40-yr-old LB Junior Seau to provide leadership. Tennessee is wondering if placing their football future in the hands of Kerry Collins was as smart as they thought it was last spring, and an 0-4 hole will be hard to dig out of. The defending champion Steelers are reeling, and their opponents in the last Super Bowl, the Arizona Cardinals, have shown nothing that would make you think they have a return trip in their future. Hmmm … can you say “All-Manning Super Bowl”? It’s looking a lot more likely every week.

- With one exception, the MLB regular season is over and the playoff matchups have been determined. The Dodgers pulled it out of their rears long enough to finally win their last two and clinch both the NL West and best record in the league. Their reward will be a first-round series with the Cardinals, while the feel-good Rockies take on the NL East champion Phillies, who staggered into the post season after losing two of three to the Marlins. Over in the American League, we know the Angels and Yankees have won their respective divisions, and the Red Sox are the wild-card. But here comes the fun part – a one-game playoff between the Twins and Tigers for the last playoff spot – the AL Central champs. That game will go down tomorrow in Minneapolis; the winner gets a trip to the Bronx and the loser goes home. Predictions? My heart likes Dodgers v Yankees, but I think they’ll be hard-pressed to get past the Cardinals.

- And then there’s the Marlins. The good news? They ended up in second place in the East, and their 87-75 record is the third-best in team history. Chris Coghlan is looking very good as the NL Rookie of the Year, and progress is being made on the new stadium on the site of the Orange Bowl in Miami. But it wouldn’t be a Marlins offseason without controversy, and it’s starting early this season. The season’s final out hadn’t been recorded yet and there were already stories coming out about the future of the coaching staff. Supposedly, the assistants haven’t been told if they’ll be back next season, and talks are said to be underway between Bobby Valentine, fresh off his stint in Japan and in the ESPN booth for the playoff run, and team president David Samson about some sort of a job. OK, we both know what job, right? Remember, this is the team that fired Joe Girardi after a season which won him the Manager of the Year. Fredi Gonzalez has done a good job, but not a great one, and with Bobby Cox (under whom Fredi served for many years) said to be retiring after next year its possible that he’d be pushed aside for Bobby V only to resurface in a year as the manager of the Braves. Wouldn’t that be fun! Anyway, a solid, enjoyable season for the Fish. Now if we can only get them back for next season …

I live in Redondo Beach, which as a Los Angeles suburb is overshadowed but not controlled by the second-largest city in America.  That’s a good thing, because while I benefit from all that Los Angeles provides, I can still sit back and laugh at some of the dumbass ideas their governing politicians come up with … like today, for instance.

If I were to ask you to name the iconic images that represent Los Angeles, you’d probably include the Hollywood Sign, Dodger Stadium and the Chinese Theater.  But I’ll bet somewhere in the top 10 would be grafitti – that cross between art and vandalism that exists in most large cities, but nowhere so readily identified with a particular city than in LA.  From “Chico And The Man” to “LA Law” to “Baywatch” you saw it in the opening sequences and interwoven in the plot lines.  Heck, we even have taggers that have become famous for their “artwork”.

But while some grafitti is genuinely beautiful and culturally relevant, most is just ugly messages left for rival gangs – and for the owners of the tagged buildings to clean up.  For many years, politicians have looked for ways to curb grafitti, and now the geniuses who are the Los Angeles City Council have come up with the perfect solution – at least for them – force homeowners to build grafitti-proof homes.

Per the new law, which was approved unanimously yesterday, new homes built within the city limits must be made from materials that are resistant to the spray paint that is the tagger’s weapon of choice, such as ceramic tile or baked enamel.

“The bottom line is we spend a lot of money on graffiti removal,” said council member Bill Rosendahl. “Wouldn’t it be great if we didn’t have to spend this much money?”

The ordinance, which was unanimously approved, offers an exemption to owners who sign an agreement with the city to remove any graffiti that appears on their property within seven days.

OK, let’s see if I have this straight, Bill.  You’re out of money because you don’t know how to manage a budget and blew your surge capacity on the Jackson funeral, and it irritates you to see all that grafitti as your aide drives you for your morning latte’. You don’t have the civic balls to go after the gangs themselves or the members actually doing the tagging, so you’re going to dump the burden on the homeowners that the little bastards tagged in the first place?

Dude, you and your cronies are the real work of art.  Someone needs to drive by and tag your offices … or maybe just drive by, if you know what I mean.  What exactly do you intend to do to those who refuse to clean off the crap within a week – take them for a perp walk?  After all, it’s a whole lot easier to take down a soccer mom than a street thug, right?

Of course, Rosendahl is used to sticking it to his constituents – he used to run the local cable franchise …

I spent the last five days offshore and out of BlackBerry range. As I slowly recover from the shock of data disconnection, a few thoughts on what apparently happened in the sporting world while I was gone …

- Lots of good news for USC fans this week. First, they beat Washington State. Then … no, that’s pretty much where the good news ends for TrojanFan. I don’t want to say they’re cursed or anything, but what else can go wrong? Sure, they beat WSU, but they weren’t heard from for over a half and had the ball for less than 24 minutes. The majority of their offense came in less than a minute with two big plays sandwiched around an epic onside kick. Matt Barkley isn’t making anyone forget Marc Sanchez (is that kid wrapping up the Rookie of the Year or what?), and now their most prolific power runner is out for the season – and damned lucky to be alive. During a Monday weightroom session, running back Stafon Johnson lost his grip on a barbell and it dropped on his throat, crushing his larynx and doing enough damage to require seven hours of surgery! I could understand it if it happened to Joe McKnight – he can’t hold on to anything – but c’mon … how much stranger can this season get? Next up for SC is a Cal team that was humiliated by Oregon, who was previously humiliated by Boise State. Meanwhile, SC-killers Washington were humiliated by Stanford … the same Stanford who humiliated SC last year. I’m sensing a trend …

- As lousy as the Trojans season as been, they can take solace that they’re not their one-time Coliseum partners, the Raiders – is there a more pathetic franchise in all of sports? We all became acquainted with Al Davis’ latest coaching puppet Tom Cable earlier this year when he punched out one of his own assistant coaches – a punch that we now learn broke the guy’s jaw. He’s not allowed on the property, but that doesn’t stop the players froom going to him for coaching advice – what does that day about the rest of the staff. Speaking of banned players, Rich Gannon – the same QB who once defied the odds and took the Silver and Black to the Super Bowl – is now an analyst for CBS and was assigned to do last week’s Raiders – Broncos game. But Gannon’s been pretty honest with his assessment of the Raiders since his retirement, and honesty doesn’t get you very far with Al Davis, apparently – the Raiders tried to ban him from the facilites. League rules prohibit such denial of access to the crew covering the game, so they were forced to allow him in, but were quick to remind everyone of Gannon’s 5 picks in the Super Bowl. Frankly, that’s a lot like pointing out that you just crapped in your own pants – he was your QB, dumbass. For the record, I’m in agreement with Gannon’s view of the franchise – blow it up and start from scratch … hopefully with a new owner.

- One of the classiest guys to ever pull on a baseball uniform is coming home. Bobby Valentine spent the last six seasons as the manager of the Chiba Lotte Marines in Japan, taking them to a Japan Series victory in 2005, but now he’s coming back to America to serve as an analyst for ESPN. Japanese baseball is a funny game (read Robert Whiting’s outstanding “You Gotta Have Wa” to get a better understanding) and many players and managers from the West have struggled there. But Valentine understood and appreciated the cultural differences, and became a hero to the fans in the process. Management publicly declared that they couldn’t afford to keep him when his contract expired at the end of the season, and the fans were outraged. Valentine, respectful of the management in a way that could never be understood in MLB, quieted the fans by telling them that it was best for the Marines in the long run, and that made it best for him as well. Fiery on the field, intelligent in the booth – it will be good to have him back.

- Call it a “Tale of Two Teams.” LA’s two … er, 1.5 (I refuse to be sucked in by Arte Moreno’s “Los Angeles of Anaheim” crap) … baseball teams are both headed into the playoffs, but are doing it in distinctly different manners. The Angels faced the Texas Rangers this afternoon, their closest rival in the AL West, knowing a victory would clinch the division. They responded to the challenge by punching the Rangers squarely in the face in a 11-0, complete game victory by Ervin Santana. Giddy Angels soaked up the champagne, and took time to pose with the outfield wall image of fallen teammate Nick Adenhart, whose death could have derailed the season – and would have lesser teams. Meanwhile, the Dodgers were facing Pittsburgh – probably the lamest baseball team in the last decade – and lost for the third time in four games in a pathetic 11-1 manner that worse even than the score indicated. The Dodgers started the season strong and held the best record in baseball for more than half of it, but they’re running on fumes now. Manny Ramirez – whose 50-game suspension was supposed to guarantee a rested, hungry playoff run – is hurting, and third baseman Casey Blake missed his seventh consecutive game and was sent home for medical evaluation. Now, cynics might say this is just a clever ploy to insure the clinching game is at home, but that’s not the Torre way. They’re blowing bubbles, and at exactly the wrong time. History has shown that the teams that are strong at the end of the season perform well in the playoffs – just look at the success by wild card teams over the years. Joe Torre has done well with Big Blue since arriving last year, but it’s going to take all his management skills to keep the wheels on this bus.

Get your attention, SC Fan? Good, cuz someone clearly needs to deliver a little clarity … and I’m just the guy to do it.  And before you start the f-bomb emails, I’m an SC fan, too – but I’m also a realist, and this is time for a little reality

Normally, this would be a multi-topic sports posting, but with the Slipup in Seattle fresh in the minds of TrojanNation, I thought it best to dedicate this space to a little group therapy.  But before we begin working out the grief steps, let’s start with the facts:

Pete Carroll’s USC Trojans, #3 in the country, travelled to Seattle to play the Washington Huskies, coached by former SC assistant Steve Sarkesian.  The Huskies, which last season became the first Pac-10 team in history to compile a no-win season, beat the Trojans 16-13 on a last-second field goal.

Simple enough, right?  Let me first say I’m going to try hard to resist the temptation to say “toldya so,” since I called this shot a week ago.  Instead, however, let’s just look a little deeper at how USC went from participant to bystander in the national title chase.

A lot of people are calling this a huge upset, but they’re wrong.  Upset yes, in the sense that USC was ranked higher than UW, but not in the sense that it was a surprise.  In retrospect, it seems so obvious that this was a classic trap game – Carroll even warned his team about it in the locker room after their defeat of Ohio State a week earlier.  But apparently, some lessons can’t be taught and must be experienced.

The first flaw?  USC was a legitimate national title contender.  I don’t think so – not when their entire starting linebacker corps from a year ago is now starting in the NFL on Sundays … not to mention the guy penciled in to lead the offense this year.  It’s easy to see why Carroll was so irritated when Marc Sanchez jumped from the cardinal and gold to the green and white – he knew the Trojans were screwed.  The finely-crafted chain of quarterbacks was suddenly broken, and Carroll had three different but equally distasteful choices – Aaron Corp, who continually served as the also-ran in the yearly QB competition, Mitch Mustain, who blew up the Arkansas football program before landing at SC and realizing what a mistake he’d made, and true freshman Matt Barkley – talented but as young and raw as they come.

Carroll opted for Barkley, and against OSU he showed moments of brilliance.  But he also showed the inexperience of youth, and made matters worse by getting hurt on a sack late in the game.  When he couldn’t throw on Saturday morning, the game belonged to Corp – and the Huskies.

Any other school facing what USC had coming into this season would simply declare it a rebuilding  year and concentrate on next season.  But with all the money behind the Trojans, that’s just not an option.  So they did what they could, and got punched in the teeth.  Get used to it, SC Fan – it’s not the last loss you’ll taste this season.

Flaw #2 – Pete Carroll is some kind of untouchable football genius.  There’s no denying the success of the SC football program, and much of the credit deservedly goes to Carroll.  But the success that led to a pair of national titles earlier in the decade was a team effort – and much of that team is now elsewhere.  Like the NFL’s Patriots, other programs looking to tap into the Trojan mystique have tapped members of the staff to lead their football squads.  Offensive coordinator Norm Chow left for the Tennessee Titans before landing across town with UCLA; his replacement, Lane Kiffin, did the same with the Raiders before signing on this year as head coach at the University of Tennessee.  Defensive coordinator Ed Orgeron – a key USC recruiter – left to lead the Old Miss program and is now on the staff of Kiffin.  And last year’s two lead coordinators – Sarkesian on the offense and Nick Holt on the defense – were both on the Washington sideline during their defeat of the Trojans.

This kind of talent drain inevitably leads to dilution, and puts more pressure than ever on Carroll and his “legendary” skill as someone who can replan at halftime and execute in the second half.  The truth is, as this game and last season’s embarassment by Stanford shows, Carroll is in dire need of fresh talent on the staff.  Much as the squad is in a rebuilding year, so too is the coaching team.

Flaw #3 – The Huskies are not the team that went winless in 2008.  I’m no UW expert, but I know that their star quarterback Jake Locker missed much of last season, and coach Ty Willingham was just going through the motions after realizing this job wouldn’t make people forget Notre Dame.  USC played like they were playing the 2008 Huskies, and it showed.

Flaw #4 – Injuries were too much to overcome.  Matt Barkley might only have two games as a starter, but he’s Brett freaking Favre compared to Corp the Carp.  On the other side, the leader of the defense Taylor Hays was out as well.  You can’t just plug new guys into the two most important spots on the field and just assume everything will be fine.

Final Flaw – Sark wanted it more.  Admittedly, Sarkesian and the Huskies had nothing to lose – hey, just avoiding a blowout would have been seen as a victory.  But Sark and Holt were better positioned than anyone to expose flaws in the Trojan game plan, and did so to perfection.  While Carroll and the SC staff had basically the week between OSU and UW to prepare for the game, Sarkesian has been doing so from the moment he was introduced as the Huskies new coach.  You know damned well he had this game circled on his calendar, just as Charlie Weis and Rick Neuheisel do.  He had the time to plan it right, and his team executed his plan well.  Carroll was dealing with a team flat after a big emotional win.

Used properly, this could actually be a good thing for the Trojans.  Common wisdom is that an early season loss is easier to overcome, and USC could still run the table in the Pac-10 and do a BCS bowl.  But there’s no guarantee whatsoever that they can do that, and there’s still the two rivalry games to contend – and you know that they both sense weakness.  Even if the record doesn’t end up what Trojan Fan is used to seeing, this season can be valuable if it is used to grow Barkley as a leader.  A true sophmore QB isn’t often a contender for the Heisman Trophy, but he could easily be come next fall – if cooler heads prevail.

One of the things I try not to do as I get older is to sound like my parents did when I was a child.  You remember what it was like – make a mistake, and out comes the stories, usually prefaced with “back when I was your age”.  You would cringe at the thought of what was next – the car with a crank on the front … the icebox … walking to school in the snow.

While age does give a certain wisdom and perspective, I work hard to understand things in the context of today.  When I see the way high school kids choose to dress, I try not do judge, remembering that there are more than a couple questionable fashion trends in my generation’s past (hello, parachute pants). But there are those things that would seem to be unrelated to generational differences that just make me shake my head. Treating people with respect would be one such example.

I don’t know if I was raised right or just got lucky, but I’m a reasonably well-mannered individual. I open doors for women, respect my elders, and value the opinions of others. You’d like to think everyone else was as well, but we’ve had several recent examples that would indicate that’s not the case.

It started when Rep. Joe Wilson couldn’t hold his tongue during last week’s speech by President Obama to a joint session of Congress.  Now, every Republican in the room disagreed with what was being said, but only Wilson yelled out, “you lie.” 

Next up was Serena Williams, whose meltdown at the US Open over a judge’s call led to her exit from the tourney.  Incredulous at the call of a foot fault at a critical point in the match, Williams lashed out at the line judge telling her, “if I could, I’d shove this f&%$ing ball down your throat.”

Completing the trifecta was rapper Kanye West, who jumped on stage Sunday night in a cognac-fuel haze and grabbed the microphone from singer Taylor Swift as she tried to accept an award.  “Taylor, I’m really happy for you, and I’m gonna let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time!”

No one wants to deny anyone their right to believe what they believe, or give voice to that belief. But there’s a time, and a place, and a way.

Representative Wilson, if you disagree with President Obama’s policies, get in line – you’ll have lots of company. But the man is the President of the United States – respect the office, even if you don’t respect the man. I guarantee that if one of your Democratic counterparts had done that to President Bush last year, you’d have led the charge with torches and pitchforks.

Serena, we understand that you are a fiery competitor, but even in the heat of battle you can’t lose you head in such a graphic fashion. Even if you proclaimed “I’m not a role model,” as did Charles Barkley a decade ago, this kind of behavior would be totally unacceptable. When you write books and design fashion and position yourself as an example for young people to follow, the damage is even more significant. Frankly, you’re lucky you weren’t suspended for such a tirade – I suspect a player with less of an impact to the tennis bottom line would have been.

And Kanye – you were just wrong, man. As Katy Perry twittered, “it’s like stepping on a kitten” – hell, even the President thinks you’re a dumbass. Props for being man enough to go on Leno Monday and take your lumps, but you really need to take a good look in the mirror. Doing it from inside a rehab center might not be a bad idea, either.

In each case, the individual involved didn’t believe they were wrong only apologized once they realized they were facing a tide of bad press and public outrage. To me, that’s almost worst than the initial outbursts – at least take responsibility for your choices in life. But unless and until people start to face the true consequences of their actions – whether in political defeat, cancelled sponsorship contracts or diminished album sales – it is unlikely this trend will reverse any time soon.

As a people, we are all the worse for it.

Sounds like some interesting stuff went on while I was offshore …

- I need to preface this by saying I saw the game in a restaurant bar in Avalon between rounds of an awards banquet, effectively removing any of the sound, and my perception of the visual part of the game might be somewhat different than someone who got to hear the analysis. That said, I think USC was damned lucky to leave Columbus with a W over Ohio State. All the hype before the game was about whether SC’s true freshman QB Matt Barkley would wilt under the glare of 100,000 Buckeye faithful, or Ohio State’s athletic quarterback Terrell Pryor would redeem himself for last year’s beatdown at the hands of the Trojans. Neither question was answered definitively, as both offenses sputtered against solid defenses. In the end, though, it came down to the last drive of the game, and Barkley and Trojan running back Joe McKnight both came through in the clutch. Reading the game reviews, it’s clear that folks smarter than I believe it was an epic drive, the stuff of legend, and I’ll defer to them on that. Maybe it was a fluke, or maybe its the begginning of the Barkley era – we’ll find out in the next few weeks. Either way, it’s a win and the Trojans dream of a crystall football remains alive for another week …

- The best story coming out of the women’s draw at the US Open should have been Kim Clijsters, unranked after missing two years to injury and motherhood, beating both Williams sisters on her way to the title. Unfortunately, that is almost a sidebar to the controversy created by Serena Williams in her semifinal loss to the eventual winner. Down a set and losing the second, Williams was called for a foot fault. Such calls are seldom made at such a critical point in a match, but the call was made, and Serena went ballistic. Incredulous at the call, Williams approached the line judge and launched into an F-bomb laced tirade, threatening to stuff a ball down the LJ’s throat. Having already been issued a warning for slamming her racquet, Williams was assigned a point penalty, giving the game – and the set, and match – to a shocked Clijsters. Serena was unapologetic in the post-match interview, although today she’s a little more composed and embarrassed by her actions. Serena has always been an intense competitor, but much like Tiger Woods has been given a pass for behavior that wouldn’t have been accepted from other competitors. She got a healthy fine for her outburst, but the damage to her reputation may be the real cost.

- Contrary to popular belief, the NFL season did not start last Thursday with the Steelers – Titans game. It actually kicked off the moment Commissioner Roger Goodell stepped up to the microphone to kick off the draft last spring. Ever since then, the talking heads have been going non-stop, trying to decide what would happen when the real games began. Well, now we know – or at least have our first data points – and a couple of things some to mind. Mark Sanchez looked good for the Jets, but it’s only one game. Big Ben once again won a game on the last drive, and the Bengals lost one the same way. Brett Favre still looks like an old man, but at least he didn’t lose the game – that will happen later. Perhaps the most interesting event came when Donovan McNabb scored on a keeper for the Eagles, injuring his ribs in the process. Up in the owners box, third-string QB Michael Vick stood upright – and somewhere, the Commish choked on his chicken wings. McNabb is questionable for next week, but still has one game left on the suspension. Anyone know who the other Eagle QB is? I think what we really learned is that this is going to be a QB year, for good or bad, and we’ll learn more tonight as Philip Rivers and a repaired Tom Brady take the field.

- The field is set for NASCAR’s Chase for the Cup, and there were a few surprises. Kyle Busch, the modern-day Mr. Excitement, missed the playoff despite having tying for the most wins on the season. Ironically, while the Chase was initially created to force drivers to win and not just finish consistently, Busch’s inconsistent finishes outweigh his victories. Both members of rookie team Stewart-Haas made the cut, as did first-timers Kasey Kahne, Brian Vickers and Juan Pablo Montoya. Each were also the first members of their respective teams to ever make the chase, and Montoya was the first foreign-born driver to have a shot at the Cup. Denny Hamlin enters the chase on a roll, having finally won at his home track of Richmond, and historically the Chase has been dominated by those who enter the final ten races with momentum. Mark Martin, on the other hand, comes to the Chase on fumes, despite his wins placing him at the temporary top of the point standings. And then there’s Tony Stewart, who locked up his spot so early he was able to take shot as victory with no regard for points. We don’t know if he’s hot or not, but we’re gonna find out in the next ten weeks. Buckle up!

If you’ve been around SCMO for a few years, then you already know that the MarlinBlog is an offshoot of the SCMO Fishing News, our twice-weekly offshore report.  Back in the day, we’d mix the snark in with the facts and data of the news reports to come up with something entertaining and educational all at the same time.  Now that we’ve upgraded the Fishing News to a true blog format, people like to point out the irony of the FN being about marlin while the MarlinBlog isn’t.  This, however, is one of those rare times when we’re actually gonna talk marlin at the ol’ MB.

Anyone who knows our history knows that my position on killing marlin is well-established. You can read more about it here, but in a nutshell – you shouldn’t. Whatever reason you use to justify the killing simply doesn’t stand up, with very rare exception. That said, I respect the right of an individual to choose to do what they want with their fish, provided they are willing to take responsibility for their ramifications of their decision and disposition the catch in a responsible manner. The only thing that will piss me off faster than someone who kills a marlin for nothing more than a boost to their ego is someone who then wastes the fish … especially when it happens in the 619 …

It started with the discovery of a mutilated, striped marlin that had been dumped in a drainage ditch along Morena Boulevard, north of Claremont Drive. The marlin was intact, except for its beak. Someone had sawed it off and, presumably, taken it as a trophy. This was an estimated 100-pound striped marlin. Some trophy fish, eh?

It could have happened anywhere, I suppose, and there are certainly places in the world where this might not have been all that uncommon a sight.  But in this case, it was San Diego, and I just can’t say I’m surprised.  Over the years, SCMO has had a love-hate relationship with the anglers in the SoCal’s southern fleet.  They’re some of the most dedicated fishermen on the West Coast, and the distances they’re willing to run for fish during the short offshore season is amazing – particularly when most of it is in Mexican waters.  But they’ve also been the slowest to adopt conservation measures, particularly when it comes to marlin.  Search the archives of the Marlin Club during the past decade and you’ll see a long series of arguments between SD anglers and myself with regard to their unwillingness to change their behavior.  That doesn’t mean that there aren’t dedicated conservationists who call San Diego their home port – I know many who are embarrassed by the neanderthal-like attitude displayed by their brethren – and it’s true that the attitude is changing … slowly.  But this kind of waste cannot be allowed to happen, and the loudest cry needs to come from the same anglers whose reputations are tarnished every time something like this happens – the marlineers of San Diego.

As for the jackass who thinks the bill of a rat marlin is somehow a credit to his manhood … I’ll be in Avalon this weekend, most likely at the Marlin Club.  Drop by, and bring that bill with you.  I’ll show an appropriate method for you to display it and the ignorance it took to claim it as a prize.  Just make sure you bring the lube …

In an item that’s unrelated other than it being mentioned in the same article, SCMO’s own Bob Hoose managed to shoot off a toe with a shotgun over the weekend.  This is one of those funny-but-serious things that we’d never laugh at, other than the fact that Bob already is.  If you have a strong stomach, you can get the details here …