FOOTBALL

If It’s Friday, It’s Time For A USC Notes Column

Pete Carroll is aggressively pursuing the Las Vegas Raiders and Dallas Cowboys jobs. One rumor had him pitching Robert Saleh as his defensive coordinator to the Cowboys but there was a report Saleh is headed to the San Francisco 49ers.

UPDATED: And Carroll gets hired by the Raiders!

  • USC plays UCLA at the Galen Center on Monday night. If only we could get Eric Musselman and Mick Cronin to do a jump ball before the game.
  • Lincoln Riley was recruiting in Phoenix on Thursday. He’s discovering Arizona and California.
  • USC athletic director Jen Cohen said in her newsletter that USC is “investing in a number of important areas of recruiting and roster management, including, but not limited to, data analytics, scouting and evaluation, and negotiations.”

Sometimes, it sounds like Riley needs more help than Clay Helton.

  • And now for some history:
  • I get a kick out of USC fans who go on social media and say things like “We’re back!”

Oh really? Well, are we back to 1979? USC had three consensus All-Americans (tailback Charles White, offensive lineman Brad Budde and linebacker Dennis Johnson).

White won the Heisman Trophy and Budde won the Lombardi Award. How far is any current USC lineman from winning the Lombardi Award?

That team also featured offensive tackle Keith Van Horne, tight end Hoby Brenner, safeties Ronnie Lott and Dennis Smith along with linebackers Riki Gray and Chip Banks among others.

But USC is back!

  • With last week’s death of Gus Williams, it brings back memories of the great backcourt USC had at the time with Williams and Dan Anderson, two of the best guards in school history. Anderson shot 55 percent from the field and 84 percent from the free-throw line his senior season (1973-74) and averaged 13.7 points per game.
  • Old USC media guides used to feature nice illustrations on the cover. This one has Coach Bob Boyd with Paul Westphal and Ron Riley.

A DIFFERENT WORLD

  • Imagine this: In 1954, Rams star Tom Fears appeared at a weekly Saturday football clinic at Todd’s Clothing Store in downtown Los Angeles located on Sixth and Main streets. The clinics were geared to high school and junior-college students but open to the general public.

A high school player was awarded a trophy each week and his picture was hung in a hall at the dept. store. Rams game films were also shown and there was a guest speaker who appeared with Fears. A queston-and-answer session also took place.

Since this was going on during the season, a prominent sports figure would host on the Saturdays when the Rams were on the road.

Can you envision this today? A Rams star accessible to the public on a weekly basis? You might even establish a rapport with a pro football player that you could see on Saturdays?

And Fears played with only one team (the Rams) for nine NFL seasons. That rarely happens today either. Send me back in a time machine for this.

Fleetwood Mac and the USC Band at the Forum in 1979
  • Everyone remembers the USC band recording Tusk with Fleetwood Mac at Dodger Stadium.

But the band also performed Tusk with Fleetwood Mac at five concerts at the Forum on Dec. 4, 5, 6, 10 and 11 in 1979. There were 120 band members and Tusk was the finale each night.

Fleetwood Mac donated money to the band’s uniform fund in exchange for the performances.

“Fleetwood Mac is a really neat group to work with — they were really friendly,” said USC band member Scott Steele. “They told us we were part of their group.”

  • And the day after the USC band finished with Fleetwood Mac, the Motels performed a lunch-time concert on campus before a good crowd at the Student Activities Center on Dec. 12, 1979. These were the halcyon days for music at USC.
  • I’ve mentioned some entertaining stories involving long-time Los Angeles Times sports writer (and USC graduate/football player) Mal Florence.

At one point, he covered USC, UCLA and the Rams simultaneously. One day, as he headed to the Coliseum, he momentarily forget which team was playing that day.

After a USC-UCLA game, he received a letter from a Bruin fan accusing him of favoring the Trojans and a letter from a Trojan fan accusing him of favoring the Bruins.

“I mailed the letter from the USC fan to the UCLA fan and vice versa,” Florence said. “I never heard from either one of them again.”

  • Mal Florence (left) hands out awards to Ollie Matson, Mike McKeever and Marv Luster.

PICTURE OF THE WEEK

  • Today would have been Sharon Tate’s 82nd birthday.
  • Sharon Tate, Roman Polanski and Candice Bergen at USC for cinema banquet in 1969.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

I’ll bet you didn’t expect a Japanese high school band performing Stevie Wonder’s Isn’t She Lovely or The Girl From Iponema but it works.

57 thoughts on “If It’s Friday, It’s Time For A USC Notes Column”

  1. Sharon Tate, we barely got to know you

    “Send me back in a time machine” to the 1970s when people were pretty nice to each other compared to today’s raging at each other

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    1. We are currently watching the wokest elements of the left realizing in real time that they are a tiny minority and that most Americans hate them and their ideas. For a long time they thought they were the dominant force in America, socially and politically. It is now dawning on them, one by one, that they have no power and–worse–that they are reviled and loathed. It’s happening right before our eyes like watching a spring flower unfurl its petals. I for one am enjoying it immensely.

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      2. “It is now dawning on them, one by one, that they have no power and–worse–that they are reviled and loathed. ” This video illustrates your point. Behar has no clue.

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      4. Every day Trump peels back another layer of their stink and it sends them into a fit.

        No more pride or BLM flags anywhere on any government building, only Old Glory.

        No more DEI.

        No more multiple sexes.

        No more mandated EV cars

        Cuba and the Houthis are once again classified as terrorists states

        Deporting illegal immigrants who are criminals, hopefully they go after the others soon

        No longer a part of the Paris Climate BS

        No longer a part of WHO

        Mexico and Canada better wake up or else

        Putin better wake up or else

        China is on notice

        And on and on and on

        And he’s only been President since Monday

        It’s great to be an American again, unless you’re a freaking snowflake and if you are, phuck you !

        Liked by 1 person

      5. Buddha, I do laugh at many people who have an issue with those flags, because many of them fly those blue line or red line flags, which is a bastardization of the flag and against U.S. Flag Code which states quite clearly that Old Glory shall be red, white and blue. Now if they want to fly blue line or red line flags, fine. But don’t complain if athletes disrespect the flag by not standing, if you’re going to disrespect the flag, too.

        But many of them will make excuses and act as if the rules don’t apply to them.

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      7. ” It is now dawning on them, one by one, that they have no power and–worse–that they are reviled and loathed” describes Cowardly Gabby aka Charlie Bucket the Bruin Fan perfectly.

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    2. There is only one group who is raging, and that is the dyed hair-nose piercing group. But the again, if I looked like that I would be pissed off at the world too.

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      1. Maybe that is what happened with Cowardly Gabby. He looked into the mirror one day and Whoopi Goldberg was starring back at him. From that day forward, he adopted the political leaning of The View.

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      3. Scott: How far is any current USC lineman from winning the Lombardi Award?

        The better question, how far away is scott from winning a Pulitzer?

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      4. Jordan Peterson describes Cowardly Gabby and Fauxcahotas perfectly! In this video Jordan Peterson mentions that his tested IQ from years ago is about 150. That fits with my hunch based on knowing some really bright people. He has a level of intelligence we rarely meet, which is why hostile interviewers come to grief.

        That same experienced-based hunch tells me that Cowardly Gabby and Sen. Elizabeth Warren aka Fauxcahontas’ IQ cannot be higher than the mid-80s. Telling the difference between 90 and 110 isn’t that easy. Social skills, education and what is being discussed cloud the differences. Only when someone has to learn something new does that show up. Someone with an IQ of 110 will learn easily. Someone with an IQ of 90 will struggle but eventually learn.

        But once someone’s IQ drops into the 80s, that becomes obvious. They’re simply incapable of seeing what is obvious to most people. You see that in Warren’s inability to think clearly about these two Secretaries of Defense. Comparing and contrasting the competence of two people for a job isn’t that difficult, but she can’t do that. And she copes with situations that are beyond her ability by quoting liberal shibboleths. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtRE9HpVja8

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      5. Plow Horse

        August 31, 2024 AT 9:42PM

        I thought Gabby said a few days back that he was going to the USC marching band pep rally today at the Palms at 2:00 and wanted to “meet up” with Scott. Instead, he spent the day trolling the blog. Once again a threat followed by a no show. That’s our Cowardly Gabby. All talk, no walk.

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      6. Cowardly Gabby admits she is a chicken!

        Gabby (original)
        JULY 8, 2023 AT 3:06 AM
        no one is going to fight someone over comments made in a blog…..plow is an old man just popping off…and you fu*&ing know it…

        Like

      7. You admitted all you do is lie, Cowardlly Gabby:

        Gabby

        FEBRUARY 22, 2024 AT 8:42 PM

        I DON’T GIVE A F&^K…..THIS BLOG IS A S&^T SHOW……WAKE UP. I F$#@ING LIED….SO WHAT……WERE YOUR FEELINGS HURT…..AND IT FEELS SO RIGHT…..SO F#$@ OFF……QUIT WITH ALL THE F^&%ING DRAMA……GO FIND A HOBBY

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      9. You’ve wasted 2 decades of your life spamming here morning, noon and night, Cowardly Gabby aka Charlie Bucket the UCLA Fan aka aka TebowObama aka The Guy who posts as So Cal’s Wife & Michael Guarino & LawyerJohn & Pudly & Plow Horse & steveg49 & DOJ & Scott Wolf and Frank Young and Foreskin Thoughts. No wonder you idolized Senile Joe, another destructive pervert.

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      11. You have been threatening posters here for years, Cowardly Gabby aka Charlie Bucket the UCLA Fan. You need to be involuntarily incarcerated at Atascadero State Mental Hospital for the rest of your waste of life.

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      13. We Know Why You Are So Sad, Cowardly Gabby:Trump Has Done More Great Things in Four Days Than Ronald Reagan in Eight Years. Can You Imagine What Great Things Will Happen in Next Four Years? BWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

        Like

  2. With the advantage of hindsight, Pete ‘Carrot’s’ football career was always about the “Bigs,” the NFL. SC only afforded him a foothold to get back into the Bigs, but what a grand time it was in the early 2000s for All Trojan fans.

    Didn’t think I’d ever see a second SC football dynasty after McKay. And then along comes ‘Carrot

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      1. college football is the minor league and NFL is the major. Even a half-wit like yourself should comprehend that.

        soooooo insecure!

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      2. Calls someone else a half-wit and uses a reflexive pronoun incorrectly in the same sentence!! It’s 3rd grad English!!

        Now she’ll lie and claim it’s not incorrect. But lying is all she does.

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      4. Nope. Just pointed out how you always accuse others of what YOU’RE guilty. In this case, being a halfwit! LMAO

        But nice try. Go ahead and post another lie or weak excuse.

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      5. everytime trump talks to the media it’s one lie after another….. let’s see if he tops the 35k lies he told during his last term

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      6. Melania looks like a total d u m b—–a s s following trump around…. what’s the point…. the optics are pathetic

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      8. one problem, Jill is a private citizen…..dumb–‐–a s s

        more insecurity issues……where is your fake Gabby sock—‐–puppet

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      11. Cowardly Gabby, dazzle us with your Football IQ of 70.

        Gabby

        AUGUST 30, 2023 AT 3:07 AM
        Fake gabby: USC Fan would know that teams intentionally kicked away from Trojan star kick returner and WR Curtis Conway.

        you stupid senile troll…..a kick returner returns kickoffs, and a punt returner returns punts…..Conway never returned a kickoff in his entire USC career.

        O/NSO: The USC Mount Rushmore series – The Kickoff Returners

        Like

      12. you’re still taking the bait going back to Aug.30th 2023. What a dumb—- a s s

        another classic example of your insecurity issues. Get a real job, instead of t r o l l-ing your own blog

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      13. You are still soiling your Depends, Cowardly Gabby aka Charlie Bucket the UCLA Fan. Your job is working 6th and Grand and living in a dumpster.

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    • Sharon Tate could have been the ‘next best thing’ after Monroe except for her demise at 34. She didn’t have the wit of Marilyn, but possessed hypnotizing looks

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  4. Quite a combo picture with a carefree Tate being looked at scowlingly by W.C. Fields– “Whattya mean you won’t go out with me?’

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      1. USC loses out on a return to greatness. We are stuck with Sir Lincoln of Riley, the most overpaid head coach in college football.

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  6. Excellent column Scott. Who knew that you can see a Japanese girl band play Stevie Wonder and Jobim’s Bossa Nova on a USC sports blog. I really enjoyed it though. Moving lyrics by Mr. Wonder on the birth of his child.

    Isn’t she pretty
    Truly the angel’s best
    Boy, I’m so happy
    We have been heaven blessed

    I can’t believe what God has done
    Through us he’s given life to one
    But isn’t she lovely, made from love

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    2. Remember when Cowardly Gabby chickened out of this fight?

      Chickens&*t Gabby is a B*&^hurt Narcissist
      JULY 4, 2023 AT 10:07 PM
      Meet me in Miami at 4pm ET tomorrow, Chicken&^%t Gabby! If you aren’t there, you are only proving your name. I don’t want to hear any excuses! None! No f*&^ing excuses! Tomorrow at 4pm ET! Be there or everyone will know for a fact that you are a true chicken

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      1. Remember when scott wolf chickened out of this fight?

        Chickens&*t Gabby is a B*&^hurt Narcissist
        JULY 4, 2023 AT 10:07 PM
        Meet me in Miami at 4pm ET tomorrow, scott wolf ! If you aren’t there, you are only proving your name. I don’t want to hear any excuses! None! No f*&^ing excuses! Tomorrow at 4pm ET! Be there or everyone will know for a fact that you are a true chicken

        Like

      2. You admitted you lied!

        Here’s your coward admitting all:

        Gabby (original)

        JULY 8, 2023 AT 3:06 AM

        no one is going to fight someone over comments made in a blog…..plow is an old man just popping off…and you f^&king know it…

        Like

  9. We are going to see a tribute to Fleetwood Mac by a group

    named Gypsy Dreams on Feb. 1st. Happening at the Thousand

    Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, northwest of L.A.

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  10. So the 120 member Trojan Band played for Fleetwood Mac at Dodger Stadium and 5 shows at the Forum and in exchange for this work a donation was made to the Band uniform fund. I hope it was a sizeable donation. I think Fleetwood Mac likely came up short.

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  12. Wolfman, another virtuoso performance!! It’s too bad your blog is now populated by Alt Right kooks instead of thinking people like the old days. Oh well I guess you can’t control the spread of dummies like we used to. Before, stupid people had shame of their ignorance, but nowadays it appears to be a weird badge of honor to be stupid.

    #TooManyDummies

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