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

How similar have USC’s Big Ten road games looked the past 2 seasons?

The Trojans rarely deliver a knockout punch and let teams come back with no problem. It’s been a pattern.

USC is 2-5 in Big Ten road games and one of those victories was over UCLA at the Rose Bowl, hardly a Big Ten team/atmosphere.

This seems to be a character issue that many would have predicted would disappear this season. It has not.

If Lincoln Riley didn’t like last week’s trip/early start at Illinois, wait till he has to go to Penn State. An early kick off would be even worse than at Illinois and a night game is a tougher atmosphere.

  • Does it matter that the recently released Prime Video documentary series “Cocaine Quarterback” is about a player who never played quarterback at USC? Owen Hanson was a walk-on tight end. I guess “Cocaine Tight End” doesn’t quite have the same ring to it.
  • Five-star basketball player Tajh Ariza of St. John Bosco chooses USC or Oregon today. Rivals project him to pick the Ducks.
  • USC women’s basketball was picked to finish third by the media and fourth by the coaches in the Big Ten. The X factor will be freshman Jazzy Davidson, who might be the best freshman in the country.
  • And now for some history:
  • Not every great Trojan gets duly celebrated but here is one that I personally love recognizing: Albert Nozaki, who graduated from USC in 1933 with a degree in architecture, and then enjoyed an influential career in Hollywood.

He got a job at Paramount Studios but was dismissed after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941. Nozaki and his wife were sent to Manzanar Internment Camp in the Owens Valley.

After the war, he became an art director and his crowning achievement (in my opinion) occurred when he designed the Martian war machines in the 1953 classic “War of the Worlds.”

Nozaki was influenced by manta rays and cobras for his unforgettable design, which was far superior to the the conventional flying saucers depicted in the 1950’s.

If you’ve ever seen “War of the Worlds” you never forget the look of the ships.

He followed up the smashing success of this film by becoming art director of “The Ten Commandents,” which earned him an Academy Award nomination. Nozaki was also the art director of the another science fiction film, “When Worlds Collide.”

Albert Nozaki with a model of his Martian war machine.

He was also art director for an Elvis Presley film (Loving You) and “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.”

  • When USC played UCLA in 1971, this card stunt got shown during the NBC telecast. University officials rebuked the Trojan Knights and Squires over the incident.
  • Now this is a coaching staff as USC plays Notre Dame in South Bend in 1971. From left, Dave Levy, John McKay, Marv Goux and Don Lindsey.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

  • This episode of the Ed Sullivan Show featured the 1957 Look magazine College Basketball All-American team. Naturally, it’s led by Wilt Chamberlain (Kansas). But it also featured Elgin Baylor (Seattle) and Frank Howard (Ohio State), who played for the Dodgers from 1958-64.

And then there was 5-foot-8 guard Chet Forte (Columbia), who was the UPI Player of the Year for 1956-57. Forte then became the director of Monday Night Football from 1970-87 and later became a co-host of the “Loose Cannons” show on 690-AM.

Then there was West Virginia guard Hot Rod Hundley, who does a double-take when Sullivan calls him “Bob.”

The audience probably preferred New York-native Lennie Rosenbluth (North Carolina), who averaged 28 points per game that season, was the Helms Hall of Fame college player of the year and led the Tar Heels to a triple-overtime victory over Chamberlain and Kansas in the NCAA championship game.

PICTURE OF THE WEEK

Joanna Pettet in Casino Royale.

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

  1. F U C K trump ….

    trump for prison 2028

    trump for the electric chair 2028

    trump for impeachment 2027

    too bad the guy was a bad shot

    third time is a charm

    magats got duped

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      4. KAM: Ever notice how Cowardly Sparrow Gabby never condemns the sewage running out of the mouth of her fellow Mainstream Moderate Democrat, Cowardly Gabby?

        DON: Cowardly Sparrow Gabby is a real Profile In Courage.

        Like

      6. Not all of “Sparrow’s” posts are Sybil’s —only the mean-spirited, bat-sh*t crazy ones …..

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    1. Trump has cognitive issues and you continue to act as if you don’t notice them. Isn’t it the same mindset you blame Dems for having regarding Biden’s state of mind

      DUMB****ASS is a f u c k-ing idiot who is constantly guilty of the same s h I t she whines and cries about.

      senile as f u c k !

      BARSTOW?????…. QUIT AVOIDING A MEET- UP

      wait for it…..fake gabby will take the bait and respond with the same stale comments she has made 10k times.

      ….

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      1. Cowardly Gabby is still in denial that Biden was senile the last 5 years and she supported a senile corrupt old coot as president!

        Gabby

        June 18, 2025 at 11:33 pm

        Joe having dementia is your opinion …….dumb—-ass Since you can’t comprehend what an opinion is…let me help you opinion: a view or judgement formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.

        go service your outhouse and quit being a pest

        et me help you.

        DON: Cowardly Gabby, Tranny Bruin trojsteve9 and Cowardly Sparrow Gabby will never admit Biden is senile!

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      2. It’s hilarious the way they are pathetically trying to claim suffers from the same. He’s a t00l, for sure, and also not in the greatest physical condition.

        But the “cognitive decline” claims are just them projecting AGAIN. It’s what they do.

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  4. “When Worlds Collide”. When Susan started hanging out with the gang and Coffee Shop George crossed over into the world of Relationship George.

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  5. A great story of Albert Nozaki rising from his internment at Manzanar, California to becoming the art director of 2 great movies in the “War of the Worlds” and “The Ten Commandments”

    Liked by 3 people

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    1. KAM: A great story of a Mainstream Moderate Democrat, meet Hamish Steele, creator of a kid’s show on Netflix, which teaches kids they can be transgender.

      After Charlie was as s a s s i n a t e d , he called Charlie a Nazi and had a meltdown because people were mourning him. Netflix is SILENT. Their silence is deafening.

      DON: CANCEL NETFLIX!

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  6. Ever wonder what the difference is of one man (Wilt) being a foot-and-a-half taller than another (Forte), although Wilt seems to be 2-feet taller

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    1. KAM:Netflix Hemorrhages $15 BILLION in Just One Week After Elon Musk Calls for Boycott Over Woke Cartoon Pushing Trans Agenda to Kids.

      DON: . Show on Netflix “The Baby-Sitters Club” pushes TRANSGENDERISM on KIDS, shames characters for “misgendering” and demands hospital staff refer to and treat a boy as a girl. INSANITY This show is rated for CHILDREN. Cowardly Gabby and Tranny Bruin would love it.

      CANCEL NETFLIX!

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  7. KAM: SC fans are worried about Notre Dame and Oregon as if the Michigan and Nebraska games are gimmes

    DON: Michigan has got a pass rush and Nebraska is averaging 500 yards per game

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    1. Welcome back, John

      I don’t know about you but I’m plenty worried about Michigan and Nebraska [although —if we’re halfway healthy — I think we beat ’em both in tough battles]….

      #And….

      #…IfAnythingHappensToOregon&NotreDame’sQuarterbacks…

      #…WeHaveAChanceWithThemToo

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      2. Knowing you pretty well at this point, I’d feel safe saying we probably agree on almost all day to day issues…and how to go about dealing with them.

        All my best!

        Liked by 1 person

  8. Baylor and Chamberlain, two of the best ever, come out the same year and end up on the same team. Did not know that Frank Howard was an All American basketball player. Don’t believe we will see any more 5’8″ All Americans from Columbia.

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  9. “Westwood Su-ks” might have been risque a half century ago, but today it seems relatively mild although the insult still carries some sting

    Liked by 2 people

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    2. That card stunt really pissed off my English Lit professor, but then she said herself that nothing any good had been written since Milton.

      Liked by 1 person

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    1. KAM: Kash Patel’s FBI Cuts All Ties to Mainstream Moderate Democrat Southern Poverty Law Center that Senile Joe had established to harass Catholics.

      In 2012, a domestic terrorist used the SPLC “hate map” to target the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian think tank in Washington, D.C. He planned to kill everyone in the building. A building manager largely foiled the attack, but suffered lifelong injuries in the process. The unrepentant SPLC kept the council on the “hate map” ever since the attack and added Focus On The Family, founded by USC Trojan alum Dr. James Dobson, to the hate map.

      The man who opened fire at a Republican practice session for the Congressional Baseball Game in 2017, nearly killing then-House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, followed the SPLC on Facebook.

      The SPLC added Turning Point USA to the “hate map” mere months before an a s s a s s in with a transgender boyfriend m u r d e r e d Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.

      The SPLC refuses to remove Turning Point USA from the “hate map.”

      DON: The SPLC has tremendous impact inside and outside of law enforcement. Then-SPLC President Margaret Huang bragged in a 2021 donor meeting that “many agencies in the new Biden administration” reached out to “solicit our expertise” to “help shape the policies that the new administration is adopting to counter the domestic terrorism threat.” That wasn’t hyperbole. The Justice Department received a briefing from the SPLC shortly after it added Moms for Liberty to the “hate map” in June 2023. Good riddance!

      Liked by 1 person

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    1. KAM: The Trump Administration is taking action following the arrest of one of the most prominent conservative journalists in America.

      Portland Police arrested Nick Sortor on Thursday night after he defended himself from Mainstream Moderate Democrat Brownshirt Antifa thugs. The Mainstream Moderate Democrat Brownshirt Antifa woman who attacked him was not arrested.

      X user Mark Wilson shared a clip showing Sortor being led away in handcuffs. “Portland PD arrested a journalist, but none of the domestic terrorists,” he wrote.

      Sortor explained to Fox News’s Bill Melugin that he was getting video of Antifa fascists crying after getting maced by federal agents. Then, the agitators swarmed him, shoved him down into a flower bed, and someone threw a punch.

      Sortor responded by swinging back but missing. He then disengaged and walked over to a group of Portland PD who have tolerated 5 years of Democrat terror on the streets of once safe Portland, Oregon.

      The left wing public employee police are pawns of the Mainstream Moderate Democrat Party and responded by arresting the victim and charging him with disorderly conduct instead of any Democrat terrorists.

      DON: Attorney General Pam Bondi Just Ordered a FULL INVESTIGATION into Nick Sortor’s Unjust Arrest in Portland – Investigation Will Be Led By No-Nonsense Assistant AG Harmeet Dhillon.

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      1. 95% OF THE GARBAGE YOU POST HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH USC…….yet you blame other for doing the same thing……..something is not right between your ears

        wait for it……another repost that he’s already reposted 1000x.

        SLO CAL AND FAKE GABBY HAVE TURNED THIS BLOG INTO A S H I T SHOW YET TAKE ZERO RESPONDSIBILITY FOR IT……

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      2. KAM: Senile Joe Biden cheat sheet cards reveal he had bios, photo reminders on even Hillary Clinton and Schmucky Schumer!

        Note cards from the Biden era show the administration detailed the names and photos of high-profile Democrats, such as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as well as lesser-known individuals for then-President Senile Joe Biden to reference during live events, documents obtained by Fox News Digital show.

        Five different “palm cards,” which are hand-sized cheat sheet note cards frequently used by politicians for quick reminders or talking points during public events, especially while on the campaign trail, were uncovered amid an investigation of National Archive documents related to the corrupt Senile Joe Biden administration’s use of an autopen, and obtained by Fox News Digital.

        Four of the five cards obtained by Fox Digital are stamped with a disclaimer reading, “PRESIDENT HAS SEEN,” while a fifth card detailing an ABC News reporter’s question to Biden during a press conference did not include that stamp.

        Hitlery Clinton was among a handful of Americans who received a Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the U.S., in the waning days of the corrupt Senile Joe Biden administration. One of the palm cards obtained by Fox Digital reads “Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipients” and was followed by photos and short biographies of the recipients, including a photo of Clinton and a short note detailing she “was the Secretary of State in the Obama-Biden administration” !!!!!!!!!!!!

        The note card also included a photo of Hollywood actor Denzel Washington, who also received the prestigious award in January, and a note describing him as an actor, director and producer whom the New York Times called “one of the greatest actors of the 21st century.”

        The note also had photos and short bios for lesser known individuals who received the award, including chef José Andrés and businessman and philanthropist David Rubenstein.

        DON: Hilarious how Cowardly Gabby, Tranny Bruin, Cowardly Sparrow Gabby and trojsteve9 still won’t admit they supported a senile old coot for president who couldn’t even recognize Hillary Clinton!

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      4. KAM: Your denial of reality is creepy, Cowardly Gabby.

        DON You still won’t admit the obvious that Biden was senile and you supported a decrepit puppet.

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      5. Mary Bruce of ABC News being complicit in the coverup was no surprise. She, along with David Manure, Jonathan Karl and Martha Raddatz are scum. Also, the entire “60 Minutes” team!

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  12. MEMO to The Exaggerator aka Gabby 2. There is no point in denouncing some of Gabby 1’s assertions. It might serve you to ignore them as well

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    1. KAM: So funny that you refuse to stand up to your fellow Mainstream Moderate Democrat who calls for violence against half the country and our president.

      DON: That’s because Cowardly Sparrow Gabby agrees with Cowardly Gabby when she posts messages like this:

      Gabby

      September 15, 2025 at 1059 pm

      Too bad they didn’t blow his head off. Third time is a charm!

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      1. TOO BAD, EXACTLY!…..THE WORLD WOULD BE A BETTER PLACE…….

        YOU CAN’T RESIST THE BAIT, LIKE A TOTAL DUMB^^^ASS…..

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      2. KAM: You are evil incarnate, Cowardly Gabby.

        DON: You need to be institutionalized for the rest of your waste of life.

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  13. The Blogger doesn’t seem to be able to read between the lines as to the why of naming the USC tight end coke dealer’s documentary “Cocaine Quarterback.”

    Aren’t talented QB’s players who can deliver the “rock” all over the field?

    #SnowfallTelevisionSeries

    #YaYo

    #ColombianMarchingPowder

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    1. Snowfall was a great show!

      For those who didn’t catch it, a fictional show that depicted the real-world connection between the CIA and the rise of crack cocaine in South Central during the 80s.

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    1. KAM: Weird how there were no riots by white people after the OJ Jury verdict.

      DON: That was such a low moment in history of USC.

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      2. KAM: Cowardly Gabby, is that why he had the trial moved and played the race card with Johnnie Cochran?


        Search Assist

        The O.J. Simpson trial was moved from white Santa Monica to black downtown Los Angeles to avoid a predominantly white jury, as there were concerns about racial tensions following the Rodney King case

        DON: Yes just look at the reaction:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Pevb9LdIy8lol

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      3. OJ winning again was not a low moment for USC.

        Now if he had been found GUILTY, that’s another story.

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      4. KAM: You actually thought the Ambassador of USC, OJ, beloved by all, then reduced to using race to divide America to save his neck was not a low moment in USC history?????

        DON: Thngs that make you go hmmmmmmmm?

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    1. KAM: The Vatican’s approach to immigration and access is one of the strictest in Europe. Unauthorized immigration is not tolerated, and all access to the Vatican is carefully controlled. The laws governing entry are explicit: permits are required and strictly regulated, with access only granted for specific, justified reasons.

      Weird how Pope Leo’s Vatican City is walled and allows no immigration. That would make him a hypocrite… aka a Cowardly Gabby Mainstream Moderate Democrat .

      DON: Cowardly Gabby loved Senile Joe allowing 30 million illegal aliens to overrun America and Governor Mimbo wasting $6.4 billion on illegal aliens in California this last year alone!

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      1. The Pope just proved that he’s a total hypocrite and if he were here in the U.S., he’d fit right in with the Dims.

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    1. KAM:

      SPLC is the targeting wing of the Democrat party.

      Soros is the financial wing of the Democrat party.

      Antifa is the military wing of the Democrat party.

      Legacy Media is the propaganda wing of the Democrat party.

      DON: Simple. Mainstream Moderate Democrats like Cowardly Gabby are Traitors to America.

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  17. Scooter,

    I liked the 1953 verison of War of the Worlds over Tom Cruises version I thought the space aliens were cooler in design and about 3/4 quarters through the film they have two church steeples in the film. The stone colored was is the Protestant church, however the white pained steeple is St. Elizabeth, that is a Catholic church. I had to describe that for fake gabbby, since he is a bombastic moron, on Woodbury and Lake St., in Altadena. That was my church and I went to grammer school there. Proud to see it in the film. They also had the fuel farm right off the 101 fwy just shout of downtown in the film.

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  18. Scooter,

    I just saw Lindsey, in the photo and he was a great dc cordinator. My question is, how many times has Lynn’s defense forced the opposing team to punt this season? I would say about 5 times out of 50 possesions for the opposing team. Horrible

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  19. KAM: Supreme Court Allows Trump to End Senile Joe Biden-Era Protections for Hundreds of Thousands of Venezuelans – Ketanji Brown Jackson Fumes!

    DON: The US Supreme Court on Friday allowed President Trump to end the Senile Joe Biden-era protections for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans.

    The decision was 6-3. All three liberal justices dissented.

    Liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson fumed in her dissent.

    DON: I love drinking her liberal tears!

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    1. Someone who isn’t smart enough to know what a woman is shouldn’t be deciding anything for anyone.

      If she is against it, that means it’s a good thing.

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    1. KAM: Cowardly Gabby must be really outraged that Bill Joel ‘s wife is 33 years younger than that preachy libtard.

      DON: Cowardly Gabby is a violent demented hypocrite lib UCLA Fan.

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    1. Why did so many people die on Joe’s watch, both foreign and domestic? Why didn’t Joe try as hard as Trump is to end the conflicts that erupted on his watch?

      Because the more money Joe funneled to those conflicts, the more he got in the way of kickbacks! It’s Biden Crime Family’s way!!

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  22. Scott, thanks for your piece on my uncle, Albert Nozaki. In addition to being a USC alum (School of Architecture), he was a lifelong Trojan Football fan who despised UCLA. In addition to “War of the Worlds” and “The Ten Commandments”, he worked with Hal Perreira as art directors on virtually every Paramount film done from the late 1940’s through the early 1960’s when he retired. Thanks for the tribute, it’s greatly appreciated!

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