Mostly, I just wanted to see how many “categories” I could have at the top of this item. Now let’s see if I actually mention something about all of them. Some interesting topics playing out in U.S. sports right now and, really, I’m aware of them. Not everyone back home seems to remember we do, […]

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Yikes. Win forever? How about winning regularly? That’s two defeats in three games, both in blowouts, and the line of “Stanford 55, USC 21” hurt most of all. The 2009 Trojans already were on life-support when it came to their seven-year baseline aspirations — a BCS bowl, winning the Pac-10, finishing ranked in the top […]

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It was a hell of a run. Victories? 85 in 93 games. Competitiveness? Those eight defeats, in eight seasons … by a combined 29 points. Results? Seven consecutive Pac-10 championships. Seven consecutive top-4 AP poll finishes. Seven consecutive BCS bowl games. Seven consecutive 11-victory seasons. A hell of a run. Not much like that since […]

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For three-plus seasons, Allen Bradford’s decision to play football at USC looked as if it might have been a major mistake. He was recruited to play safety, or maybe linebacker … and got shifted to tailback late in the summer of 2006 when the position was hit by a rash of injuries. After spending most […]

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There goes the now-annual choke job against a Pac-10 minnow. Didn’t take long. Just like last year, actually. Uncanny, really, how similar it was. An important victory over Ohio State, followed immediately by a crushing Pac-10-opening defeat on the road. Washington 16, USC 13. In Seattle. That would be 20-point-underdog Washington. The Washington that hadn’t […]

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I don’t know any of this first-hand. I have done no reporting of my own. I haven’t talked to anyone directly involved in the situation. But I’m going to tell you what I heard, anyway. Which is what blogs too often are about. Just passing on idle gossip. But,  the heck with it. On with […]

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A few entries ago, I noted that the start of the National Football League season doesn’t really interest me. And I believe a big chunk of the Los Angeles market feels the same way. Saturday, we saw Reasons A and B why L.A. doesn’t need the NFL. USC and UCLA football.

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As I noted, below, USC under Pete Carroll wins these kind of games. Non-conference games in general, against prominent opposition in particular, versus Big Ten teams, in specific. But the Trojans cut this one awfully close. And it was mostly about the curious decision by Carroll and his coaches to commit to a 19-year-old freshman, […]

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Have I been over this before? How the National Football League leaves me, oh, sleepy with non-anticipation? And here we go, with the rest of the season — after that thrilling (yes, sarcasm) 13-10 overtime game in Pittsburgh on Thursday night. Wow. That was a thrill an hour. I watched the end of that because […]

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On the surface, USC’s game at Ohio State on Saturday looks like big trouble for USC. The Trojans will start a freshman quarterback who was playing for Mater Dei High School a year ago, nearly their entire defense from 2008 is gone, and it’s on the road against the nation’s eighth-ranked team, in a particularly […]

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