It seems like such a short time ago. The very name “USC” brought about a sense of awe. Many of us liked to say the whole thing without shortening it – ”The University of Southern California.” They were who we wanted to be – a perennial power. The top of the college football world. They played in “The Coliseum.” No need for another name. No need for a corporate sponsorship. It was “The Coliseum.”
The Center of the College Football Universe
They had an energetic coach that chewed gum and high-fived with his players just as if he was a real guy.
Sure he had the ethics of a water moccasin but he WON, and won big at Troy
And all was well … until it wasn’t. Reggie Bush and his squatter family ruined the reputation of the men of Troy. The school thought that they were too big to fail but fail they did. They were
And it reads the same in any language.
For a while the fans bravely stood shoulder to shoulder. They stood against the pounding sea of defeat and dread shouting “We’ll be okay. Our coach will ride out the storm! He’s Peter the Great!.” But soon reality began to hit. Pete took his foul mouth to the NFL. USC fans (and no fans have ever been so arrogant south of Seattle) saw their brains turn from football savvy instruments of football analysis to
Applesauce
Soon things went from bad to worse. USC once had coaches such as John McKay (cough, Oregon grad), John Robinson (cough, on Len Casanova’s coaching staff with McKay) and others. They had always had a “Head Coach,” who was the “Head Man.” Now they just had
Head Cheese
And the USC fan saw the power of the Pacific 12 move away from the Los Angeles Basin. It traveled north, nodded toward the Bay Area but bypassed California on it’s way to Eugene, where it has rested ever since. The USC fan became angry about this turn of events. How angry, you ask?
This Angry
Now the Trojans have hired Steve Sarkisian, who knowledgeable people have told me will “right the ship.” But USC, recently freed from scholarship limitations and sanctions, is going to be awfully young for the foreseeable future.
New USC Uniforms
So the prediction from the brain trust here at FishDuck.com/mutteringmasso0fprotoplasm is as follows – Trojan fans will be enchanted initially. They will be taken in by Sarkisian’s seemingly engaging style and youthful exuberance for the job. But the wins will not be as consistent as they would like. They will grumble, they will gripe. Then they will
And the Whole Thing Will Start all Over Again
Go Ducks!
Top photo by en.wikipedia.org
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Kim Hastings is a 1984 graduate of Northwest Christian College. He cut his journalistic teeth as sports editor of a paper in his home town of Fortuna, CA, and, later as a columnist for the Longview Daily News in Longview, WA.
He saw his first Oregon game in 1977 and never missed a home game from 1981 until a bout with pneumonia cut his streak short in 1997. He was one of the proud 3200 on a bitterly cold night in Shreveport, Louisiana in 1989 for the Independence Bowl, and continues to be big supporter of Oregon sports. He is an active participant on the various Oregon Ducks messageboards as “TacomaDuck.”