Maybe it’s because I work on a sports show and I’m inundated with it, but our athletic department has quickly become a punchline. Just this week alone:
- A judge ruled that Reggie Bush must quit stonewalling and must testify.
- O.J. Mayo was reported to have taken $30K in cash and gifts.
- DeMar DeRozan (second-highest rated basketballer ever to sign with the school) is reconsidering after the Mayo incident.
- That ridiculous youtube video with Brendan Carroll f-bombing the walk-ons has exploded all over the Internets.
- Lofa Tatupu, one of the few USC products who hasn’t been an utter disaster, got a DUI.
Just to repeat: that’s JUST THIS WEEK.
I hear about it nonstop: USC’s athletic department is worse than Ohio State’s, worse than Florida State’s, worse than Miami’s, USC is an SEC school and not in a good way, lack of institutional control, inmates running the asylum, a school without any shred of integrity, etc.
Maybe it’s because I have two kids now and going to the games isn’t quite as logistically easy as it once was, but I’m giving serious thought to selling my season tickets and staying home this season. (And yes, I know that doesn’t hurt the athletic department, but at least karma-wise it might if my tickets go to the opposing fans at each game). Based on the goodwill of a few great teams, they have jammed the entire community with higher ticket prices and a raw deal, and now every SC alum gets to walk into the office every day and hear about how they went to school at “The Program” and are basically one notch above SMU.
If there’s another way to file some kind of protest, I’m all for it … not that the school would give a damn, but still. Anyone associated with the school who has any interest in sports whatsoever should be embarrassed by it.
May 16th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
I’m feeling for you Man. There’s no two ways around it, we’re screwed no matter what? The haters have their fodder, the fans have their heads in the sand, the administration has a TON of explaining, and as for the rest? Their perceptions won’t easily change about us in years to come because of the Mayo affair.
We’ll recover. How soon? That’s not even quantifiable at this point. My only hope is that Johnson has some tainted documentation or that the documentation can’t connect the dots directly to Mayo himself. (that’s a total stretch- I know. . . .but he’s “our brother” for better or for worse, and I’ll stand by him as long as the “process” proves his guilt)
May 31st, 2008 at 11:17 am
[...] winner of the title game. But given the apparent lack of killer instinct in recent years past, and the general pall that hangs over the program nowadays, I’m not so sure. Posted by gpen Filed in BCS, Georgia, [...]