Hey everybody!

I'm now officially done with finals, which means I'm a college senior...Which is really weird for me.  I wanted to do two things with this post, commend paragon for running an awesome site that sucks up at least an hour of my life daily, and provide everyone else with a means of getting through the offseason: http://www.centsports.com/?opcode=125536

Its a website where you get 10 cents for free, and then can bet it on whatever you want, NBA, MLB, soccer, doesn't matter.  And the cool thing is if you get up over $20, you can cash out for real money.  It requires no investment other than time and an email address, and its been helping me procrastinate through 28 pages of essays and 2 tests, so if anyone feels like trying it out feel free.

Fight on, beat allegations!

Lots of people say they don't care about it, but I do, and I'm glad we finally won it after building up a seemingly insurmountable lead early in the year.  Although the bruins kept chipping away at it, we held serve and, short of losing men's and women's track, women's rowing (we've never lost to them since the gauntlet was founded), AND playing them in men's baseball in the postseason (very low probability), we've got it back at USC.

Congrats to a great year for USC athletes and athletics!!!

Update [2008-5-3 14:34:46 by USCLink]:Women's rowing beats the bruins to clinch the gauntlet!

There was a riot last night just north of Campus, on 30th st. where many students live.  A block party was thrown, and things got severely out of hand.  I was there early in the night, but fortunately, left long before it exploded into this situation.  Residents in the area took videos, which have been uploaded to youtube.com.  I don't know all of the specifics, but I wanted to bring it up, since I was there, I have friends who were there, and Its a newsworthy issue.

I'll post more when I know more, but its a very big issue, and sure caught me off guard.

WARNING:  Explicit language and material

[editor's note, by DC Trojan] Bumped from the Diaries.

An awesome get, and glad to keep him in house.  Wearesc.com has the story right here.  I don't know much about him, but his dad was a Trojan, he's got a rocket arm, and just committed, so life is good right now.

Fight on and beat the Beavers/Cavaliers!

Update [2008-1-23 23:33:33 by DC Trojan]: This further detail from the LA Times:

Barkley said he visited USC on Saturday and came to the conclusion there was no need to wait any longer on making a decision even though he can't sign a letter of intent until February of 2009.

"With all the success USC has to offer, I feel it's the best opportunity to grow as a quarterback," Barkley said. "The competition is like none other. I've always loved USC and I wanted to get the burden of the recruiting process over before I start back with Mater Dei football."

Barkley's decision offers a boost to the Trojans just as rival UCLA was gaining attention for hiring former USC assistant Norm Chow as its offensive coordinator. On the same day last Saturday that Barkley visited USC Coach Pete Carroll and offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, in the afternoon he went to UCLA for an unofficial visit with his cousin, receiver Robbie Boyer, and was taken around campus by Bruins Coach Rick Neuheisel.

Barkley said he considers Chow "a great coach" and had met him previously at a camp, but his ties to USC were strong, considering that his father, Les, played water polo for the Trojans.

Hopefully this is one commitment that sticks!

The Mackey award, presented to the nation's best tight-end, goes to Fred Davis!!!  Congratulations Fred on a fantastic season, and a well deserved reward.  Enjoy the NFL, and the bowl game...you've earned 'em both!

Women's soccer outlasted West Virginia in Morgantown today, posting yet another shutout win 1-0.  The win, coupled with UCLA's double OT win over Portland, sets up a USC vs. UCLA semifinal match in the Final Four.

Congratulations to the Women of Troy, on what has been an absolutely outstanding season.  Now, BEAT THE BRUINS!!!

We are having a banner year in terms of 'SC athletics.

Women's soccer is a #2 seed in the NCAA tournament, and are currently in the elite 8, having beaten the Florida Gators on Saturday night 1-0, in a game that really wasn't that close, as the Women of Troy dominated throughout, and had 2 squandered scoring opportunities late in the game.  Frankly, we were better conditioned, and it showed when we kept beating them to balls in space.

Women's Volleyball is a #2 seed in the NCAA tournament as well.  They host the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament, and defending the homeground has always been easy for this team, which went undefeated at the Galen Center.

Women's Cross Country brought the Emergence of a star freshman named Coco (can't remember first name and don't have time to check now).  She won 3 races, and helped us finish above the bRuins in the conference standings.

Men's Golf has shown its talent in early exhibitions, and is poised for another strong year.

Men's Water Polo won the MPSF tournament, and is well-positioned to compete for another NCAA title following an 18-2 season.

Men's basketball, after early season setbacks, has grown fantastically.  A young, talented team that got blown out at home by Mercer, just stomped a tournament team from last year by 25.

Football, considering all of the injuries, hardships, penalties, losses to Stanford, etc. are having a damn good season poised for another Rose Bowl berth  (The rose Bowl...6 more miles!!!).  And what makes me most proud of them is that there has not been a SINGLE off the field issue involving the team.  No rape allegations, no robberies, nothing, not so much as an unpaid parking ticket.  That is a track record we can all be proud of.

We're having a banner year, I hope we're all enjoying it for what it is...this sort of athletic dominance doesn't come very often.

Fight on Trojans, and beat the bRuins!

I haven't posted in a while, but i needed to say something.

The Pete Carroll era has two distinct qualities:  1.  Rare losses, if any and 2.  extremely close losses.  These two qualities have come to mean that any loss is especially excruciating...we don't know how to deal with them, and we're not prepared for when they happen.

Our guys got beat last night.  We played poorly, and got the ending we earned.

I'm still behind them 100%.  And for the first time since I've been at USC, the entire Trojan Family was behind them, trying to will them on to victory.  It didn't work, but we were all there collectively, together.  There was no "lets root for our team to lose so our coach gets fired," or anyone who turned their back.  It was us doing the best we could to make a difference.

We have a tradition in the band, and at the university to immediately move on from the last game.  As soon as the clock hits 00:00, we start our next chant, "Beat the Wildcats," in this case.  And while it still hurts, and I'm still used to saying "Beat the Farm," we didn't, its over, and we have work to do.  So, analyze all we can, discuss, talk, but lets be honest here.  We have one big role this week:  Support the team so when the Wildcats come into our house, this doesn't happen again.

So despite all of the negatives, despite the wrenching, soul-crushing pain of this loss, be glad we're all still Trojans.  We're all in this together.  We have one of the greatest histories of college football.  One loss doesn't undermine that.

Besides, that's why the play the game.  If you want to throw our guys under the bus, do so, but I will defend them, because that's what I'm in the band to do.  To support them at all costs, because tearing them down doesn't help them play better, or make us win more.  They feed off of support, and that's what I'll do.

Dr. Bartner said something that rang very true last night, after the game. "Its easy to be a Trojan and support the team when they're winning. Nows the time that they need us most, when its hard, after this loss. So fight on, keep the spirit up, and beat the wildcats!" I don't agree with him much, but he's dead on.

Fight On, and Beat the Wildcats!

On the field he had an awesome day yesterday (especially that 9 yd td run).

Off the field, he is a really cool guy.

Earlier today, I went to Pete's a local place with cheap, good food that's right next to my house.  While ordering my friend and I saw Chauncey Washington.  We figured would wouldn't have another shot to say hey, so we went over and introduced ourselves while waiting for our food.

Chauncey is an amazingly cool guy.  Football aside, he's entertaining to talk to, and very easy-going.  He also reinforced a fact that I find very entertaining.  The football team is as impressed with the band as the band is with the football team.  When he said, "you guys are on scholarship right?" and meant it, that definitely made my week.

We talked a little about the game, not mentioning too many specifics, but wished him good luck against UW, and had an overall very enjoyable time.  He was on his way to physical therapy, and was walking with a noticable limp, so hopefully he recovers by competition Tuesday.

Meeting the players is really cool.  Living in LA with celebrities is also really cool.  Being considered a celebrity by the players you meet?  Priceless.

Hope everyone had a good gameday (I know I did), and I'll be at UW this coming weekend, so I'll keep an update on any decent stories.

I'll post more tomorrow, but 'SC won in 3 after a closer than necessary 3rd game.

FTFO!!!

Beat Idaho!  And everyone but us!

Hmmm, more characters.

Short summary, after winning game one and two handily by 30-18, and 30-22, the last game was much closer as we trailed almost the entire game, and ended up winning 31-29.