LA Confidential

The conclusion to the USC-UCLA was foregone weeks ago when USC got pummeled by Stanford 55-21. Preternatural Peter has never appeared more perplexed as he did in the aftermath of that record loss at home. Pete’s Trojans lost at home in front of their maddening masses worse than any USC coach has ever lost in school history. With two weeks to prepare and disappointment cursing their veins, Pete had Troy ready on Saturday night for their cross town rivals.

In the weeks preceding the game, omnipresent Pete zigzagged through the carnage. He struggled to explain why the Trojans were going to be playing a bowl game in December for the first time in seven years. Carroll seemed confused and at a loss to explain the recent chain of events. It had never happened since his first season. In 2007, between championships, he could dismiss the aberration of one point loss to a 41 point underdog Stanford team on the last play of the game. The Trojans still went to the Rose Bowl. Explaining a 34 point beat down to that same ten point underdog this season is far more vexing and the second mea culpa after the Oregon pasting two weeks earlier.

Two weeks ago, Peter was staring down Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh when he went for a two point conversion leading 48-21 with seven minutes to go. Stanford had ruined USC’s title hopes in 2007. Pete made them pay last year in Palo Alto with a 27-0 rout while he left his NFL starter laden line up playing late in the game. Payback is never timely or fair. In this season’s upset, Pete Carroll and Harbaugh shared much dissected comments at midfield after this year’s game. Pete looked about as happy as he was at the Mark Sanchez press conference earlier this year.

With the Stanford and Oregon blowouts of both teams, the magnitude and importance of this game was underscored by the 7:00 PM telecast on local cable channel Prime Ticket in standard definition. Fortunately, this game did not require high def. It was an ugly, meaningless game that the only Yard copy occurred in the last minute. UCLA has never won a USC game when the game’s first touchdown is a Trojan interception return for that touchdown. USC linebacker Malcolm Smith ended UCLA’s night with that first half pick and the only score of the first half. Twenty-nine minutes and six seconds of the second half were a screen saver.

Then Peter the Bitter went for seven with a 21-7 lead and 54 seconds left. UCLA coach Rick Nuehiesel had called time out to stop the clock. It is our understanding that once time expires if one team has 21 and the other has seven, you lose that game. The only hope is to slow the clock with the hope for a miracle. Miracles sound like some of our parlays this weekend at the Hilton sports book but however remote, it is the only hope to win the game besides capitulation. Capitulation might have been polite protocol for Pete and his brightly festooned fans. It might have ended the game ten minutes earlier.

In response to the timeout, angry Carroll called a play action pass when no one in the stands or any other coach in America would have called that play at any time and never in a rivalry game. Postgame, Peter the classless disingenuously suggested that “he did not call that play” but when he heard the call on his head set, his competitive spirit took over and the Trojans executed the play perfectly. Pete, WTF?

With eleven UCLA players in the box attempting to stop the run and force a fumble, Damian Williams on a post pattern was a play in the play book that should not have been called. Pete cheered at the outcome like he had not in a month. The Yard does not completely understand the petulance of Rick the young in delaying the inevitable but it was not an effort to run up the score. We are not sure when Pete decided he needed to be that guy to bitch slap him in his hood. It was like the bar scene from Good Fellas. Pete was Joe Pesci.

Pete might leave USC and take many of the open jobs before he needs to face UCLA at the Rose Bowl next year. He has owned this town for seven years but losing three ugly Pac-10 games this year has not gone unnoticed. Pete is never going to pass up the San Diego deal again. He understands that myopic loyalty is earned a year at a time.

USC QB Matt Barkley does not have the same options. He was beaming after throwing his only never should have been thrown TD pass of the game. He purred telling Prime Ticket how he made the correct read that lead to his last second gift in a marginal season. He apparently needed that 12th touchdown to move ahead of his eleven interceptions. His parents must be proud.

OT: Toby Gerhard will win the Heisman trophy. He is the epitome of what a Heisman winner should be. He is from Norco High School. He leads the nation in rushing, is taking 21 hours in course credit in his senior year at Stanford and starts in centerfield on the baseball team. He is a humble, low gloss work horse who is exciting to watch.

Laker Country

The Lakers have been radio broadcast on KLAC AM570 since our very first strains of purple and gold myopia in the late 60’s. As a native Glendalian, KLAC radio was the local radio station right down on Glendale Blvd. They had an old school DJ in the window spinning country tunes and crooning into a microphone the size of a Direct TV dish. It was a country station but 82 + nights a year it was the Laker station.

Laker nation was more like Laker County in those days. The Lakers had already lost five NBA finals to the Boston Celtics before Yard youth was able to embed basketball into our tortured legacy. Being an LA Ram fan had built up the required scar tissue before the Lakers were added. We were fully engaged for the back to back NBA Final upset losses in 1969 and 1970. The Lakers were heavily favored in both finals with three Hall of Famers, Elgin Baylor, Jerry West and Wilt in the starting lineup. West became the only NBA Finals MVP to play for the losing team in 1969.

The Lakers played at the Sports Arena and were rarely on TV and barely on radio. Chick Hearn put the mustard on our hot dog while we dribbled along in his cadence. Chick told the story each night with passion and emotion without being a homer. Radio and television broadcasting are completely different given the nature of the media. Chick was the only broadcaster who did the play by play on television and radio at the same time. He kept both audiences in awe.

Mornings after the games, it only took one Wichita lineman and an “I Walk the Line” to recall the hard court memories on these same airwaves eight hours earlier. KLAC was our local station that provided our portal to Chick. The Laker legacy improved through the exploits of Kareem, Magic, Big Game James and the rest against the freeway overpass of our memories. Along the ride, Chick called every single play on AM 570.

ESPN took over this year broadcasting the Laker games. Spiro Dedes and Mychal Thompson worked the broadcast at KLAC and have moved over to ESPN. It only a click up the dial and another chit whittled from the legacy of our youth. The Lakers will win the west regardless of which network broadcasts the games and we will listen. Kobe has the best supporting cast and the highest quotient of unbridled relent in the relentless skill set. He will never let Ron Artest listen to the voices in Artest’s head. He will be the voice in Andrew Bynum’s head. Kobe is and it will be.

Trojan Fan, calm down. You could have been the lead story. A bad day in the Cardinal and Gold is a lifetime in blue and gold. These historic defensive melt downs will end soon. Pete has two weeks to prepare for the Trojans next home game. The team will be angry and focused and playing their cross town rival at home which is never good for the cross town rival. Pete, if Rick Neuheisel is ever ahead of your team 48-21 with seven minutes left in the game, he will not go for two!

Ducks in the Mist

When your team loses every Saturday for a month, it is an ugly stretch. When the moons align and there are five Saturdays in the month, it is a downright frightful stretch of primordial goo. The Bruins were “0” for October with the final Halloween beat down by the Beavers on Saturday. The only bright spot was it was televised in tape delay and we chose not to watch. October was not much kinder to the Dodgers or Angels either. When all seemed to swirling down the emotional drain of futility, USC delivered in the clutch in Eugene. It was heartwarming to see the Trojans go down hard in the Oregon mist.

That morning, we were startled to see the young USC quarterback Matt Barkley being interviewed on ESPN during College Game Day. His confidence was stout and endearing to the cardinal and gold. Barkley is a likeable kid and unfortunately has a huge upside in the wrong colors for years to come. During the course of the interview, Mattie from the OC smiled and winked about the unruly crowds he had faced in Columbus, South Bend and Berkley during his freshman year. With three victories in the duffel bag, he smirked at the reporter and said he enjoyed quieting those hostile crowds in victory. There was no such disquiet on this night.

Eugene is not Columbus or South Bend and on a Halloween night it is a nightmare on Elm Street for stout youth. Autzen Stadium holds 40,000 less than the horseshoe in Columbus. It can sound like 40,000 more and a young QB can hear every derisive comment and smell every pre-game beverage. Barkley may have wanted to silence the crowd but his offensive line twitched with each yell in route to seven illegal procedure calls. It was a beat down that we anticipate in Westwood but has never happened during the reign of Prince Pete. Bruin humility is a coping strategy, Trojan humiliation is karma.

Oregon wins out, USC wins out and the Pac-10 wins out with possibly two BCS teams and the resulting pay day for the UC system. USC will recover and let us all root on the Ducks. Chip Kelly has done an outstanding job navigating a first game melt down in Boise that still has a right jab on You Tube.

The Bruins have Washington at home and WSU wherever and they will win those games. It is a difficult time but Neuheisel has always been willing to do the unsavory things that lead to success. Bob Toledo was too lazy and Karl Dorrell was too proud. The 4th stringer at USC will come to UCLA in the years ahead. The 4th stringer that chose not to go to USC beat them on Halloween.