If things get any crazier in the land of Pete and honey, they'll have to change their slogan.
From Fight On, to Heads Up!
It's been quite a week for the USC Trojan football program, whose perception has suffered the same fate as its four highest profile players on Saturday's draft day. Falling, falling, falling, falling.
Reggie Bush, surrounded by questionable advisers, fell out of the top spot into number two, a $6 million plunge.
Matt Leinart, plagued by a questionable arm and Hollywood focus, fell from last year's probable top spot to number 10, a plunge worth double-digit millions.
LenDale White, alleged to have questionable character, fell from projected top 10 to 45th, a drop as large as Coach Pete Carroll's infamous high dive.
Winston Justice, haunted by a questionable past, fell into the second round in a league desperate for offensive linemen.
It was a statement of disillusionment not only about the players, but their program.
“The worst week since I've been here, yeah,” Carroll said in a phone interview Saturday night. “It's been very, very difficult.”
It was a week that wore out the Trojans worse than Texas, and frightened them more than Notre Dame.
It was a week that was trickier than Norm Chow and as explosive as Ed Orgeron.
It was a week when the program's Teflon coating finally seemed as thin as the smile on Carroll's face.
“This week we learned some things the hard way,” Carroll said.
The week started with the revelations that Bush's family spent the year living rent-free in a house purchased by a businessman who wanted to work with their son.
Bush clearly knew, and you have to wonder, why didn't he tell anyone at the school? Why did he feel his parents could get away with it?
The week continued with the arrest of quarterback Mark Sanchez on suspicion of sexual assault.
No charge has been filed, nothing may happen. But when your program's future leader is led away from his apartment in handcuffs, something has already happened.
Then, Saturday morning, there surfaced a report that White had failed an NFL drug test. The report has yet to be confirmed, but considering the draft's best big back was only the fifth back taken, perhaps somebody certainly believed it.
There were other areas of the draft that made you wonder.
Why would Bush suddenly drop out of the top spot that was all but promised to him? Could it be the Texans didn't feel they could strike a deal with an entourage that included Joel Segal, an agent once suspended for paying a player, and Mike Ornstein, a marketer formerly convicted of mail fraud?
What is Bush doing with those guys anyway? Why didn't somebody in the influential Trojan family steer him elsewhere?
Then there was Leinart, the choice of America's paparazzi, anointed as the next New York Jets quarterback by none other than Donald Trump.
Well, guess what? The Jets passed on him. So did the Tennessee Titans, whose coach is former Trojan Jeff Fisher and whose offensive coordinator is Chow. If a guy who tutored Leinart for two consecutive national championships can't convince his owner to draft him, you know something stinks.
Most of the questions were about his arm strength. But some folks also wondered about his glamour bent. Dumping a football agent for a Hollywood agency probably didn't help.
Then there was Winston Justice, the seemingly perfect NFL specimen whose character was ripped by announcers as he dropped from spot to spot to 39th.
“Only the so-called experts thought these guys fell,” claimed Carroll. “They didn't fall, the expectations were wrong. They were taken where the NFL thought they belonged.”
But as the first day of the draft ended, the falling continued.
The week will end Sunday with the Los Angeles Times revealing that receiver Dwayne Jarrett, the Trojans' top returning player, owes $10,000 in rent money to Bob Leinart, Matt Leinart's dad.
It is a gift that could result in an NCAA sanction, and raises a repeat question. Why didn't Jarrett tell anyone? Why did he think he could get away with it?
Through the hangover throttling the Trojan nation Sunday, it is an issue that must be pondered.
Plaschke is a sports columnist for The Los Angeles Times
It's been quite a week for the USC Trojan football program, whose perception has suffered the same fate as its four highest profile players on Saturday's draft day. Falling, falling, falling, falling.
Reggie Bush, surrounded by questionable advisers, fell out of the top spot into number two, a $6 million plunge.
Matt Leinart, plagued by a questionable arm and Hollywood focus, fell from last year's probable top spot to number 10, a plunge worth double-digit millions.
LenDale White, alleged to have questionable character, fell from projected top 10 to 45th, a drop as large as Coach Pete Carroll's infamous high dive.
Winston Justice, haunted by a questionable past, fell into the second round in a league desperate for offensive linemen.
It was a statement of disillusionment not only about the players, but their program.
“The worst week since I've been here, yeah,” Carroll said in a phone interview Saturday night. “It's been very, very difficult.”
It was a week that wore out the Trojans worse than Texas, and frightened them more than Notre Dame.
It was a week that was trickier than Norm Chow and as explosive as Ed Orgeron.
It was a week when the program's Teflon coating finally seemed as thin as the smile on Carroll's face.
“This week we learned some things the hard way,” Carroll said.
The week started with the revelations that Bush's family spent the year living rent-free in a house purchased by a businessman who wanted to work with their son.
Bush clearly knew, and you have to wonder, why didn't he tell anyone at the school? Why did he feel his parents could get away with it?
The week continued with the arrest of quarterback Mark Sanchez on suspicion of sexual assault.
No charge has been filed, nothing may happen. But when your program's future leader is led away from his apartment in handcuffs, something has already happened.
Then, Saturday morning, there surfaced a report that White had failed an NFL drug test. The report has yet to be confirmed, but considering the draft's best big back was only the fifth back taken, perhaps somebody certainly believed it.
There were other areas of the draft that made you wonder.
Why would Bush suddenly drop out of the top spot that was all but promised to him? Could it be the Texans didn't feel they could strike a deal with an entourage that included Joel Segal, an agent once suspended for paying a player, and Mike Ornstein, a marketer formerly convicted of mail fraud?
What is Bush doing with those guys anyway? Why didn't somebody in the influential Trojan family steer him elsewhere?
Then there was Leinart, the choice of America's paparazzi, anointed as the next New York Jets quarterback by none other than Donald Trump.
Well, guess what? The Jets passed on him. So did the Tennessee Titans, whose coach is former Trojan Jeff Fisher and whose offensive coordinator is Chow. If a guy who tutored Leinart for two consecutive national championships can't convince his owner to draft him, you know something stinks.
Most of the questions were about his arm strength. But some folks also wondered about his glamour bent. Dumping a football agent for a Hollywood agency probably didn't help.
Then there was Winston Justice, the seemingly perfect NFL specimen whose character was ripped by announcers as he dropped from spot to spot to 39th.
“Only the so-called experts thought these guys fell,” claimed Carroll. “They didn't fall, the expectations were wrong. They were taken where the NFL thought they belonged.”
But as the first day of the draft ended, the falling continued.
The week will end Sunday with the Los Angeles Times revealing that receiver Dwayne Jarrett, the Trojans' top returning player, owes $10,000 in rent money to Bob Leinart, Matt Leinart's dad.
It is a gift that could result in an NCAA sanction, and raises a repeat question. Why didn't Jarrett tell anyone? Why did he think he could get away with it?
Through the hangover throttling the Trojan nation Sunday, it is an issue that must be pondered.
Plaschke is a sports columnist for The Los Angeles Times
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