15 thoughts on “Happy New Year”

  3. Next year has to be better. The 2012 year ended appropriately with my USC Trojans losing a game that was awful and boring and looks like it might set a pattern for next year. Ugh !

    Happy new year to you.

  7. “By the way, what happened to those Trojans? ”

    I fear we are entering another era like that after John Robinson left in 1982 after a minor scandal that he had nothing to do with. He went to the Rams and then returned to SC in 1993 when he was getting old and was less interested in recruiting. SC went through a serious of mediocre coaches and seasons until Pete Carroll came, really on his own initiative. His daughter was playing volleyball at SC and he was out of NFL coaching at the time.

    He was a perfect college coach, all enthusiasm and corny humor. His manner hadn’t played well with the pros but was ideal for college. Then, another small scandal arrived that Carroll had nothing to do with. Reggie Bush, a star, and his parents got involved with a would-be agent in San Diego. It started with a house for the parents then an ATM card for Bush. Of course they got caught and the NCAA, which has been harsh on big football schools for some time, imposed drastic penalties. Carroll, as I understand it, went to athletic director Mike Garrett who had not hired Carroll of his own volition and who was not a friend, to ask if Garrett would be supportive in spite of the penalties. Carroll was visibly upset when Sanchez decided to go pro after only one season. If he had been planning to leave, he would not have been so upset. Anyway, Carroll had had a number of offers but had turned them down. Like Robinson in the 70s, he would have stayed for the rest of his career but SC let him get away with faint praise.

    He is now taking Seattle to the playoffs while SC is sinking into mediocrity again with Kiffin who has no emotional investment in the team and looks like Paul Hackett, another former pro offensive coordinator who was miscast as a college coach. Kiffin looked like he was hiding at the Sun Bowl wearing a hoodie and sun glasses. Carroll would have been in short sleeves and jumping up and down on the sidelines.

    We are heading into another period of doldrums. I have had season tickets since 1956 and have seen this play before.

  9. “Right over my European head, I am sorry to say.”

    Sorry, I don’t understand soccer although my grand daughter plays.

    I grew up in Chicago playing softball with a ball that was 16 inches in circumference. I moved to California for college and discovered no one knew what it was.

  10. “…16 inches in circumference.”

    Ha, I remembe that too MK; the official ball of the tavern league, wasn’t it?

  11. It was the official ball of the CYO playground and my grammar school team. The league that used to play in a small stadium at 75th street opposite South Shore High School may have been the tavern league. The only other soft ball I saw used in Chicago then was a 10 inch that girls played with. The girls played fast pitch, the 16 inch ball was slow pitch and we didn’t use gloves to field it.

  13. I have one of those 16 inch balls sitting on my desk. It’s very light. I played catch with it a couple of times and kept jamming my fingers, so it’s barely been used.

  14. Bill, I watched the Orange Bowl game until it was so one sided that I gave up. The NIU kids played their hearts out and even looked like they had a chance until the QB threw an interception that he should have thrown away. It’s interesting to see newer schools going into big time football. It must be expensive. I’d fire about 90% of the administrators and keep football. The Catholic schools of New York City were run with 50 administrators a decade ago. They had an enrollment almost equal to the public schools. It’s depressing to watch the bloat grow.

  15. I am not the biggest college football guy around, but I must admit it was fun watching Northwestern win its first bowl game since the Truman presidency. Who next, Columbia?

    MK, I am sorry, but no head coach of a major D1 program has any business wearing a visor on the sidelines. It is crazy effeminate, as if he’s in a Saturday Night Live sketch! In all honesty, wearing that visor makes Kiffin look like he should be about 90 miles east of the coliseum hanging out at the Dinah Shore Classic. I couldn’t fathom Bear Bryant or Eddie Robinson sporting something like that.

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