Just last week, my friend Steve Ronda made a post about how easy it is to hate on USC Football. In this column, I will take a more in-depth look on why I personally hate the Trojans with a passion heading into Saturday evening’s matchup between the two teams.
There are a number of reasons to dislike USC, but I think two main reasons has to be their uniforms and their fight song. I like the colors Cardinal and Gold, but not together on the same jersey. I cringe whenever I hear “Fight On” and it is especially annoying when you have to hear it after every Trojan first down and score.
Over the last decade, we have been hearing too much of it with USC’s domination over Notre Dame, but that appears to be changing. At least, I hope.
Then there is Tommy Trojan. I have always been a fan of everything Ancient Roman and Gladiator is one of my all-time favorite movies, but there is something that rubs me the wrong way about USC’s mascot. Maybe it is because the way he looks or how he holds two fingers up whenever the Trojans come up with a big play, but I have always wanted his horse to buck him off.
To this very day, I haven’t seen it happen, but there is always a change right?
To me, it has always been easy to hate on USC players and coaches as well. Over the last several decades, there have been a number of cases where SC players have gotten troubles with the law. Notre Dame players have had a few brushes with the law as well, but not at the same rate and not to the same seriousness as players from the west coast.
Reggie Bush is a perfect example of that. Because of the benefits that he received, Bush had his Heisman trophy removed from him and even USC had to vacate all of their victories from the 2005 season, including their win over ND in the “Bush Push” game.
I have long disliked USC’s coaches as well. Pete Carroll was a good guy, but I always hated how cheerful and excited he would get during a game. I felt that the guy had to be on speed or some other drug in order to constantly have that kind of energy. Now I have to watch him twice a year when the Cardinals play the Seahawks.
At least I get to continue rooting against him.
USC’s current head coach, Lane Kiffin, is even worse than Carroll was. Sure, Carroll was cocky, but at least him and his teams could back it up. In his two plus years of coaching at the collegiate level, Kiffin has yet to prove whether he can be a good head coach.
There is no question that Kiffin is one of the better recruiters across the country. Of course, it is easy to recruit at a school which has a beautiful campus, beautiful girls and a tradition-rich football program, but his record so far leaves something to be desired. He was a disaster with the Raiders and has only a 19-12 record in college with Tennessee and USC.
Nothing would be sweeter to see Kiffin’s face after Notre Dame puts a whooping on USC on Saturday. Oh yeah, Tommy Trojan falling off his horse and shutting up the USC band wouldn’t be bad either.
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How does that win feel? Better luck next year. Fight on!!