Rose Bowl 2006
Photos from our on-field correspondent of Athensnotsparta.com.
The greatest college quarterback of all-time and our main man Frostee (#90) leading the Trojans out to start the second-half.
Lightning.
Thunder.
and Pete.
We do have an amazing 7-shot series of VY on his way to one of his 4th quarter TD's, but we're hesitant to publish it at the moment. Maybe our Texas friends can retain personal copies, but the originals may be destroyed at a soon-to-be-determined date, time and place. Suggestions welcome.
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I don't know how I'm just hearing about this, but the L.A. Times reported this morning that pregame programming on ABC will include a debate about tonight's game between USC alum Will Ferrell and Texas alum Matthew McConaughey.
Be sure to tune in at 5pm to catch the meeting of the minds; kickoff will follow at 5:20pm PST.
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...and counting.
Anybody got ideas on how to pass the time without going insane?
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And we're supposed to work today? Brutal.
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TrojanWire is doing a guestblogging stint with the Houston Chronicle, as a part of their 2006 Rose Bowl coverage. We'd tell you that we jumped at the opportunity for T-Wire to reach a bigger audience...and that would be true, more or less.
But really, we're most excited about the chance to mess with Texas, just a little bit.
So please go check us out (and lend us some support in the comments) at blogs.chron.com/fanblogusc. We'll be posting there a few times daily, between now and Wednesday's game (and probably a day or two after as well).
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TrojanWire was out in Azusa as the final preparations were being put on some of the 2006 Rose Parade floats, including the USC float and the impressive ESPN entry, which features a Trojan and a Longhorn leaping from a big screen TV and into your living room (pictured below).
But why take my word for it--here's a photo preview of the floatastic goodness currently making its way through Pasadena.
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The Trojans took their turn in The Beef Bowl at Lawry's Beverly Hills tonight, to dine on all the beef they can stuff themselves with.
The Beef Bowl is an annual Rose Bowl tradition dating back 50 years, where both teams come and dine on all the beef they can, and they actually announce a winner at the end of it all. (The Longhorns took their turn dining at Lawry's on Friday night.) Honestly, does it get any better than two teams of oversized athletes competing to see who can consume more beef?
We don't have any first-hand reports to confirm a winner yet, or any photos/video to document the event. But we have eaten at Lawry's a lot, and we've seen the crowds following the Trojans around town, so we can help set the scene -- A rainy Los Angeles night...all of USC's team arriving in buses at Lawry's in Beverly Hills on La Cienega...a bunch of media waiting, inside and outside of the building....huge throngs of people welcoming the Trojans outside the building...and LOTS and LOTS of delicious beef (that looks a lot like the picture to the right) welcoming them inside.
UPDATE: The rain may have deterred us, but not Inside USC -- they've got video of Matt Leinart, Pete Carroll, and delicious prime rib. Gotta love the performance by the rookie of the year field reporters at Inside USC. Keep it coming.
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Also from tonight's event--Inside USC has video of Reggie Bush being quizzed about the Texans, who clinched the first pick in the 2006 NFL Draft earlier Sunday.
What does Reggie have to say about the prospect of playing in Texas? He knows that Texas doesn't have any income tax.
Spoken like a true Trojan, Reggie.
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The L.A. Times has published an interactive team photo of the 1989 Trojan team that played in the 1990 Rose Bowl -- you can mouse-over players to see where they are today.
There are those you probably know about--like Junior Seau, John Jackson, Pat Harlow, and Dan Owens, who went on to enjoy different degrees of NFL success.
But there are plenty of other stories you probably don't know about--like TE Yonnie Jackson, who is now a lawyer in Northern California; hard-hitting S Cleveland Colter, who now owns a catering business in Phoenix, AZ; or RB Aaron Emanuel, who went from a highly-touted young RB (whose discipline problems most likely cost him NFL riches) to a substitute teacher in Culver City.
1989 USC Team Interactive Photo [L.A. Times]
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I'm sensing a little bitterness towards the L.A. Times from the Austin-American Statesman, as evidenced in this post Saturday on their running Bevometer (which is sort of like a permalink-less blog):
The LA Times spent several inches of newsprint Friday extolling the virtues of how open USC practices are, a long-standing tradition that was presented in pointed contrast to Texas' Kremlinesque proceedings at the Home Depot Center a few miles away. Babies in strollers, reporters, Notre Dame fans, business people, even (a few years ago, regrettably) O.J. Simpson loiter at USC practices. What the article didn't make clear (you'd have to go to Friday's Austin American-Statesman to find this out) is that reporters from Texas were ushered out of the USC practice after 20 minutes. The Times article included this quote from Reggie Bush: "You can steal our plays all you want. But you've got to have the athletes to make it happen." OK, then why do "enemy" reporters have to leave?
Raaarrr....looks like this kitten's got claws.
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SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made a friendly bet on Wednesday's Rose Bowl game between Texas and USC.
If USC wins, Perry will send citrus, Blue Bell ice cream and barbecued beef brisket.
If the second-ranked Longhorns beat the top-ranked Trojans, Schwarzenegger will send Perry a basket of California foods like avocados, winter strawberries and salmon, along with a copy of his films Jingle All the Way, Collateral Damage, End of Days, Batman & Robin, and Junior.
Said Schwarzenegger--if for some reason our team loses, I have to hurt him just a little bit. And what better way then by making him watch me play Dr. Freeze in Batman & Robin?
(Please note--the part about Arnold sending his movies is a joke. He has promised to deliver them if USC loses--but he actually considers each one to be a good film.)
While we're on the subject of Arnold--be sure to check out this great mashup/mp3 of some of our beloved Governor's best movie lines and outtakes, set to techno music. It's oddly intoxicating.
(via I.F.S.)
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The L.A. Daily News has a feature today on Vince Young -- did you know Vince has a tattoo of a rose on his shoulder?
Apparently it has nothing to do with last year's win over Michigan, or the Longhorns' 2006 Rose Bowl berth. When asked about the flower permanently etched into his shoulder, Vince told the Daily News:
"It's the rose bush of the women in my life," Young said of his grandmother, mother and two older sisters. "It's just the respect of the women in my life that got me to the point where I am today. I wanted something that I could just always look to and why not get a tattoo? I can turn to it and see it all the time."
We applaud his choice of tattoos as well (and not just b/c it's the name of a David Byrne song). Based on his recent verbal displays, it's probably best that Vince chose to express his love for the women in his life symbolically.
A rose, with some thorns [L.A. Daily News]
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