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.

Be sure to tune in at 5pm to catch the meeting of the minds; kickoff will follow at 5:20pm PST.

Anybody got ideas on how to pass the time without going insane?

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).

But why take my word for it--here's a photo preview of the floatastic goodness currently making its way through Pasadena.

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.
--

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.

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]

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.

(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.)

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]

The Trojans took advantage of the rainy conditions in Southern California on Saturday to get a good ol' fashioned muddy practice in at Howard Jones Field. The conditions evoke memories of Miami last year, when the Trojans were out slopping around in preparation for the Sooners (as thoroughly detailed in Gary Klein and David Wharton's book, Conquest).

Unsurprisingly, Pete Carroll was the happiest guy in the world yesterday.

Fun in the Mud [insideusc.com]

A few interesting factoids from the two articles:

• This is the 14th Bevo that the Longhorns have had. And USC is on its 7th Traveler.
• Bevo XIV's real name is Sunrise Studly.
• Traveler has been ridden by celebrities including Salma Hayek (and Fabio!)

Sure, these might be what you call "Sunday fluff pieces". But quite honestly, I'm just happy to read a piece about the game that doesn't talk about Reggie Bush going pro or how the 2005 Trojans would have done against a team from the 1950's.

The No. 1 Steed [L.A. Times]
Need a Bully? Leave it to Bevo [L.A. Times]

Head over to M.O.O.S. and see our responses.

Rose Bowl Blogview [My Opinion on Sports]