Weis, Carroll, Bush and Turner
Richard Linde, 18 September 2006

I have a gut feeling that most of the country dislikes the Pac-10, since it is, really is the conference of champions as it advertises itself to be, having won more NCAA championships than any other conference. So, one reason the eastern mafia are pumping up Notre Dame nowadays is that it plays USC every year and the Trojans are threatening to run away with the series, using the John Wooden formula for recruiting. The mafia would like to help Charlie Weis out with recruiting by running a free advertising campaign for him, as if it were not enough that Notre Dame appears on television every week during the football season.

But the main reason for pumping up Weis’s lore at Notre Dame is money.

Proselytizing for the Irish, ad nauseam, brings in the all-mighty dollar when you consider the size of the TV contracts and their dependence on ratings. It also helps sell books, like Tom Prister’s, “The new gold standard -- Charlie Weis and Notre Dame’s rise to glory.” Prister does a speculative number on Tyrone Willingham, trying to perpetuate what may be a mythical reason for his firing.

On a minor league scale, this kind of bias sticks it to Pac-10 fans – an elitist way of saying, “in your face, slobs,” while endearing itself with the rest of the country. Raising the emotional level of fans means more dollars, as well – a galvanic response to the name Charlie Weis, pro or con. 

As an aside, the structure of the Notre Dame/USC series is unfair when it comes to fan support. Historically, when Notre Dame plays USC at South Bend, the stadium is packed solidly with Irish fans, while in the past when the two teams have played in the Coliseum, fan support has typically been 50-50, especially before the Trojans’ recent glory years. You know, paint what would have been a half-full mausoleum green. Also, the priests walking the sidelines make it hard to do any trash talking on the field. The fact that no one mentions the fan factor adds to the inherent unfairness of the series.

With the firing of Willingham at Notre Dame, race raises its ugly head. Notre Dame fans, as well as the eastern mafia, seem to need constant reassurance that the Irish fired Willingham three years into a five-year contract because of an alleged incompetence on the football field rather than because of the color of his skin.

Now that Michigan has tromped Notre Dame, Irish fans will blame Willingham’s recruits for the Irish’s ineptness. Last year, their line of thinking was that Weis had molded and coached Willingham’s players into stardom. 

Of course, this is just conjecture, as are the criticisms of Willingham in Prister’s book. (See Bob Condotta’s blog).

-- Reggie Bush and USC

On the subject of USC and the alleged violation of some NCAA Bylaws, I don’t believe the NCAA will levy any sanctions against the Trojans unless Reggie Bush and/or his family admit to taking money and accepting gratuities from the sports agencies while he was a player at USC. If the assistant coach at USC, who has been mentioned in the Yahoo! stories, were to confirm what heretofore has been speculation and rumor that he knew about Bush’s ties to these sports agencies and their largess that could be deadly for USC and bring on charges involving a lack of institutional control.

Saying that USC should have known about the sports agents and that that demonstrates a lack of institutional control won’t hold water. This kind of thinking worked with Washington in 1993 because the summer job’s program in Los Angeles had been in place for 10 years and the NCAA and Pac-10 said the Huskies should have known about the irregularities. 

Also, a couple of Washington players, at least in the news stories, admitted they received more pay than their hours’ logged warranted -- an estimated $30 thousand with all participants, according to the NCAA.

The way it looks now, sans an LOIC, if the NCAA should levy sanctions against USC, the Trojans won’t miss a beat unless Pete Carroll searches for greener pastures, no pun intended.

Todd Turner and Washington fans

If fans want to criticize the UW athletics program and/or AD Todd Turner (photo above), they need to e-mail Turner with their criticisms and suggestions, listing their name, phone number and address, rather than posting anonymous, negative messages on message boards that create a poisonous toxicity for the program. Sincerity, credibility, and well-thought-out criticism will work wonders with the athletics department and elicit a cogent response.

Mr. Turner was gracious enough to pose for the photo at a Band Day function several years ago.

The Good: Stanback and the Huskies' win over the Bulldogs:

-- Isaiah Stanback's pass efficiency on the game: 131.9. Isaiah looked like Vince Young at times. The Huskies wouldn't have won without Isaiah.

-- Ceaser Rayford's blocked punt.

-- NO TURNOVERS

-- UW's defense, which held FS to 297 net yards, Dwayne Wright's 136-yards rushing notwithstanding.

-- Marcel Reece's 3 catches for 62 yards. He's beginning to look like a tightend to me, but I'm still not sure about that without getting a better handle on his speed.

-- Sean Douglas' punting: 6 punts, 44.3 yards per punt.

-- "The crowd helped us the whole game,” senior safety C.J. Wallace, who led all defenders with 17 tackles, told a reporter. “Especially on third down the crowd really got into it; and when the crowd gets into it, it gives a special energy to us.”