Back to those reader questions.
Q: SoCaLNative_1959 said:
Do you think Nick Saban would tolerate your crap for 1 second?
A: Maybe even three seconds. But who really knows? That’s sort of like asking if Alabama fans would tolerate some of Lane Kiffin’s decisions.
Q: SCFTBL1 said:
How many times since Kiffin became head coach has he told the Trojan family that he misses and wants them to attend practice? This year at Salute to Troy and at the Palm Springs Trojan Club he made no such statement and there were no open practices this fall.
If he doesn’t want injuries reported then he can’t have the general public viewing practice either. Something doesn’t smell right.
He stated repeatedly the NCAA sanctions were the problem and now we find out he is “George Allen” paranoid. Was I lied to? Will I ever get to go to practice again? I would like to know how Mike Rae’s caddy feels about this duplicity. Lane is no Pete Carroll.
A: The practices were closed because of NCAA sanctions, according to USC. However, I would point that the NCAA recently told a reporter one aspect of its regulations for attending practice — talking to recruits — is not necessarily against its rules. So maybe it’s the same grey area when it comes to attending practice. But USC has tried to go overboard in many situations when it comes to compliance since the sanctions.
Q: marvgoux said:
Scott, you wrote that Matt Barkley believes he’s “managed the games tremendously well” this season and admitted “this is not a year for me to start complaining about stats or anything like that.”
Do you think Matt managed the Stanford game tremendously well and does Matt still think he deserves the Heisman?
A: I believe Lane Kiffin made the first comment. I would disagree with Kiffin because I think dealing with adversity is part of managing a game tremendously well. And the Stanford game was not managed well, especially by Kiffin. I don’t think Barkley ever thought he deserved the Heisman. I’m sure he would be the first to say that right now he has a lot of ground to make up.
Q: malachi crunch5 said:
what does it feel like to work in a dying industry?
A: It must not be dying or you wouldn’t slavishly ask questions every forum.
