Answer Tuesday!
The holiday weekend is over. Time to answer questions.
Q: From what you have seen, does Mitch Mustain did flustered easily in tough play situations, or does he maintain his cool, or do you not have enough information yet to form an opinion? If you do have enough knowledge of the situation, on a scale of 1 to 10, how calm and focused is Mustain?
A: He's very calm but if you were playing with the second-string line against the no. 1 defense, you would get flustered too. He's had moments where he lost some composure, but that's not unusual when you're on the scout team, etc. I'd give him a 7.
Q: So we all know that the USC Song Girls have been quite horrible and unattractive for these last few years, with far too many squad members and that has been discussed ad nauseum. Clearly the problem is that the selection committee are simply not doing the job they are being paid to do. So my question is, just how does one go about making a change in the selection committee of the song girls? Who is their boss or supervisor that is to be informed that a change needs to be made? Whining and complaining about it incessantly is not going to change anything, so what actual steps need to be taken to replace the people in charge of the song girls and actually get some squad members that are pretty and thin again? When coaches in the athletic department do not get the job done, they are fired and replaced. Since the individuals that comprise the selection committee for the song girls obviously do not have tenure at the university, they should be held to the same standards and should be accountable for the product they put out that represents USC.
A: The song girls are under the authority of the intermural-recreational sports dept. (IM-REC), which works out of the Lyon Center. Don Ludwig was in charge of the whole IM-REC dept. before Michael Jackson kicked him into a student-affairs role. His job is in the process of being filled. Ludwig's interim replacement is associate dean of students Patrick Bailey, who haplessly tried to explain moving the band and student seats as a good thing two years ago. You can contact him.
The song girls immediate supervisor is Lori Nelson, who also runs the selection committee and helps judge.
Q: In the past, you described Tim Floyd as a "straight shooter" who was always honest and whom you never believed would lie to the media about anything. In light of the many events of the past few months, are you still willing to say that?
A: I have said that regarding Floyd but I believe I wrote that before last season started. I've since written several instances (some minor, others not so much) where Floyd did not tell the truth. I believe part of this surrounded the intense pressure he felt when O.J. Mayo arrived and the need to protect his image. So that's why he lied to me and said Mayo did not punch Daniel Hackett and break his jaw in a pickup game. Maybe Floyd knew what might be coming regarding Mayo's image.
This past year's song girl squad was clearly very below standard..but you have to be out of your mind to consider the 2007 squad horrible and unattractive, who were some of the most attractive girls to walk the SC campus that year...anyone who hates on that squad is in complete denial, and are probably hideous themselves and could only dream of getting near girls of that quality.
No way! The last great song girl squad was 1997-98. That squad was beautiful from top to bottom, without a weak link anywhere in sight. From 1999/2000 on, the squads have been absolutely pathetic. The worst squads ever were 2001, 2007 and the current squad. 2001 was especially horrendous.
For the past decade, there has usually been just 1 attractive member per squad, 2 for some years. But the overall quality has just been abysmal. I know it might seem harsh, but we're not doing anyone any favors by letting this go on. It's been embarrassing being the blunt of other schools' jokes, especially those people across town. Their squad has been way better than ours the past few years (yeah, yeah, so I admit it) and it just bugs me.
The best cheerleaders not only in the PAC-10, but also in the entire country, are from Oregon. Surprising, I know, but Oregon's cheerleaders are amazing. The beat the heck out of ucla's cheerleaders and dance team and our song girls cannot even be in the same stadium as them. It must be all that Nike money that they use to recruit such beautiful girls. The Oregon cheerleaders look more like the USC song girls than the actual USC song girls do in 2008. Just stunning and clearly the new standard for cheerleaders.
The ugliest song girl ever was this beast on the 2004 squad. Damn, she was UGLY! She should never have even been allowed out in public, and certainly never allowed to be seen wearing a song girl uniform. But by 2004, the song girls were already well past their prime and adding an unusually ugly girl to the squad wasn't going to hurt them anymore than they were already hurting in the eyes of those whom they represented.
It's all such a shame, really. The song girls were once something to be proud of and personified the California ideal. Now? Not so much.
Seems to me that the problem with the Song Girls over the past two or so years is that many of them are taken from the Trojan Dance Force. Now the TDF are great dancers, but in terms of looks (or more properly that Song Girl physique) they are not of Song Girl material.
Frankly, I'd prefer a good looking Song Girl who can't dance than one that's quite a dancer, but lacks sex appeal.
dale you're an idiot
actually dale, i retract that...what i meant by 2007 was 2006-2007...my bad
I believe that the squad should be held to the same high standards of the football team, so perhaps a member of the staff should join the Selection Committee. Brennan Carroll for Song Girl Selection Committee! "Girls, I don't have a whistle, I just say "whistle"!"