Song Girl Forum

When you were reading Ben Malcolmson's final "article" on the tryouts for the Song Girls, which was full of completely over the top superlatives and comments such as the Song Girls "owe us nothing, and we owe them everything," did you feel the value of your journalism degree from Annenberg plummet?

Ben Malcolmson of Pete Carroll's website wrote the first embarrassing piece on the Song Girl tryouts the day after the event. Did it really take eight days for him to write the second piece of embarrassing propaganda filled with absurdly exaggerated levels of gushing? I know you probably do not have an answer to this, but since Malcolmson obviously reads every word on this blog (Hi Ben!), I am just asking this so he can read my question before a worldwide audience rather than a private email that no one will know about.

The graduated Song Girl with a tattooed body still has no biography page on the official website for the Song Girls even though the next squad has already been chosen. The reason?

This forum has really reached a new low.. Scott Wolf is pretty desperate. Brian Dohn is kicking your ass in visitors.

Scott what are you doing, besides changing the name of your forum, to attract more readers?

Hey Scott:

Did you read what Ben Malcolmson wrote on the song girls? Are you embarrassed for him for being told to write such drivel by his superiors?

After the incident of the Song Girl with a body covered in tattoos having become a national story, are factors such as that now an issue when it comes to Song Girl selection? Do you know if the girls who try out for the squad are now asked about such things by the selection committee?

When Pete Carroll leaves USC, Ben Malcolmson will have to look for another job and since he was going to be a journalist, so do you think fantasy-filled nonsense such as that recap of the Song Girl tryouts will hurt his chances at landing a job in objective media?

After reading Ben Malcolmson's hyperbolic description of the USC Song Girls, has he now put them on the same level as Jesus Christ who are capable of curing cancer?

Ben Malcolmson kept ramming the word "class" down our throats when talking about the song girls. "Classy," "class" and so on, over and over again. So if the song girls have so much "class," why did they attend a Victoria's Secret event, in full song girl uniform, just a few months back? Is revealing and sexy lingerie considered "classy" and the image we wish to officially project for the song girls?

Which one person is most responsible for the decline of the USC Song Girls in this past decade - the coach, the advisor or Michael Jackson?

Ben Malcolmson said there were two athletic department staffers on the Song Girl selection committee. Other than Tim Tessalone, who was the other one?

Which of the many, many, many scandals of the past few months best captures the essence of Song Girlgate?

Have you ever heard the word "class" used as many times as Ben Malcolmson did on his installment on the song girl auditions? It seemed like we were back in the feudal times of medieval England, did it not?

From the 1940s to the early-2000s, USC's student body stayed stable with an enrollment of around 28,000. Since 2002, the student body has increased to 33,000. So how come the number of Song Girls trying out has gone from 200 to 300 in the 1990s to only around 70 or so in the 2000s, while the actual number of Song Girls has increased from 6-8 members a year to 12-14 in this decade?

Hey Scott - Do you find it sad/ironic the fact that a 6-1 team that is currently 5th in the BCS rankings - and a beat writer who covers the team who takes open forum questions for both football and cheerleader topics, gets more questions in the song girl forum than the football forum?

I did a Google search on "Song Girlgate" and it turns out some people take credit for the name of that scandal as far back as early-2007 in the aftermath of Song Girl Underwear Wedgiegate following that year's Rose Bowl. So who is responsible for the term "Song Girlgate" and which scandal does it rightfully refer to?

More tattoos, USC Song Girls or football players?

Will Ben Malcolmson (of petecarroll.com) win the Nobel Prize for literature for his excruciatingly painful work of fiction on the USC Song Girls?

USC Song Girls of the 2000s versus USC's tough bandwagon Raider fans of the 2000s in a fight?

Various blogs (Trojan Wire and USCRipsIt, to name a couple) are suddenly covering the Song Girls, using gratuitous and embarrassing over the top adjectives in their pandering descriptions of the Song Girls. Obviously the USCRipsIt blog writer was told what to write about the Song Girls, but do you know if anyone from the athletic department or the leadership of the Song Girls told the other blog what to write to counter the national scandals that get far more coverage than anything positive to do with the squad? Is it a coincidence that on Thursday, October 30, both Trojan Wire and USCRipsIt wrote practically similar pieces with totally over the top descriptions of the song girls, practically equating them to goddesses? (Actually, Trojan Wire actually did describe the Song Girls as "goddesses")

Wow you guys are really annoyed! Too funny. Malcomson has sent you all into a tizzy!

Scott, don't you think Ben Malcolmson's article would've been a lot more credible if they had actually tried to admit some of the shortcomings (to put it mildly) of the squad in recent years and that the leadership and the selection committee are trying to rectify these issues this year? It seems I did not get any sense of admission of mishandling by the leadership and the selection committe of the Song Girls. Basing it from that article, it seems that the people in charge (both the coaches and the athletic dept) believe that they have done an excellent job selecting girls from this decade which is laughable and comical. Don't you think that this most recent farce of an article is a blatant demonstration of arrogance from the people in charge of the Song Girls and the athletic dept? Don't you think that by dismissing all the improprieties and corruption that surrounds the Song Girls in such a condescending way through such a mockery is insulting to students, alumni, and fans of the university?

The USC Song Girls are under the jurisdication of IM-Rec, but the selection has two athletic department employees (three if Malcolmson counts) and no IM-Rec employees. What's going on?

I didn't understand that 'politically correct' comment last week. Was USC saying that the song girls had to be more 'politically correct' by adding girls of different races, or was it something else?

Did you laugh at the overbearing declarations by Ben Malcolmson that the Song Girls "exude class"? How come he did not post any pictures of the Song Girls with penis beer bongs, full body tattoos, engaging in lesbian activities and underage drinking? According to Malcolmson, would those activities "exude class"?

Nothing says class like a tattoo-encrusted song girl representing the university.

Nothing says class like a tattoo-encrusted song girl representing the university.

Did that IM-Rec position ever get filled for the supervisory position over the corrupt SG regime? Also, as previously asked, very interested in knowing who the "other" AD representative on the selection squad was with Tessalone. And, if you want to answer, do you agree that Ben did not write this assault on journalistic integrity, and that is was more likely written by SPIN or AD PR.

Scott-

One of the many complaints raised about the song girls this decade has been the increase in the number of squad members, so did you see how that Malcolmson piece now says there may be as few as only eight song girls next year? Of course, he also said there could be as many as 18! Is he addressing one of the issues raised by the readers of this blog and has been told to discuss the matter of squad size by the powers that be of the song girls?

It is now the day after the not-so-big USC Song Girls reunion that was marred by poor attendance, bad weather and all the atmosphere of a game of pool. I was looking for Tricia Pillsbury but really had no idea if she was in attendance. Do you have any updates regarding your activities?

Maybe it was just me but were you also extremely underwhelmed by the Song Girl reunion at Homecoming? Did it not seem like there were far fewer former Song Girls than previous reunions and the energy level was non-existent?

Did any of your spies catch any song girls at "dirty" Halloween parties?

Why were there so few song girls at the reunion this year? The PA said "over 100" and that does not sound like too many. Also, did you see the Malcolmson piece has now been posted on the song girls' website? Pretty shameless if you ask me.

Did Malcomson really write that report on the song girls or was it Tesselone who was really the ghost writer? I just find it hard to believe that in three years Malcolmson went from constantly attacking athletic department employees as a reporter on the Daily Trojan to being a pathetic lapdog who obediently does as he's told without any hesitation or reservation to how truly sad it makes him appear.

Couldn't help noticing that during the telecast of the Washington game, the cameras focused their close-ups on the girls wearing red uniforms (dance squad?) and rarely if ever did we see the Song Girls.

Has television given up on the Song Girls too?

(On an unrelated note, what happened to last week's "Ask Caesar" feature?)