Allen On Socks
Former USC tailback Marcus Allen weighed in on the switch to black socks.
``Don't let Nike tell us what to do; we're not Oregon,'' Allen said. ``I hope that's really not what it is. They have an outside interest and don't understand the culture we've created and what has made us special all these years.
``Regardless of what other people say or do or ask, you have to be stronger than that. If there's one thing we have that others don't, and why others like to change, is our history of success.
``I prefer things to be as they are. I think I have a greater understanding of this now. This is what makes is different and not so much the uniform but the way we've done it. It may seem conservative to some, which is fine with me, but that's the way it's supposed to be done.''
I think SC football coaches has more to think about than what color their socks are. At this point many of us USC fans are not enthused about how CLK called the game against Minn, or the substution pattern...or lack of.
Well said Marcus, you get it, coach classless ass doesn't.
By the way, Brother Wolf, for all of your doubting of the new video screen, it seemed to work just fine on Saturday.
Can we please stop talking about sock color? Clearly, there are many more problems going on with the team. Can we talk about "pulling a Kiffin" (i.e. going for two because we're cocky). Or the lack of tailbacks that seemed to play in this game despite the fact that we're Tailback U. Or the undisciplined play that lead to a huge number of penalties and penalty yards and nearly cost us the game. I've never been so embarassed to walk away with a W.
Leave it up to the diminutive Pat Haden to screw up even the simplest of decisions. USC is all about tradition, we didn't come to prominence over the last couple of decades like Oregon. USC has cultivated an aura that has been mishandled by Pat Haden am this is just another example. Mike Garrett denied Nike a few years back when the black jersey craze was going around ncaa football. The previous administration had an appreciation for the traditions of usc football. You would think that with jk mckay in the building and pat haden that they could mush together half a brain to maintain the tradition of usc football but I guess that is not the case.
Agreed... Another example of The icompetent duo of Pat Haden and JK "the Drunk" Mckay bowing down to an outside authority. What would Mike Garrett and steve Sample have done... give the bird to Nike as they did to the NCAA.
Jesus Christ, Scott, give the socks thing a rest. Even on this blog -- a hotbed of haters -- there are like eight people who care about the socks and I suspect six of them are the same person with different screen names.
They're just socks. I was at the game yesterday. NOBODY NOTICED. Nobody. Not even Marcus Allen.
Hoffarth's piece is a freakin' joke filled with so many assumptions and what if's that I feel stupider for having read it. You're like a disease sweeping through the Daily News offices.
And as for Marcus Allen, he makes a great point (entirely prompted by Hoffarth's hypotheticals) only if Nike is actually pushing an agenda and -- apart from the one-off challenge series thing that never came to pass -- so far I haven't seen one article, one blog posting, one confidential source that's said that Nike has "told us what to do." I mean, do you REALLY believe that Nike thinks there's big money in black socks? (I'm not even sure if our socks come from Nike but I'm pretty sure they sell white ones as well.)
How about you start acting like a journalist and try to dig up some actual facts that back up this supposed string-pulling by Nike or some secret plan to switch uniforms?
Dumbest story without a Scott Wolf byline that I've read since ... well, I can't remember a dumber story, actually.
I agree with the ex-cop and it got to me thinking about a press conference I once saw:
"If I can't wear black socks, I can't wear black socks. It is as simple as that. It ain't about that at all. It's easy to sum it up if you're just talking about wearing black socks. We're sitting here, and I'm supposed to be the franchise player, and we're talking about wearing black socks. I mean listen, we're sitting here talking about wearing black socks, not a uniform, not a uniform, not a uniform, but we're talking about wearing black socks. Not the uniform that I go out there and die for and wear every game like it's my last but we're talking about wearing black socks man. How silly is that?"
Couldn't have said it any better, AI.
Ex_Cop, dumberst comment I've read this year. Marcus is right and you are out to lunch.
Ex-Cop, I think you'll find that trying to be the voice of reason around here is a thankless task.