Baseball team has reason for optimism


By
 2 Comments/in ,
Tomorrow, USC baseball begins its 125th season of play. Under the lights at Dedeaux Field, junior Wyatt Strahan will throw the first pitch of the season against the Northwestern Wildcats at 6 p.m., and few at this school will care. For roughly the last decade, baseball season has not meant much in the grand scheme […]

Recruiting is crucial for USC basketball


By
 3 Comments/in ,
March Madness is right around the corner. Guess who won’t be participating? If you guessed “The USC men’s basketball team for the third year in a row,” pat yourself on the back. If you haven’t heard, Trojan basketball has been in a bit of a slump as of late. The common thing to say in […]

Michael Sam came out at a good time


By
 in ,
On Sunday, former Missouri defensive lineman and reigning SEC Co-Defensive Player of the Year Michael Sam announced that he is gay, becoming the first openly gay NFL Draft prospect in league history. If no active player comes out between now and the start of next season, Sam will be the first gay North American athlete […]

Trojan basketball can’t find support


By
 in ,
The atmosphere at the Galen Center had all the reason to be rocking. The Trojans were playing crosstown rival UCLA, tipoff was 7:30 p.m. on a Saturday night, in-house DJ Mal-Ski was spinning some half-decent tunes and even USC hardwood great Nick “Swaggy P” Young was courtside with his son. Yet as the Trojans built […]

USC sells itself when recruiting athletes


By
 in ,
With signing day now behind us, a new recruiting class in the books and a lot of optimism about USC football’s  future, I wanted to take a second to reminisce about a special someone. Someone who was always regarded as a top-notch recruiter and was loved by all. I’m talking, of course, about former USC […]

Recruiting drama is a guilty pleasure


By
 in ,
The other day, I caught myself doing something embarrassing. I was perusing the internet and realized that I was looking up recruiting rankings. But not just glancing. I was legitimately researching. And what’s more, I was legitimately caring. I somehow found these kids and their impending decisions important. To many, this is all just part […]

Sunday a reminder of Carroll’s greatness


By
 1 Comment/in ,
The Super Bowl is finally over: The media circus has subsided, the game has been played, snacks were devoured, Tim Tebow got a contract to talk about how he didn’t need a contract and, oh yeah, the Seahawks won. They didn’t just win: They made the game boring. At halftime it was 22-0 with an […]

Signing day is a false sign of success


By
 1 Comment/in ,
Tomorrow marks one of the single most hectic days on the sports calendar — National Signing Day. If a petition does not yet exist to make this day a national holiday in the United States, then we’ve failed as a society. If the United States’ 21st century obsession with reality television is any indication, then […]

Recruiting the first test for Sarkisian


By
 in ,
The phrase “USC recruits USC” is thrown around a lot by Trojan football fans and analysts. It refers to the belief that regardless of who the coach is, the University of Southern California football team will always attract talent. As arrogant as Bruin fans might find this notion, it is fairly accurate. Whether the coach […]

USC swim cruises on without Franklin


By
 in ,
Two summers ago, 17-year-old Missy Franklin introduced herself to the world as the United States’ biggest swimming phenom since Michael Phelps. After winning five medals (four gold) and setting two world records at the 2012 London Olympics, she sat down for a delightfully bubbly interview with NBC’s Bob Costas, which, according to my lengthy internet […]