Turnover

First let me say that I really loved "Love", the Cirque show that the bride and I went to see last weekend. It was brilliant and my opinion on the whole bizarre european acrobats, while eerily spot on, was nonetheless broadened by their beautiful performance. Some of the performers walked about in the audience pre-show and let's just say I was made a little uneasy by their presence. Not only do they "stay in character", you kind of get the sense that these people are always this way; they are their character. It's like the time that I worked at Halloween Haunt at Knott's Berry Farm and noticed that all of my fellow employees were as scary out of costume as in. I often found myself thinking, "Wow, you really are a vampire!"

Now on to a completely different subject...USC Football. They lost today to Oregon State 33-31 and I really am not as upset as I thought I might be. When they lost in the Rose Bowl in January it was like someone had bagged on my momma, punched me in the gut, fired me from my job, and then stole my cd collection only to burn it in a bonfire rather than to marvel at my excellent taste in music, all in one day. It was terrible. I mourned for weeks. Still to this day it hurts, almost 10 months later. I also still remember watching the Cal loss in '03 (USC's last Pac-10 loss prior to today) in a sports bar in Phoenix, because I was there for a convention, which I ditched to watch that heart-wrenching game.

But today is different.

Now of course today wasn't for the national championship like the Rose Bowl vs. Texas. But if the rankings were to be believed, USC was in the hunt for yet another national championship, having been ranked 3rd in the BCS prior to todays game. But I knew better, and have thought that USC was overrated the whole season.

I just have never felt right about this team. There is just something missing, maybe a few things actually. I really don't like them. It is hard for me to say this, but I don't think they are done losing. Of course I recognize that I was spoiled with the previous USC teams that played for 3 straight national championships, but I really don't miss those teams. Pining for the good ol' days is not my issue.

Ultimately it comes down to the quarterback. Football is a team game, but there is no doubt who is the leader of the team; the QB. I can't stand John David Booty, USC's QB. This came as a slow realization. Little by little the confidence I had in Booty after the opening game against Arkansas dwindled as each week he and his team seemed to escape defeat rather than achieve victory. After the Arizona State game two weeks ago, which USC barely won 28-21, no thanks to John David Booty, who had 2 turnovers resulting in 14 points for ASU, I said to myself, "I just don't like John David Booty." And it is safe to say that today's performance (another fumble and interception) didn't improve my view of him.

So what do you do if there is someone you don't like at all leading your favorite sports team? Well the beauty (and the curse) of the college game is that everyone has to run out of eligibility sometime.