So Norm Chow Keeps Tabs on Wall Street
by Joey Kaufman on May 19, 2010 11:05 PM PDT
in USC Football
Email
Print
It would be fair to assume that most Americans keep tabs, at least on some, on the daily happenings of Wall Street. I mean, who doesn't check the Dow Jones on a daily basis? In turn, many of us have a vested interested in the direction the market takes. But unsurprisingly that keen interest does not only extend to investors, business executives, and joe six-packs (okay maybe not all of them), but also to Mr. Benedict Arnold current UCLA offensive coordinator Norm Chow.
Earlier today, Scott Wolf of the Daily News revisited this issue addressed in Tuesday night's HBO Real Sports feature on Lane Kiffin. Per the Inside USC blog:
I generally found the HBO feature on Lane Kiffin to be underwhelming, but one of Kiffin's quotes did interest me: ``A coach one time, I walked into his office and he was checking the stock market on his computer. It blew me away.''
That was a not-so-subtle reference to former offensive coordinator Norm Chow. An ironic reference because Chow was known at USC for the long hours he kept. Maybe it's not a bad idea to check the stock market once a day considering USC's record when Chow called plays.
Now by us putting Chow's fixation with the stock market into proper prospective, I think UCLA's recent offensive struggles in 2008 and 2009 become much more understandable. Hey, there have to be some reasons why the Bruins ranked in the bottom half of the Pac-10 in terms of total offense. So follow my line of thinking...
With the decline of the U.S. banking system leading to one of this country's worst financial crises in its history, Wall Street obviously took a hit. Suffice to say, most citizens were loosing more than a few pennies. Panic had set in. People were rioting in the streets. Hoarding money was suddenly in vogue again. Okay, maybe that was 1929. But still, times weren't good by any stretch. (Who says they're good now anyways?)
As a result, combining Chow's possible stock market woes with his lower than usual salary thanks to the University of California and the Bruins' "generous" boosters, it's entirely understandable why Chow may have been a little worried. Heck, maybe he was checking stocks from sunup to sundown. Who knows. Was there a little too much time scanning MSNBC and not enough time spent tutoring Kevin Craft, who threw just 7 touchdowns compared to 20 interceptions in 2008? Quite possibly, but do we really know? I guess I could check with his boss, Rick Neuheisel, but I've heard he may be a little unreliable.
2008 was a pretty rough year all in all. Rough for Chow's stocks and rough for UCLA football, which went 4-8 and averaged just 283.08 yards per game on offense. 2009 saw some improvement though. The economy looked to be headed upwards (a little) and UCLA got to play Temple in The EagleBank Bowl. How exciting for Chow and his new baby blue friends. If things keep improving, maybe the Bruins will even be playing in the Sun Bowl in 2013.
But in case things don't work out for Chow, who is apparently the next Darren Rovell, in Westwood, at least he's got another role lined up.
Fight On!
25 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
I may have not been paying close enough attention, but...........
I thought Lane was referring to Pete
"Government is the opiate of the masses" Dennis Prager
"I've got blisters on my fingers!!!!!!"
Awww Joey
I usually enjoy your writing a little, but this piece was almost unreadable.
Sorry dude, you lost me at the first sentence:
It would be fair to assume that most Americans keep tabs, at least on some, on the daily happenings of Wall Street.
Confused! I’m kidding, I’m sure you’re busy with school work & your real writing over at the Daily Trojan.
I did enjoy the Wall Street pic :-)
You mean compared to the unreadable vitriol on Bruins Nation...right?
A little tongue in cheek post is good for the soul…
I mean at least we don’t troll your teams boards/blogs looking to gauge to the mood in Westwood like a certain person has been doing…but then again we don’t have too because we all know what the mood is over there…
"Mention USC to a Bruin and they get angry; mention UCLA to a Trojan and they laugh."
lol!
I seriously don’t know why someone would go through all that trouble. My trojan spying is limited to CC since there’s at least usually well edited writing. Joey, want an editor? Will work for In-N-Out :-)
Take it easy Paul...
You’ve built up a decent amount of respect here but that does not give you a free pass to criticize the editorial team…
if you don’t like something that’s fine but there is no need to criticize anyone’s writing no matter how innocuous you think the criticism is…disagreeing with an opinion is one thing criticizing the piece or author is a different matter altogether.
As for going through the trouble…..you’re smart enough to figure that out. It’s a rivalry and just about everything is fair game…
Final thought…as much as I enjoy your take as a bruin fan we don’t give you the same amount of crap we would get on BN if a Trojan fan went over there. You have taken your fair share of shots at us there but that is there not here…we get it.
"Mention USC to a Bruin and they get angry; mention UCLA to a Trojan and they laugh."
He's running low on In-N-Out mojo...
BTW, that In-N-Out in Westwood is the worst in the entire chain, it’s… dirty.
Still LOCO after all these years
All hail Augustus Kiffin!
M·AGRIPPA·L·F·COS·TERTIVM·FECIT
yeah
that place is DIRTY! The floors are always sticky with spilt soda. The price of high traffic. But the cooking areas are always clean inspite of the traffic
Best to just go drive-thru!
Still LOCO after all these years
All hail Augustus Kiffin!
M·AGRIPPA·L·F·COS·TERTIVM·FECIT
IN & out totally sucks
Well basically John Wooden was and is a FRAUD, by the way where is Sammy Gilbert Ben needs some ballers.
by so.cal.native1952 on May 21, 2010 12:17 AM PDT up reply actions
Tommy's!!!!!!!
Now that’s the shizbot! (chili on the side though, if you wanna eat that fatburger without soaking yourself in some washing machine right after)
One time, after an after-hours partay at Tommy’s- my car was trashed from taking a few duncebucket friends over there at 2 am. Inside and out. What. The. Fuck. Was. I. THINKING?? (clearly, I was in no condition to “think” at that time. I wasn’t drunk, just freaking hungry for Tommy’s, is all.)
"As for being a Raiders fan, I wouldn't wish that fucking shit on anybody." [the venerable OTS at Roll Bama Roll}
by BixBeiderbecke on May 21, 2010 10:34 AM PDT up reply actions
Yah bix but do you think Tommy's has changed a little bit.
Well basically John Wooden was and is a FRAUD, by the way where is Sammy Gilbert Ben needs some ballers.
by so.cal.native1952 on May 21, 2010 5:37 PM PDT up reply actions
You know. . . .
. . .I’ve only been a LA-transplant since 1998, so I don’t know what Tommy’s was like before then. As it is, since 1998- Tommy’s has been the same for me.
I once took a wrong turn off Rosecrans from the 405 South. I went East when I should have gone West- heading east on Rosecranz takes you through the back parking lots of a few auto dealerships and ends through a yellow iron gate onto some weird street with train tracks (not Aviation). So anyway- just as you exit out of these iron gates and onto that weird train-track-street- on the left hand side in this (looks like an old traincar- you know, a diner like in the movie “Diner”) is a Tommy’s. And this one looks hella old-school. Naturally. . . . I forked the dough over for a hot dog, burger, fries, and coke.
Fucking. Delicious. (I seriously almost ended my day Christmas shopping right then and there. And I hadn’t even started yet!!!!!)
What was Tommy’s like in the dizzay SoCal? (I love their shirts too! Totally!)
"As for being a Raiders fan, I wouldn't wish that fucking shit on anybody." [the venerable OTS at Roll Bama Roll}
by BixBeiderbecke on May 21, 2010 5:46 PM PDT up reply actions
Well better prices and burger was bigger and the chili was the same , plus no fries just chips. I believe they had chili Frito's and of course tamales.
Correct me on that G or Loco or para and Frak.
Well basically John Wooden was and is a FRAUD, by the way where is Sammy Gilbert Ben needs some ballers.
by so.cal.native1952 on May 21, 2010 11:36 PM PDT up reply actions
Damn SoCal
That must have been some freaking ginormous burger. The dude on the one on Pico & Lincoln told me “We use a # 12 bun.” I was thinking, “Okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay?” (what in the cathair tarnations is a #12 bun? how’s that different from a say, . . . .# 8 bun, or #22 bun for that matter?)
Shit man, that Tommy’s burger is still pretty damn large no matter what number that bun is. What about their dogs, yo? Were they any better? They’re not bad dogs, but. . . . not as good as a Dodger dog. That Dodger dog is good, AND SO IS IT’S BUN!
Did I just write that?
"As for being a Raiders fan, I wouldn't wish that fucking shit on anybody." [the venerable OTS at Roll Bama Roll}
by BixBeiderbecke on May 22, 2010 3:33 PM PDT up reply actions
Wow a Nor-cal native giving props to the famous Dodger dog.
You can get them at any Stater Bros market, they are farmer john. Tommys has good dogs alright but I haven’t had one in a long time, to many nitrates. Now you are making me hungry and I almost broke down and had a tommy burger last night.
Well basically John Wooden was and is a FRAUD, by the way where is Sammy Gilbert Ben needs some ballers.
by so.cal.native1952 on May 22, 2010 4:28 PM PDT up reply actions
I guess you didn't know. . .
. . . .(I know I’ve written this somewhere) that I’d only go to Candlestick Park to watch either Dodgers or Braves games- JUST TO SEE THOSE ASSHOLE GIANTS FANS faces as they lose. I’ve never been a fair-weather fan for anything- never liked any other teams then the ones I still root for as a boy. But, as it is, the Dodgers are practically my 2nd favorite baseball team. If there is such a thing?
"As for being a Raiders fan, I wouldn't wish that fucking shit on anybody." [the venerable OTS at Roll Bama Roll}
by BixBeiderbecke on May 22, 2010 9:58 PM PDT up reply actions
It's May and until the NCAA ruling comes out, we might as well have a little fun.
No reason to take ourselves too seriously…cough cough
--Conquest Chronicles , SBNation's USC Trojans blog
Follow me on Twitter @Joey_Kaufman
by Joey Kaufman on May 20, 2010 1:01 PM PDT up reply actions
Since when we believe every word that comes out of Scott Wolf's pathetic blog?
Did Lane say it was Norm Chow? How many times Wolf spread wrong rumors and accusations just to be refuted?
It’s funny how Mushroom & Co are taking SW’s word for truth when just few weeks ago they were laughing at Keyshawn Johnson’s #1 jersey number.
It should come as no surprise to anyone
that Norm Chow’s primary focus is his finances. Yes the man has hopes and dreams in college football, the first hope is being a head coach one day. That probably isn’t going to happen.
So Nestor, let me give you a little insight.
When Norm was working for BYU he was making $50,000 a year. USC paid him $800,000. USC was his first big money job, and he rode it all the way to the NFL with the TItans. Every single year at USC Norm would bitch and moan to the boosters to hound Mike Garrett for more money because he felt that he was as important or more important to USC’s success than Pete Carroll.
He exists at ucla because he is getting paid a decent amount of money right now. If anyone other than Kiffin were hired at USC, he would almost certainly jumped ship to coach at USC again, but the guy hates Kiffin so he stays at ucla after securing the “pay me more money or I go back to USC raise.”
Norm is about making money, he never had a lot of it until he came to USC, and now he has to make as much as he can before he retires. Nestor… its really not a stretch to believe that Norm Chow checked the stock market on a regular basis while at USC. The guy finally had some money that he could get to work for him.
by frak on May 20, 2010 8:10 AM PDT reply actions 2 recs
+1000!!
Rec’d!!!!!!!
"Mention USC to a Bruin and they get angry; mention UCLA to a Trojan and they laugh."
+1
Chow is one of those great coaches who never cashed in. Never got the big HC job, and was OC at smaller schools until USC and the Titans. At his age and in good health, he is looking at a long retirement. I think we would be shocked at how low Chow’s personal wealth actually is, unless of course, he has invested wisely. If I were CHow, I’d be watching the markets too.
Chow is probably worth somewhere around 7-10 million at this point.
The man spent 26 years at BYU. When the Cougar coach moved on, the BYU President said that he didn’t want a “chinaman” as their head coach. He said that when Chow was in the room. If anyone has screwed over Norm its those guys in Provo. He should have had a shot at being a head coach there.
Freaking hilarious!
Wow Joey, just wow! (lemme just say this: I was guffawing reading this piece. Eating cheerios no less! I’m a mess. . . . . . . thanks Joey!)
"As for being a Raiders fan, I wouldn't wish that fucking shit on anybody." [the venerable OTS at Roll Bama Roll}
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanPosts on Conquest Chronicles
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
