Penitent Pat Haden's Self Flagellation

by M. AGRIPPA on Oct 23, 2011 11:20 AM PDT

Bumped - P

Dear Pat Haden,

You did it again last night, on national television. While chumming around with your NBC buddies, you trotted out that tired statement about "winning the right way." The nation nodded its approval as USC's Athletic Director again made the tacit admission that Reggie Bush tainted the entire Pete Carroll Era.

The Trojan Family has one simple request: Please stop.

It may have seemed like a good strategy last year as you waited for the COI to mete out our collective sentence, all for the sins of one dishonest player and his family. The strategy failed, and now it is just downright embarrassing.

Thanks to your high level friendships at Notre Dame, you thought we had a friend on the COI. You guessed (or you were told) that if USC showed contrition, the COI would deal fairly with us. You guessed wrong. Notre Dame's representative on the COI, Missy Conboy, became a full fledged collaborator in a lynch mob headed by the corrupt Paul Dee.

You were betrayed.

Here is the upshot. College football is not a game played by mature adults, it is played by young boys, nearly half of them teenagers. It's only a matter of time before one of those kids does something extraordinarily stupid. It is inevitable. When it happens (and it will), you will see clips of yourself on television talking about "winning the right way" as some ESPN "commentator" makes you look like a fool at best, or a lying crook at worst.

* Hat tip to DFWTrojan for coining the term "Penitent Patrice."

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Conquest Chronicles' writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Conquest Chronicles' writers or editors.

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Well said Loco

Pat is just to smart for his own good!

Who--What--Slim Shady---Thats the duckies and Kelly maybe they should put their plays up in brail..

by so.cal.native1952 on Oct 23, 2011 11:36 AM PDT reply actions

I completely agree---

MOVE ON and stop being an apologist. We have it is time he does as well. We get enough reminders of the ‘sanctions’ without him referring to them — must be the catholic up begging and doing mantras.

by trojanarchitect on Oct 23, 2011 12:20 PM PDT reply actions

I forget this,.,.,

I was struck buy the PA/Video about making Football safer and ND’s sanctimonious tone. Hey was it not a year ago the kid was killed because of the inaction of the coach and the warnings of bas weather that caused the filming tower to collapse resulting in his death…. That is more egregious don’t you think….

by trojanarchitect on Oct 23, 2011 12:48 PM PDT up reply actions

Yes, and Lizzy Seeberg (19), a freshman from St. Mary's College (across the road from ND) committed suicide

because ND cops and the Athletic Department protected an ND football player that perpetrated a sexual assault on her.

The Federal Case against Notre Dame: LINK

"The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything." - Joseph Stalin
U feeling Loco?

by M. AGRIPPA on Oct 23, 2011 1:05 PM PDT up reply actions

ND Alum Melinda Henneberger makes dozens of critical points

in this extraordinary article. Among them is the following:

…When hecklers started shouting, the students — overwhelmingly pro-life and conservative, and the majority of them probably Republicans — quieted them by chanting the football cheer, "We are ND.‘’ Not because they necessarily love Barack Obama, you understand, but by way of saying, “You do not disrespect the president of the United States in our house. That is not who we are.”
When I heard that same cheer at the USC game I attended in Los Angeles with my whole ND-loving family a couple of weeks ago, however, it made me sick to my stomach knowing that one of the kids on the field had been accused of violating a vulnerable young woman — and that my school has its priorities so thoroughly backward that it didn’t bother asking him about it for two weeks.
Evidently, it was more important that this player get suited up and take the field against Purdue and Michigan than that he answer questions from the cops about what happened in that dorm room. Should a school that can’t show any more respect for women than that just take the Virgin Mary off the top of the Dome and be done with it? ND may or may not ever reclaim its former gridiron glory, but the school’s efforts to protect its prospects have put something far more important at risk.

"The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything." - Joseph Stalin
U feeling Loco?

by M. AGRIPPA on Oct 23, 2011 2:03 PM PDT up reply actions

thanks for the link--

by trojanarchitect on Oct 23, 2011 4:47 PM PDT up reply actions

This post heartily endorsed by the....

Trojan Nation implores you to STFU Patrice Foundation!

Wannabe Irishman Penitent Patrice Haden

A Quick Note for the Quitters
No comment from this thread will be deleted. You will have to own them when we get it turned around and beat Southern Cal. You will never ride the bandwagon when we come back. Not on BN. GO BRUINS.
by Nestor on Sep 4, 2010 9:24 PM CDT

by DFWTrojan on Oct 23, 2011 12:31 PM PDT reply actions

You said it!

USC has and will win the right way always and not just when you (Haden) were the QB. Has the school ever done any different.
Kids do the darndest things, still we’ll correct them and move along. Move along we must.

Darn it, Angels don’t play football!

by imnnas on Oct 23, 2011 4:04 PM PDT reply actions

Loco, sometimes... you complete me

Rec’d

by Waxxford on Oct 23, 2011 10:54 PM PDT reply actions

Image is everything

I’d cut Haden some slack. He’s trying to reverse four or five years of ongoing horribly bad PR due to the Bush fiasco. Sure, Pete Carroll had nothing to do with any of it. Still, I remember PC always saying how glad he was to be at SC because unlike the NFL, he had so much autonomy… i.e. he loved running the show and calling all the shots with hardly any oversight. Sounds goods and I’m sure it is… BUT as we’ve all learned… there is a flip side… that is, when things go bad as they did with PC fully in charge and on his watch… the terms ‘autonomy’ and ‘responsibility’ suddenly become synonymous. Like it or not… that’s life being ‘the guy in charge’. To this day, the bad PR from the Bush fiasco has grade school kids in IOWA still thinking that USC pays its student athletes. False? Of course.. but it’s still out there and Haden is trying to roll all that stuff back.. It will take time and yes, doing things the right way.

trojanWar

by trojanWar on Oct 23, 2011 11:35 PM PDT reply actions

Agreed overall

But I think it might be time to start focusing on the positive: we’ve changed everything we can to avoid past problems, we’re recruiting great kids, and now it’s up to all of us to follow through on all the potential we’ve got and show people what the program is made of.

"When the seagulls follow the trawler, it's because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea"

by DC Trojan on Oct 24, 2011 8:06 AM PDT up reply actions

semantics vs. reality

Yeah, anything to do with SC’s current situation is a sore subject. We’ve been sent to the outhouse… made to wear that pointy hat and sit in the corner… and we’re all really really tired of it. So, let’s move on… mainly in what we do rather than say.

trojanWar

by trojanWar on Oct 24, 2011 9:43 AM PDT up reply actions

Pulling at the scab

Reggie and Lamar partnered up with a pair of fellow crooks down in south San Diego County. USC had no possible way of monitoring them.

The jealous SEC, Big-10, Domers, Texas and other assorted whiners, had the NCAA create an entirely new standard to tear us up because we were too “Hollywood.” Pat Haden needs to understand that USC has no friends in the NCAA or among the media giants. Anything he says will be used against us.

"The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything." - Joseph Stalin
U feeling Loco?

by M. AGRIPPA on Oct 24, 2011 10:20 AM PDT up reply actions

And if he says nothing the result is likely to be the same

If we are truly friendless out there, then we’re screwed either way in terms of coverage.

"When the seagulls follow the trawler, it's because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea"

by DC Trojan on Oct 24, 2011 11:17 AM PDT up reply actions

Mike Garret may have been a bull in a china shop, but he was right.

"The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything." - Joseph Stalin
U feeling Loco?

by M. AGRIPPA on Oct 24, 2011 12:15 PM PDT up reply actions

I have only met Haden once

and he seemed like a nice, well meaning guy who was very happy to be AD. His comments made me cringe, but fwiw I believe that he really is committed to what he claims. I worry more that he simply does not get how cynical college athletics is today. I thought that article about ND and the sexual assault allegations was illustrative. Haden strikes me as the kind of guy who would not let a player with those charges suit up, but he’s working in a world were even Our Lady cares more about the product on the field than doing what is right.

by ilium55 on Oct 24, 2011 8:28 AM PDT reply actions

It would be a simple thing for him to say...

“We aspire to win the right way, just as Trojans have always have.”

Haden needs to decide if he wants to speak on behalf of the Trojan family, or on behalf of Mayo and the Bushes. If he wants to apologize for the latter, he should step down and do it on their dime.

by TrojanJAG on Oct 24, 2011 8:53 AM PDT reply actions

Move on, please.

by Zoulou on Oct 24, 2011 10:17 AM PDT reply actions

He makes it hard to

Every time he says “win the right way,” he implies that we didn’t. That’s factually incorrect.

He undermines the entire Pete Carroll era, and USC Athletics in general every time he utters those words.

It’s critical that he stop.

Fight On! Beat everybody but us!

by USCLink on Oct 24, 2011 11:39 AM PDT up reply actions

I've been critical of Pat Haden a lot

I haven’t checked, but over the past year I think I’ve had at least a post or two slamming PH and what I feel is his true motivation as USC AD. I’ve probably been one of the most critical CC-ers when it comes to PH. His sickening TV appearance with his old ND broadcast cronies simply provides more evidence of this:

PH wants to condition Trojan alums and fans to develop lower football expectations as the “price” to be paid for rising academic rankings, and this strategy is part of his ultimate goal to be selected as USC president someday.

I’ll shut up now. I’ve ranted in great detail on this subject before.

But here’s the deal Pat – if I shut up, then you shut up. We’ve bent over long enough, it’s time for you to allow us to let go of our ankles and stand up straight and proud.

by uscdude on Oct 24, 2011 1:58 PM PDT reply actions

Duuuuuude!

PH wants to condition Trojan alums and fans to develop lower football expectations as the "price" to be paid for rising academic rankings, and this strategy is part of his ultimate goal to be selected as USC president someday.

It’s all about Project Stanfurd

Nice angle on Pat’s ultimate ambitions, you may be on to something.

"The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything." - Joseph Stalin
U feeling Loco?

by M. AGRIPPA on Oct 24, 2011 2:07 PM PDT up reply actions

Would not mind having the same success in Football as Stanford right now -

by trojanarchitect on Oct 24, 2011 2:19 PM PDT up reply actions

Stanford is a flash in the pan, but they are the model PH is holding out. When was the last time they were any good?

"The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything." - Joseph Stalin
U feeling Loco?

by M. AGRIPPA on Oct 24, 2011 2:35 PM PDT up reply actions

Agreed.

Furd is a result of Harbaugh’s coaching talent and a few uncharacteristically excellent recruiting classes. The new coach is still riding long coattails. Let’s see where Stanford is in 2014.

by uscdude on Oct 24, 2011 2:40 PM PDT up reply actions

Furd made some significant concessions for Harbaugh to get the players he wanted (along with that fancy bathroom of his). My nephew coached and taught one of their players in high school, and to put it mildly the guy is no intellectual ball of fire but Harbaugh got him in. Will the new guy get as much leeway?

"The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything." - Joseph Stalin
U feeling Loco?

by M. AGRIPPA on Oct 24, 2011 2:43 PM PDT up reply actions

I agree but -

I was saying, if someone did not know Stanford was currently successful, one is left with the impression that they ‘suck’ which they don’t. I am not convinced that we, USC, can have both good, excellent athletics, football and academics. Don’t short change the ‘excellence of possibilities’.

by trojanarchitect on Oct 24, 2011 6:39 PM PDT up reply actions

Thanks General

You’ve been pretty much on this same take as I have on PH, I know. So it might be right, since you’ve been winning from the Battle of Actium right up to when you conquered Pannonia.

Hope I am wrong, so dead wrong, so far off on PH that in 2014 I’m sending him fruit-sausage-cheese baskets from Hickory Farms filled with my apology notes.

Either way, CC will help keep Pat accountable.

by uscdude on Oct 24, 2011 2:38 PM PDT up reply actions