Recognition at last...

by DC Trojan on Dec 13, 2006 1:42 PM PST in USC Football Comment 17 comments

As you may have noticed, the nomination process for the 2006 College Football Blogger Awards has started (see Rocky Top Talk for the overview).

Nominations are starting to crop up in various places; for instance, Burnt Orange Nation has a few thoughts on Funniest Blog.

It came as something of a surprise to me at least, but DT and Paragon have both noticed that Conquest Chronicles has been nominated jointly with Bruins Nation for the following award:

The You Talkin' To Me Award

FOR: The best back and forth between rival blogs the week before a rivalry game.

CRITERIA: Must be bi-directional, and both blogs must score points against each other. A unilateral beat-down will not suffice. Should be more in the spirit of fun than wildly abusive.

Apparently T. Kyle King over at Dawg Sports was taken (more accurately, taken aback) with the light-hearted repartee between ourselves and the denizens of Bruins Nation, and decided we should get the nod.

I think this is all the more satisfying because it was an organic collective effort (don't worry Paragon, I'm not getting pinko on you here): there was no plan, just an outbreak of smack and disdain. Was it healthy? Probably not, but it was authentic.

Incidentally, all T. Kyle King is saying is give peace a chance:

In all seriousness, Nestor and Paragon SC are both friends and colleagues of mine, so I hope tempers between the Bruin and Trojan contingents will cool in the weeks ahead, lest a storied institutional rivalry take on a decidedly unhealthy dimension of personal animosity, any more than it already has.

In the meantime, though, there's simply no way to claim that there is greater intensity in any rivalry represented in the blogosphere than that to be found in U.C.L.A.-U.S.C. Here's hoping Nestor and Paragon SC get to hoist this trophy together, then sit down and smoke a peace pipe afterwards.

I would pay at least $2.50 to see that portion of the awards ceremony.

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Whoa!

You mean someone other than Trojans and Bruins read this sh*t??? Pffft, if I'da known that, I wouldda broke out the $3 verbiage.

P.S. Kidding about the question. I know Bruins have it read TO them.

by Defender90 on Dec 13, 2006 6:39 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

ZING!!!

Fight on!!! Beat the Wolverines!!!

by USCLink on Dec 13, 2006 6:46 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Imagine my surprise

I had the same reaction about readership.

I know Bruins have it read TO them.

The hard part is capturing all the responses. Poor Nestor is blowing through enormous amounts of cash to pay the typing pool until he gets the voice recognition software optimized.

by DC Trojan on Dec 13, 2006 8:01 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Well

If somebody is reading responses back to Nestor, I can tell you it isn't Chauncey Washington. When a Bruin gets eligible by having his textbooks transcribed to books on tape, I'll be ashamed. Until then, that's the domain of the Trojan.

by sweetbreads bailey on Dec 13, 2006 9:37 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Definition of a bad joke

When I have to go back and explain it, because it sucked...

What I meant was that Nestor -- whom I know to be a fully literate adult with a professional degree -- was supporting his "readers" by having someone or a group of someones transcribe their remarks for the comments section of every post. See, I'm trying for the general crack as opposed to the personal crack. But it's even less hilarious now that I've had to write an erratum comment just to explain how funny I am not.

As to your musings about textbooks on tape: wouldn't it be easier to just rig Chauncey's classes? I know that grad students are cheap and plentiful, but your idea -- while commendable for providing a thin veneer of legitimacy -- is probably more effort than is required.

by DC Trojan on Dec 13, 2006 10:00 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

His books were put on tape

That info comes straight from one of your second string O-lineman. I swear.

Gadzooks.

by sweetbreads bailey on Dec 13, 2006 10:12 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Fat times in Trojan City

If that's so, now we know what the athletic department has been spending their fat Bowl checks on.

Actually, if that's what allows Chauncey to get going academically, what's the harm? It might be cynical to give him that much help to get eligible, but not as cynical as just passing him through joke classes.

I think it's fair to say that most football teams have a wide range of... learning styles and abilities. I remember when Jason Campbell was drafted by the Skins, there was a brief mention of the fact that he sucked at learning plays straight from the book when he was at Auburn, but if you let him walk the play through on the field a couple of times, he had it. What Frau DC Trojan (a cognitive science type in days gone by) would call the difference between learning from an abstraction and kinetic learning.

by DC Trojan on Dec 14, 2006 6:53 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

So nice I had to post it twice

Nah, I'm with you, DC. Clearly with all the housing payments we're making for player's parents + buying off the police and the D.A., not to mention the extra "gifts" the guys will find in their stockings, we don't have $ laying around to have entire textbooks transcribed to tape (which is laughable, btw).

On the other hand, we must be doing something right. In a recent report on bowl-bound teams, USC represented itself well in the NCAA's Academic Progress Rate report. Since BN never found time to post this (go figure), maybe our visiting Bruin friends can get something of an edumucation here themselves:

"The report from the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport found that 86% of the teams are graduating more than half of their athletes. Sixty-three percent meet or exceed the NCAA's relatively new academic performance standard...

Among the Pacific 10 Conference's six bowl-bound teams, only USC and California scored well in relation to the NCAA's Academic Progress Rate. UCLA, Arizona State and Oregon State were in the lowest fringes of acceptable scores. Oregon fell below the cutoff line."

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-fbcrep5dec05,1,4335685.story

by Defender90 on Dec 14, 2006 9:16 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Its fun when they come over here

because I enjoy these little tirades...so civil, and yet so utterly demeaning.

Fight on!!! Beat the Wolverines!!!

by USCLink on Dec 14, 2006 10:05 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Exactly

by Displaced Trojan on Dec 14, 2006 10:26 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Tirade?

Wow, we have very different definitions of that word.

Tirade? Really?

by sweetbreads bailey on Dec 14, 2006 11:25 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Apparently so.

But it suits the situation just fine for my tastes.

But again, the key word is "civil." That's what makes it entertaining.

Fight on!!! Beat the Wolverines!!!

by USCLink on Dec 14, 2006 12:23 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

by Defender90 on Dec 14, 2006 6:51 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

oops

Maybe we need some kind of sarcasm flag.

by DC Trojan on Dec 14, 2006 7:13 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Tirade

As per dictionary.com:

a prolonged outburst of bitter, outspoken denunciation: a tirade against smoking.
a long, vehement speech: a tirade in the Senate.
a passage dealing with a single theme or idea, as in poetry: the stately tirades of Corneille.

I'm leaning towards #3.

Fight on!!! Beat the Wolverines!!!

by USCLink on Dec 14, 2006 7:19 PM PST reply actions 0 recs