Gotta give Slick Rick credit...he sure loves to make mountains out of mole hills. I saw this earlier this morning when it popped up in my reader but I figured I would just let it take its course and see where it was headed.
But that was obvious...
So here is the deal, current Pac-10 rules state that no one under the age of 18 is allowed on the sidelines during the game. Skippy wants his sons to be on the sidelines. OK, I get it, that's cool...I mean Charlie Weis has his kid on the sidelines so I can see where Skippy would want his kids to have the same experience.
But there is a reason why the Pac-10 has it this way. It may not be as dangerous as the flight deck on an aircraft carrier during night ops in the middle of a pitching and rolling Pacific Ocean but a football sideline is not exactly a safe place either. 300 pound men are running at full speed, heavy equipment is everywhere, and errant footballs move as fast as a car. I seem to remember that some kid got drilled during USC's spring ball last year so I think the safety concerns are legitimate. The Pac-10 picked the age of 18 because its a safe bet no parsing or second guessing needed. You're adult so you should be able to see the difference between jaw-bonin' on the sidelines and making sure that you don't get drilled.
So Skippy got 8 of the other 9 coaches in the Pac-10 to vote his way...the stand alone against it?
Of course, Pete Carroll.
As I mentioned above PC has seen first hand the dangers on the sidelines during practice and we have all witnessed what can happen during the games (anyone remember JoPa getting nailed a couple of years ago?). It aint pretty so why take the chance? I can see why Skippy doesn't think its a big deal, I mean its not like ucla is filling up the sidelines during their practices, it's a ghost town at their practices, event the open ones while USC is ALWAYS jam packed. Anyone remember Dusty Baker's kid almost getting nailed at home plate a few years ago? Live and learn...
But the weirder thing about all of this is Skippy calling Pete Carroll out.
Is he serious?
Think about it, just about every decision Skippy and ucla have made has been about beating USC. There was the monopoly ad in the LAT and the crazy speeches during halftime at Pauley all designed to get the bruin faithful fired up but it always turns into "we're going to stick it to those guys across town". Pete Carroll may have made the occasional reference to beating ucla when he first got here but the message has always been clear win the Pac-10 no matter who we are going up against. Slick Rick so desperately wants to be like SC that he has tailored much of his program to be just like SC. Heck, he even over-recruited just so he could keep up with the talent and now he has to run a bunch of players off just make room...congrats Skippy you're no different than Tim Floyd.
He is acting like the ignored child at dinner...anything to get some attention.
I watched that video and I was embarrassed. I really had to look away, there's Skippy in his best Monty Hall blazer doing his best to fire up the crowd pissing and moaning about this. I mean it was like watching a train wreck. I know of no other D-1 coach (outside of Kiffin and that is a whole other story) who acts like this.
It was funny yet sad watching Skippy get all pissed off over something like this. He spends 4-plus minutes discussuing this? I know why because there isn't much to talk about in regards to the clown show that is ucla football. They have all gone over the wall. For all I know PC voted against just to see what reaction he could get out of Skippy and believe me he sure didn't disappoint.
He had the crowd, he had the jacket so why didn't he just whip a wad of bills and play Lets Make a Deal? He would have gotten a better result. Instead he looked like a poor mans Rodney Dangerfield...No (self) Respect.