The aftermath of yesterdays huge Husky win over (then) third racked USC is taking on some interesting dimensions. Here are a couple and my take on them:
One of the hardest jobs in sports broadcasting is the post game interview. The emotional ebb and flow can reach the stratosphere or resemble a minus tide at Duwamish Slew. Sticking a live mic and ENG cam in a coach's face as he trots across a football field after an Earth-shattering win, is simply soliciting drama. You don't know what your are going to get, and the question (you usually only have time for one) has to be a good one. This explains why coaches default to the same old, same old responses. Middle of the road meets vanilla PC. Steve Sarkisian is different. You already knew that. How different? When asked by the obviously rattled ABC "field guy" after the win how he thought his team played, a question both inane and insipidly banal, Sark said, looking off camera into the celebrating moray of purple and gold, "I don't know how good they played, BUT THEY PLAYED HARD."
Yes, they did.
Bill Plaschke used to be the beat reporter for the Seattle PI covering the Seattle Mariners back in the days they played in the Kingdome. Back when Rene Latchman was wondering if Gaylord Perry could somehow still find the black at age 45. Plaschke left for the greener pastures and bigger salaries of LA in 1987. He has won numerous awards for his writing as a result of his acrid style and keen insights. He has an uncanny ability to irritate people without insulting them. He stays mostly on topic. His topic in this mornings LA Times was Pete Carroll, head coach at USC. More accurately how yesterday's loss to the 20 point underdawg Huskies was all Carroll's fault. Mostly because Pete said so. All Plaschke did was agree and then vehemently agree again. As in "How could a coach allow one of his former coaches to beat him at his own game?
Well, he did. And here is why:
He was supposed to. That's what good coaches do. They coach their assistants into coaches so that they create more coaches. Same way with teachers. Teachers take students and teach to create more teachers. The student is supposed to learn the lessons of the master so well that one day (sooner rather than later) the student becomes a teacher. The assistant coach becomes the head coach (somewhere else) and teaches the teacher as the coach coaches the coach. Do you think that Pete Carroll learned a few things yesterday? Plaschke gets it all wrong in the same way that the ABC field guy unwittingly got it right.
The wrong question asked to the right guy yields better copy than the wrong answer to the right question. Every time. You can quote me on that.
The student proved that yesterday. Pete Carroll correctly took a lot of the blame for the Trojan loss. All Plaschke, aka Homer the Hacker, did was publicly rub it in his face. Class meet class-less.
I think deep inside, as the entire USC squad licks their collective wounds and mens their battered egos, Pete Carroll is very proud of his student.
He should be.
Photos: Pete Carroll and Steve Sarkisian. Coach and coach. Teacher and student. Which is which and who is whom?
2 comments:
The refs sure helped as well. That so-called late hit at the sideline which gave WA a first down was about as bad as I've seen (and Carroll was understandably upset about it). I don't remember if it turned the game.
The pass was completed to Jermain Kearse for 15 yards and a first down all the penalty did was tack on an additional 10 yards. I thought it was a little light myself, borderline. Rule number one in the minds of all refs is to protect the QB (especially from the blind side)
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