So that’s their secret
The resurgence of USC football has been attributed to the arrival of Pete Carroll in the fall of 2001. Maybe the ghost of John McKay has played a part as well.
The Los Angeles Times has confirmed that McKay’s ashes were secretly spread on the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum turf after his death in June 2001. McKay’s widow, Corky, who died of cancer in April of this year at 73, reportedly was involved in carrying out her husband’s wishes.
Since then, USC has lost only two games at the Coliseum, and none since a 21-16 loss to Stanford on Sept. 29, 2001, which might say something about the power of the legendary Trojans coach.
And even his star players could feel intimidated by him.
In the 1964 game against UCLA, senior quarterback Craig Fertig recalled that McKay, who liked and respected UCLA coach Bill Barnes, pulled the starters with USC leading, 34-0.
“A group of us seniors got together on the sidelines,” Fertig said. “We wanted to go back into the game, and since I was a team captain, I was selected to go tell Coach.
“When I went over to tell him, he whispered, ‘You want to keep that scholarship, don’t you?’ I went back and said, ‘Boys, we’re done for the day.’ “
Old man at 27
One couldn’t blame Kobe Bryant, 27, if he were feeling a little old these days.
“We’re a really, really young team,” he said. “Andrew Bynum was 3 years old when the Bulls won their first championship (in 1991), and he was 7 years old my rookie year (1996-97).”
Low praise, indeed
Attorney David Cornwell, who has worked with football players such as Ricky Williams and Randy Moss, told NFL Network’s Rich Eisen that agent Drew Rosenhaus is “the Dr. Kevorkian of sports agents.”
First-hand knowledge
Fox’s Terry Bradshaw isn’t so sure that it would be a good thing for the Indianapolis Colts to lose a game.
“This idea that the Colts need to lose a game so they can concentrate on winning a Super Bowl,” he said, “is like me saying I think I’ll just go ahead and get another divorce so I can focus on my next marriage and really make it work.”
Casting doubt on assumptions
Are pro bass fishermen athletes?
They say it requires incredible strength and concentration to spend consecutive full days standing on a moving platform, making hundreds of precision casts, at times in searing heat or freezing rain.
Tour veteran Denny Brauer told the Inside BASS online newsletter that pro football players have fished as amateurs and that after a week they, “were more worn out than they ever had been at training camp for football.”
Tim Goad, a former NFL lineman who has participated in tournaments, agreed. “A lot of people don’t think fishing is strenuous,” he said, “but if you stand up in the front of the boat and fish hard for eight hours, you will learn the truth. There is nothing easy about it.”
And He taketh away
Mike Austin, who is recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest drive in a professional golf tournament, died last week at 95. His 1974 blast, in windy Las Vegas, traveled 515 yards on a par-four 450-yard hole.
Austin’s wife, Tanya, was quoted in Travel and Leisure magazine as saying, “It was like God held the ball in the air.”
Writes Ron Kantowski in the Las Vegas Sun: “But apparently, the Big Hitter in the Sky didn’t follow Austin’s group from tee to green.
“Austin pitched back onto the green and then three-putted for bogey. John Daly can certainly relate to that.”
They’re ones to talk
When the Detroit Lions responded to receiver Charles Rogers’ four-game suspension for substance abuse by filing a grievance against him, Mitch Albom of the Detroit Free Press wrote:
“When I heard that the Lions were asking Charles Rogers to give them back $10 million of his $14 million signing bonus, my reaction … was one of sympathy and empathy, summed up by the sentence: ‘Yo, where’s my money?’ I mean, as long as we’re talking refunds. … There have been Sundays in Detroit where double your money back wouldn’t have been worth it.”