USC's Pete Carroll really sticks to it

Sorry to report things went so poorly at USC's practice Saturday.

Every practice, year after year, begins with equipment manager Tino Dominguez tossing packs of Bubble Yum gum -- original flavor only -- to Pete Carroll, who likes the challenge of trying to catch them all.

A few years back Dominguez made it two packs of gum before every practice, then three, and now he throws four at a time. "Sometimes I throw a fifth in there to surprise him, and let me tell you, he's made some amazing catches -- even all five."

But Carroll drops a pair Saturday, two more Friday, and the season is only one week away.

"I'm not there right now," Carroll says.

He also misses the white piece of tape on the blue table, the one sitting against the far wall on the USC practice field, Dominguez giving him a target every day and Carroll trying to hit it with a ball.

"I've seen him take down a cup sitting on top of the orange Gatorade bucket," Dominguez says in recalling glory days gone by.

But now the arm just doesn't appear to be the same.

"I was off, all right, but missed by only a couple of inches from 40 yards -- and I'm ticked," says Carroll, who ends most practices by removing the gum from his mouth, wrapping it in paper and then trying to hit the chalk on the far sideline.

"He's always competing," Dominguez says, which explains why "a lot of guys are walking around here with gum on their spikes."

THIS IS Carroll's eighth year on the job, and "I've never been anywhere that long," he says, "except grammar school."

His face still lights up with delight when reminded that some, if not everyone, discounted his hiring and predicted a short stay on the job.

Hard to believe a columnist could be so wrong.

"I love that part of it," Carroll says, a lot older and grayer now, but still as boyish as ever, though running around on a bad set of knees -- raising the question, just how much Advil or Motrin does it take to get through a practice?

"Celebrex," Carroll says, after two hours of jogging up and down the practice field, a mob of admirers surrounding him, wanting autographs and pictures, and he does this every day.

A lot of folks work hard, do it for eight years, and even three or four times longer than that, but how many report to work every year looking as excited as someone starting a new job?

"It's the renewal of the team," says Carroll, who also went to Egypt and Israel to freshen his outlook. "It's like waiting for a flower to blossom when you coach -- the young guys coming in and the older guys emerging. It's a beautiful thing."

It's his favorite line, everything beautiful as far as he's concerned since getting the chance to prove his plan for success works.

"It's fun," he says, because it's tough coaching at USC, the challenges satisfying his relentless competitive drive, "everything a carnival game," as Dominguez says, five packs of Bubble Yum, Virginia on the road to open the season and then bring on Ohio State.

"I hear [Virginia] played our fight song during its spring practices," Carroll says, while removing a wad of gum from his mouth and tossing it 20 yards into a garbage can. "You didn't think I was going to miss, did you?