Home for the Holidays? Yeah, That’s the Trojans

I would like to end the year on a positive note, and commend USC on the stand it has taken to not appear in any bowl games.

I know there are some people out there who like to dwell on the negative, but I appreciate USC’s consistency--noting that for two years now the school has held the line--confirming its resolve with the hiring of Coach Pete Carroll.

I mean, it’s very difficult not to be in a bowl game these days.

Of course, it probably goes without saying that no one will ever invite USC Athletic Director Mike Garrett to the Insight.com Bowl, but that’s why there’s a Humanitarian Bowl. I know what you’re thinking, but if you try sending him to the Outback Bowl, it’s not where you think it is.

The point here is that USC is taking a position against going anywhere.

Now we all know the power of peer pressure, but with 50 bowl games taking place over the last two years, I would guess USC is the only major football school not to put itself in the position of going--just because that’s what everybody else does.

This is why USC has the reputation for being such a fine academic institution, because the football players know they will be back in the classroom without interruption almost immediately after the end of the regular season.

I believe it’s now part of the Trojans’ recruiting pitch: Come to USC, and we’ll have you home for the holidays.

If you go to UCLA, you’re in El Paso today, hoping there’s a Wal-Mart in town so you’ll have somewhere to go after practice.

*

NOW IF I’M a parent, and my son is going to USC, I’m thrilled with President Steven Sample’s plan not to put too much emphasis on football and keep the Trojans out of a bowl game.

Look what happened in New Orleans late Wednesday night. You had players from Miami and Florida in town for the Sugar Bowl, underage kids walking down Bourbon Street, a brawl breaking out between the teams, shirts left stained with blood, while the Trojans were safe at home with their mommies and daddies.

*

BOWL GAMES CAN also play emotional havoc with young men for the rest of their lives.

For example, you have young athletes entering Texas El Paso who have it drummed into their heads that the school hasn’t had a winning season in eight years, hasn’t been to a bowl game in that time, and the Miners dedicate themselves and make it a dream year, compiling an astounding 8-3 record only to have to call family and friends and tell them they’re going to a bowl game--in Boise, Idaho.

Or consider this pathetic scene captured on family video: Your son jumping up and down and yelling: “We just won the Galleryfurniture.com Bowl.”

I can’t imagine the psychological damage done to the seniors who ended their careers in the Poulan Weedeater Bowl.

Bowl games are supposed to be real big deals--that’s what they tell everyone--but if you’re playing for Kansas State or Tennessee, you’re in Dallas right now reading the paper, which is making a big deal out of the fact the game may not sell out. And that’s the tradition-rich Cotton Bowl.

The Motor City Bowl was played in the Pontiac Silverdome with a capacity of 80,311. Bowl officials announced advance sales of 52,911, but when Cincinnati and Marshall went at it, only 26,018 showed up. Talk about lifetime memories, that’s a bowl game with an exhibition football game feel to it.

*

THERE ISN’T MUCH of this that makes sense. You have UCLA’s defense surrendering a school-record 347 points and getting a bowl bid so it can really set the record. You have Nebraska playing Northwestern--in a bowl game, as if that’s fair, although appropriately it’s the Alamo Bowl. And it’s not the Silicon Valley Bowl, it’s the Silicon Valley Football Classic, which is kind of ridiculous because Fresno State is playing Air Force.

So I understand USC’s determined commitment to not become bowl eligible. I mean, you have alumni who care about this stuff, and there’s pride at stake, reservations to be made and one more chance to be embarrassed--as if losing to Washington State wasn’t a big enough embarrassment. It’s easier to stay home.

I just wish a lot more teams would take the same approach as USC, and when the season’s over, it’s over, pack up the gear and let the big guys in the NFL provide the year-end entertainment.

*

I HAVE THE big guys from Indianapolis winning in Miami by 9, the Rams winning by double digits over the Saints, the Buccaneers ending their cold-weather jinx and beating Philadelphia by 10 and Baltimore just getting by Denver.

But I’m hoping Denver wins--just to see if the Raiders will surrender rather than go through the motions of losing to the Broncos a third time this season.

*

TV ADVERTISEMENTS ARE imploring Philadelphia sports fans to show some manners, beginning with Sunday’s playoff game against Tampa Bay.

I think it’s a nice touch piping in background music from “The Man of La Mancha” soundtrack featuring “The Impossible Dream.”

*

THE RETURN OF Mario Lemieux reportedly doubled ESPN’s typical regular-season audience for a hockey game.

My only question is, what do those 20 people normally watch on Wednesday nights?

*

HE SAYS HE acted the same way before he played in the Rose Bowl for UCLA. I say this is what happens when you begin your trip to L.A. with a stop at the Playboy Mansion.

We agree on this. Some of the University of Washington football players, who were at the Rose Bowl’s annual pig-out at Lawry’s, apparently passed on dessert and began hitting on the waitresses.

“These girls are being so nice and polite,” said Washington Coach Rick Neuheisel, “and then they come walking back to where I was, saying, ‘Can you believe that idiot?’ Now I know exactly what they thought of me 20 years ago.”

*

TODAY’S LAST WORD comes in an e-mail from John Hawk:

“Call me weird, but I enjoy reading your column.”

Thank you, Weird.

*

T.J. Simers can be reached at his e-mail address: t.j.simers@latimes.com.