It's a Whole New Game

By J.A. Adande

Aug. 11, 2001 12 AM PT

It’s difficult to take a normal approach to football media day anymore.

UCLA and USC brought out their players and coaches to meet the microphones Friday. And the way things have gone lately, they will be considered successes if they get through training camp without any fatalities.

I knew times had changed when the first person I sought at USC was head trainer Russ Romano--and I had to wait because he was doing a television interview.

USC has five asthmatic players on the roster, which is noteworthy only because Northwestern safety Rashidi Wheeler had an asthma attack last week and later died on the field.

“We’re not really seeing any adverse effects,” Romano said of the Trojan players. “We’re prepared. The athletes know when they’re having something come on, they may use their inhaler more frequently.”

Media day at USC in recent years has meant a chance to get reacquainted with Petros Papadakis, the talkative running back who exhausted his eligibility last season.

Fortunately, that didn’t have to change because he was helping out the Fox Sports Net crew. Only the topic was different.

Hard to think of Papadakis as ever being short-winded, but he’s an asthmatic. He even dug into his pocket and fished out his inhaler.

“Guys walk a line every day,” Papadakis said. “I think people would be surprised to know how close it comes daily to something, you know, dangerous or tragic happening.”

It’s the start of training camp, so it’s supposed to be the time to wonder if quarterback Carson Palmer can adapt to offensive coordinator Norm Chow’s offense and excel in the new system.

We’re supposed to be wondering if the Trojans can avoid falling behind so often so they can continue using their best weapon, running back Sultan McCullough.

And, apparently, it’s a time for introducing new verbs to English.

When Coach Pete Carroll said the only way to achieve is through hard work, he added: “You can’t facade that.”

Carroll generated some laughs when he told the story of slipping a videotape into a VCR at Best Buy while he was Christmas shopping, watching highlights of Frank Candela as a crowd gathered, then whipping out his cell phone to call Candela and ask him to play at USC.

At UCLA, it seems Bob Toledo is feeling a bit defensive, or else he wouldn’t feel the need to point out that he has won more Pacific 10 Conference championships than any other active coach in the league and that he has only lost to Oregon once.

Meanwhile, the defense is ready to go on the offensive and atone for its point-yielding ways.

Running back DeShaun Foster is flexing his muscles for the cameras.

He said he weighs 218 pounds, and maybe the nation’s smoothest running back will be more injury-resistant and stay on the field for all 11 games.

It’s always reassuring to see old reliable linebacker Ryan Nece dispensing quotes. But it’s disconcerting to hear him discuss that he’ll be working with his fourth defensive coordinator in five years and that the only thing he can do about his surgically repaired shoulders is cross his fingers to make sure they stay in place.

And maybe the Bruins will welcome the Rose Bowl to the Bowl Championship Series by playing the national championship in their home stadium.

It was a perfect day to practice or barbecue or do about anything in Los Angeles Friday, and optimism seemed in place.

“I think the sky’s the limit,” Nece said.

But it’s difficult to ignore the recent tragedies.

Wheeler, the heat-related deaths of Minnesota Viking offensive lineman Korey Stringer and University of Florida running back Eraste Autin.

“I do think about it,” UCLA linebacker Robert Thomas said. “We’re just blessed to be in an area with cooler weather. I think about it in the back of my head because every athlete should.”

Defensive end Kenyon Coleman called the torn knee cartilage that ended his season after three games last year “devastating.”

It’s a different perspective now. I’m hoping the most devastating thing to happen to the Bruins or the Trojans is a knee injury.