Trojans Are Cashing In on Bowl in Las Vegas

As you recall, the NCAA ruled it was an “extra benefit” when DeShaun Foster’s car broke down and the UCLA running back borrowed a SUV from a friend. It cost him his remaining college eligibility as a football player.

That’s very interesting when you consider the NCAA has approved an extra-benefit scam to pay off each of USC’s football players--in cash--for making it to the Las Vegas Bowl. Now we know why USC played so hard against UCLA.

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I JUST took it for granted the USC football team would don Trojan blazers with Pete Carroll leading them in a chorus of “Kumbaya” as they boarded a cheap Southwest Airlines flight--Mike Garrett, a.k.a. Stooge, sorry, I mean Scrooge, insisting they save money for a new sports arena--the team then taking a bus with windows covered to prevent any possible distractions once it arrives in Las Vegas.

But now we’re told USC has been searching for the highest coach airfare available to Las Vegas for each of its players, apparently finding something around $300, and then with the NCAA’s blessing, turning that money over to each of their players with a wink and nod to pay their own way to Las Vegas if they so choose.

I called Southwest, and while a group could get even a bigger discount, I was quoted an advanced round-trip airfare of $71.50 for Las Vegas if I wanted to depart at the same time as USC. I wouldn’t want to fly with the team and administrators at the same time, of course, because it’s a long way down.

At this point, however, there could be as many as 80 USC football players deciding to go on their own, lining up along Interstate 10 the morning of Dec. 20th--each with their thumb stuck out seeking a lift to Vegas with a pocket full of cash.

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NOW ME, I’d be thinking about liability woes--players hitching rides or driving a friend’s SUV to Vegas and always the chance of an accident, but for all USC seems to care, they might even be working on a plan for former Trojans’ R.J. Soward and Darrell Russell to lead the players on a tour of Sin City when they arrive.

I can’t picture most head coaches surrendering control of their players, but then I had trouble picturing Carroll as USC’s head coach--and I was wrong.

It’s obvious now that USC has a fun-at-all-costs’ theory for the Las Vegas Bowl in order to motivate returning players to work even harder in the offseason so next year they’ll get an invite to a bowl game even farther away--netting even more cash in the exchange of plane tickets.

Someone I talked to said Tennessee’s players each received $2,000 when they played in the Fiesta Bowl. I don’t know if that has anything to do with airline tickets, of course, but that’s another story.

Now by the time the Trojans get to Vegas, they’re going to be loaded. In addition to airfare, they’ll also draw $20 a day for the six-day trip for incidentals and another $33 a day if there is no organized training table for meals.

From personal experience, I’d say that’s probably good for anywhere from 10 to 25 minutes on the craps tables at the MGM where the Trojans will be staying. Most of the Trojans aren’t married, so that will help--they won’t have to give the wife $20 a day to get lost playing the nickel slots.

The NCAA makes a big deal about being opposed to gambling, but no one has been able to tell me if that means a 21-year-old athlete can’t take the points and let all the incidental money ride on the Grizzlies, who will be playing the Lakers in Memphis on the 21st--a night after L.A. has been in Houston, and we know how hard the Lakers play on consecutive days.

One note of caution to everyone, however, when it comes to these extra cash benefits and gambling profits. There were a number of NBA refs who were given first-class tickets, exchanging them for coach and pocketing the difference, then getting indicted and sent to jail for not making the proper notation on their tax returns.

I’d hate to see the entire Trojan team go to jail during the middle of next season for some minor tax oversight--of course, that might be the only way Bob Toledo’s team can beat USC.

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HAD THEY let the Rose Bowl remain a tradition, it would have been Oregon (10-1) versus Illinois (10-1)--as good as any game the bowl championship series comes up with now.

Oregon makes the best case for playing Miami. Putting in Nebraska--below Colorado in the Big 12--or the Buffs with two losses makes it a farce.

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IN THE first five games, Ryan Walcott played 18 minutes for the Bruins and UCLA struggled at the point guard position. If he plays like he did during his 11 minutes against Alabama, UCLA no longer has a point guard problem.

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USC’s SAM Clancy scored one field goal in the final 14 minutes in Pepperdine’s last-second win over the Trojans. I’m trying to figure out what Coach Henry Bibby will do to punish Clancy--maybe make him shoot free throws while sitting on the bench with the lights turned out ... and the heat off.

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I CAUGHT some of the Long Beach Poly High game with Edison on TV. Edison had so much to overcome--with a nickname like the Chargers.

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WHY AREN’T the Dodgers trying to trade Gary Sheffield to the A’s for General Manager Billy Beane?

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TODAY’S LAST word comes in an e-mail from Dave:

“I heard you on the Jim Rome Show refer to Nebraskans as ‘Hicks.’ I’m passing your e-mail address around. I’m sure the rest of the people in this state would love to give you their comments as well.”

I’m impressed--I figured the Hicks were still communicating by Pony Express.

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T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com.