Top Ten Words of the Fall

The final buzzer sounded on the Trojan's basketball game against UC Riverside Saturday night and it was over -- not just the game, but just the entire Fall sports schedule.

Spring will start quickly (using the new year as a line in the sand) with the Rose Bowl and some hoops games, so this is a logical time for top ten lists. While considering the top ten USC sports stories of Fall 2007, it was obvious that certain words kept coming up.

To give things a new twist, here are the top ten words of the Fall. These aren't here because they are the "best," but they are the most significant, dominating both headlines and public discourse.

1. Injury. They happen all the time in sports and nobody is immune, but this semester had an inordinate number of setbacks for Trojan athletes. Men's basketball got thumped by Mercer without Davon Jefferson (knee) and Daniel Hackett (jaw), and still hadn't completely gelled by the time the faced their first real challenges. Women's hoops lost two of their top players before the season even began. The soccer team's defense was thinned out. Cross country couldn't field their lone NCAA championship competitor due to illness. Volleyball learned to adjust for awhile without Diana Copenhagen. What's missing? Oh yeah -- football. Early in the season, somebody inside Heritage Hall said the mounting injuries weren't unusual. A couple weeks later, newspapers were dedicating a mind-numbing number of column inches to injury reports. A healthy John David Booty or fewer chinks in the offensive line, and the Trojans might only be practicing on New Years Day.
2. Streak. While a couple big ones ended (top-10 rankings and home victories), the football program maintained their most sacred one: Pac-10 crowns. As Pete Carroll's pre-season goal, winning the league (or a share of it) for six straight years has also resulted in six straight BCS appearances.

3. Coliseum. The lease negotiation and entire Coliseum situation accelerated faster than any of the Lexus commercials played on the jumbotron. Ultimately this story is about money and power. Then again, aren't they all?
4. Soccer. There was just something magical about the women's soccer team this year. With a new coach and modest expectations (at least one major service had them out of the top 25 before the season), their national championship was almost a Cinderella story.
5. Circus. As in the media type. O.J. Mayo posing with a Bentley. Romeo signing in the Four Seasons. Tim Floyd's programs may be about defense and discipline ... but off the court? The hype surrounding the men's basketball team would make you think the opposite.
6. Tease. This word could be about USC's possible Rose Bowl move, but really it's about Yahoo! Sports and Reggie Bush. This is a volatile story that threatens to become the biggest news of the decade in Troy. It could also fizzle away. Only a lack of evidence kept a Bush related word (scandal? disaster?) from toping this list, but a confirmed lack of evidence could erase this from everybody's memory.
7. Passing. Not the type you want to hear about in sports. The fall was filled with memorials to Mario Danelo. Lou Galen, who funded the school's new basketball arena and was a long-time supporter, passed away. Joseph Curreri, a former swim team captain, died while free diving for his USC medallion. Also, Drean Rucker was recognized on senior day. R.I.P., all.
8. Ricky. As Special Assistant to the Head Coach, Ricky Rosas won the hearts of all Trojans this year. The football team has taken him under their wing. The three internet sites dedicated to USC sports joined forces on a holiday toy drive to benefit him and his family. It all stands as a sterling example of the Trojan Family -- Ricky being one of its most dedicated members.
9. Charity. While Ricky was the poster-boy, charity by USC sports programs this season extended far beyond one man. Much of it almost went unrecognized. Thanks to magazine articles and websites, more people found out that Pete Carroll spends a lot of free time trying to help the community and form "A Better LA." The women's soccer team took up a cause to help build more Water Wells in Africa. Women's volleyball had a canned food drive to help victims of the wildfires. Other events, like Dribble for the Cure, continued a long standing tradition of helping the community.
10. Harbaughed. After Merriam-Webster crowned "w00t" their word of the year, at least this made-up phrase only came in at #10 here. Prior to the season, Jim Harbaugh suggested that USC's football team may be the best "in the history of college football." Weeks later, his Stanford Cardinal pulled what may be the greatest upset in the history of college football. While it's not a word that we heard much, it was popular on the blogosphere. It warrants inclusion because of what it did to the football team's season and because it became a song on YouTube.

That's all for now. Remember that you still have until January 10 to vote for USC's top sports moment of 2007. The three nominees were picked by the school, meaning Heritage Hall feels that beating UCLA was bigger than winning the Rose Bowl against Michigan.