So here is a shocker. I am a huge college football fan. Further, I am a huge Penn State Football fan. Consequently, I had a hard time on New Year's Day during the Rose Bowl. USC, although arguably the best college football team in the nation, represents a portion of what I detest about the athletic industrial complex. The press loves USC. The fans love USC. Disneyland loves USC. Who doesn't love USC? 

Pete Carroll, who rakes in $2-3 million dollars a year, always coaching with his boyish beach bro smile--ugh, it makes me barfy--is never camera-shy. What is it about LA that turns people into celebrities? Pete Carroll is a football coach, right? Could've had me fooled. Every time I see a postgame wrap-up with the cast and crew of the USC Trojans I almost expect to see Ryan Seacrest and the team from the E! Network. 

Last time I checked Joe Paterno, the winningest coach in college football history, makes $1/2 million a year despite his 50 year reign at Penn State, and gives most of it away to charity. Furthermore, his modest ranch home that I used to ride my bike past sits in a neighborhood of engineering professors, primary school teachers, contractors, and yes, Joe the plumbers. That is a far cry from Pete Carroll's $2 million palatial estate in Rancho Palos Verdes among the sycophantic celebs of the LA coastline. 

What is up with the Hollywood complex that seems to have all network commentators duped?If it was up to Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso, the starting lineup of the USC Trojans would have Nobel Prizes, get gold stars, and probably would have beat out Barack Obama for the presidency. So what if pretty much every player at USC, including the waterboys, will be drafted into the NFL. So what if all of their receivers are 6' 5" and run 4.3 forties. I could do that. Besides, who wants to make millions of dollars to get injured anyway. No thanks. Penn State football players have it made. Go low in the draft, sit the bench for a few years, and then do something else. I am a bit cynical I suppose. I just get sensitive about my redneck, blue-collar roots sometimes. So what if California has sunshine and Pennsylvania doesn't, and who cares if USC beat Penn State. We could probably beat them in a sauerkraut eating contest.