PAC-12 PICK'EM for October 1, 2011

Yikes, it's nearly October already, PAC-12 lovers, time to vote for tomorrow's winners. Since practically are my choices were wrong last week (a self-sacrificing move on my part to allow all of you to feel superior...yeah, right), I can only go up. This week my picks are the Washington State Cougars over the Colorado Buffaloes, the Washington Huskies over the Utah Utes, the Arizona State Sun Devils over the Oregon State Beavers, the Stanford Cardinal over the UCLA Bruins, and the USC Trojans over the Arizona Wildcats. This week you can post your predictions in the comments section if you like. Good luck to all teams...and Fight On!

‘One for the Money’ Trailer Released - GalleyCat

‘One for the Money’ Trailer Released - GalleyCat

No, no, no, no. I am a HUGE Janet Evanovich fan, but no, the trailer did not capture her brilliant characters. I liked Katherine Heigl in Knocked Up, but hated her character Izzy in Grey's Anatomy. Sorry, but she is not Stephanie Plum. Okay, I've only seen one trailer, but she's tentative. Stephanie's not tentative. She might feel tentative, but she usually doesn't show it. Outwardly, she's nothing but swaggering badass. That's why I love her. She pulls off badass even though half the time she has no idea what she's doing.

Debbie Reynolds as Grandma Mazur. No. Hair is wrong. Grandma Mazur is more like Estelle Getty in Golden Girls--too bad she's no longer with us--she would have been perfect.

Jason O'Mara as Joe Morelli. I'm okay with him and Daniel Sunjata seems okay as Ranger.

Sherri Shepherd seems good as Lulu.

Let me put this in perspective. I am open to movie adaptations of novels. I try to be open. Loved the first Bridget Jones movie, I thought Renee Zellwegger nailed it. I liked the Harry Potter cinematic trio, but obviously, the books have the movies trumped in spades due to the intricacies of the world, the humor, and all the characters.

I want to like this movie and maybe I will. But I must say I am disappointed in the casting. Like others, top of the head pick to play Stephanie would be someone like Sandra Bullock. Or Courtney Cox. Or even Eva Longoria. Someone more spunky, scrappy, and seemingly confident. Thoughts?

Winning. Not.

Hey, fellow Trojans. Done licking your wounds yet? I'm slowly recovering. Damn, that was a tough loss. Bizarre night with the dust storms, fumbles, and penalties--I honestly kept thinking the Trojans were going to rebound. But no. My other fave team, Arizona, also got brutalized. And now the two (dare I say loo-hoosers ala Jim Carrey) meet each other this Saturday. Since my older daughter graduated from UofA I always have split allegiance and mixed emotions when these two teams meet up. On the bright side, I win either way.

In  other news...how about the bad call on the missed extra point caught on tape in the Syracuse-Toledo game? According to SI.com "Mid-American Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher said Monday that NCAA rules say there's no route to reverse the outcome once the game is declared over." Really? I'm thinking the SC-Utah game. True, the Trojans would have won anyway even if the TD hadn't been reinstated two hours after the game, but really? Isn't that why all of us hate rules (okay, I'm assuming you're all like me, maybe some of you love rules), that they so often are used as excuses by the people who set them to basically do whatever the heck they please (okay, maybe it's just my parochial school background coming back to haunt me, too). Anyway, I don't know why games can't be postponed for a couple more minutes anytime there's a blatant mistake caught on film. Come on. Nothing wrong with a re-do. It's only fair. Thoughts?

PAC-12 PICK'EM for 9/24/2011

Okay, fellow football fans, let's hear your predictions for Saturday's PAC-12 games!  This week there are 5 games. I've ordered the teams listed above in pairs, with the first team in each pair followed by the word "or" (mainly because I am technically-challenged and it was the only way I could figure out how to make the poll add-on work for this type of format). Anyway, stop judging my technical skills and vote in the above poll and let's see how we do as a group in predicting this week's outcomes. ONLY  VOTE FOR 5 TEAMS. My picks are SC, Cal, Colorado, UCLA, and Arizona.

Unfortunately, there are no prizes, just the smug satisfaction that comes from being right (or the equally smug superiority of brushing it off as a stupid quiz if we're wrong)! Hey, with that attitude, we can't lose, right? Win-win all around. So vote for who you think is going to win this week. Happy guessing! Poll closes Saturday, 9/24 at 12:00 pm PDT.

Inside USC with Scott Wolf: USC Fan Base

Inside USC with Scott Wolf: USC Fan Base

USC Football - Friday Night Video: Utah

Sweet W for SC!

Nice win, Trojans! Sorry some of the other PAC-12 teams didn't fare too well, but congrats to the victors. I agree with Matt Barkley, felt like the Trojans of old tonight. Hope we can keep it up. Even Traveler seemed peppier last week, doing some neat circus horse tricks in front of the student section. Love Traveler, Spirit of Troy, Song Girls and Cheerleaders, too. I didn't remember until I heard it reported tonight that we won our first three games last year, too, so don't want to get too confident, but I'm getting the sense that Lane and the team are starting to gel for real. Yay Trojans! Fight On!

Welcome One and All!

It's going to be a busy weekend in Tinseltown, sports lovers and TV fans. Home games for the USC Trojans (against Syracuse) and the UCLA Bruins (against Texas)...Plus, the Emmy Awards on Sunday night downtown at the Nokia Theatre LA Live, promising more stars than even our lovely skies, which eerily have been full of falling meteors and satellite debris of late. The freeways will be overflowing with fans heading to the Coliseum and the Rose Bowl on Saturday. I'll be sitting this one out, forgoing the joys of gridlock, watching from the comfort of my living room and the luxury of bathrooms without lines. But I did attend that wild SC-Utah game last week--the last 20 seconds were crazy--the Ute field goal attempt ended up sucker punching Trojan Torin Harris who then ran down the field for a goosebumps-producing touchdown as the time expired on the clock. The scoreboard read 23-14...for about a minute. Then it was changed back to the score before the T, 17-14. But we got the win, no one knew why the touchdown didn't count, yeah, it seemed like the whole SC team was off the bench and running down the field at one point, pretty powerful scene, but honestly, it seemed to coincide with the time running out. After that everyone filed out of the Coliseum fast--like Derek Fisher running off the court after his game ending basket--as if we were all thinking the same thing, better leave before the officials change their minds again and put more time back on the clock and let the Utes have another shot. I know that sounds kind of paranoid in a Soup Nazi kind of way, but guess what? Two hours later, the PAC-12 "officials" reinstated the TD and the 23-14 score now stands. What? I'm not complaining, I thought they got it originally, but can any of you remember a score being reversed like that before? Me neither. Even when it's captured on film, the attitude always seems to be, oh well, yeah looks like a bad call but we NEVER change scores after a game has ended. So what happened? The power of the Trojan Family? Don Corleone? New PAC-12 Conference clout? Thoughts? Thanks for stopping by, remember to always wear you Cardinal and Gold colored glasses, and whatever you do, don't forget to Fight On!