Duuhhh, she's a USC fan. That's her job here. Sounds to me like he was just trying to come up with a reason for not choosing LSU. It was a lame reason, maybe, but not all that negative. It's tough to pick a school for some kids and they try to justify their decisions somehow, when often they just pick the school that they like for some reason. But then they have to tell the story and come up with some reasons why they didn't chose this college or that college. Others make up a reason that involves them cutting a school loose, when actually the school may have lost interest in the player. I think LSU fans taking offense at these offhand comments are being too . . . damn . . . sensitive.
Only from fans who take the recruiting process personally and for sure USC has some of those fans. Randall Carroll's recruitment this year brought out the worst in some fans. I did not say communication problems. I said "how the communication went". That's a big difference. I didn't judge either side, just suggested that whatever occurred was viewed differently by each party. Look, the kid was replying to specific questions and when asked to give a reason for his decision it came down to what he heard/felt from the coaching personnel. I'll give you an example of how even the absence of inflection can change the meaning of a comment. In that article, John said of ucla "I didn't like the area that much". Read without any emphasis, it looks like a slam on Westwood. In fact the way he meant it was with emphasis on the word "THAT". ucla's coaching staff spent time telling him what a bad area USC was in and how much better it was on their side of town. That statement now makes a bit more sense and is far less inflammatory with that understanding.
Recruits have to learn not to "make up reasons". Making up reasons is a euphemism for lying. It is very simple for them to say, "I am going to UCLA because I like it the best, or I felt the most comfortable there, it just felt right, I knew it was the place for me,....etc. Why didn't I want to go to LSU? It was a wonderful school with great coaches, but UCLA was a better fit for me. All a recruit has to do is be polite, have a little manners and remain positive to a school that was trying to give him a free college education. I'm proud to be an LSU fan and I'm damn sensitive about our damn strong team and our damn strong coach!
There are things that go on in recruiting we dont know about. Its an ugly business which we witnessed first hand with the Randle/Benton situation. These are kids, and their pride will get hurt sometimes. What he said wasnt at all that bad. Same with the Lacy comments. Im a damn proud Tiger fan like everyone here, but fact is he didnt say nothing bad about LSU. Plus Im sure he is pretty damn frustrated by now with the constant hounding during the recruiting process. Again, you guys forget he is a kid. Recruiting is now so closely followed, Im sure they get tired of the interviews and calls, even if they enjoy it at other times.
Not entirely true. At least according to his dad, John was seriously interested in LSU and, as the other quotes above clearly indicated, he had high respect for LSU as a team and also for their coaches. Don't know what happened other than what he said himself about LSU kind of losing interest in him as a person, but I'm glad we have him since we boloed on both Husiak and Sua-Filo. As an LSU fan, I wouldn't get too upset about what he said. It's just his own perception and who's to say that maybe LSU didn't lose interest for whatever reason?
As in Argentina, Their cowboys use a bolo to incapacitate. Kind of like you would use the word hamstrung. Or if you're a mountain gump, "Done treed by a coon dog". :wink:.
