Trojans would ruin day for folks in old El Paso

I RECEIVED a number of e-mails from the folks who live in the cow town where they play the Sun Bowl, who were obviously concerned about their only day of entertainment all year long and getting stuck with the Trojans.

As big a disappointment as USC has been locally and as boring as their game was Saturday in the Coliseum, I know I wouldn’t want to go to the Sun Bowl.

And the folks, who have been sentenced to live there, make it pretty obvious they don’t take it well when not happy.

In fact, they’ve got a 42-foot-high statue at the El Paso airport honoring some guy who decreed every male over the age of 25 should have a foot amputated. I guess he wanted to make it tough on anyone looking to escape the dump.

Now I’ve got nothing against cow towns, and wouldn’t even mind seeing a copy of “Celebrating El Paso,” which I understand includes everything beautiful about the place, probably making the two-page book a nice substitute for those not going there.

But there’s still talk here, of course, that USC has Rose Bowl hopes. For that to happen, Oregon would probably have to play for the national title and USC would have to win every remaining game.

When the season began a lot of folks thought USC would win every game, and you saw how well that went.

Sure, they beat Oregon State on Saturday to make it one win in a row, but the joke that is UCLA football has already done that, and in Corvallis.

Maybe USC has been saving its best for last, because so far this season the Trojans have been nothing special, and nowhere near the powerhouse as advertised.

This last week, Pete Carroll whined about the officiating and all the calls USC opponents are getting -- something you might expect from teams used to begging for a win here and there.

The Trojans do lack discipline, another face mask penalty, a cheap shot knocking Oregon State’s quarterback out of the game, and Mark Sanchez throwing the ball with less than two minutes to play and USC already winning by three touchdowns.

Oregon State had a quarterback who obviously has no NFL aspirations -- unless it’s to buy a ticket and go to a game. And the Beavers played without their best running back, giving the Trojans one of those misleading feel-good games on defense.

The national champion that USC thought it was going to be this season would’ve destroyed a team like this, nine sacks an impressive statistic, but not if you watched the slow, indecisive and ineffective kid playing quarterback for Oregon State.

As for the Trojans’ offense, yuck. Carroll can call it the best defense USC has played this season, but then USC has played Idaho, Notre Dame and Nebraska, who combined to allow their opponents to score 150 points Saturday.

Maybe the Trojans have been saving their best for the stretch run in the hopes of avoiding El Paso. But if not, those poor people down there, who spend so much time trying to drum up interest in their cow town, are going to be dealt a real bummer.

YOU HAVE to wonder how joyless life must be for students attending the University of Arizona, looking for any old excuse to have some fun and rushing the field because they beat a Karl Dorrell-coached team.

AS GOOD as the Lakers looked in Phoenix, it’s going to be hard now for the Kobester to make the case he can go elsewhere and find a better team.

WHEN DODGERS fans speak about the credibility Joe Torre brings to the Dodgers, consider the source. Dodgers fans have no credibility -- buying preseason hype, inconsistent play and nearly 4 million tickets every year for a substandard product. And many fans, as the season goes sour, not bothering to use the tickets they purchased.

The Dodgers have led the league the last few years in free-agent rumors, duping the public into thinking something good is going to happen, and making it an effective marketing tool.

Anyone who buys a ticket to watch Torre sit stoically on the bench is probably a University of Arizona grad.

You’re going to hear about the Dodgers going after A-Rod this off season. The Dodgers have the choice of playing Andy LaRoche at third, who will probably make about $400,000, or go after A-Rod and pay him $30 million. Tough choice for the Parking Lot Attendant.

MR. HGH, a.k.a Angels center fielder Gary Matthews Jr., was at the USC-Oregon State game. Given the reports that Matthews is going to meet with Commissioner Bud Selig to talk about his drug history and could be suspended, he might have all kinds of time to watch our local teams in action.

TRAINER DOUG O’Neill, and Mark Verge, who owns 10% of Maryfield, who won the Breeder’s Cup Filly & Mare Sprint recently, stopped by the cancer pediatric ward at Mattel Children’s Hospital at UCLA and dropped off $10,300 in checks to buy gifts for the kids’ holiday party next month.

Kiddy Up, owned by Ed Allred and who won $50,000 for the cancer pediatric ward and then figured his work was done, continued to loaf Friday night at the Los Alamitos Race Course. Witnesses said the horse is as handsome as they come, though, and suggested he might consider a career in modeling now that he can run no faster than his well-fed trainer, John Bassett.

TODAY’S LAST word comes from Jack Beasley:

Beasley has worked USC and UCLA game management at the Coliseum and Rose Bowl since 1967, a friendly face and greeting for everyone -- each and every week.

His wife, Mina, an elevator operator at the Rose Bowl at times and a kindergarten teacher for 40 years, used to accompany Jack on his weekend assignments.

A week ago Thursday, though, Mina -- mother of Leslie, Cindy and Bill and Jack’s wife for “58 years,” he said, “4 months and 4 days” -- passed away.

As Jack put it, “She was the best wife I’ve ever had.”

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T.J. Simers can be reached at

[email protected]. To read

previous columns by Simers,

go to latimes.com/simers.