Recently, Stanford University unveiled its imaginative new slogan for the upcoming football season. Are you ready? Hold your breath. It's astounding, it's going to rock your world. "We work."
That's it.
The sum total of Stanford's distilled brilliance, the essence of sports. Shakespeare said, "Brevity is the soul of wit," so somewhere he's laughing. Everyone else? They want the athletic department to get a refund check.
Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.
Close to 90,000 hardcore Lakers fans packed the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to celebrate the Lakers' NBA championship, among them USC's Pete Carroll, the Lakers girls, politicians, cops and Los Angeles' best and most unpredictable fans.
In this exclusive FanHouse video, NBA Finals MVP Kobe Bryant spots me in the crowd and gives me a shout-out. We also meet the cast of characters that make up the mozaic of Lakers fans, from the adult man who walks around with a Kobe action figure, to the fan who says he'll kill an Orlando fan after the parade (jokingly, we hope), to the fans who called out of work sick to be at the parade. This is one video you wont want to miss.
What had Neuheisel so upset is that Carroll voted against Neuheisel's proposal to allow coaches to have their children with them on the sidelines during games. Neuheisel explained on the video that the Pac-10 has a rule that children aren't permitted on the sidelines during games, but Neuheisel wanted a waiver for coaches' children, because he thinks fathers and sons can bond on the sidelines during games. Neuheisel said the proposal was put to a vote at a meeting of Pac-10 coaches, and that the vote was 9-1, with only Carroll opposed.
Pity the poor Pac-10; its revenues are barely half of the SEC, Big Ten, and, shudder, the ACC.
As a result, the Pac-10 is exploring a route that has already made it rain on the SEC and the Big Ten, starting their own network. The Big Ten started their own network in conjunction with FOX and netted $66 million from the network last year. Rather than start their own network, the SEC partnered with CBS and ESPN. Beginning this year the SEC will bring in -- wait for it -- $205 million a year just from television rights. Why does that matter? The Pac-10 conference had revenues of just $88.78 million in 2007. Yep, by 2009, the SEC will triple the Pac-10 in sports revenue. That's a huge deal in the arm's race that is major collegiate sports.
Fortunately, as a lover of all things college football, I'm here to help the Pac-10 ensure their network is a hit. How do we do that? Programming, baby, it's all about the programming.
Erin Andrews. Google her name and you'll get about 771,000 results, many of which are blogs that obsess over the ESPN sportscaster's every word. But meet her in person and you'll find a woman who may seem like you or I, stunning good looks aside. She loves sports, remembers old Nintendo games, and yes, does get her feelings hurt from time to time.
FanHouse recently had a chance to chat with the most popular female sports reporter at the NCAA Football 10 premiere party to find out what drives her, what gets under her skin, and whether she'd drop her career to be a backup dancer for Britney Spears. Our full interview with Andrews is below.
On Wednesday, a group called America's Promise Alliance issued its latest report on the education of our country's youth. America's Promise was started by Gen. Colin Powell back in 1997 with a band of corporations, nonprofits, foundations, policymakers, advocacy and faith-based groups to ensure that we provide our kids a foundation from which they can be successful.
The newest report from America's Promise found that nearly half (47 percent) of all young people in the nation's 50 largest cities are not graduating from high school on time and that many of those aren't graduating at all, hence, becoming dropouts.
It is a problem because, the report reminded, the median income for high school dropouts is $14,000, which is significantly lower than the median income for high school graduates ($24,000) and for college graduates ($48,000). More troubling, the report pointed out, high school dropouts were the only workers who saw their income levels decline over the last 30 years.
Not lost among the excitement is the surprising ascent of Barkley, who also pulled a major upset in beating out Mustain for the No. 2 job and who Corp admitted is "right there". USC coach Pete Carroll says that although Corp has been named the starter, the competition will be pushed into the fall due to the unusual growth and possibilities offered by Barkley.
Perhaps no other storyline carries as much national importance for college football as USC's quarterback battle. With the three Heisman Trophy finalists -- Tim Tebow, Sam Bradford and Colt McCoy -- returning to Florida, Oklahoma and Texas, respectively, USC may be next in line as a championship contender. The Trojans are hosting a three-man battle between Matt Barkley (left), Aaron Corp (middle) and Mitch Mustain to determine the school's next quarterback who will hopefully follow in the school's lineage of successful signal-callers and maybe even lead the team to a national title.
On Jan. 15, USC quarterback Mark Sanchez announced that he would forgo his senior season to enter the NFL draft. This news made head coach Pete Carroll very unhappy. In fact, during the press conference announcing Sanchez's decision, Carroll was clear:
The slow season in college football is a great time to examine various trends and topics within the game. Something that jumped out about the 2008 season was the standout performance by Pete Carroll's USC defense. It posted some of the best cumulative marks of the era in points (9.0), yards (222), pass yards (134) and pass efficiency defense (85.75) allowed. It pitched a trio of shutouts. It will likely send every starter into the NFL along with many backups.
Without hesitation one can safely claim it was one of the best defenses we've seen in the last 20 years of college football. Of particular interest is that it didn't happen in isolation. USC's been building towards a performance like that for several years. After digging into the numbers an interesting trend jumped out.
Recently, Stanford University unveiled its imaginative new slogan for the upcoming football season. Are you ready? Hold your breath. It's astounding, it's going to rock your world. "We work." 
Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos. 
For the last month, a video was available on UCLA's official YouTube channel that showed head football coach Rick Neuheisel saying he's "ticked off" at his crosstown rival, USC coach Pete Carroll, and promising to "get after their ass." But after the Orange County Register publicized the video Tuesday, UCLA pulled it down.
Pity the poor Pac-10; its revenues are barely half of the SEC, Big Ten, and, shudder, the ACC.
Erin Andrews. Google her name and you'll get about 771,000 results, many of which are blogs that obsess over the ESPN sportscaster's every word. But meet her in person and you'll find a woman who may seem like you or I, stunning good looks aside. She loves sports, remembers old Nintendo games, and yes, does get her feelings hurt from time to time.
On Wednesday, a group called America's Promise Alliance issued its latest report on the education of our country's youth. America's Promise was started by Gen. Colin Powell back in 1997 with a band of corporations, nonprofits, foundations, policymakers, advocacy and faith-based groups to ensure that we provide our kids a foundation from which they can be successful.
Redshirt sophomore Aaron Corp has been named USC's starting quarterback. After a spring filled with drama, intrigue and at times four competitors, Corp is officially USC's guy. Corp beat out early enrolling super frosh Matt Barkley and Arkansas transfer Mitch Mustain to ascend to perhaps the most prestigious position in all of college football, with a pair of national championships and Heisman Trophies to its name since 2002.
The slow season in college football is a great time to examine various trends and topics within the game. Something that jumped out about the 2008 season was the standout performance by Pete Carroll's USC defense. It posted some of the best cumulative marks of the era in points (9.0), yards (222), pass yards (134) and pass efficiency defense (85.75) allowed. It pitched a trio of shutouts. It will likely send every starter into the NFL along with many backups.
