Ok, does it ever occur to you how much of a monster football is in this country? I’ll explain what I mean. Last night, a friend called me to go out to dinner, so we went to my cousin’s restaurant in Westlake Village called The Landing (fine dining coupled with a wonderful lake ambiance, The Landing-serving the greater San Fernando Valley for over 10 years!) ok Hamid, you owe me a free dinner for the plug.
Anyway, I LOVE football. Love it, love it, love it. But, I like other sports too. And unless USC is playing, or some marquee matchup in the NFL is taking place, if the Dodgers are in a critical playoff game, that’s what I want to watch! But, last night, The Landing had their tv split screened with the Dodgers/Phillies and then Giants/Browns, which by the way, interesting how the teams switched jerseys for last night’s game, wow. So, with the tv split screened, it’s harder for me to focus on the screen, notice the pitch count, how many outs there were, etc. So, I was constantly having to guess my way through it. But it was amazing to me, that in a Dodger town, that a crucial playoff game was only good enough to share billing with the NFL. Football is such a juggernaut.
So, after the exquisite service and excellent food at The Landing (I’m going to go again and again), I headed home, disappointed about the Dodger’s loss, but then started thinking that this has been a really great season for the Dodgers. I can either be thankful and appreciative for what went right, or I can be negative and just focus on the mistakes. Much like this past Saturday at the Coliseum. I don’t think I can ever remember being so shocked offensively and so impressed defensively all in 1 quarter of play. The Trojans turned the ball over 4 straight times in the 3rd quarter against Arizona State in what was a rough game for my boy Mark Sanchez. I hated to see the offense and Mark struggle, but having been questionable all week, which makes it tough for anyone’s timing to be perfect, it’s inspiring to me that Mark keeps sucking it up and playing in spite of any injuries. Must be that tough firefighter work ethic his dad instilled in him.
But while the offense struggled in a bizarre quarter, the defense was absolutely dominant. The way the Trojan D responded to all the adversity thrown at them was so impressive. And it all got me to thinking: Is the glass half full or half empty?
Before I answer this age old question, let me tell you my interpretation. If someone answers this question as the glass if half empty, he or she is thought to be a pessimist. However, if one answers that the glass is half full, he or she is thought to be an optimist. The empty part of the glass represents our problems and our challenges. The part of the glass that is full represents all the great things in our life, such as our friends, family, health, and happiness.
I look at the glass as being both half full and half empty. I have always considered myself to be both. I have an incredible life, and I also have incredible challenges. I cannot always be happy. Nor can I always be angry.
When I look at the good parts of my life, I appreciate my friends, my family, my colleagues, and many more things in my life. I am motivated to make my life richer. The negative aspects also motivate me, because I want to improve on the things that irritate me.
As we improve ourselves, we are faced with new challenges and new opportunities. The old challenges get replaced by the new ones.
What I really like that I see out of the Trojans, that is a constant is that you don’t see the offense and defense warring with each other. There’s no blaming or splintering when one unit is placed in a tough situation. And that’s a great way to live your life. I try to embrace adversity when it crosses my path, whether it be with my Cerebral Palsy or just life in general. Adversity is the opportunity to really step up and show what you’re made of. There are times in all of our lives where we are placed in adverse situations by other people. Be they strangers or worse, loved ones. How we respond to those situations is so important, not only to those relationships, but to our own personal development. What kind of person are you going to allow yourself to become? Are you a victim or are you a survivor? Are you someone who makes excuses or rolls your eyes when your offense gives up the ball or are you the one who is going to say, hey, it’s ok, I’ll pick up the slack? Whether it be for your job, for your friends or for your family, you should always challenge yourself to always see the glass for what it is. It’s just a glass. You decide what you put in it, and how much you have.

Is there such a thing as feeling relief after a 44-10 drubbing of a conference rival who’s ranked in the top 25? It’s strange, but you could feel the exhale in the crowd or even at home (as I was this weekend with a lil USC/Dodgers double dip) as the Trojans started slowly, but then Mark Sanchez and company started to rack up yards like the Chicago Cubs rack up infield errors. C’mon I’m happy, give me that one.
I’m so excited over the success of the Dodgers, and how Manny Ramirez has electrified the city, I think I’m going to just adopt the phrase “Sourena being Sourena” much like when people say ‘Oh, that’s just Manny being Manny” whenever Ramirez does something bizarre, like hitting towering home runs, taking a bathroom break in the middle of an inning, or even selling a BBQ on Ebay for $3,000 (he did, I kid you not). But, in my excitement for the Dodgers, it occurred to me that the team hasn’t won a playoff series in 20 years until Saturday night. I was 11 when they won the World Series in 88.
But hey, that’s sports right? It’s all cyclical. You have good times and bad times. And in college, it’s certainly true, players come and go, they graduate or leave early. Certainly can’t expect to consistently win, much less win forever, right? I smell a segue.
When I first heard of Coach Carroll’s philosophy ‘Win Forever’ I had the same reaction probably anyone had and thought to myself ‘Really? REALLY? Win FOREVER? Come on, that’s just not realistic. It sounds great. But sports are cyclical, and there are ups and downs and no team, organization, player, or human being avoids downturns.’
But then, I started to think about it. The phrase ‘Win Forever’ is about the in the moment philosophy of giving 100 % of yourself, mind, body, and soul to absolutely compete intensely, with the expectation of success. Thinking about ‘Forever’ is too daunting. Our brains can’t comprehend it. But to focus on the moment at hand, and to never waver, falter, or lose that passion for achievement or ‘winning’ no matter what it is that you’re doing or striving for, in every single moment of your life, that’s what Coach Carroll’s philosophy translates to for me. And it certainly translates that way for him. Coach is ‘All In’ all the time, whether it be in practice, in games, or in recruiting. And that competitiveness gives the Trojans the opportunity to consistently be stock-piled with blue chip athletes, who are driven, and competing for their spots, creating a constant, on-going intense atmosphere conducive for winning.
Last week I had the honor of speaking for the USC team and Coach before the Oregon game. There are so many wonderful constants at a USC Practice. Seeing Mark Sanchez and his father toss the ball around for 5 minutes before practice in a good old fashioned father/son pitch and catch, watching the team hurriedly go from station to station with Coach running right with them step for step, to watching the assistant coaches expertly and intensely instruct each and every player on their role and their…I was going to say ‘commitment to excellence’ here, but seriously, isn’t that phrase rendered completely useless since the Raiders of all teams use it? We love you Lane, enjoy the ‘Get out of Jail Free’ card, there are much better days ahead.
But, rolling into the center of the team to speak with my right hand man Rich Finley isn’t something that always happens at USC practice. I call Rich my right hand man by the way, because I actually can’t use my right hand, so that’s appropriate. I was so excited to speak to the team, but I have to respect their time, so we made a brief speech, which you can see here:

While our speech was brief, I want to touch on ‘Winning Forever’ here. I truly have to win forever. When I graduated from USC, as it’s mentioned in the speech, I couldn’t lock down a job. It was difficult for people to figure out where I would fit in with those companies. Now, I don’t blame anybody, I understand it. But, I still had to figure out how I can make a living, while contributing to society and being relevant. The last thing I ever want is to have no career to inspire me, and to just be the handicapped guy who graduated from USC.
I didn’t want that to be my legacy. While I loved going to school there, and it was my dream, and I will ALWAYS be a Trojan, I can’t rest on anything I accomplish. Having Cerebral Palsy creates a lot of challenges for me, like having to hire an assistant like Rich for my speaking/writing business or any kind of special transportation or technological advancement to make things simpler for me. So, I need to be successful, and constantly focus on winning forever because a lot of handicapped people, and people with CP end up in homes. And while I have all the compassion and respect in the world for them, and their situations, I don’t want that to happen for me.
Sometimes in life, realizing the negative consequences for not taking an action is helpful. And for me, that’s certainly true. I truly need to maximize everything I’ve got, give every bit of energy, passion, strength I can muster, whether it’s giving a speech, writing this blog, or just interacting with people, because I don’t want a substandard life. I want a wonderful, exciting, rewarding, passionate life, like the one I’m living now. And every day, I keep trying to find ways to do more, give more, help more people, so I can truly win forever. The question is, that we all have to ask ourselves, is it worth it? And the answer for me is most certainly “Yes!” This past summer, I got an e mail from an 18 year old with CP who had given up any dreams of going to college. She had heard Rich and I on the radio, heard my story, and ended up e mailing me that she was so inspired that she was going to make plans to attend college at the completion of her senior year. It’s things like that, that keep me going.
I truly love what I’m doing, I get to travel, help people, and most importantly, support/help my Trojans and Coach Carroll anytime I can. Having a career and purpose and drive to ‘Win Forever’ inspires me and excites me every day of my life.
And it’s the reason I’m not going to coach the Raiders next season. No thanks.

Ugh.
The good thing about having Cerebral Palsy and a speech impediment is that statement is universal. No need to explain how I feel.
Ugh.
I also said a few other choice words while watching the USC/Oregon St game, luckily my speech impediment helped there too so I didn’t offend anybody. So, ok, let’s get down to it: What happened?
Did Jacquizz Rodgers, the Ore St running back who rushed for 186 yards and 2 TDs, channel Reggie Bush? Did the Trojan D lose their focus thinking they had already handled an OSU this year? Was Pete Carroll’s headset sabotaged? Was it the east coast bias working against USC-even when I know Corvallis is also on the west coast? The answer, of course, to all of these, is yes.
Seriously speaking, we lost. It stinks. It hurts. And, it’s like watching a 16 year old on Rodeo Drive getting her mom’s credit card declined” “What? No, that can’t be right. Run it again.” I honestly had a hard time watching any football this weekend. Everytime I turned on ESPN, I heard about the Trojans losing.
Whether you are talking about sports, or life in general, the loftier the goal the more obstacles and landmines you’re going to encounter along the way. Let’s face it, the National Championship was won last year by a 2 loss team! We’ve still got house money baby! Seriously though, everybody wants to rip on the Pac 10, and on USC losing to an unranked team, but the program at Oregon St has won 5 straight bowl games, and has been the 2nd best Pac 10 team the last few years.
Couple that with losses this weekend by Florida to Ole Miss, Georgia to Alabama, and Wisconsin to Michigan, and you start to get a little more perspective that maybe Thursday night’s loss wasn’t the catastrophe it seemed to be at the time.
Hey, I’m not saying it’s OK we lost. But, I heard a saying one time that adversity introduces a man to himself. Meaning it’s only in times of great strife and daunting circumstances that you learn what your character is really made of.
All my life, there were never any real expectations put on me. It was not like at the age of 16, my school counselor came up to me and said “Sourena, I know you have a speech impediment, but, you need to apply yourself more and become a motivational speaker.” I always knew that I wanted to have a great life, and accomplish great things. The road that I choose is filled with many challenges and obstacles. Setbacks are difficult to deal with. It is the price I pay for having such ambitious goals. And there’s a definite risk and reward. I could live safely, and just be cared for, because I have a disability, and have family and friends who care about me, and are always there for me. Or, I could try to achieve something, a speaking and writing career on my own, which will bring me frustration, stress, setbacks, rejection, and self doubt.
But it’s all worth it. It’s actually kinda funny when you think about it how lucky we are to have a program so great that we all wanted a day of mourning on Friday for Trojan Nation. How spoiled. And for good reason, what Pete has built here is amazing. And while I’m on the subject, can we stop asking ‘What’s wrong with Pete Carroll’s team losing to an unranked team and his ability to motivate his players?” I’ll answer that: Nothing. Pete is still on the short list of coaches in this country in terms of preparation, inspiration and ability to get the best out of his players. The list is so short, you can count them on your thumb. I don’t see anybody criticizing Urban Meyer today for losing to an Ole Miss team at home that has been awful for years and was only decent when Eli Manning unbelievably decided to go there. But Pete Carroll loses a game in which he’s jumped on 21-0, gets his team to claw their way back into the game, defensively and offensively and ultimately loses 27-21 and is one onside kick away from a miracle and he’s second guessed? The man is 16-1 in games versus the top 10 while at USC. With an average score in those games being 44-13. He’s fine.
We had a setback Thursday. It’s not the end of the world. And there are so many things that are left to play out, so let’s just see what this year’s team does with a little adversity and give them a chance to impress and inspire us all over again.
All that said, in 2 years, when we make the next trip to Corvallis, I really hope Oregon State is ranked in the top 10.

Another week, another bye. This has been one of the stranger starts to Trojan Football in recent memory. But, as we all know, it gets cranked up this Thursday with a trip to Corvallis and a date with the Oregon State Beavers. It’s the opening of Pac 10 play, and so far, the Pac 10 is not off to a great start.
And by the way, can we change the motto across town from “The football monopoly in Los Angeles is officially over” to “The football monopoly in Los Angeles is officially at 3911 South Figueroa”? Whatever you need to do to sell tickets I guess. J But it is too bad that the Pac 10 seems to be down this year. Losses by Cal to Maryland, and Oregon to Fresno St, UCLA to BYU, and so on, have dampened the league. Not that this diminishes how great this year’s Trojan team is. Far from it. I think this is the fastest offensive and defensive team Coach Pete Carroll has had here, and wow, that’s really saying something. But, competition is good. And USC is better off when the competition is better. Pete had a quote I saw that really got me to thinking. He said “We don’t hate our competition, we need them. They give us a chance to challenge ourselves and prove to ourselves what we’re made of.” And that’s true of life in general.
My deciding to go to USC wasn’t born out of some major crisis. I had been attending community college near my home, and because of the suggestion of a counselor, was only taking 3 courses per semester, a lighter load than I actually could handle. But, everyone, including myself, was coddling me. Trying to make everything as easy and smooth as possible. And I appreciate that, and I respect people’s consideration and understanding of my handicap.
But everyday in life, we need to compete. We need adversity to introduce us to who we really are. We need the tough times, and the obstacles to show us how badly we truly want something. They also help us truly appreciate the good times. Think back to when Pete wasn’t guiding this program. Ok, stop crying. It was painful for me too. But look how great we have it now. And that wouldn’t have been possible had we not had the adversity of the culture of underachievement that existed here before Pete Carroll came along and changed everything.
But, back to me, it IS my blog after all. Making the decision to go to USC was a scary one. Would I get enough assistance from the University and fellow students so I could really do this? Would working harder be plausible? Hey, who is that girl and can I transfer into her class? Really deep, introspective questions.
Before going to USC, I assumed I could never live on a college campus. I never had anybody except my parents assist me with the mundane routines of everyday life. But, I knew when I was in community college, just taking it easy, and grower lazier and lazier, that I needed to be challenged more. I needed to get out of my comfort zone and be thrown into the fire. I needed to compete. So I could show myself what I was truly made of.
And that’s what I hope for the football team this year. People say USC gets everybody’s best shot, and I think that’s true a lot of the time, but sometimes, people don’t come to compete. They are intimidated by the cardinal, or Coach Carroll or Ken Norton Jr. (seriously, he’s the one guy I haven’t met with the Trojans yet, I feel like he’d use my chair for a blocking sled, man that guy’s intense!) or Rey Rey’s hair, or Mark’s smile and they are beaten before we even kick off.
My point is, we all need to compete. The tough times in life, or the challenges we face are just measuring sticks to gauge how we’re doing. You should relish the opportunity to grade yourself out during these moments and just compete.
Oh, and since it’s a monopoly, you can have the little cheapies past Go. Hey, just because it’s a competition doesn’t mean we’re going to make it easy on you.

Wow! What a game! Did you see that USC quarterback in his team’s biggest game of the year? I’m talking, of course, about Matt Cassel.
Ok ok, while it was a pretty remarkable achievement that a guy who started as many games in his USC career as I did, helped the Patriots beat the Jets 19-10 Sunday in his first start since the Clinton administration, it’s clearly not the big news I truly want to talk about.
Is there anyway a team ranked number 1 can actually move up in the polls? Can they share the lead with the NFC West leading Arizona Cardinals somehow? Because Saturday’s performance was one of the most dominant that I’ve seen out of our beloved Trojans. All of the hype that went into this game was actually met on the field by the Men of Troy in a game that truly showed off how well prepared Pete Carroll had his men for this game.
As Ray Maualuga was picking off a 2nd quarter pass and actually out running a WIDE RECEIVER for a back breaking touchdown, I started to think about the word focus, and how important it is to have in sports and in life in general.
Ohio State was guilty of lack of focus all last week. The injury to Beanie Wells was all they talked about, although Saturday’s performance leads one to believe it wouldn’t have been much different. I get it, he was physically unable to play, so was I, but in this election year, Jim Tressel might want to enter the political arena after all the flip flopping that took place. Beanie’s in, Beanie’s out, Favre is retired, wait no he’s not. It was just a curious course of action for a team to take going into their biggest game of the year. I felt it showed how mentally strong USC was, for not getting caught up in all that stuff, and just focusing on the task at hand, canceling any travel plans for Buckeye fans for January 8th, 2009.
So, why is focus so important in life? When having a goal, it is important to know what you need to do to get there. It would have been so easy for USC to get wrapped into Beanie Watch 2008, and have significantly different gameplans/packages with him and without him, and I’m sure they were ready for either. But, sometimes in life, you have to just focus solely on what YOU can do in a situation, what YOUR level of responsibility is, and then let the chips fall where they may. Too often in life we blame our shortcomings, or our stressors on things completely out of our control. Traffic, deadlines, other people. Anything we can think of to give us that emotional cushion should things not go well. Trust me, I know. Years ago when I was living at home and going to community college, it was my dream to go to USC, be a Trojan. But I was blaming everything on my handicap, and it was my limited thinking that was blocking my focus of my goal. I finally decided, hey, this is my dream, and my focus is going to be on how can I make this a reality for myself, live on campus, be on my own, and graduate from my dream school. When I stopped concentrating on the things I couldn’t control, and just focused on what I DID have control of, endless possibilities for my life started opening up. And I think that’s true for anybody, when you have the right focus.
And apparently Matt Cassel had that too. Good for you Matt.

My name is Sourena Vasseghi, and when Coach Carroll offered me the opportunity to start a blog on USCRipsIt.com I was really excited to share my thoughts and feelings and musings about the Football program and life in general. Just so you know a little bit about me, I was born in Iran back in 1977 with severe Cerebral Palsy. My parents moved to Los Angeles when I was 2, seeking treatment for my condition. When they realized the extent of my disability, they settled in Agoura Hills, and that’s where I grew up. Now, if you know nothing about Cerebral Palsy, it’s a nervous system disorder that occurs when the brain is denied oxygen for a certain period of time, causing damage, the extent of which is different in each case. In mine, it’s purely physical, it has no effect on my mind or my ability to think clearly. It’s like having a USC brain in a UCLA body.

And I’ve ALWAYS been a Trojan! As long as I can remember, I’ve always rooted for USC, and while not easy, I attended USC and graduated in 2001 with a degree in Marketing and a minor in Ballroom Dancing-you’d be surprised how easy it is to get one of those! All kidding aside, my education at USC led me to becoming an award winning author and speaker, and I truly live each day by the motto “Fight On!” As I submit more entries, I’ll tell you more about this Trojan’s life, etc. but let’s get to the good stuff:
How about those #1 ranked Trojans huh? Now, I know the standard comments from Pete about this range from “I don’t even know how those things work” to “Well, we just take care of what we can and let the rest take care of itself” and you know what, that’s a healthy approach. Because he’s got bigger fish to fry. But we, crazy Trojan Fans, can bask in the glory of leapfrogging two really good programs in Ohio State and Georgia. But seriously, was there any doubt? The spectacular 49 yard bomb Mark Sanchez threw to Ronald Johnson made it look like I was out there in the secondary! Come to think of it, I think I could have gotten to that ball, but that’s neither here nor there.

What the victory over Virginia got me to thinking about was appreciation. I know there’s the Ohio State game on deck, which is so exciting, I’ll be there by the way, look for me, I’ll be the guy in the chair. But, while we prepare for this game, let’s appreciate what this regime has been able to give us for YEARS: top flight, exciting offensive football, with an aggressive, punishing defense, all the while seamlessly switching out Palmer to Leinert to Booty and now to Sanchez, while not missing a beat. It’s truly remarkable, and a tribute to Coach Carroll, who I think is as fine a man and he is a coach, to consistently dominate on and off the field year in and year out. We all should take the time to appreciate this program, as we gear up to hand it to Ohio State on Saturday (I can STILL be a crazed fan AND rational, right?). If there’s one thing that I’ve learned in my life and the challenges it has brought me, you have to appreciate what you’ve been through, and see the beautiful aspects of life, while continuing to strive for great things in the future. I know everybody wants another National Championship around here, and I really think that could happen. But, while hoping for good things for this individual season, let’s truly celebrate and acknowledge the fact that we ARE lucky, and we ARE spoiled even having a program that gives us these lofty expectations. You know what? Now that I think about it…nah, nevermind, just kill Ohio State!

Fight On!
-Sourena

October 2008