Signs, Signs, Everywhere There’s Signs

I watched ESPN’s College GameDay yesterday morning. And before you ask, yes, I recorded it from their regular 3 a.m. Hawaii Time broadcast. People on the East and West coasts of America probably complain about their early-morning broadcast. They have nothing to complain about.

One of the things I like about College GameDay is that they go to different campuses each week – probably the campus of the home team in a big Saturday collegiate game. Yesterday, they were at the University of Southern California; the Trojans were hosting the Stanford Cardinal (aka, the “Trees”), who were ranked fifth in the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) poll.

By now, you know the score of the game and who won (USC in a 20-17 upset of Stanford, yay), so I’d like to talk instead about the student signs. Fervent college fans show up in the hundreds, sometimes thousands, to watch the panel program unfold and listen to the pundits talk about who they think is going to win the games that day.

And a lot of them make signs that they wave in the air behind the panel. Throughout the three-hour program, the cameras turn to the crowds and show us the wit and creativity … and harshness … of the sign-makers.

Yesterday, a few of the signs set their targets on Lane Kiffin, who was fired as head football coach of the Trojans after the team’s dismal performance against the Arizona State Sun Devils on Sept. 28. Here's one that the panel focused on:

 

At least this sign wasn’t harsh and denigrating; all it did was bring Lane Kiffin to front of mind and make us appreciate what Ed Orgeron has done to revitalize the team as its temporary head coach for the rest of the season. He’s why USC was only a 3.5-point underdog boing against the #5 team in the nation.

But my favorite sign had to do with Manti Te’o. Remember him? He was on the Notre Dame team that beat USC in the Los Angeles Coliseum in 2010, the first time since 2001.

I don’t have a picture of the sign because it had just a fleeting appearance and I couldn’t find it afterwards. It evoked memories of what had to be Te’o’s most embarrassing and stupid experience of his football career and personal life – Lenny Kekua, his imaginary girlfriend.

The sign: Even Lenny Kekkua Got Into Stanford.

Oooo-wee! That’s harsh on at least three levels: (1) It dragged a Te’o embarrassment back into the picture, (2) it took a huge swipe at the Stanford stereotype that women go there are smart but ugly, and (3) it showed that the USC student who made the sign doesn’t know how to spell.

Still … I laughed and laughed and laughed. I’m so ashamed of myself.