Open Forum

Thanks a lot for posting that article about the Song Girls by Celeste Fremon; it was excellent and certainly educated me a lot about what goes on (or, at least, used to go on) with the squad and their selection process. So after reading that, I noticed that Dolly Zachary Rouse is no longer part of the group in charge of the Song Girls, while Lori Nelson remains to this day. So was Ms Rouse fired after that article came out due to her incriminating comments and attitude? What happened to her and how come Ms Nelson is still at USC, even managing to go from an unpaid volunteer to an actual paid employee?

Do you know where the Oregon cheerleaders will be performing their preshow rally before the game at the Coliseum?

Have you thought about joining forces with Celeste Fremon to create the ultimate Trojan crime fighting and truth-seeking duo ever? The two of you can go around uncovering injustice and unseemly activities, blowing the cover off all kinds of improprieties while the promoting the Trojan way.

After reading that piece you posted by Celeste Fremon, do you know if she has been invited back since then to the homecomings that featured Song Girl reunions? If she has, do you know if she has chosen to participate or has chosen to distance herself from the Song Girls? Is she persona non grata?

What became of Dennis Fleming, the faculty advisor (and obvious pimp) to the Song Girls in that article you posted?

Now that a statue of Art Bartner is going to be put on campus, how about we start a campaign supporting a statue of Tricia Pillsbury in front of Alumni House for generations of Trojans to appreciate?

What happened to "The Look" that the Song Girls used to have and was referred to by the selection committee in that Celeste Fremon article? Why was "The Look" done away with? Could the departure of Dolly Zachary Rouse as the coach of the Song Girls have anything to do with it?

Did you pick up on the reference to Beano Cook in that Celeste Fremon article about the Song Girls? Even back in 1991, he was talking about them, so at least he's not a Johnny-come-lately.

How much has the fact that the Trojan Marching Band been extremely watered down and tamed over the past decade directly reflected on the kinds of Song Girls we now have? In the article by Ms Fremon, the Song Girls in the 1990s used to live in mortal fear of being called cruel names by band members, such as "heifer," if they were overweight, so the girls went the extra mile to make sure they were thin and toned. But this decade, the band members apparently couldn't care less or have been under such a tight rein, so has that had any correlation to why the Song Girls in the 2000s were of the larger physical variety?

Considering what Celeste Fremon wrote in her article, wouldn't that make her Public Enemy #1 to the advisors for the Song Girls, not you?

As a follow-up question, how serious are the threats being given to you by the athletic dept. in terms of trying to shut down the public anger and outcry with the Song Girls? Are people in the university now suspicious of your presence on campus? Have they tried to reject any of your request for interviews? Is it not absolutely crazy how paranoid the athletic dept. has become in order to protect the embarassing and atrocious state of the Song Girls? Are they not aware that the more they cover-up the selection process and the squad's inside practice, the more suspicious and angrier the public gets?

For pete's sake it's the Song Girls. What are they so afraid of? We just want beautiful (well, at this point, at least 'un-ugly' or 'un-fat' would suffice) Song Girls. And if this means making the process and the program more transparent and fair, then so be it. Why are they so oppose to this? Is it really that difficult to do? Something seriously improper is going on there, and hell if we're gonna have to take another decade of pedestrian-type girls representing the university.

Thanks for not kneeling to the pressure by the Athletic Dept., Scott. Like it's your fault the Song Girls have looked the way they've looked this decade.

More important proponent of "The Look" of the USC Song Girls - Tricia Pillsbury or Dolly Zachary Rouse?

There are many people who think that the game against Ohio State is the biggest and most important home football game of the season, but isn't the biggest game really against Oregon since they will be bringing their phenomenal cheerleaders with them?

Any chance we can get Dolly Rouse and her no-nonsense ways back to head the Song Girls and bring the squad back to its former glory? Along with having Tricia Pillsbury on board, we'll have our own Oregon-style Dream Team heading up the USC Song Girls and will be unstoppable.

Could you do a featured article on the great Oregon cheerleaders, including their coach and the selection process, when they come down to LA for this year's football game?

When will this blog turn its full-time attention to the only thing that matters, namely the campaign to bring Tricia Pillsbury back to the USC fold? Once she is back, won't all order in the universe be restored?

Along with the great pictures you post of the Oregon cheerleaders, could you also post videos of the best cheerleaders in the country?

Any chance you can get Celeste Fremon to be a guest blogger on your blog, getting her to share her insight on the Song Girls, how they declined so dramatically in the 2000s, as well as anything else she feels would be relevant for your readers to know?

After reading about Lori Nelson's activities and views regarding the USC Song Girls in that 1991 article by Celeste Fremon, I have to ask, quite honestly, how on God's green earth does that woman still have a job at USC and has been allowed to continue being in charge of the Song Girls? Considering how she incriminated herself on the record, does it make any sense that she is still employed at USC? Does it make any sense after the entire lid was blown off on her activities, she went from an "unpaid volunteer" to an actual salaried employee of USC? I have no answers, do you?

In my travels around the country for football games I have noticed that the crowd's cheers are more organized and thus more loud than the coliseum's crowds. SC's cheerleaders have never cut it. Who would one talk to at SC to try to input some ideas on how to rectify this problem?

Scott:

For those of us who could careless about the endless bantering over the SG's, but who still find your other insights informative, can you answer questions about the SG's in a separate sections?

Thanks.

Is Patrick Turner really a Big Boss Dogg, with 2 Gs?

Scott, as there really isn't much else to talk about until camp starts on Aug 6, and really no issue more disheartening to the proud Trojan family than SG-gate, I will stay on topic. Which reason below, in your opinion, is the major cause of decline in the "face of the university" SGs' program:

A) the excellent Celeste Fremon expose' created some discomfort with the administration leading to a de-emphasis on "The Look", or hereafter "The Pillsbury", as a selection criteria
B) the university's ever-rising academic profile has resulted in a more homely student demographic
C) a stale program with no innovation is no longer competive for blue chip cheer talent with other Pac-10 leaders...no partial scholarships, booster support, class credit, tutor benefits, complimentary game tickets, etc.
D) incompetent administration under the Student Affair's beaurocracy - no IM-Director supervisory oversight, Co-Coach Dolly Rouse leaves with no replacement, lost in the Student Affairs' beaurocratic machine
E) cronyism, nepotism and corruption

What was the university's official reason for eliminating the Yell Leaders?

Scott,

Back before last year's rose bowl you were speculating on the "end of the trojan dynasty" if they lost or didn't put on a good show, since they had blown the stanford game which was so embarassing, then lost to Oregon. However, you then seemed to post that the dynasty was still alive after the big rose bowl win...

so my question is, if USC blows another chump game this year a la Oregon st. in 2006 and stanford in 2007, would you say the dynasty is over and the luster is gone?

Do you think if Vanessa Curry, the former Laker Girl who is 19 joins the Song Girls that will be back to being the best? Curry is the MVP of cheerleaders even over the Ducks.

I support the previous endorsement of Curry to fix the Song Girls. What happened to Josh Tatum the star recruit why did he transfer and is it true did he want to comeback here after leaving?

Scott,
I hate all this talk about the Song girls, but look at this picture, SC can do better than this...
Here's the link if you want to copy/post the pic:
http://andrewmager.com/images/song-bird-girls.jpg.
You do a great job and I appreciate all the information you share, as well as all the controversial staff you post that makes things more interesting! :)

Scott,

What is the latest with Manti Te'o? Are we the leading school to sign him, and will he commit early or wait until the signing deadline to announce?

Also, I've heard the rumor that Tricia Pillsbry poops rose petals, true?

Scott:

What was your favorite part about that piece on the Song Girls by Celeste Fremon? Mine were the comments by Dolly Rouse about how her sister was now fat with low self-esteem because she had been cut many years earlier from the Song Girls! I couldn't stop laughing when I read that. Do people who think like that really walk among us?

JAMES BOYD is listed as having a 40 yard dash time of 4.8-----do you know if that is accurate? It seems awfully slow for a DE of his size. Thanx.

Do you know if USC will build a new soccer field. It was rather embarassing that our girls had to travel to play on the road when they were the higher seat.. Isn't it ridicoulous that USC doesn't have a field that can host an NCAA tourney game??

Celeste Fremon's article highlighted how the Song Girls of past (pre-2000) conducted a very exclusive selection process. One sister was accepted while another was not as one of them was not up to standard. Girls who had previously been on the squad were not automatically selected the next year as newer girls were deemed more worthy. It seemed like there was an actual process and effort to get the BEST girls each year, no matter who she knew or what her previous connections were to the squad.

Has this fairness and due process been completely eradicated by the current regime that has taken the reins of the Song Girls and made it into a personal clique? Has corruption within the selection committee been so rampant that all legacy left behind by the beautiful Song Girls of yesteryear can be seen as insulting and disrespectful to the likes of Ms. Pillsbury?

Any idea how many tickets USC was allocated by UVA? Any chance any of those tickets being offered for sale to the poor folks?

What do you think of this 2009 mock draft on foxsports placing DeRozan at number 4 and Taj Gibson at 41? I think DeRozan will easily be top 2 and Taj will be in the lottery.

http://msn.foxsports.com/cbk/story/8299626/Mullens,-Griffin-top-2009-mock-draft