President Bush greeted college football’s national champions on Tuesday at the White House. Alas, thanks to the superhuman efforts of a man named Vince Young six weeks ago today, the footballers from the University of Southern California were, for the first time since 2003, not present at the annual South Lawn ceremony. Instead, it was a day for Texas pride:
The Longhorns’ visit even played into a joke by Scott McClellan about the Cheney hunting accident:
Mr. McClellan joked that the Texas Longhorns, the N.C.A.A. football champions who were at the White House to meet with the president, would be in their team color, orange, and “the orange that they’re wearing is not because they’re concerned that the vice president will be there.”
Heh.
Normally, the president meets with the champions of college football, women’s volleyball, and men’s and women’s soccer on the same day. As a result, USC had actually been represented at these ceremonies for three consecutive years: in 2003 and 2004, the USC women’s volleyball team was there, and of course, in 2004 and 2005, the football team was there. (In 2004, both the USC and LSU football teams were there. Because, you know, they were both national champs, contrary to some people’s claims. Previous discussion of that issue here.)
However, I can’t find any evidence that Bush met with the University of Washington women’s volleyball team, the University of Maryland men’s soccer team or the University of Portland women’s soccer team on Tuesday. Dunno what’s up with that. (He certainly didn’t meet with USC’s current reigning national championship team — men’s water polo — but that isn’t standard practice anyway.) Apparently, the only teams Bush greeted Tuesday were his home state’s Longhorns and, in a separate ceremony, the Major League Baseball champion Chicago White Sox. Go figure.
Anyway… this is the perfect opportunity to post a funny picture that about a half-dozen people have sent me over the past month or so, which I’ve been meaning to post but keep forgetting about. As you can see, it shows a USC Song Girl appearing to cheer for a Texas touchdown:
As Larry the Cable Guy would say, “I don’t care who you are, that’s funny right there.” :)
There are several variations, but the caption on the photo goes something like this:
Cheerleading, tumbling lessons and camps since age 3: $30,000
Annual cost of attending USC: $35,000
Total cost for staying just the right shade of blonde: $10,000
Cheering when the other team scores: Priceless
Heh.
BEAT THE RAZORBACKS!!!
CORRECTION: As a commenter points out, USC’s 2004-05 champs — the undisputed ones — actually didn’t go to the White House. Scheduling issues got in the way, according to BoiFromTroy. I had forgotten that. Oops!
Anyway, here are the White House transcripts from 2003 and 2004. The latter includes the following quote from President Bush: “Both schools, LSU and USC, are, in fact, national champs. And we’re proud to call you national champs.” Hey… the man has to occasionally get something right. :)
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Categories: Uncategorized
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February 15th, 2006 at 1:13:54 am
Christ. It still hurts. It may never not. The two fourth-and-ones, the stupid pitch, the stupid interception, the refusal to blitz on fourth and five and make that man PASS to win. Five plays. If any one of five plays had gone differently. Or seven, if I saw a tape. Give all credit to the gallant Longhorns. Doesn’t make me feel any better.
February 15th, 2006 at 1:39:14 am
Actually, the 2004 USC team never got to go to the White House.
February 15th, 2006 at 3:57:10 am
The song girl picture is indeed hilarious, but did you ever think that she might actually be cheering thinking we got the stop? She might actually be the quickest of the bunch.
February 15th, 2006 at 4:31:17 am
The funnier image is the other two blondes giving her the evil eye.
February 15th, 2006 at 9:40:50 am
If you look at the position of their pom-poms relative to one another, it seems fairly obvious they are in the midst of some sort of choreographed movement.
Still funny though.
February 15th, 2006 at 10:50:36 am
They’re not in the middle of choreography at all. All the rest have their poms down, and the girl right next to the cheering one has her poms behind her back, the position they keep them in when they’re not cheering.
Also, one of the costs was left out of the caption:
Breast implants for boobs that are big enough to be a USC Song Girl: $5000
February 15th, 2006 at 11:39:09 am
Did he invite the Replay Booth official too?
February 15th, 2006 at 11:57:27 am
That Song Girl picture is so obviously a photoshop fake…since when do we have 7′ behemoths on our sidelines? And why are her shoes so conspiculously visible?
February 15th, 2006 at 12:23:08 pm
Oh c’mon, Boi, let’s not be like the whiny minority of Notre Dame fans who are still complaining about the “Bush Push.” Were there controversial calls? Yes. Did most of them hurt USC? Yes. Did Texas win fair and square? Yes. Is Texas the legitimate national champion? Yes.
February 15th, 2006 at 1:12:48 pm
Of course he only invited the longhorns, as soon as a Texas team won in football no other college sport mattered to him.
February 15th, 2006 at 1:44:30 pm
Did anyone ever consider the possibility that that is a photoshop hatchet job? Just saying?
February 15th, 2006 at 1:47:10 pm
Definitely a possibility that it’s fake. But I think if the cheering song girl is fake, then the one next to her is too. They both seem a little bigger (or they could just be taller) and their highlight levels seem a bit different.
February 15th, 2006 at 3:42:04 pm
Jeez David.
February 15th, 2006 at 3:49:29 pm
Snopes has a little bit on it:
http://www.snopes.com/photos/sports/rosebowl.asp
February 15th, 2006 at 4:28:05 pm
Boy David, you can even get a Bush jab in on college sports. How versatile you are.
February 15th, 2006 at 4:51:42 pm
Actually moron, er Phead, it was a Texas jab.
February 15th, 2006 at 4:58:01 pm
Jeez, I pay you a compliment and you call me a moron? The nerve, David…the nerve.
February 15th, 2006 at 6:21:24 pm
Gee….I think we should demand an answer as to why we were not told about this sooner in a National press conference??? Don’t ya think!
February 15th, 2006 at 10:33:09 pm
I’ve seen quite a few Song Girls up close, and they are very rarely well-endowed.
As for this picture, whether it is fake or not, it doesn’t make much sense. According to the photo, the Song Girls are near the goal post, behind the endzone. The Texas players signaling [Touchdown!] are looking away from the near endzone. Thus, they are either signaling to the ref, or looking at the play down the other end of the field. Since Texas never had a 90+ yard scoring play, I think it’s the former. The pile in the middle suggests that’s where the ball carrier went. My best guess: This was not the game-winning TD play, but some other play. From looking at the box score, the only other logical play it could be is the VY sneak for the 2-point conversion near the end of the game. The Song Girl probably cheered thinking we had the stop.
February 16th, 2006 at 12:02:24 am
Correction:
USC has no cheerleaders.
May 14th, 2006 at 10:44:51 pm
texas will alwayz be the best team