Well it looks like Cheatey Petey is finally getting the taste of what it is like to operate in a media landscape which is not dominated by Trojan PR flacks. Petey is having a rough time outside Los Angeles beyond the sphere of Heritage Hall's influence.It is not working out too well for him when "reporters" are not cutting and pasting the BS coming out of his mouth or narcissistic website pimping his "Humanitarian" contributions to the society. According to Mike Florio of NBC's Pro Football Talk so far Petey's "book" tour has been a total bust:
Pete Carroll is angling for maximum publicity this week. He's on a book tour, hawking Win Forever . . . And Then Just Ignore It When They Take Those Wins Away After Evidence Of Cheating Emerges (a/k/a Cheat Forever). And he's getting plenty of publicity, but surely not the kind he wanted.
Selling a book requires the author to submit to interviews, and since Carroll isn't carrying around a ventriloquist dummy that bears a curious resemblance to Jim Gray, Carroll doesn't get to pick the questions. So the interviews inevitably will include more than a queries regarding the strong sanctions levied against his former employer, USC, and Carroll's role in the situation.
It started Monday, when the only thing anyone cared about regarding Carroll's interview with the Associated Press was his acknowledgment that he "feel[s] responsible" for the situation in which the Trojans now find themselves. Tonight, the HBO-subscribing world will be able to watch for themselves as Andrea Kremer of Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel interviews Carroll, whose book gets only a passing mention amid a barrage of evidence and arguments indicating that Carroll can't run or hide from the fact that he knew or should have known about Reggie Bush getting paid -- and that Carroll can't credibly pretend he didn't barge his way out of the party in front of the women, the children, and Eric the Clown when it appeared that the NCAA was preparing to burn the place down.
Ooof. As mentioned, Petey appeared on HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel tonight with Andrea Kremer, which apparently was kind of a disaster. More on that freakshow after the jump.
During his appearance Petey threw Reggie Bush under the bus and then offered up weak excuses, which Florio charitably described as "frickin' lame":
Carroll acknowledges that, when it comes to Bush receiving money and other things of value, Bush is likely guilty.
Though Carroll said he isn't mad at Reggie, Carroll had this to say when asked whether he thinks Bush took money: "I don't know. Something happened. Something happened in there. There's too much stuff. . . . There's a house and there's a lot of things going on."
Still, Carroll insists that he didn't know about Bush receiving cash or other things of value from would-be agents, at one point suggesting that the compliance department (which per Carroll had one employee at the time) was overmatched. For example, when Bush showed up with a new "tricked out" Chevy and was required to fill out paperwork, he failed to complete the portion of the form regarding how it was purchased -- and no one followed up on the omission.
As to the fact that Bush's parents moved into a new house after being evicted from their last one, Carroll offered up an analogy that, to be somewhat kind, we'll merely call "frickin' lame."
"When you were growing up, Andrea, did you have any idea of your parents' mortgage situation?" Carroll asked. "Think about it. None of us do. I couldn't tell you now how my mom and dad paid for our house." (Maybe they were cooking meth.)
I really hope someone can share the low lights. It sounds almost as good as the classic commercials on SNL.
GO BRUINS.