Why not breed Trojan quarterbacks?

A top quarterback can be the difference between a good college team and a championship one. Lane Kiffen, USC’s new football coach, has a good one in Matt Barkley, freshman leader of last year’s team who could grow into a superstar if he stays in school and resists the temptation to leave school early for the megabucks of the NFL.

But Kiffen isn’t standing pat. Barkley may quarterback the Trojans through the 2012 season, but after that? Don’t worry, Trojan fans. Kiffen has a plan for 2015, in the person of 13-year old David Sills of Bear, Delaware. “David’s always wanted to go to USC,” says his proud dad.

But why stop at 13-year olds? With the advances in genetics it should soon be possible to breed quarterbacks. Of course they won’t be ready to lead the Trojans into battle for, umm, 18 years and nine months. Maybe the USC medical school could research cloning. Kiffen could have his choice of a copy of Peyton Manning or Drew Brees, depending on who does best in Sunday’s Super Bowl.

Oh, but cloning humans is unethical. Better to recruit more 13-year olds. Then a nine-year old to replace Sills in 2019.

Pete Carroll rubs it in to UCLA

You’re leading your cross-town rival, 21-7, and you have the ball with 54 seconds to go. The game is won, so what do you do? You call for your quarterback to take the ball from center and knell—“taking a knee” in football talk.

Your opponent calls time out, honoring the age-old sports imperative to not quit until the final gun. Now there are 52 seconds left. Your opponent still has two time outs remaining. He’ll surely use them.

So if you’re a coach teaching and practicing sportsmanship you call for the quarterback to take a knee again. But if you’re Pete Carroll, coaching the disappointing 7-3 USC Trojans against the UCLA Bruins, you call for the quarterback to fake a running play, then throw a 48-yard touchdown pass. Then you exchange high-fives with players and coaches on the sideline.

My question, Coach, is “What were you celebrating?” You’re better than that, Pete.

Pete Carroll teaches unsportsmanlike conduct

Sports…sportsmanship. Hmmm. Seems like they should go together. Legendary coach John Wooden taught both at UCLA, today coach Chip Kelly teaches both at Oregon.

I’m a big fan of USC Trojan coach Pete Carroll. He’s arguably the most successful college football coach of recent years, and at the same time he’s been quietly dedicated to helping gang-threatened youth in the rough neighborhood around the university.

But why, Pete, do you encourage your players to strut, to taunt, and to act like they’re more important than the team. USC touchdowns, sacks, and solid plays are often followed by 15-yard penalties. The penalties hurt the Trojans’ field position, but more importantly, the acts teach poor sportsmanship to the legions of kids and adults that follow USC football.

All you have to do is once bench Everson Griffen, Will Harris, or one of your other stars after an egotistical demonstration and the whole team will get the message. It’ll make the Trojans a better team and will make you a better teacher.

And speaking of ethical sportsmen, here's Joe Girardi

Jack Marshall's excellent ethics blog, http://ethicsalarms.com/, tells the story of Yankee manager Joe Girardi, driving home at 2am hours after winning the World's Series, stopping to help a motorist who had just crashed on New York's heavily traveled Cross County Parkway.

Jack makes Girardi his ethics hero of the month, but remains loyal to his beloved Red Sox. For me, I'll now start rooting for the Yankees (except when they play the Dodgers), and I'll tell people the ethics story that made me a Yankee fan. Similarly, I'll start rooting for coach Chip Kelly's Oregon Ducks (except when they play USC), and I'll keep on rooting for my all-time ethical sports hero, Andy Roddick.

Let's just say no to rooting for unethical players or teams, and tell our friends why we've starting rooting for the Yankees, Ducks, Roddick, and others who exemplify ethical behavior.

How Oregon Plays the Game

It’s rare in big-time college sports that sportsmanship is valued over winning. So rare that we can’t help admiring Oregon football coach Chip Kelly.

This was to be the year that the Oregon Ducks finally dethroned the mighty USC Trojans, who have won or shared the Pacific 10 championship for eight consecutive years. The Ducks were to do this largely on the legs of top running back LeGarrette Blount, who set a school record last year by scoring 17 touchdowns.

But at the end of Oregon’s 19-8 loss to Boise State last Thursday, a frustrated Blount sucker punched Boise player Byron Hout, who had been taunting Blount over his poor game.

Coach Kelly wasted no time suspending Blount for the rest of the season, his last year of eligibility to play college ball. (Boise coach Chris Peterson won’t suspend Hout for his poor sportsmanship.) Oregon’s president, Richard Lariviere, supported Kelly, saying “We do not and will not tolerate the actions that were taken by our player. Oregon’s loyal fans expect and deserve better.”

Suspending Oregon’s star player may cost the Ducks a shot at the Pac 10 championship and a profitable Rose Bowl appearance, but they’ve already won the Pac 10 sportsmanship championship. That counts for a lot more.