LSU coach Loss Miles was caught spouting off to a group of Tigers boosters recently, down-grading USC and more to the point, the Pac-10. Normally, this is the kind of thing that lands you in the crosshairs of THN, but not this time. Miles was merely playing the crowd because there is no way that he could have meant anything that he said.

“I can tell you that I would like nothing better than to play USC for the title,” Miles said.

Sure. USC has humiliated most of its bowl opponents during the Pete Carroll era. Only Texas, with a super-human effort by Vince Young, has been able to solve the Trojans in a bowl game. And really, if not for a couple of bone-headed first-half plays, the Trojans would have routed the Longhorns just like the rest. So obviously this statement from Miles is tongue-n-cheek.

But Miles was just heating up. Like Ric Flair pandering to a partisan crowd, he unfurled this beauty.

“I can tell you this, that they have a much easier road to travel,” Miles said of the Trojans. “They’re going to play real knockdown drag-outs with UCLA and Washington , Cal - Berkley , Stanford — some real juggernauts — and they’re going to end up, it would be my guess, in some position so if they win a game or two, that they’ll end up in the title (game). I would like that path for us.

“I think the SEC provides much stiffer competition.”

LSU, conversely will be playing some of the best teams in the country, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Kentucky and South Carolina. Two of the tougher teams the Tigers play—Arkansas and Auburn—have been manhandled by the Trojans in recent years. And those non-conference home games against Tulane, Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee and Virginia Tech will be tough, too.

No use getting worked up about this because Miles was obviously kidding. He can knock the Pac-10 schools, but they are virtually the only teams that can actually beat USC.

• Brian Grummell of AOL FanHouse notes that in the past 16 years, four teams have gone undefeated in SEC play. In that same time period, only two Pac-10 teams have survived conference play unbeaten. Which conference is easier?
  

• Sex in the City is gearing up for a full-length motion picture. Just as long as there is no full length nudity. Some needs to remind Kim Cattrall that she’s closer to 80 than 1980. *Shudder*

• Big Brother 8: Awesome. Already sucked in with the new “enemy” tactic where a couple of contestants were placed in the house with their enemy. And no, the two homos were not Ted and CAPPY.

• The Angels have been looking a bit sluggish lately, so a trip to New York seems like the right remedy. Nothing would be better than to send the Yanks to the All-Star game below .500.
  

• After the ouster of Maria Sharapova, fans were treated to another hot-off between Ana Ivanovic and Nicole Vaidisova. And hey, it was a great tennis match, too. Here’s to rooting for the victorious Ivanovic to defeat one of the Williams brothers in her next match. And who else believes that Ana is hotter than Sharapova anyway?

• Speaking of the injured Williams brother, enough with the theatrics. Even Curt Schilling believes you are milking it.

• Phoenix PD to Tank Johnson: Our Bad.

• Bumper sticker idea: Tank Johnson is my co-pilot.

• New Raiders running back Dominic Rhodes wanted to show his teammates that he was a true Raider by being suspended by the league. Seriously, Raiders, stay away from the Super Bowl MVPs, they never seem to work out for you.

• Please don’t leave one of those, “But Gomer Manning was the MVP of the Super Bowl” comments. (DAWUSS was totally going to jump on that.) But let’s be honest. Manning got a lifetime achievement award for being a good guy. Rhodes was the real MVP of that game. The Colts won in spite of Gomer.

• James in Murrieta offers: Dominic Rhodes gets suspended and a reserve defensive end gets arrested for selling a Land Rover that wasn't his. In NFL parlance, this can
  only mean one thing: The Raiders are about to be competitive.

• Easily the most disturbing thing about the whole Chris Benoit deal is the facelift on Marc Mero, which was revealed on the Nancy Grace show Thursday. Holy hell, that was tight.
  

• There have been reports that Benoit’s kid had dwarfism. But doesn’t Benoit look like the world’s tallest dwarf?

• Kobe Bryant apologized for acting like a petulant child recently, but how can you believe anything he says? At least he’s smart enough to keep his mouth shut now so he can be traded.

THE LINKS

• You can enter here to win a trip to the Playboy Mansion for a party hosted by Denise Richards. Pffft, single mother.

• The Sports Hernia has a hilarious tribute to video Jeremy Roenick.

• Anything with Brittney Spears is cool with us.

• Rumors and Rants takes a look at Chris Young. Hey, nice trade Texas. And congratulations to Young to getting that final spot after the Padres installed computers all over the stadium for fans to vote. Hey, you have to do something to take out those psychos from Boston Nation.

AND FINALLY

Going back to Cabrera, who was kind of baffled that he didn't get selected to the All-Star game. The best part in this story is that he called out Joe Torre.

"I remember one time Joe Torre picked five shortstops and only one second baseman because he wanted to bring Derek Jeter and a lot of shortstops were having better years," Cabrera said. "They go (around) the system just to do stuff like that. It's going to happen. Every year it's going to be five, six, seven guys that are going to get hurt like that and this year it was me."

Awesome, O.C. Nice to see the players finally calling shenanigans on the favoritism that some managers (Torre) play. And to go along with what O.C. said, A-Rod has already indicated the he likely won't play in the game to rest up from injuries and to prepare for his second half with the Angels. So instead of picking another 3b, maybe Jim Leyland can do the right thing and take Cabrera.

But watch, he'll take Kevin Youkilis or some other Red Sox player.

Labels: The Weak Ender