Ran into this nugget working the streets in San Antonio. (Wait a minute, that sounds disgusting. Let's just say I got some juicy gossip.)
USC and UCLA are very close to announcing a novel idea to heat up their rivalry. Both teams will wear their home colors this season at UCLA's home game Dec. 6 in the Rose Bowl.
That means USC will wear maroon. The plan is for the Trojans to be penalized a timeout when they take the field in their homies. UCLA, then, at its first opportunity will call a timeout to even things up. Pete Carroll apparently has signed off on the p.r. strategy. What a way to ramp up the Trojans-Bruins rivalry.
Something tells me this was the brainchild of Slick Rick.
• Flew into Austin on Friday and visited with Mack Brown before heading down to San Antonio. Among other things, I wondered what had happened to Mack's stepson, Chris Jessie. Remember him? He was the kid who came off the sidelines and (officials ruled) touched the ball while it was in play. The goof negated an Arizona State turnover.
"He's working in (real estate) development in Chapel Hill," Brown said. "That's what he wanted to do. Bless his heart, I said, 'Hey, you didn't murder anybody. You didn't beat anybody up. You were excited about a game. I can handle that. On a night where there was nobody else playing, your timing was either really good or really bad.' "
Jessie became the story of the game in an otherwise forgettable Holiday, but don't forget Texas staffer Cleve Bryant and quarterback Colt McCoy probably came on the field farther than Jesse.
"If I to to fire anybody, I've got to (fire) Colt first, Cleve second and then Chris," Brown said.