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As I sat on the living room couch waiting for the taxi to arrive and the clock reading 3:30 a.m., I prayed that someone would get me out of the mess that my roommate had so conveniently created and left for me to clean up.
No, this wasn't a bad dream. This wasn't a nightmare.
In fact, I had almost wished it had been.
Trapped in my own home in a living room full of strangers, tired thoughts swirled in my even more tired mind. A long day at work, and all I wanted to do was go to bed.
I looked straight up at the ceiling, took a deep breath and exhaled.
"Sometimes people just don't get it," I thought to myself as the two girls conversed loudly in the background. "They don't know when they've overstayed their welcome."
These "randoms" that my roommate brought home with him in a drunken stupor certainly didn't have the capacity to understand that. While their intentions meant well, I was ready to call it a night.
Except my roommate had already passed out, leaving me abandoned with two strangers to entertain and me doing my best to improvise and somehow get to them to leave so I could hit the hay.
That goal, unfortunately, was easier to plan than to execute.
So, needless to say, I had a rough night. I'm going on about four hours of constantly-interrupted, fully-clothed sleep and another day of work ahead in a few hours.
But at least I'm not the only one who's been losing sleep recently.
Over at USC, Pete Carroll's having a tough enough time as it is just trying to get through practice without another player going down.
Sure, he's been one of the faces of college football for the past six years, but Carroll is still searching for that next national championship after blowing his last chance literally in the Trojans' backyard in 2005 (well, Vince Young did have something to do about it on that January night in Pasadena).
The Trojans, nevertheless, have remained the Pac-10's most dominant team, securing back-to-back 11-win seasons and Rose Bowl victories the past two years.
But Carroll knows his program is just one game here or there from another national championship.
The only problem standing in their way: Injuries.
Carroll saw last year's run at a national title fall short due to injuries to quarterback John David Booty and injuries on defense.
Then on Friday, Carroll probably thought he was back in a similar spot again when he saw junior quarterback Mark Sanchez crumple to the ground after throwing a warm-up pass to teammate Clay Matthews.
The dislocated kneecap was a freak occurrence to Sanchez and the Trojans, who didn't know what to think with their starting QB being carted off the field for an MRI exam.
Sanchez found out good news soon after - there was no ligament, cartilage or bone damage in his knee. Sanchez will begin his rehabilitation tomorrow with Carroll saying he'll be on a "day-to-day" status.
"We lucked out," Caroll told the Los Angeles Times.
"My thought is we have a guy like Mitch [Mustain] and a guy like Aaron [Corp] that can
jump in and take their shots at this thing until Mark's back in here
and battling with them. This is an opportunity and how
we deal with it and how we handle it is important. Not the fact that
something happened."
The Trojans, however, rather not have to go to Mustain or Corp in the early going.
Mustain, who would probably get the nod over Corp, was undefeated in eight starts under center during his freshman year at Arkansas, but with big games at Virginia and at home against Ohio State the first two weeks of the season, Carroll and the Trojans will need Sanchez to start under center if a national title run is going to be in the works.
Right now, that's still up in the air.
Asked if he would be ready for the season opener against UVA on Aug. 30, Sanchez replied, "Hope so. Got to hope so."
Hope, though, can't solve all your problems.
After all, it hasn't worked for me lately.
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Injuries could squash Trojans' title hopes again
Sunday, August 10, 2008, 02:56 PM EST
[USC Trojans]
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