Fight on Trojans!!!!!!

This blog is typically dedicated to the activities of my research life here in McMurdo. However, I can't help but change course for a second and congratulate the University of Southern California Trojans. Incase anyone didn't read the fine print about me, I am a USC Trojan. Been one for a while now and it fills my heart with joy to see my football team go from PAC-10 cellar to co-National Champion (don't worry Ken, I'm not gonna disrespect LSU). And now with the regular season behind us, including an all too scary game against our cross-town rivals, UCLA (who played an excellent game), we are headed to the National Championship game again. And this time it appears everyone agrees there will be only 1 National Championship game, the Orange Bowl, USC vs. Oklahoma. Even better the Orange Bowl will be played on the 4th of January, which just so happens to be my birthday. I think a Trojan victory over the Sooners would be an excellent birthday gift.

It's been a strange football season, cheering on USC from all the way down south in Antarctica. I'm accustom to going to all the USC home games. Luckily, AFRTS (Armed Forces Radio and Television Service) has treated us pretty well. We got to watch 5 or 6 USC games down here. All others games were vigilantly monitored through the McMurdo internet and its modem-like bandwidth. Not the most fulfilling way to watch football, but it is a harsh continent afterall.

And so USC went wire to wire ranked #1 in both polls, an achievement that has not been completed by a football team in quite some time. Two of our players are Heisman finalists (QB Matt Leinart and RB/wide receiver/all around clutch game-breaker Reggie Bush) as well. To celebrate this joyous time, myself and a couple other die-hard Trojans decided to get out on the sea ice and have a cigar (the good ones you can't get in the states...)and bring the ole 'SC flag with us (Cardinal and Gold never looked so good!). It was a beautiful day on the sea ice and we even got to see some Weddell seals. We were at a location called Little Razorback. It's a tough and sharp outcropping out of the sea ice of volcanic rock . The island, along with a couple other islands in the vicinity (Big Razorback, Tent Island, and Inaccessible Island), actually makes up part of an enormous volcanic caldera that has since been submerged by the Ross Sea. These islands are simply parts of the caldera that stick up above the seawater level. Anyway, I digress. So here's a couple of shots marking the occassion.

GO TROJANS!!!!!!

Dad, you'll be happy to know that I have Hut-10 reserved for an Orange Bowl party.