HEARTS OF POM

Rosie Poms — Cheery SC Song Girls open their hearts and jump in the pool, to get fans to open their wallets and pool their resources for the totally-worthy “Swim with Mike” Charity

Truce On!

Yes, it’s that time of year again, when (for the 5th year in a row) I holster my anti-SC pea-shooter, and call a Rivalry cease -fire, in order to help the Swim with Mike Foundation.  At USC on Saturday, the Swim with Mike Charity raised over 1.3 Million Dollars for people who have suffered severe injuries, but still have the courage to go to college and succeed in life.  This is the 31st year that the organization has been helping deserving recipients, and even though the event is over, it is NOT too late to help out.  I encourage you to go to swimwithmike.org, and look into donating, or even volunteering.

At USC’s McDonald’s Swim Stadium on Saturday, the weather was perfect for a fun-filled day.  The band “The Coveralls,” who donated their time again, serenaded the crowd all day, with rock n’ roll cover tunes.  Yes, that’s why they’re called “The Coveralls” — because they cover all.  Saturday’s repetoire included The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Tom Petty, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Alanis Morissette, amongst other Rock staples.

The Coveralls are now a staple of the event, as is the Silent Auction.  Items available included Hotel stays at Morongo, Del Mar, the Bonaventure Downtown, and several other vacation destinations.  They also had tons of signed Trojan memorabilia, including stuff autographed by Charles White, Mark Sanchez, and Brian Cushing, as well as a lithograph of O.J. Simpson playing against UCLA.  They also had Angel Tickets, Dodger Tickets, El Pollo Loco Gift Packages, Newport Ribs Gift Certificates, and a ton of other interesting paraphanalia.

Another fundraising exercise at the event:  The current SC yell leaders were battling the alumni yell leaders in swimming laps.  I think the Marathon goal was 50,000 sponsored laps.  And this year, for the first time, the event also included a Run, Walk, or Roll activity. 

There was also some comedic entertainment — namely, a Belly Flop Contest.  Contestants included the obligatory big, fat, bald guy with a gigantic beer gut, students dressed in drag, a little girl with a giant afro wig, and of course, one of the Song Girls, still dressed in the classic sweater & skirt uniform (but barefoot, at least).  Judges held up photos of either Richard Nixon (1 point), Britney Spears (3 points), Monica Lewinsky (7 points), or Mao Tse Tung (10 points), depending on the quality of the dive.  (I could have those point-breakdowns wrong, as I was concentrating on not letting the splashes drench my camera).  The Song Girl finished in the Top 4, earning a bag of pork rinds (someone else won a slab of bacon), and the afro’d little girl won the Grand Prize, which was also some sort of edible pork product, I believe.

Speaking of edible, the event included a big BBQ, and the event also was attended by a Der Weinerschnitzel truck, with their proceeds being donated in their entirety to Swim with Mike.

After the Belly Flop contest, there was a very impressive high-diving exhibition put on by a USC Diving Club.  It was all little girls (and a few little boys), and they were all amazing.  And following the Diving Show, the main ceremony began.  The USC Marching Band played, the Trojan Dance Force did one routine, and the Song Girls did about three.  The Foundation brass made a few speeches, a couple of recipients voiced their gratitude, and then Pat Haden said a few gracious words as well.  The Swim with Mike shirts were blue, and Haden was wearing one, with khaki/gold pants, so the USC Athletic Director was basically dressed in UCLA colors, proving that this charity transcends Rivalry lines.  Only the a capella group that sang TUSK broke the truce, by classlessly singing “UCLA Sucks” in their song.  I guess they are not aware of how much money is being raised for the cause BY Bruins on this day.

After the main ceremony, the Song Girls changed into bikinis, and hopped into the pool, for the Football/Cheerleader Innertube Relay Race.  They had to wait about 20 minutes, until Lane Kiffin and the players finally showed up, but you should thank Kiffin for being late — It only meant more photo opportunities.

When they got there, the players got in the pool, and Kiffin made his speech about the worthiness of the charity.  At the end of his speech, he tried to START the Relay Race.  Unfortunately, the players weren’t paying attention to his speech, and no one heard his “On your mark, get set, go!”  So for about 15 seconds, the whole crowd just stared at the players and song girls, who were having such a good time, that they had no idea that the race had begun.  Finally, at the urging of the crowd, they got going, and it was an exciting contest.  But I can’t tell you who won, because the players weren’t wearing jerseys.

Of course, the real winners were the future recipients of the scholarships provided by Swim with Mike, and all of you who want to see photos of sexy co-eds in swimsuits.  Just remember — This is all for a very good cause, so I chose to post only the most flattering photos I got, and I won’t tolerate any negative comments about the girls.

I posted 42 photos today, and will post another 100 in the very near future.  I chose to post 42 today, in honor of Friday being the anniversary of UCLA’s Jackie Robinson breaking the Color Barrier (64 years ago).  Jackie wore #42, and in his honor, EVERY MLB player also wore #42 on Friday.

Click on the horizontal photos to enlarge them.  I have shrunken ALL the photos to fit on a computer screen.  If you are interested in receiving the full-sized (three times as large) files, you can e-mail me.  And don’t forget to check in over the next few days to see many, many more.