USC's Bookstore Selling 'Roll Tears Roll' Shirts To Taunt Bama Before Their Season Opener Is Such A Bold Move
ESPN – Remember those “We Want Bama” shirts Oregon students had printed up a few years back? The USC Bookstore — the actual bookstore, not a group of students — didn’t learn from their mistake.
On sale, both online and in person, in anticipation of USC’s Sept. 3 opener in Arlington, Texas, against defending national champion Alabama, are cardinal-and-gold shirts that read: “Roll Tears Roll.”
It’s not the first time the phrase has been used to troll Alabama, and not a horrible idea if the only goal is to sell a few shirts, but this isn’t the type of thing that sits well in Tuscaloosa … and it sets up the potential for embarrassment down the road.
USC-Alabama is kicking off the college football season in Cowboys Stadium over Labor Day weekend and so far the hype around that game has been a little quiet. And justifiably so, USC has lost a little bloom off its rose with the Kiffin, Orgeron, and Sarkisian head coaching debacles coming right after the other. But the one thing USC had going for it this year is it was flying under the radar, something we haven’t been since I was a freshman at USC and people wanted Pete Carroll fired after a .500 first year and they then went on their semi-historic run. This year they hired a coach in Clay Helton who’s more of an unknown Southern coach’s coach guy than a dude aspiring to be on the covers of Sports Illustrated and US Weekly like the last few. And with the Rams back in LA playing in USC’s home stadium overall there was a chance to quietly sneak into Cowboys Stadium, beat an overconfident Bama team, and get right back in the national spotlight looking like lovable spunky underdogs even though it’s a team full of underperforming five star recruits.
And instead, USC once again can’t just get out of its own way. At least this time it’s from the school itself instead of the coach but Bama is one of those teams where you don’t want to poke the bear. USC has a good mix of young and experienced talent and there was a chance they could have walked in with a high powered offense (and underrated D) to pull the upset. In fact, I was feeling so good about it that I almost got field seats for and flew into Dallas just for this game. But the odds were still decently stacked for a Bama blowout — Vegas opened with the spread at 14 — and the idea of sitting there sadly with USC colors while Bama fans shout words they can’t spell at me got a little less appealing. Now though? That opening line doesn’t look high enough. You don’t spit in the wind, you don’t tug on Superman’s cape, and you don’t shit talk Nick Saban heading into a spotlight game. Fuck USC for upping the chances of seeing Lane Kiffin’s smug face on the sidelines as they throw a 50-yard bomb up three touchdowns in the fourth.
Oh and even though the shirts were selling well (and I was going to buy one for kicks), it looks like the school just pulled them from the bookstore after ESPN pointed them out. Great job guys, way to get the worst of both worlds:
(h/t AJ)