Orange Bowl Diary - Tom Malone, USC (Temescal Canyon)
By: The Californian | ∞
Editor's note: This is the first installment of a several-part series in which USC punter Tom Malone, a Temescal Canyon graduate, shares with The Californian his first-person experience of participating in the Orange Bowl festivities and playing in the game. Malone and his USC teammates arrived in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. on Tuesday, went through their first practice Wednesday, and enjoyed some leisure time in between. The USC coaching staff is doing its best to keep the Trojans to the same routine as two years ago ---- when they defeated Iowa in the Orange Bowl ---- right down to staying the same hotel and using the same practice site. Here are Malone's experiences, as told to sports editor Landon Negri:
"... We got in yesterday. We've been having a good time. We feel pretty good. They had a pretty nice reception for us. Then we went to this comedy (club) thing. Oklahoma's team was there. We sat on opposite ends. We didn't even pick up our luggage ---- we just went straight over there.
"(The comedians) pretty much stuck with a routine. They didn't pull out any special things for us. They just talked about us a lot and talked about the two teams. Oklahoma got real rowdy. We were pretty tired and calmed down. It was good. After that, we just came back to the hotel and had a quick meeting and some free time.
"At the hotel, there is a huge game room with pool tables and air hockey; a bunch of arcade games and stuff like that. The whole team hung out together last night. Then we just went back to our rooms and watched a movie.
"We practiced (Wednesday) for about an hour and a half. It was a decent-sized practice; we were just in helmets and got a lot of work done. For me, it was good to get adjusted to the wind and to the weather. At home, we don't have that much weather or wind.
"Everything seems to be the same to me when I was here two years ago. It's almost like we've never left."
"(Wednesday), we went to a beach party. It was windy. It was even too windy to ride the wave runners. They had some poker tables set up, so we just played some poker.
"At home, after practice, we still hang out a lot, but here, it's 50-60 guys always together. We wind up spending every waking minute together. It's kind of amazing, but we never have any problems getting along. We have a great time."
"They have orange carpets wheverever we go. Everything's first class. It's amazing. It's just awesome to be here."
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