By Sourena VasseghiWith Rich Finley
USCRipsIt Guest Bloggers
In trying to decide how to summarize my thoughts on USC's shocking loss to Washington last weekend, I looked back on some of the experiences I've had traveling the country and giving speeches.
I have given speeches in front of huge crowds; I have given speeches in front of just five or six people. I've spoken to audiences that weren't receptive, and then audiences that were just so excited. Rich and I gave a speech one time to a group of 5- to 9-year-olds who we could NOT make laugh one time! We tried and tried, and finally I looked at Rich and whispered, "Let's lose the jokes." Then, there was a speech we gave for a group of 600-700 students at a high school on a Saturday for kids who had behavioral issues and bad grades, and that audience was amazing! There have been times I've been sick, Rich has been sick (yeah, try to give a speech when your speaking assistant has laryngitis) and then we've had issues with travel, microphones that don't work, you name it!
My point to all of this, sometimes, you just have a clunker. You can't explain it. You know you're prepared, driven, ambitious, and then all of a sudden you feel like you're trying to catch Jake Locker in open space on an open field that's wet and you only have your socks on. Ugh.
The Trojans lost. It stinks. No one hated it more than me ... well, ok, almost no one. Yet, you have to just move forward. The worst thing that can happen is for a team to beat you twice, as the memory of the loss sticks with you and you alter your preparation and you lose to the next team.
The best thing to do in life is to always have perspective. For instance, this season in college football is off to an amazing start for the Pac-10. Wins by UCLA and USC over other teams in major conferences are only raising the credibility of the league. You have to think a team like Florida is going to be in the National Championship game. From there, who will they play? Well, they won't play another SEC school, the BCS would never allow the 2nd place team in the SEC who just lost in the SEC championship game to have a rematch. That leaves the ACC, Big East, and Big Ten. Nope, conferences aren't strong enough, can you really picture any team in those leagues playing for the championship?
So, really what this comes down to, the Big 12 and the Pac-10. The Big 12 doesn't look as strong as last year, but the league is still pretty good. Plus, if Oklahoma works itself back into contention, and possibly beats Texas, well now we have a good, old-fashioned race on our hands. With the strength of the Pac-10, a one-loss USC team is WAY more attractive than in recent years, due to overall improvement of the league.
So, be frustrated about the loss. We had a clunker. We had injuries, adversity and a bad game. But things aren't looking that bad. Four out of the last six national champions lost one game in their conference, and one year, LSU lost two! So have some perspective.
Now, if I could just make those 5-year-olds laugh!
• Sourena Vasseghi, a motivational speaker and writer, has addressed the USC football team on several occasions over the years. His book, "Love your life and it will love you back," is available here.
