sense but to try and change with the times and to embrace where the country was going, says Andy Pycroft, who spent many hours working on the Task Force. But there was a certain element in the white community that didnt want it to happen, and there was a certain element in the black community that was

LOS ANGELES -- Cmon, Clay Helton. You know you want to. Heres your chance. Heres your chance to tell all the college football experts to go do something anatomically impossible.All he does is give a hearty laugh.Not my style, Helton said. Not my style.Helton is the former soon-to-be-former USC coach. He spent the first month of his first head coaching season hearing why he shouldnt get a second. Now Helton is the middle of his third month, and his No. 13 Trojans are 7-3 with a six-game winning streak as they prepare to finish their Pac-12 schedule at UCLA (10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN). USC is a half-game behind No. 10 Colorado, and a half-game ahead of Utah, in the Pac-12 South.The Trojans actually can win the division. If they beat the Bruins (4-6, 2-5), and if No. 22 Washington State wins at Colorado, and the Buffs go on to beat No. 12 Utah next week, then the courtly Helton would have every right to say something that is not his style.Google Clay Helton and you dont have to scroll down very far. The fifth story is, Clay Helton Must Be Fired and USC Needs to Find a Real Head Coach. The seventh and ninth stories provide five names as possible replacements. Those three stories were published in late September, when USC had a record of 1-3.The ready-fire-aim section of my business did itself proud. Yeah, the Trojans got humiliated by Alabama in the opener, 52-6. It turned out that USC, in its first game, literally was not ready for the big time. The atmosphere in Cowboys Stadium, not to mention the Crimson Tide themselves, overwhelmed the Trojans.Yep, they followed with an equally inept offensive performance at Stanford two weeks later in a 27-10 loss. After that game, Helton benched fourth-year junior quarterback Max Browne for redshirt freshman Sam Darnold.He played well in his first start, at Utah, but the Trojans lost fumbles on their first three offensive possessions, and then gave up a touchdown with :16 to play to lose 31-27. All they had to show for the first month of the season was a victory over Utah State and a rabble that had been roused.Gah, Helton said, that feels like years ago.His family rallied around him. In the days after the Utah game, his daughter Aubrey, a high school senior, came up to him, gave him a big hug, and said, Daddy, dont worry about it. Its all going to be good.Not even Aubrey knew how good. But her daddy had an inkling. As the carping about Helton being overmatched reached a crescendo, he came away from the Utah loss convinced that the Trojans would be fine. He wont tell you six-wins-in-a-row, 13th-ranked, division-contender fine. But fine. This wasnt a team pointing fingers across the locker room.There were guys coming up on their own to watch extra film in our meeting rooms and taking it upon themselves to bring their teammates with them, Helton said. Thats what hurt, losing that game, because I saw what each kid was trying to do to help this team win.Helton seized on that kernel of determination and, as the geniuses speculated on his successor -- four games into his career -- he let his team know that he paid it no mind.I kept telling myself, Remember, 18- to 21-year-olds look to their leader and look to their coaching staff, Helton said. How we react, theyre going to react. Just stay poised. Dont panic. Stay consistent in what youre doing and what you believe in and live with the results.Six starts later, Darnold is the best first-year quarterback in the FBS. Dont ask me, Jalen Hurts fans. Ask Darnolds QBR (86.8), fifth in the nation. Darnold has been so effective as a passer he has reopened the running lanes for backs Ronald Jones II and Justin Davis.That is as good a decision as any to probe whether Helton could coach his way out of a paper bag. With 20/20 hindsight, it seems perfectly obvious that Darnold is the better quarterback. But Helton remains steadfast that the full-speed decision he made to start Browne in the first three games is one he would make again.I had seen a kid, Max Browne, whos a redshirt junior, that had been in college football games, was efficient, had been a team captain, very respected by our team as a leader, Helton said. And I saw Sam, just this ultra-talented thing, just brilliance. But had never seen him in a ballgame, a real live college game.Browne didnt make mistakes, but he didnt make magic, either. Darnold proved he could handle major college football. Boy, could he. Should you blame Helton for not getting Darnold ready for the opener? You should, as long as you ignore that the offense had a new coordinator, the defense had a new coordinator, and so did the special teams. That contributed to the slow start as well.Look at the way the defense has improved over the course of the season: five sacks in the first four games, 14 in the next six. The Trojans have allowed an average of 18 points per game during their six-game winning streak.USC is coming off a 26-13 victory at No. 4 Washington, a vivid illustration of how far the Trojans have progressed since that loss to Alabama. Here was another fast, talented team. Here was a game in Husky Stadium, one of the most intimidating atmospheres in college football. USC didnt wilt this time.As I look back on our entire season, it really culminated in last week, Helton said. ...I just saw unbelievable poise and maturity. It was as electric an atmosphere as you could possibly have. It was as good a scene for college football as you could see, and the moment wasnt too big for them. They really walked in there with a sense of maturity and confidence. Hey, lets just focus on our job. Lets dont care about the stadium. Lets dont care about the noise. Lets dont care about the weather. Lets just get our job done.They have two rivalry games remaining -- Notre Dame comes west next week -- and Helton said he has seen no heads swelled by the win at Washington. Coach Overmatched could end up with a 10-win season. And a Pac-12 title. The guy that the internet fired seven weeks ago may end up in the Rose Bowl.Heltons unfailingly polite, unerringly even-keeled, unbelievably unexciting personality ended up being just the right touch for a young team. So, cmon, Coach. Let it go. Tell the experts off.You have to be very strong-willed, Helton said. You have to have thick skin. And dont get your feelings hurt. Believe in what youre doing. Believe in the things youre doing for kids.Oh, well. They got off lucky.Fake Vapormax Flyknit . - Connor McDavid scored 53 seconds into overtime as the Erie Otters came from behind to defeat the visiting Guelph Storm 4-3 on Saturday in Ontario Hockey League action. Mens Fake Vapormax . Numbers Game examines the deal that sees Michael Del Zotto and Kevin Klein switch places. The Predators Get: D Michael Del Zotto. http://www.clearancevapormax.com/cheap-vapormax-plus-clearance.html . PETERSBURG, Fla. Cheap Vapormax 2019 . The 29-year-old Baines has established himself as one of the top attacking full backs in the country and was the subject of two bids from United during the last off-season. Everton manager Roberto Martinez says that keeping Baines at the club is a "massive boost and exciting for the future" because he brings "maturity and football knowledge in a very specialized position on the pitch" and an "infectious and positive influence to the rest of the squad. Vapormax Flyknit Clearance . The team said Saturday that Lopez was hurt during its 121-120 overtime loss at Philadelphia on Friday. The Nets said they would issue another update next week after consultation with their doctors.Zimbabweans waking up on a crisp Monday in July 2001, the day after Hamilton Masakadza had become the first black batsman to score a hundred for the country, might have expected their joy to be reflected in the mornings papers. Instead they were affronted by a headline that bristled with pent-up anger: Masakadza proves racists wrong.The headline was a precursor of things to come in Zimbabwe cricket. But it also represented an outpouring of frustration from a segment of the black community who felt that, for all of Zimbabwe Cricket Unions efforts to transform from its white base to a majority sport, players of colour were still being kept at arms length.Fifteen years on, this feeling has been rising on the other side of the Limpopo River, in South Africa. Last November, a group of black cricketers sent a letter to Cricket South Africa (CSA) saying that they were sick and tired of being included in national squads without being picked to play. Their frustrations have been echoed by Zimbabwes interim coach Makhaya Ntini - who claims he was shut out of the coaching realm in South Africa because of race - and in newspaper columns that have questioned the appointment of Mark Boucher as Titans coach despite his absence of coaching experience.For all of these issues, there are counterclaims. Those in favour of picking sides purely on merit might suggest that black players have not been quite good enough, even if they deserved their place in squads. Others might point to Ntinis lack of coaching qualifications, or the fact that he only expressed an interest in coaching in the Eastern Cape, a largely dysfunctional province. Some might say that personality is important - not every former international cricketer will make a good coach - and that this is the difference between Boucher walking into a franchise appointment ahead of Ntini or any of the other coaches in the domestic system.But what is clear is a growing divide, an increasing polarisation in views where both sides only become more entrenched in their position with each passing incident. It is surely no coincidence that South Africa are experiencing this at a very similar time in their history to Zimbabwe - 20 years after attaining black majority rule. It would appear that this is the point where patience begins to run out, and where promises start to ring hollow.The administration in Zimbabwe at least had better excuses to fall back on. The country spent its first decade building the game up on a completely amateur base and only became a Test nation in 1992. Thereafter there were visible attempts to spread the game, with the ZCU spending its own limited resources to install facilities in lower income black schools.By contrast, South Africa has had the benefit of two decades of ICC Full Membership and far greater financial resources. Admittedly, CSA is operating in a much larger country, making it more reliant on the government to do the groundwork, but concerted and sustained attempts at establishing cricket in the townships or in black rural areas have largely been lacking. Even when private entities have got the ball rolling, they have received scant support from the federations. Now, with too few black cricketers developing into top-level players and time running out, CSA has been compelled to implement a top-down approach and install targets at national level.While any racial selection policy is inherently unfair and regrettable, at least South Africas players now have clarity. The absence of such a policy in Zimbabwe created even greater distrust among the white players, and ultimately led to the rebel walkout in 2004. I said that youve got to actually tell people if theres a quota system in place, Heath Streak, who led the walkout, has said. Because the young white guys are going to worry about whether theyre doing the right thing by staying. At least if you do have a quota system and you say that we have to have three or four players of colour, then they know that theyre fighting for seven positions or whatever it is.On the face of it, the ZCU had done many things right in its bid to avert a full-blown crisis. In March 2001 they set up the Integration Task Force as part of an aggressive campaign to eliminate racial discrimination within cricket at all levels. This was a response to several incidents, two of which affected Trevor Madondo, who had preceded Masakadza as Zimbabwes first black specialist batsman.In December 1999, during a one-day series against Sri Lanka, Madondo had arrived half- an-hour late for practice. His punishment was to be omitted from the squad for the remaining three matches, a hefty sanction that drew accusations of racism. The two judges tasked by the ZCU with investigating the matter ruled that on the evidence ... heard it is not possible to conclude with conviction that Trevor Madondo was treated as he was, because of his race. Yet they had a word of caution, advising that in the multiracial and multicultural diverse society that we live in, there is need forr sensitivity in ones approach when dealing with issues which cross the cultural or racial divide.dddddddddddd In short, they did not feel that Madondo benefited from an even-handed approach.A year later, in a rain-hit Test match in Wellington, Streak declared Zimbabwes first innings with Madondo unbeaten on 74 - his highest Test score. The game was going nowhere - Zimbabwe declared on the final morning, still 147 runs in arrears. The decision not to give Madondo a crack at a hundred is still spoken of in some quarters as a slight on black cricket.There were other signs of trouble. In a Test in Bulawayo a few months earlier, Guy Whittall withdrew from the side in protest after David Mutendera, a young fast bowler, became a late replacement for Craig Wishart, a batsman, due to perceived political interference. And in 2001, after a white batsman had made a century, Streak walked around a corner in the dressing room to find one of the selectors on the phone, lamenting the fact that they would now have to keep picking the white centurion.The Task Force charged with addressing the growing divide had a wide range of cricket people from across the racial spectrum, and was facilitated by Dr Zackrison, an American consultant. The presence of an outsider with no prior knowledge of the situation or even the game of cricket raised the ire of the experienced white players, who also had little time for the process as a whole. One player refused to fill in a survey on racial attitudes in the game, but claims to have been lambasted for his opinions nonetheless when the community met to discuss the Task Forces findings. These included aggressive targets for everything from the number of black players in the national team to the racial make-up of the crowd, although they were genuinely targets whereas CSAs recommendations are quotas under another name. Alistair Campbell, who believes the hard work done in the 1990s was about to bear fruit without political interference, says he walked out along with several other senior white players when the findings were presented. More blacks need to play the game with the least possible reduction in personal and team performance, was the statement he remembers. We sort of questioned that, he says. Youre saying that by bringing people into an organisation youre going downhill, but you just want damage limitation. Thats what that statement says. Ive had this out with some people, and said, Guys, I think you were advised poorly.Because of the historic imbalance, there were barely any senior black players to present their side of the argument and the emerging generation was still too young to deal with such complex issues. Tatenda Taibu, who had become part of the Zimbabwe squad when still a teenager, barely recalls anything about the Task Force process. But he does remember a club match in Harare where an on-field racial slur by one of his team-mates led to an off-field brawl in the changing rooms after the game. He says he just walked out, along with his good friend and team-mate Stuart Matsikenyeri. We had decided we werent going to be distracted by things that wouldnt allow us to achieve what we wanted to achieve, he says. Hamilton [Masakadza] saw that and started to do the same. So it was not something we put any mind to.Unfortunately, their silence left the door open for others to speak for them. These were chaotic times in Zimbabwe as it spiralled into political and economic meltdown, and the racial tension in cricket allowed people with political connections and questionable intentions to infiltrate themselves into the game.The Task Forces biggest challenge was coming up with a process and a pathway that all of these disparate parties could buy into. My view on it is that it was necessary, that it should have happened earlier - not in a political sense but to try and change with the times and to embrace where the country was going, says Andy Pycroft, who spent many hours working on the Task Force. But there was a certain element in the white community that didnt want it to happen, and there was a certain element in the black community that was prepared to ride over everything regardless, a sort of we dont care attitude. And it was trying to marry the two and seek a common middle ground. It was very difficult.This is the challenge facing South African cricket over the coming years. How do you promote one community without completely alienating another? If the South Africans are to maintain their competitive edge then they must retain enough white players, coaches and administrators with talent and experience that the games value will not be eroded overnight. A glance across the border does not offer a blueprint on how this can be done, but there are some lessons that can be heeded. Above all, it is a reminder of the cost of failing to attain even a tenuous unity in such a delicate process. ' ' '