Battle of Semantics:UCLA's Jim Mora talking L.A recruiting (UPDATE: And apologizing about it...)

((ht: latimes))

So...you are probably asking yourself: What the heck does that headline mean?

It means the Los Angeles media are implying a verbal battle brewing between new UCLA football coach Jim Mora Jr and USC.

And really there isn't THAT much to it, it's just a slow day.

The L.A Times reported on Mora making a comment on the Roger Lodge radio show (in L.A) saying "We don't have murders a block from our campus". The implication being UCLA is much safer than USC, which is in a less sheltered part of town. And quite honestly, yeah, there have been homicide issues in and around the downtown area USC occupies. The flip side is UCLA is in one of the "High Rent" parts of town.

According to the Times, Mora is talking smack against the Trojans, who have dominated L.A football for a long time.

Read more from the Times RIGHT HERE

Haha! We like Mora's denial, but the Times is right. Though the whole thing is incredibly juvenile. We know Mora well enough from covering him that he's a master of the sarcastic-double meaning statement. And don't buy the whole not watching the News or reading the paper thing either. He knows exactly what people say about him.

But, we like the fact he's willing to talk smack. UCLA needs to do something, they've been pretty downtrodden for a long time. Why not?

We don't know if Mora will be successful there, but it was a somewhat off the track move to hire him in the first place. Personally, we think his act will play much, much better at that level than it did in the pros. At least during his tenure in Atlanta (home of the OSG), he seemed to try, sometimes to hard, to be liked...at the expense of his coaching.

We'll keep an eye...or an ear out to see if he (Mora) throws any more doo-doo out there, here's hoping he does.

The only appropriate video for this story...is:



UPDATE: And it took him all of one afternoon to apologize for his idea...
((HT: melendezsports/insideucla-Gold)


Remember the last time UCLA tried to run their mouth...???
How long did that era last...???