Project aims to ease traffic in USC area - LA Times
The five new changeable message signs around Exposition Park should remind Robert Nubine to take a different route to work when USC's football team is playing at the Coliseum.

The signs, part of an $11-million area traffic relief project...

...Even when the signs aren't illuminated, motorists still could notice better traffic flow around the USC campus and adjacent museum complex, an area that city officials concede has lagged behind other sections of Los Angeles in traffic enhancements.

As part of a larger traffic relief project, eight more surveillance cameras have been installed and 176 traffic lights synchronized within the 5.3-mile area. The upgrade is estimated to increase travel speeds...

For Westchester freshman Polee, there's a lot to live up to - Daily Breeze
Sorry, Dad, but living up to your reputation isn't the biggest burden on the shoulders of Dwayne Polee Jr. these days.

Sure, his father was the L.A. City Section Player of the Year at Manual Arts and a two-time all-conference star at Pepperdine but Polee Jr. has found the expectations as a freshman playing varsity boys basketball at Westchester High to be his biggest burden these days.

"Westchester is such a big school and has won so many City championships, it's a lot to live up to," said Polee Jr., who didn't sleep the night before his first practice for the Comets.

It might not be easy making a college commitment to USC before you score your first basket in high school but the rangy 6-foot-5 forward carries the burden with a braces-filled smile...

[Farrell] College recruiting is speeding out of control - Sporting News
...I wrote in a blog a year or so ago that the football recruiting process has sped up by about six full months over the past two or three years. In other words, players who used to be offered in June of their junior year in high school were now being offered in January...

...Southern Cal, a program that recruits on a national level better than anyone and hands out offers as sparingly as Jon Gruden smiles, already has four commitments for the class of 2008. Last year the Trojans had one commitment before March 1. The three years before that? None. With four commitments, Southern Cal is arguably more stunning than either Texas or Texas A&M's fast starts...

Q&A with the Donald - Fortune
...What profession would you have gone into if you had not entered real estate? --Wade Henley, Mechanicsville, Va.

I had thought of attending USC to study film before I went to Wharton and decided on real estate as a focus. The entertainment industry has always been of interest to me, and that interest has paid off with the success of "The Apprentice" and the "Miss Universe," "Miss USA" and "Miss Teen USA" Pageants. I also have a production company in Los Angeles, called Trump Productions...

Salisbury's number gets call at auction - NC Times
It has been 26 football seasons since Sean Salisbury, a three-sport star, graduated from Orange Glen High...

...Salisbury is also coming to have his No. 12 football jersey retired...

..."Whenever I hear about guys having their jerseys retired I think that is so cool,'' Salisbury said from Frisco, Texas, where he lives. "There are games at USC, the Grey Cup and in the NFL that stick out, but my fondest athletic moments are at OG.

"This is as humbling a thing as I've ever experienced. I was very shocked when they called me about it.

"It seems like just yesterday I was at OG.''...

Featured Hall of Famer: Marcus Allen - Southbend Tribune
Marcus Allen played four years for [USC]. In his first two years he played some time at fullback. As part of his assignment, he blocked for Charles White, who won the Heisman Trophy in 1979. Allen moved to tailback, set records for rushing, and won the Heisman in 1981.

He led his team in both receiving and rushing those last two years. In 1980 he rushed for 1,563 yards, second in the nation. In 1981 he rushed for 2,342. He led the nation in scoring...rushing...and all-purpose running...

...In addition to the Heisman, he received the Maxwell Trophy and the Walter Camp Foundation and Pop Warner League designation as the Player of the Year. He was all-conference for the second time. Southern Cal retired his jersey No. 33. His coach, John Robinson, called him "the greatest player I ever saw."...