Checking in on an overlooked part of USC's program

	The USC Song Girls perform for the crowd before a game earlier this season. Aggie Skirball/WireImage.com

LOS ANGELES -- Because I anticipated your desire to read about an aspect of the USC program that has not been so exhaustively analyzed, I requested face time with a trio of USC Song Girls on Sunday. 

While waiting for the Song Girls to arrive at Heritage Hall after their performance at a Pasadena luncheon, I chatted with Lori Nelson, the director of the squad, and whose daughter, Natalie, is a senior on the team. I met Lori on campus last October. A small crowd of men was visible through a window on the second floor of Heritage Hall. They were taking a break from their duties in the 'SC athletic department to check on the progress of Song Girl tryouts, which were going on just outside Heritage Hall.

SI: If memory serves, you'd just asked the schools sports information director, Tim Tessalone, to be one of the judges for tryouts. How'd he do?

Nelson: Tim did well. I think he was a little nervous. He tended to score the girls a little generously.

SI: He's a generous man. Now, we know being a Song Girl is very prestigious. To what lengths will some people go to increase their odds?

Nelson: We do get tapes. We do get phone calls from Trojan Clubs and references from donors. But usually [the tape] just sits on a desk, and we really don't even look at it. They're basically a number when they come in. Everybody's equal, we don't give any preferential treatment.

SI: You've just come from picking up floral wreaths that the Song Girls will wear in the Rose Bowl Parade. What's their schedule like this time of year?

Lori: It's unbelievable right now. The girls have been going from about nine in the morning till eleven at night 9 to about 11 since December 22nd. We were at Disneyland the 29th. We performed in the Main Street parade. It was really fun. We went on one ride. It was a 75-minute wait, so by the time we finished, it was time to go.