Watching Wednesday's NFL Pro Day at USC reminded me that not everybody agrees with how these elite athletes are measured (including Pete Carroll, but we'll get to that in a moment).

In the day's glamor event -- the 40-yard dash -- a pricey looking system measured Chauncey Washington's time at 4.35 seconds. If that's true, Washington shouldn't be entering the draft -- he should be entering the Beijing Olympics.

According to research done three years ago by the San Diego Union Tribune, the fastest 40 time ever clocked on a track is 4.38 seconds -- by somebody who was cheating:

[Ben Johnson] is believed to have run 40 yards faster than any human in history. Johnson is best known for injecting copious amounts of steroids and winning the 100 meters at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul in 9.79 seconds, only to have his gold medal and world record stripped after failing a post-race drug test.

Timing officials have since broken down that famed race into 10-meter increments, and Johnson was so preposterously fast that he went through 50 meters in 5.52 seconds and 60 meters in 6.37 -- both under the current world records at those distances. He went through 40 yards that day in 4.38 seconds.

There are so many variables that affect stopwatch times it's not surprising if scouts measure incorrectly by hand. But advanced electronic timing systems? Maybe there's reason to doubt.

More after the jump ...

Football

• Rey Maualuga made the 2008 Lombardi Award watch list. The trophy is awarded annually to the nation's best linebacker. If you've been living in a cave, this video explains the nod.
• Ted Miller, who moved this offseason from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer to ESPN, has a pretty quick breakdown of the Pac-10's spring story lines.
• USC alum Jack Del Rio got a contract extension as head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
• It's not quite a player pretending to fall off of a building, but Pete Carroll pulled another big prank. On April Fool's Day he had the fuzz come into a team meeting and look for defensive lineman Everson Griffen because of an alleged physical assault against a freshman. After a bizarre moment, the team was shown film of Griffen man-handling offensive lineman Matt Meyer in a recent practice drill. Video goodness is available here.
• Per USCRipsIt.com: "Safety Taylor Mays and linebackers Rey Maualuga and Brian Cushing have been named to the Playboy Preseason All-American team ..."

Hoops

• Rivals regraded the class of 2007. USC's freshmen originally were ranked second after Florida, and performed close to expectations with an A- grade.

Assorted Gossip

• Matt Leinart's beer bong got its 15 seconds of fame on SportsCenter. The video can be found here.
• Inmates in Tennessee are being issued pink uniforms so they can't blend in with Volunteer fans.

New Lexicon

• U·S·C'd -- Function: transitive verb -- Definition: Team/group pummeling.
• Mau·a·lu·ga'd --Function: transitive verb -- Definition: Singular of USC'd.
• Etymology: Conquest Chronicles and EDSBS.

A few years ago Ed Orgeron left USC, where he coached the defensive line, for the top job at Mississippi. Things didn't go too well at Ole Miss, but now he's in the NFL as an assistant with the New Orleans Saints. Coach O remains very popular in the land of Troy, where he was evaluating talent at yesterday's Pro Day.

Coach O on coming back to USC:

It really is a special place. When you work hard for USC, USC gives back to you. It's given so much to me. We're all grateful to be a part of USC and we'll always come back. There are a lot of fond memories.

Coach O on what NFL scouts are looking for:

You look for a size and speed ratio ... how big you are and how fast you run. It's all relative. The individual drills are awfully important, how you work and want kind of condition you're in. And the interviews! When you go on an interview with the coach -- how you look 'em in the eye, what kind of character you have, and what the coaches say about you.

Coach O on the players at Pro Day:

They all look good. I'm really impressed with their size, their stature, and the way they work.

A full Hot Links will return tomorrow. In the meantime, here's some news from around Troy:

• Former USC tennis player and assistant coach Roger Knapp passed away. He was 48.
• A student OD'd and died in the USC dorms.
• This week USC and the Coliseum Commission confirmed the same thing about their lease negotiations. ... They're making steady progress. There are still a few details to work out, but all parties involved feel that they are on course. They won't announce a timeline/deadline, but they've got plenty of time before the season starts.
• Quote of the day: "Congratulations! Don't do anything Matt Leinart wouldn't do twice."

USC's annual Pro Day went off without a hitch yesterday, giving several players a chance to improve their draft status. Chauncey Washington had the most impressive time in the 40-yard dash (reported anywhere from 4.3 to 4.35 seconds), but Keith Rivers was head and shoulders above everybody. He literally out-jumped the machine that measures vertical leap and had impressive marks in every event.

For more, check out the video above with Sam Farmer, read Gary Klein's recap in the L.A .Times, or peruse the official results from USCRipsIt.com.

I've been hesitant to post much on this subject because, as many of you have confirmed, Matt Leinart's hot tub is hardly newsworthy.

Or is it?

One of the biggest dangers in the TMZ-era is that these moments do make headlines and do get splashed across millions of flickering computer monitors. If there's anything I find interesting, it's that two days after I casually linked to the photos the story became news in the "traditional" format of the LA Times.

Apparently, Web gossip can become hard news.

What's more disconcerting? In an interview done by The Times with the people behind the website that acquired the Leinart photos, we've learned this could be part of an ugly Internet trend. Websites that focus on localized gossip are gaining traction -- Leinart was not the victim of a celebrity rag like TMZ, but a Scottsdale, Ariz., site about drunk college kids.

This is not the first time a Trojan has been cast in a bad light by such a site. Within the last year, there was a rash of anonymous blogs about the USC social scene. At least one leveled an underage drinking accusation against a current USC athlete (who has made several L.A. Times headlines in the last year). Thankfully, that "story" never saw the light of day. Traditionally, it's not news if one of them has a drink or smokes some weed -- unless they get arrested. These websites threaten to blur those lines. Don't even get me started on Facebook.

I'm not condoning underage drinking, but I am asserting that it's important for kids to be kids (or "young adults," whatever). If you think none of these college athletes are enjoying alcohol before their 21st birthday, then you're an absolute fool. Likewise if you think young guys don't like to party with 18- to 20-year-olds. If these are society's biggest concerns, we should be so lucky. The important thing is that they learn from all of it. That sort of personal growth is what college -- and young adulthood -- is about.

So did Leinart demonstrate that growth? Not exactly. But, as they say, he did what almost any red-blooded 24-year-old American male would do. At least he's partying with teenagers instead of allegedly assaulting them like other NFL players his age. There are older ones doing far worse (see: Vick, Michael).

So go ahead, question Leinart's maturity. Last I checked, he's the second youngest starting quarterback in the NFL (and Vince Young is only one week younger). Give him time -- or at least a season, which may be all he has left to produce results on the field.

Since these personal invasions are inevitable for both college and pro athletes, lets just hope they're kept in proper perspective -- and out of the headlines.

Every year, Troy Camp takes more than 200 third-, fourth- and fifth-graders from schools in the USC area for a week of camping in the San Jacinto Mountains. They also have year-round events to provide a big brother/big sister type of environment and positive role models for the kids. While recognized by the university, the organization is entirely self-funded and run by USC student volunteers.

Most people in the USC community are familiar with the camp's "Pass The Can" fundraisers at homecoming but don't know how else to support the cause. In honor of its 60th anniversary, Troy Camp is holding a special "no show" dinner. The official invite is after the jump. All you need is your checkbook (and maybe an envelope and stamp).

I was going to post this yesterday but didn't want anybody to think it was for April Fools!

Football

• Rhett Bollinger had a good piece in yesterday's Daily Trojan about Malcolm Smith, Steve's "little" brother.
• There's USC-UCLA buzz, QB competition, and more in today's L.A. Times.
• The winningest program of the last half decade is, no surprise, USC.
• The best coach in the Pac-10 is, no surprise, Pete Carroll.
• The Sporting News is dredging up old story lines about Sanchez and Mitch Mustain.
• Grown men continue to drool over teenage boys.

Assorted Gossip

• Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush got pulled into a viral underwear campaign.

Matt Leinart's coach is "disappointed."

One Arizona columnist is up in arms.

Allegedly, the 24-year-old Leinart was partying with underage girls (over 18, under 21) and alcohol was involved.

Another Arizona columnist couldn't care less.

Most blogs agree that this is the last thing people should worry about.

What say you?

Keep in mind the sort of antics other pro athletes enjoy, like orgies with five hookers and a couple of teammates (surprisingly, not the Vikings). Heck, this might be good behavior if he were a European soccer star (where the lower drinking age would make this a non-issue, anyway). We won't even get into other peccadilloes like drugs (taking and trafficking), assault, and dog fighting.

TrojanTV All Access, which usually runs about $10 a month on usctrojans.com, released a few sneak-peaks this week on YouTube. Certain players and coaches have been wearing a mic in practice, including quarterback Mark Sanchez (above) and receiver coach John Morton. Mark Haas is the man behind the camera.

You'll notice that Sanchez's motor runs almost as fast as Pete Carroll's -- maybe faster. He doesn't jack three home runs in the Coliseum, but he does a standing hurdle of 6-foot-3 Everson Griffen.