No one has yet adequately explained how this happened, but three members of everyone's favorite pep squad were paid by the E! channel to spend the night in a "haunted" hospital. I did not see this special television event, but these screen caps are positively frightening. (For the girls or for humanity, I'm not sure.) If you like watching pretty girls scream and then not get murdered by an axe wielding maniac, then I guess you're the audience for this show. Congratulations.

USC Song Girls Ain't Afraid Of No Ghost [Friends of the Program]

* * * * *

I'm not going to comment on the brackets today, because bubble teams make Hulk want to smash. Instead, here is what I believe to be a tentative schedule for the week. All events subject to change or not happen at all.

Tomorrow morning: We'll have a special Deadspin branded printable bracket, as well as info about the Pants Party Pick 'Em Pool.

Tuesday/Wednesday: Publish the Preview Capsules. (If you did not hear back from me, someone else got the team you requested. Sorry.) Also, Suss builds his zombie live blog army.

WednesdayTuesday Night: Play-In Game. (Sorry—call it what you want; that's what it is.)

Wednesday: Region-by-Region Previews, plus I will give you the picks that will win your other pools.

Thursday, High Noon: Unleash hell.

Now: Rest, my sweets. It's going to be a full week.

Welcome to Hot Girls In Scary Places, the genius combination of mankind's two dominating primal urges; fear and lust. Oh, and also they'll discuss clothes. The premise, so dubious when tried with Eddie Murphy, so potentially wonderful here, is to place USC Song Girls in an abandoned hospital which is said to be haunted. They have to investigate all creepy noises and other ghostly happenings. There's a cash prize of $10,000, although it's unclear how that's awarded. It's the show so awesome you can't resist it, so stupid TiVo won't record it!

That one in the middle in the photo there is undoubtedly Lindsey Grubbs, by the way.

"They're totally scared, and totally believe experiences they're going through," says executive producer Gary Auerbach. "They'll get scared and then be talking about a sorority party coming up. It's a little bit ‘Scooby Doo'-ish."

The plan is to have the same three girls placed in a different scary location each week, which may or may not include Barry Switzer's house. The show's debut, scheduled for Friday, March 13, is a backdoor pilot, meaning that it's basically a prototype. So if you skip it, it may go away. Oh USC Song Girls, you have given us so much. Hopefully we can all make this show a success to pay you back.

E! Orders Hot Girls In Scary Places [The Live Feed]

A USC student sent this to us and wanted it added to the official Deadspin record, so here you go.

Deadspin: Not sure how often this pic has been passed around, but first time I've seen it. Some jagoff soiling an otherwise tremendous picture of our beloved Song Girls straight chillaxin.

Yeah ... move along out of the shot there, Larry.

Update: The girl in the middle is Lindsey, and Busted Coverage was on the scene way before this photo was sent to us.

Natalie Nelson attends Halloween party in Oct., 2006, dressed in a Texas football jersey. Two months later, the USC song girl "mistakenly" cheers for Texas following a Longhorns touchdown. Wow. It's now your move, Oliver Stone.

Here are some other photos courtesy of Busted Coverage, who makes the very wise statement: "Never….ever….take photos of yourself in any jersey of a team you might be facing in the BCS Championship. Grab a Syracuse shirt. Then you’ll have no worries."

Bonus tidbit: Nelson ended up marrying former USC and current Carolina Panthers lineman Ryan Kalil.

Update: As a commenter points out, the 2006 Rose Bowl occurred before the Halloween photos were taken. Still, something is fishy ...

Answer Forum [Inside USC]
Busted Coverage Investigation: The USC Song Girl Who Cheered For Texas Back In The News [Busted Coverage]

Granted, Carmona is a "former" Song Girl so she's not going to lose her pom-poms over these photos as many cheerleader/dance girl types seem to do after similarly provocative drunk photos get pushed out there. But it's an alarming trend. Asylum magazine did a bang-up photo montage of this phenomenon already.Some of the most recent, after the jump.(All links and some photos after this jump are also not safe for work or church.)

July 2008: The Winnipeg Blue Bombers ladies shame Canada: After photos of the Blue Lighting, the cheerleaders for the CFL's football team popped up on The Big Lead, the Canadian press went wild with the story, deemed it a scandal and ultimately forced Blue Lightning cheerleader coach Dena Clark to resign.

April 2008: ASU gets Dirty Army'd: Originally, the rumor was that photos of the ASU cheerleaders posing in their underwear resulted in the program getting banned by the school. The university later came out and denied it, saying that the dissolution of the program and the photos were just coincidental.

March 2008: Hoosier muscle lassie goes all out: Don Chavez (who always seems to be sifting through Photobucket accounts looking for these things) comes across some extremely graphic photos of one Hoosier cheerleader supposedly playing porn star for her boyfriend. After the photos come out, the mother quickly comes to her daughter's defense and claims somebody "stole the photos from her daughter's computer."

Feb. 2008: Kings' Dancers get torched by Fox News : Thanks to photos of various members of the Sacramento Kings dance team throwing back champagne, showing off their g-strings, and, well, pretending they have giant candy cane shlongs, Fox News picked up the story and moral outrage rippled through the Kings' camp for a few days. Naturally, Ufford gets blamed.

Of course there are plenty of others that have made the rounds, but not been given the national mainstream exposure or created national controversies like the unlucky Blue Bomber gals. It's gotten to the point where most of these cheerleaders seemingly don't even care about this stuff getting out there. Hell, sometimes it results in a movie deal. The lines between public and private photos have severely been blurred, obviously, but you have to wonder if most of the cheerleaders are just dim-witted morons who are still confused as to how to keep photos of themselves in their underwear from public viewing or this is actually the desired effect. Right now, I'm convinced it's the latter.

So they hold a special place in out hearts, as they do for you I'm sure. That's why we anticipate the new crop of talent with the same eagerness of the NFL Draft, with the added bonus of there being no booing Jets fans. As the photo here shows, we have a real prospect coming on board this year: Lindsey (on the left), it appears, has all the tools; and she's already one of Busted Coverage's Top 3 USC Song Girls To Watch This Season. With her anchoring the team, it should be a fun year. Aug. 30th at Virginia can't come soon enough.

Early Contender For USC Song Girl Of The Year [Busted Coverage]
World Famous USC Song Girls

If they aren't frolicking at Lake Tahoe, they're stripping down for Will Ferrell. And their latest escapade was a bikini-clad free-for-all for the Swim With Mike Charity, which provides scholarships for athletes who have become physically challenged. The event, held on Saturday at McDonald's Swim Stadium, raised more than $1 million for the charity. Photo gallery right here.

And more photos here.

The organization was founded in 1981 when USC swimmer Mike Nyeholt broke his neck in an accident. What started as a fundraiser for one man turned into a program that is funding 27 scholarships this year alone. The latest recipient is an LAPD officer who was shot in the line of duty.

Not to get serious here or anything, but that's pretty cool.

Are You Trying To Reduce Me, Mr. Robinson? [BeatSC.com]
Swim With Mike Breaks More Records [Los Angeles Times]
Swim With Mike

We suspected as much, but Michigan Sports Center has obtained clear evidence that the exposed USC Song Girl Rose Bowl heiney is, indeed, the result of a wedgie. We'll let the crestfallen Conquest Chronicles explain:

Sean at Michigan Sports Center had to go and ruin the only thing I liked about the Rose Bowl: Turns out, he got his hands on an HD picture of the above and the young co-ed in question was wearing skivvies ... Thanks-a-fucking lot, Sean. While you're at it, why don't you just go and tell my 5 year old niece there is no Santa Claus, too.

Above is the Zapruder Film of the 21st Century: Our only regret is that Gerald Ford is no longer here to serve on a new Warren Commission. And please feel free to examine MSC's HD photo for yourself, after the jump.

USC Song Girl At It Again [Michigan Sports Center]
The Only Good Thing About The Rose Bowl [Conquest Chronicles]
A Deadspin Special Report: Megan, Says Boi [Deadspin]

From BFT:

It's Megan....here's how I know. Alison and Ali are first years so they wouldn't be second in the 'step-off' line that's reserved for older members...kim and natalie (the two song girls behind the twirlers are the captains. Also I know know them all, and from the pics I know who it is...

Congratulations to Awful Announcing and commenter Kenny Loggins for being the first to presumably come up with this answer. Your hiney-sleuthing skills are not to be underestimated.

As you were.

Song Girl Mystery Solved [BoiFromTroy]
Megan! [USC Song Girl Official Site]
Deadspin Special Report: Another Vixen Thrown Into the Mix [Deadspin]

Anyway, Awful Announcing is doing his own CSI work and is "99% sure" that it's Megan's prim posterior and has extracted his conclusion based mostly on Megan's somewhat proncouned shnozzola. Meanwhile, Scott Olin Schmidt at USC Fanhouse is saying that it's neither Megan, nor Alli, but rather ....Allison.

With so much speculation surrounding this poor girl's gumper, I'm expecting USC will have to hold a press conference to reveal the girl's identity in the next couple days. And what a glorious day that will be.

Identifying the Song Girl for Posterity [USCFanhouse]
USC Song Girl Identified [AwfulAnnouncing
A Deadspin Special Report: USC Song Girl Buttocks Investigation [Deadspin]

Plenty of emails have been coming in about the identity of the unfortunate USC lassie whose buoyant caboose was briefly revealed during the Rose Bowl game Monday, then subsequently YouTube-d and jpg-ed all over the world for the oggling, cubicled masses. So far, resident Deadspin commenter Jesse James has graciously sacrificed some vital time from his day job to do some exhaustive research on the mattter, claiming that the bouncy derrier in question is property of one USC Song Girl "Megan".
(He claims the definitive evidence is " the hair and chin").

However, after further review, there seems to be some discrepancy between the jaw structure of "Megan" and this screenshot taken just seconds before the cruel twist of wedgied/thonged fate reered its wondrous bumps. That photo seems to suggest that the supple badonka-donk in question may very well also be property of one "Alli" who also is blessed with the dark features and what appears to be an equally-muscled undercarriage. Any and all updates on this matter are greatly appreciated, as it is my duty to find answers to these pressing, urgent matters of masturbatory security.

At Least She's Cheering for the Right Team [Deadspin]