I had the privilege of answering ten questions about the 2011 edition of the South Carolina football team with our friends over at Leftover Hot Dog today.  They only published five though,  I guess because the other five were either profanity-laced or delved a little too much into my opinions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Since LOHD prefers to remain family-friendly and politics-free, I certainly respect their decision.   

Anyhoo, check it out if you get a chance.

When I heard a while back East Carolina University had been added to our football schedule, I couldn’t help but cringe a little.  Even though eleven football seasons have come and gone since we played them last, they still give me the heebie jeebies.

It’s easy to pinpoint why: the decade of the 90’s.

I was a fairly young Buck then, paying a large portion of my small salaries every year to purchase season tickets to USC games, drive to USC games, tailgate at USC games, all with the hope we were going to turn the corner and become relevant in college football under Woods/Scott/Holtz.  The vast majority of those seasons turned sour, and many of those sour seasons had a common denominator – the ECU Pirates.

(For those of you who were die-hard Gamecock fans in the 90’s, I apologize for opening the following wounds.  For those of you who weren’t but are now, avert your eyes.)

In 1990 we beat East Carolina 37-7, and we held an 8-0 series lead over the Pirates.  We were supposed to beat ECU, every year, no exceptions.  But after that 1990 game, things didn’t go so good:

• 1991 – ECU 31, USC 20 – One of two games played in Greenville, NC (this one in front of 33,000 fans), and the  first of many times we said to ourselves, “We can’t be losing to East Carolina.” Final record: 3-6-2. (Remember ties?)
• 1992 – ECU 20, USC 18 – Celebrating 100 years of Carolina football, USC had TWO chances to win this game with a field goal.  Marty Simpson’s first attempt from 36 yards was blocked but recovered by the Gamecocks. Since it was not fourth down he had another attempt from 37 yards, but missed.  Final record: 5-6 (after an 0-5 start)
• 1993 – USC 27, ECU 3 – Finally, the long national nightmare is over. But it wasn’t enough to save Sparky. Final record: 4-7
• 1994 – ECU 56, USC 42 – Enter Brad Scott. I’ve sat through a lot of painful games at Williams Brice, but this ranks right near the top. We were 4-1, coming off a victory over LSU in Baton Rouge the week before. In the fourth quarter of this game it looked like we were playing with four guys on defense. The next week we would lose to Mississippi State 41-36. The signs that Brad Scott was awful were there, but we let the glory of our first bowl victory overwhelm us. Final record: 7-5
• 1996 – ECU 23, USC 7 – We were 2-0, had Anthony Wright and Duce Staley, and were coming off a huge, emotional victory over UGA. This game was played in an absolute deluge. The steps at W-B were like waterfalls, and somehow a dude for ECU named Scott Harley rushed for 291 yards. We finished with six wins, but didn’t go to a bowl, which made this loss all the more painful. Final record: 6-5
• 1997 – USC 26, ECU 0 – Me, the Gman and a couple of other people actually made the trip to Mogadishu Greenville, NC, to see this one in person.  I have no idea what we were thinking, but fortunately things turned out all right since we didn’t get shot or stabbed.  Oh, and we won.  Anthony Wright would get his knee shredded a few weeks later at Tennessee to put that season in the dumper.  Final record: 5-6
• 1999 – ECU 21, USC 3 – <all records of this game and season have been stricken>

Now, there is no lesson here, no moral of the story.  I still look at this game on this year’s schedule and think “win”.  I feel much better about that in 2011 than I did in the 90’s, because many years have passed, and the players and coaches are different.  Thankfully, much different.  And much better.

I just needed a little purging of my soul to get ready for Saturday.

If you missed TRC Unleashed, Episode 3, you can find it here:

TRC Unleashed

We encourage you to listen if you want to hear:

• Why the Gman was late to the show
• Why we should/should not fear ECU
• A couple of our USC “first game” memories
• Why we may lose 2 out of 3 to MSU, UT, and Arkansas (but win the rest)
• Why we need to let Travis Haney go…LET HIM GO

And next week we’ll have some real football to review, amirite?

In case you missed the live podcast last night, the show is archived here:

TRC Unleashed – Episode 2

Topics covered include:

• Does Miami deserve the death penalty?  Would you party with Nevin Shapiro?
• Scrimmage report from the Gman, who says calm down, the offense will be just fine.
• Gman and Tbone tell everyone to chill on the Clowney expectations, while I refuse to chill.
• The legacy of Steve Spurrier heading into year seven.

Give a listen, and give us some feedback.  We’ll be back at it next Sunday.

High atop the tallest building in Bristol, CT, Doug Gottlieb slowly and carefully enters the spacious penthouse office of ESPN President George W. Bodenheimer.

DG: You called for me, Lord Bodenheimer.

LB: Ah, yes, Doug. Come in young man.

Gottleib approaches, takes customary position on one knee.

DG: Pardon, sir?

LB: My boot. Lick it. I spilled some hollandaise sauce on it during lunch and haven’t had the time to bend over and wipe it off.

DG licks boot.

LB: No, the other one. The one with the sauce.

DG licks other boot.

DG: Mmmm, tasty sir.

LB returns behind his desk to an oversized throne.

LB: Doug, do you know why I’ve called you here today?

DG: Van Pelt, sir? Has he relapsed?

LB: No, but an excellent guess. Doug, we have a problem, and we need the help of someone who is intelligent, edgy, strikingly handsome, and only has regard for himself and his titanic ego.

DG: Me, sir?

LB: No, Keith Olbermann. But seeing as he is three-quarters of the way up Al Gore’s Current-TV-loving ass, we had to pick someone else.

DG: I’m flattered sir.

LB: Don’t be. I took photos of all the on-air “talents” at ESPN and assembled them on a wall. I then threw a dart from thirty paces. And here you are.

DG: Excellent, sir.

LB: You see Doug, we have a problem, and we don’t like problems at ESPN.

DG: No sir that we do not [fidgets with collar].

LB: It’s Texas A&M, Doug.

DG [shakes fist at sky]: Damn you Aggies! What have they done now, sir?

LB: They’re threatening to leave the Big 12 for the SEC. And we are not amused. It flies in the face of our commitment to rule the northern hemisph…to be the worldwide leader in sports. Texas A&M to the SEC means renegotiated contracts, less revenue for us, cries for a playoff system, and more controversy surrounding the Longhorn network…

DG: Hook ‘em sir!

LB: Hook ‘em indeed, Doug.

DG: But sir, how do I fit into this?

LB: Doug, we want you to go on SportsCenter on Sunday morning, tell the listening audience that you have a “source” that says Texas A&M to the SEC is a done deal. Not only that, but you know for a fact that the SEC is now pursuing – successfully I might add – Florida State, Clemson, and Missouri to form the first 16-team super conference.

DG: I don’t understand sir.

LB: Of course you don’t Doug, you’re an imbecile.  But it will serve our purposes insofar that when some SEC member institutions hear this – namely South Carolina, Florida and Georgia – they will enact their Survivor-style pact…and Doug, people will call it that…to prevent any schools from their respective states from entering the conference. This will also cause them to get cold feet about the aforementioned Texas A&M Aggies, and VOILA! No super conference.

DG: Oh, yes sir, I see.  You are indeed all-knowing and wise. But, sir, [flinches] if I dare ask: Missouri, sir? Clemson?

LB: Darts, Doug. Thirty paces. Stay with me here.

DG: Yes, sir. But won’t I lose a ton of credibility over this? I have built a pretty decent reputation and on-air persona…

LB: Nooooo, Doug, no, no, no. . . wait, yes, of course you will. You will lose a tremendous amount of credibility. But as long as Scott Van Pelt has full access to Brett Favre’s Vicadin closet, you will always have a place as his primary back-up on his low-rated radio show.

DG: I don’t know sir, this is awfully risky for my career…

LB: Doug, I have two words for you – Chris Berman.

DG: [thunderstruck] Lord Bodenheimer, how could I ever doubt you. [begins slapping himself repeatedly] If you can keep that sweaty man-walrus on the air year after year, you deserve my trust and respect.  I’ll do it!

LB: Excelsior! Now get out of my office – oh, and stop hitting yourself, man . . . .after ten more minutes.

Mark your calendars, TRC plans to start doing a weekly podcast on Sunday nights to review/preview Gamecock football games and talk about whatever else comes to our minds.  Our first podcast will be this Sunday, August 14 at 6 p.m.  You can listen live here:

TRC Live 

T-bone will be using a voice-altering device in case the CIA is listening, so don’t worry if he sounds a little like Stephen Hawking.  And hey, if we figure out how all this fancy equipment works, we might even take live callers at some point. 

We will also post archived episodes on the site once they’re in the can.  

We hope you’ll be listening.

I need to spell this out for you, because I don’t think you get it.  Going into the 2011 football season, we have:

1. A Heisman Trophy candidate and potential first team All-American at running back.
2. A likely first team All-American and fringe Heisman Trophy candidate at wide receiver.

   

3. A potential All-American at cornerback.
4. One of the best defensive ends in college football on one of the best defensive lines in college football.
5. A fifth year senior quarterback (yes, warts and all).
6. One of the greatest college football coaches in the history of the game.

These observations do not appear through the proverbial “garnet-colored glasses”.  These are things that are widely agreed upon by friend and foe, are they not?  And that doesn’t include the likes of Clowney, Byrd, Cooper, Ellington, Shell, et al (mainly because I don’t trust first-year players, but I fully expect a few to contribute significantly.)

Folks, we’re less than a month away from the kickoff of the 2011 season, and I dare say we have the greatest collection of talent in the history of our school.  And I don’t think it’s close.

Let that sink in, and enjoy the next three weeks.  The season will start, and it will fly by.  I fully expect there will be some heartache along the way.

But as long as it’s August 9, I’m just going to go ahead and assume we’re going undefeated.

Moving on:

• Consider this – what if USC and Georgia switched teams.  Say we had Aaron Murray and a bunch of question marks, and they had everything listed above.  Where do you think UGA’s preseason ranking would be, and what do you think the line on our game would be?  My point is not that we’re getting screwed, because we’re not, but that perceptions are hard to shake.
• Two things I’ve been sick of hearing the “experts” trot out for the last several months – variations of “the USC/UGA game is huge/will decide the East” and “USC’s success hinges on the play of Garcia”.  Duh and duh, please hit me with some originality blogosphere.
• Don’t tell anybody, because as I stated above I don’t trust first-year players, but…/makes sure no one is listening…I’m pretty excited about Ellington and Byrd.
• How excited?  Not only am I going to predict we return a kick for touchdown this year (boooorrrinnnnng), but I’m going to predict it happens in the first game against East Carolina.  And I HATE predictions.
• Obligatory Jadeveon Clowney is awesome bullet point.
• I’m still trying to decide if I like Lattimore embracing the Heisman talk, or if I think it’s a bad move.  I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt here, because he has made exactly zero mistakes since enrolling at USC.
• I’m glad T-bone laid the lumber to Ron Morris for that ridiculous column on Sunday.  It deserves a re-linking.
• We have Steve Spurrier.  Clemson has Dabo Swinney.  That just makes me smile.
• We learned today that Post and Courier beat writer Travis Haney is moving to Oklahoma (where the wind comes sweepin’ down the plain) to cover the Sooners.  Haney is a good beat writer and seems like a good guy.  His love of sports and his job comes through in his writing, and I appreciate that and will miss it.  I will not, however, miss him live-tweeting Dave Matthews concerts and where he’s having dinner in Omaha.
• And I guess this is just as good a time as any to admit something to our fair readers.  Please do not hold this against me, but…brace yourselves…I did not care for “Gamecock Glory” /ducks and covers.  I mean, our two victories over Clemson in Omaha are covered in a HALF A PAGE!  WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?!?!

There, I feel better.  Godspeed Travis.