I come in peace. I am a concerned Gamecock citizen, and I want to talk some things through with you about our baseball team. So take your hands off the keyboard and back away. Slowly. Now put your hands where I can see them. Good.

First of all, there are two overarching questions that we should address regarding South Carolina baseball:

1. Has this been a successful season?
2. Has Chad Holbrook done a good job?

On the surface these sound like simple yes or no questions, but we all know that’s far from the truth. The answer to these questions depends largely on the context in which you are considering them.

If you’re looking at things through a 12-month window, you’ll see propaganda like this:

Sounds reasonable. Holbrook has taken this team from their worst season in over a decade to 40+ wins, an SEC East championship, and a regional hosting assignment.

But hold up a minute, this is Holbrook’s fourth season at the helm, why did we even need a bounce back season? Who got us in this position in the first place?

Oh right, Chad Holbrook.

Holbrook took over the South Carolina baseball team after the greatest run in the history of Gamecock sports, and the greatest run in the history of the NCAA baseball tournament. We’re familiar with what happened, but let’s recap:

• 2010 – National Champions
• 2011 – National Champions
• 2012 – National runner-up
• Mid-2012 – Chad Holbrook takes over for Ray Tanner
• 2013 – Eliminated – NCAA Super Regional
• 2014 – Eliminated – NCAA Regional
• 2015 – Missed the NCAA Tournament

As we all know, there was a significant downward trend over Holbrook’s first three years. To go from two games from a third consecutive national title to missing the NCAA tournament altogether is more than a little disturbing. This year has been nice, with series sweeps over Ole Miss, Arkansas and Alabama among others. But it has also been frustrating, with series losses to the likes of Georgia and Kentucky, whose seasons are now over.

Hooray, we came within a half game of an overall SEC Championship! 🙂

Dammit, we came within a half game of an overall SEC Championship! 😦

Here’s the thing – I am not a #FireHolbrook-er. The calls for his head are from the lunatic fringe and are at times over the top. But at the same time, there have been no convincing arguments that lead me to believe he is the guy to lead us back to national prominence.

Look at the job he’s done this year!

He has done a nice job, but I’m not really ready to praise the guy who drove my Ferrari into a telephone pole for taking it to the shop and getting it fixed.

It took Tanner several years to get the Gamecocks to the CWS!

Ray Tanner was handed an average baseball team playing in an outdated stadium in 1997 and in his fourth season was the #1 national seed. In his sixth season he was playing for the national championship. His teams made it to the CWS six times.

Chad Holbrook was handed the best program with the best facility in the nation and in his third season was watching the NCAA tournament on TV.

(Unfair comparison? Probably, but it’s one that’s being made.)

There was nowhere to go but down!

I really hate this one. Down to me is not making the CWS, or maybe not making it out of a regional play. But we went down, and down, and then down again.

Who made this rule? In the midst of their run of 10 consecutive national titles, do you think John Wooden was telling his guys at UCLA, “well boys, we’ve won so many in a row, there’s nowhere to go but down!” That’s a seed you never want to plant, my friends.

Then there are just stupid tweets that insult our fan base:

How is that even relevant?

I get the Holbrook defenders, I really do. Coaches get chewed up and spit out on such a regular basis and you don’t want to see a guy like Holbrook become part of that statistic when he’s winning like he’s done this year.

But for the folks on the other side, I get you too. Holbrook has not earned the benefit of the doubt yet. He has made head-scratching in-game decisions on the reg (h/t @ChickenHoops). He has not proven that he can win the big one. And yes, Ray Tanner carried that albatross his first five years.

At times I may sound like a #FireHolbrook-er, but I promise I’m not. One reason is I know how traumatic coaching changes are to a program. I WANT Chad Holbrook to succeed, for all of our sakes. The other reason is I know he has a minimum two years of rope left. Think about it, he’s Ray Tanner’s hand-picked successor, and no matter what happens this weekend in Columbia, he’ll be back based on this year’s “turnaround”. Next year’s team will be better than this one, so we will be looking at at least another regional hosting gig, and maybe better. Something really disastrous would have to happen for him to not be here until at least 2019.

The South Carolina baseball program has given Gamecock fans their greatest sports moments. They are an elite program in a department devoid of elite programs. And the problem right now is a lot of people don’t TRUST that crown jewel in the hands of Chad Holbrook. And until he gives us a reason to trust him, the debate will rage on.

We’re on an every other week schedule of posting the TPR because it takes us that long to build our courage back up. Here is the first ever post-Steve Spurrier Transitive Property Report.

Week 6 Results:

North Carolina (4-1) – Open date.

TPR for UNC: Since we didn’t publish a TPR last week we missed the Tar Heels’ victory over Georgia Tech. Back in August that would’ve been a big deal, but the Jackets are really terrible, so at this point it’s just a big, fat whoop-tee-doo.

Kentucky (4-1) – Open date.

TPR for Kentucky: The ‘Cats face their first real SEC test this weekend against Aub…ah, never mind. Even though they’re still average as grits, they’ll be in the mix for the SEC East title for at least one more week.

Georgia (4-2) – Lost to Tennessee 38-31. Two straight losses and a horrific looking knee injury to All-American Nick Chubb. Zoinks.

TPR for Georgia: The Bulldogs season has gone to hell in a hand basket over the last two weeks. So much so that there’s now a large part of their fan base that wants Mark Richt gone. If that happens, I wonder if there are any schools that might be interested in him.

Central Florida (0-6) – Lost to UConn 40-13. Holy cow how bad can this get for the Knights.

TPR for UCF: They are a shockingly terrible football team considering they won 12 games and a BCS bowl just two years ago. (Yes I cut and pasted this from two weeks ago.)

Missouri (4-2) – Lost to Florida 21-3. Maty Mauk takes to Twitter to retweet bad things about his teammate. Join us in the flames Mizzou, misery loves company.

TPR for Missouri: I hate that they beat us so handily, because they are not good. Thing is, when we start our climb back up the ladder, they might be the first rung we step on.

LSU (5-0) – Beat South Carolina 45-24. A simple matter of men vs. boys.

TPR for LSU: The Bayou Bengals will not win anything significant this year, but they are a rough and tumble team.

Vanderbilt (2-3) – Beat Middle Tennessee 17-13. A rare road win for the Commodores.

TPR for Vanderbilt: Possibly our last chance for a win over a BCS team this year. When you look at USC, it’s really difficult to find anything positive on the offensive or defensive side of the ball. Vandy at least has a tough defense. This will probably be a nail-biter.

Texas A&M (5-0) – Open date.

TPR for Texas A&M: The Ags have Alabama at home this weekend, we’ll find out if they’re for real this time. As far as our game against them, I don’t want to talk about it.

Tennessee (3-3) – Beat Georgia 38-31. Picked up a much, much needed win last weekend, and did it in dramatic fashion. There’s no denying they have talent, the question is still about the coaching.

TPR for Tennessee: I have had this one chalked up as a loss since before the season started, and I have not been given a reason to think otherwise to this point.

Florida (6-0) – Beat Missouri 21-3. The Gators are one of the hottest teams in the country and have moved into the top 10, but had some wind taken out of their sails with the suspension of Will Grier.

TPR for Florida: I just can’t shake the feeling that we have a chance in this game. I don’t know if it’s realistic or not. We’ll know more after they play LSU this weekend.

The Citadel (3-2) – Beat Wofford 39-12. The Bulldogs have either won or lost by double digits in every game this season.

TPR for The Citadel: Can we please just get this over with. Please.

Clemson (5-0) – Beat Georgia Tech 43-24. Going into the season the Tigers looked like they would have at least three challenging games by now. Unfortunately Louisville and Georgia Tech have wildly underachieved. The Notre Dame game still looks like a pretty good win.

TPR for Clemson: Nobody wants to hear this, but the Tigers have a very good shot at going undefeated and getting a spot in the college football playoff. They have Florida State left, at home, and that’s about the only team left that can realistically give them a run for their money. And FSU is not nearly the team they have been. This edition of Gamecock football fits nicely into their anemic schedule.

Projected final record: 4-8

With a special assist from @theDWBband.

For regular readers of this site, you probably haven’t been very regular lately since we haven’t been posting that much. So we reached out for a little help, and for the first time in our almost three-year history we have a guest post – please welcome Layla to the blog.

We gave her no parameters except to make the blog post somewhat Gamecock relevant, and she came back to us with the SEC as Game of Thrones. What’s funny about that is none of the three members of TRC know ANYTHING about Game of Thrones, but we were impressed with her writing, so we rolled with it. Below is what we feel is outstanding work…or we’ve possibly been duped and Game of Thrones is actually a buddy cop show on FX starring John Stamos and George Lopez. (If we’ve been duped please don’t let us know, for we’ve learned in our old age that ignorance truly is bliss.)

Enjoy!

I can’t even begin to say how excited I was when I was asked to write a guest blog post. It’s a bit embarrassing to admit, but I’m pretty sure “giggled like a school girl” would be an accurate way to describe it.

Of course, the joy quickly turned to fear when I realized I’d need to find something to write about. I mulled it over for a few days before researching current events related to South Carolina athletics. Eventually, I decided it was time to start writing so I sat down at the computer and… opened Pinterest, where I found a really funny picture of two small children dressed as hobbits in a little cage. I laughed at that for a little bit longer than I should have before deciding I should watch The Hobbit. Then I ended up watching Game of Thrones. And then I bought the books. I even contemplated going for a jog.

This is that awkward time between exciting sporting events for us. Football’s months away. Basketball’s over, as if it really ever started. Baseball’s still going, but just entering into the “exciting” part. There’s some small outrage at Clemson once again being in our regional, but we played this out last year. I’m sure there’s some other sports going on right now, but my interest in those is only enough to browse through the scores at the end of the weekend.

I think it was 700 pages into the first book of A Song of Ice and Fire that the idea hit me: If the big Game of Thrones houses were SEC teams, who would they be? (Note: Arkansas and Georgia are left out. Just because.)

House Lannister: Alabama Crimson Tide

It all makes sense. They’re powerful, wealthy, and have resources at their disposal that many other teams could only dream about. Where House Lannister owns most of the crown, Alabama is able to bench a running back that would be a talented starter in most other conference teams.

They have a proud history, and a prouder habit of telling everyone about it. They just neglect to mention the more shameful moments in their history, like the string of NCAA violations that follows them on the King’s Road. Or the Cersei-Jaime action going on.

Also led by a clever, but diminutive, man with notable hair.

House Greyjoy: Auburn Tigers

They see war as opportunity. When everything else around them is crumbling, they’ll knock it all down just to stand on the garbage heap and declare themselves king of the heap.  They’re certainly a force to be reckoned with, but we all still question the “iron price” they’ve paid in the past. Read: I think they’ve paid players as a way to boost their program. Cue “Son of a Preacher Man.”

House Baratheon: Florida Gators

Ever notice how “Florida Alligators” just sounds ridiculous? They recently had a good reign, though it was short-lived. They didn’t exactly build the house/program from the bottom up as they’ve always had some tie to the SEC Throne, but their quick rise to power was something to behold.

Even more entertaining was the rapid, downward spiral. Urban Meyer abandoned the burning city like King Joffrey leaving the Red Keep under siege because mummy called him over. It hurt their morale and left them floundering, until they learned to find a new leader and gather their wits about them. Florida has started to rebuild and recover the honor they once had, just as Stannis wants to take King’s Landing as what is rightfully his. Not to mention, he shares the same crazy-eyed stare as Will Muschamp. It scares me a little.

House Tyrell: South Carolina Gamecocks

Yes, I’m being a homer by doing this. Some recognize its beauty, and everyone else is wrong. House Tyrell has always been “so-so” when it comes to the big fight, winning when they need to but rarely getting any recognition for it. But now, after years of waiting for the right time and developing a formidable army, they’re ready to take center stage and prove something.

Plus, we’re pretty.

Wildlings: Missouri

Why are you here? You’re not even from this region. Go home.

House Baelish: Vanderbilt Commodores

Rarely taken seriously on the field, small in stature, and frequently feeling like the odd man out. But what they lack in battle prowess, they make up for in intelligence. Vandy may not be taking the football throne any time soon, but they’re not to be overlooked. They’ve had their victories (that we will never speak of again) and they can outsmart their opponents. You know, in the classroom. Step onto the field and it tends to end like Petyr’s duel with Brandon Stark: quickly, with the bigger guy running right over them and someone else begs for mercy.

House Stark: Texas A&M

They’re an old house, far out of everyone’s mind for the most part. Opinions about them vary, ranging from respected and honorable to treacherous and whiney. They’ve sought independence and a chance to prove themselves in their own region, just as Robb Stark was proclaimed King of the North. There were some battles won, but their future in the realm remains unclear. But I think we can at least agree they don’t suck.

House Frey: Those schools in Mississippi.

We really only care when you’re around.

House Tully: Kentucky Wildcats

I want to care, I really do. Now, I’m not saying they aren’t important! They’re quite formidable on the court and have certainly had their moments in history. There are even some people who are important to the overall narrative that are associated with House Tully. But I’m willing to bet that if you asked anyone about them, they’ll stare blankly into space for a few seconds before they even realize what you’re talking about.

House Arryn: Tennessee Volunteers

While never as big as Baratheon or Lannister, Tennessee was still formidable. Until they “married” a nutjob, produced a near worthless generation, and just died. Firing Fullmer and replacing him with Lane Kiffin may have seemed like a good idea at the time, but the same could be said for the Ford Pinto or that late night trip to Taco Bell. Kiffin even had a successful season!

But when he left, it was clear that it would take Tennessee generations to undo the damage. They may have the tools needed, but it just seems like too much of a mess to even attempt to bring it all together. Instead, we’ve all enjoyed watching them flounder in their incompetencies in their mountain fortress.

House Targeryan: LSU Tigers

LSU has a long history of domination, often by completely decimating their opponents. It could be my imagination, but it seems the teams they play are suddenly struck by the “injury bug” each week. They certainly have a fearsome and troubled history, but none can deny the impact it’s had. Where House Targeryan has their own madman, LSU has a coach that eats turf like a grazing cow.

Then there’s that awkward backstabbing incident by the man sworn to protect the integrity of their program. Oddly enough, that same man is now with Alabama the same way the Kingslayer was with House Lannister.

e s p n

oh your

piece about

dabo

where he slept with

his mom

sent alarums through

my very soul

(for the uninitiated, based loosely on the poem, The Red Wheel Barrow)

Because we’re so busy and not very bright, we didn’t really prepare anything special for one of the biggest games of the year.  So at the last minute we decided to interview a true UGA insider.  We’re talking, like, sleeping with the enemy type stuff.

We’re talking Tbone’s WIFE.  That’s right, our very own Tbone is married to a UGA grad.  So, as a benefit, we get the inside scoop on the Bulldogs, their shaky coaching situation, and even the uniforms they wore last week.

Well, at least we thought we were getting the inside scoop. Instead, we just walked away feeling bad about ourselves.  And it went a little something like this…

TO: TRC

FROM: GMAN

SUBJECT: SCRIMMAGE REPORT

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION:  EYES ONLY

As you have probably already seen, a report has surfaced that alleges there was good reason for Stephen Garcia’s three-interception performance during the December 31 Chick-fil-a Bowl. The late night scene in Garcia’s Atlanta hotel room apparently involved heavy drinking, and as many as FIVE women, two of whom may or may not have been clothed. We here at TRC are yet to solidify our public response, so here is where we are on the discussion at present:

Buck says – POINT – If the allegations are anywhere close to being true, the third strike for #5 just crossed the plate. Eric Hyman and Steve Spurrier need to stand together and send the message that this type of behavior will not be tolerated – AGAIN – and dismiss Garcia from the team. Running on a treadmill with a hangover is not punishment enough.

You are all familiar with the rocky path that has been the career of Stephen Garcia – the vandalism and underage drinking that led to arrests. How much is too much? After what he has been through, how could he make the conscious decision to do something like this before one of the most important games in recent memory? At what point do you stop waiting for someone to mature?

The upcoming football season has the potential to be the greatest in school history, but Stephen Garcia should not be a part of it. One football player should not be allowed to sully the good name of our beloved university the way he has done. Adios, Mr. Garcia.

Tbone says – COUNTERPOINT�- Let’s see, a starting quarterback for an SEC team is caught in a hotel room in the ATL with a bottle of booze and five women (two of which were reportedly naked). So, what’s wrong with this picture? I’ll tell you what’s wrong – what’s wrong is the three other women.

They were in the hotel room with Stephen Achilles Garcia for cryin’ out loud. He was in the hotel room because he just led his team to a 9-win season in the toughest conference in organized sport. The boy earned a little celebratory revelry.

What’s that? Such a debache is inappropriate on the eve of a Big Game, you say? I would be the first to agree with you-if it were a Big Game. No one is alleging that Garcia was with the “Marriott Five”on the eve of the SEC Championship. That would be different, and would betray a complete lack of focus and commitment from our leader.

But the Chicken Nugget Bowl? Who cares. Only two things can happen in the Chicken Nugget Bowl, and both of them are bad. You could lose the game, which counts on your final record I guess, but even worse, you could actually win the thing, and thereby run the risk of seeing a victory over an also-ran team from an also-ran conference as evidence of SEC-level superiority.

Hubris like that will get you beat. But a few girls and a bucket of barley-pops on the eve of kickoff shows you aren’t about to give in to that sort of hype. Good on you, Achilles.

Buck says – POINT– Seriously? Not a big game? We have won ten games once in our history. Getting to that tenth win on New Year’s Eve would have put Garcia in rarified air that neither Todd Ellis nor Steve Taneyhill even sniffed.  So it wasn’t a BCS game, but it was a big game for USC and for our program.  He could’ve waited one more day to get hammered and skank it up.

Tbone says – COUNTERPOINT�- I’ve got news for you: Garcia was up in the thin air the minute the clock hit triple zeros in the ‘Bama game. If not then, then he soared up above the others about the time the Gatorade hit the HBC in the Swamp. He’s probably going to finish behind Todd in career passing stats, but he’s gonna have championship hardware in our trophy case forever.  For that fact alone Garcia, warts and all, is a net gain for SC.

Oh, and I’ve got other news for you:  If five women knocked on your hotel room door (and you were SINGLE, of course) with a bunch of booze and stars in their eyes . . . well, I think we all know what we would all do.

Buck says – POINT�- First of all, if five women knocked on your door with a bunch of booze and stars in their eyes, you’d need to tell them they have the wrong room and point them to the Buckster’s suite.  And at that point I’d pass out rain checks for the following evening after my 300-yard, 4 TD performance.  Then we’d have a party.  That’s why I’m the conscience of this blog, because I’m a big picture guy and I want more “hardware” than an SEC East trophy in a down year.

Tbone says – COUNTERPOINT – The “Buckster Suite”?  Is that a pet name you’ve given to the all-you-can-eat buffet at Ryan’s?  Might wanna mix in a salad every now and then, big guy.  And SEC East was in a “down year?”  You wanna know why this was a “down year” for the East? ‘Cause Achilles had his way with the three big boys (Uga, UT, & FL) before he did the same with those ladies.  You’re just jealous because he’s got tiger blood and Adonis DNA, while you’ve stuck with possum blood and the genes of Cletus the Slack-Jawed-Yokel.

Buck says – POINT– That’s awfully tough talk from a girl-armed hillbilly lawyer that thinks an Oklahoma drill is a dress rehearsal for a musical.  Go knit another sweater, d-bag.

Tbone says – COUNTERPOINT – We’re not talking about an Oklahoma drill – we are talking about an Atlanta drill (or two).� And I’m not “girl-armed”; I’m lithe. No risk of you ever being described that way, lard-ass.

TRC will be live from Atlanta this weekend for the SEC Championship festivities.� Buck and T-bone will be attending the SEC Coaches Luncheon on Friday at noon, and Buck and Mrs. Buck will be in the Dome for the title game on Saturday.�

Be sure to follow us on Twitter – @rubrchickens – see link on the right side of this page – for Cam Newton-free tweets and photos.� (If you’re not on Twitter, then first of all, what the heck is wrong with you, and second of all, it’s really easy to get plugged in.)� We hope to give you a good feel for what the weekend is like if you can’t be here in person.�

And, of course, we’ll have blog updates shortly after the game and throughout the next week.