Well, I was anxiously awaiting my 1987-88 University of South Carolina pocket schedule. That’s right, college football was so stable back in those days we could print TWO years at one time without fear of Miami of Florida jumping to the Big 8 Conference or North Carolina backing out on their home and home obligation.
It was a glorious time, that summer before my Freshman year. How was I able to start my college career at nine years old you may ask? Well, that’s a story for another time my friends. For now, let’s just enjoy looking at those loose-fitting non-space-age all-cotton uniforms and pray for those linemen in the picture who are currently paying for all that steroid abuse from back in the day.
In a new feature here on TRC, we will occasionally look at the surprising backgrounds of, and lesser-known facts about, various members of the 2012 football squad. We will arrange our list (at least initially) by wingspan, which means we will begin with Devin Taylor, #98 Senior DE from Beaufort, South Carolina.
Taylor (real name SQUAK SQUAWKA SISQUAK), was sired by the only extant pair of prehistoric terydactdyls still living.
He was dropped from the sky into the Taylor home in rural Beaufort while still a precocious 5 foot tall toddler. The circumstances of his parentage and delivery are shrouded in mystery, even by those closest too him, but are assumed traumatic as he refused to speak a word throughout his childhood. This led to his current nickname, “Don’t Say Nothing,” because he did (or more correctly didn’t do) exactly that.
The unassuming Mrs. Taylor struggled with her young son, and only found some measure of peace when she discovered, quite by accident, that Devin was deathly afraid of clowns. From that point forward, her preferred method of discipline was to place an inflatable punching bag clown in his room when he proved unruly. This approach, certainly not one that would be favored by Dr. Spock, still troubles Devin, as his violent reaction to this relatively benign row of similarly shaped red foam bags will demonstrate.
Devin’s childhood bully was one Quintin Bartholomew, who took advantage of his older age and access to military grade explosives to torment the young Taylor. To this day, anyone using any form of Mr. Bartholomew’s initials faces quick retribution for those past misdeeds. It should also be noted that Quintin, a talkative boy, was sometimes called “Twitter.” Any individuals carrying those initials that might use a certain social media platform should consider themselves warned.
The first words ever uttered by Taylor are actually captured on film, but are drowned out in this ESPN footage (see the 1:30 mark) by the screaming of 85,000 voices. During his first collegiate snap, and mindful of his mother’s advice to “be nice,” young Devin looked at an opposing running back from the Wolfpack of NC State and quietly said “hey, man,” whereupon the running back became so frightened that he dropped the football before even being touched.
His hobbies include fishing and go-cart racing. By fishing he means jumping into the water and chewing on the nearest shark until it submits, and by go-cart racing he means literally that: he races the go-carts. From that same video you will note that he apparently digs stranded jeeps out of mud pits with his bare hands.
If there is a knock on Taylor, it is that he is not the most emotional player on the football field. This is not a fair critique, however, as those that know Devin best will tell you that his emotions fled from him in a panic the very first time he stubbed his toe.
Ladies and Gentlemen, we give you #98, one of your Fighting Gamecocks, Mr. Devin Taylor:
The contents of the Freeh Report on Penn State have me pretty fired up. The fact that the future state of the PSU football program is even being discussed at this point in time sickens me.
Penn St. should not wait around to see if the NCAA determines it has jurisdiction and, if so, what penalties it would impose. Those pondering whether or not the NCAA can impose the death penalty or other penalties against the PSU football program are missing the much larger point, which is the fact that the transgressions committed by Sandusky and the powers who oversaw the football program concern matters much more important than college football and the rules that govern it.
Football is a game that we enjoy watching. Child rape and the enabling of child rape is an offense so egregious and so incredibly heinous that it offends humanity itself. To show that it understands that the preservation of its football program and the legacy of a coach pale in comparison to the duty of mankind to protect its children from horrific monsters, PSU should voluntarily, and immediately, shut the football program down for one season.
Such an action would show the public at large that PSU comprehends the enormity of the failures of its institution, and that it is willing to self-administer a sanction that symbolically demonstrates a sacrifice of the very thing the cover up was attempting to preserve.
After all, Penn St. is an institution of higher learning. Shouldn’t an institution of higher learning faced with a crisis of this magnitude go to every length possible, even to extraordinary ones if necessary, to preserve its integrity, and its commitment to the population at large? At this somber time, football should be the very least of the concerns of the people at Penn St. To put what matters in perspective, PSU should take a self-imposed hiatus from football.
Anything less tells the world that they still don’t understand.
Even the most casual readers of this space are familiar with TRC’s ambivalence toward currentformer still current SC Athletic Director Eric Hyman. Despite gains in multiple areas of our athletics program, there was always something about the man that caused us to withhold our praise and cast a certain amount of scorn.
Never comfortable in our hat
Perhaps it was an overriding feeling that Hyman was not really one of us, that he put the wants and needs of the Gamecock faithful behind the demands of his own professional advancement. This apparent secondary emphasis came through in many of his early statements about Carolina (the fact that you just asked which ‘Carolina’ I meant proves my point, and betrays that the Gamecocks were only a tertiary concern, at best).
As his tenure drew on, we were similarly disappointed to watch him fumble important issues, such as immediate and long-term conference football scheduling (as viewed in comparison to our crafty friends to the west, the Georgia Bulldogs) and the assignment of permanent football cross division opponents (USC/TAMU is a horrible idea, but let’s save that for another day). Hyman always seemed out of his league in conference-level decision making, and that only served to underscore our perception that we were only temporarily important to him.
To put it another way: does it really matter how long it will be before UNC-Chapel Hill give us that return home football game we’ve been owed? Nope, ‘cause Hyman wouldn’t be around to see it anyway, right?
Which brings us up to yesterday’s radio interview with SC Radio Network’s Phil Kornblut. In the interview, Hyman weighed in on our prospective AD search, and even hinted strongly that fan favorite Ray Tanner would not be qualified for the job. Many tweeters and message board denizens collectively spilled piles of Cheetos on parent’s basement floors over his audacity at commenting on the search, much less opining over a top candidate’s strengths and weaknesses.
My own reaction was initially, and strongly, negative. I carefully put down my own bag of Cheetos and launched into Mr. Hyman via our TRC twitter feed. I even complained to my wife about it as we were brushing our teeth before turning in for the night (Mrs. Tbone was nonplussed by my outrage, by the way, and only yawned in response).
However, in listening to the interview again today I’ve developed a more moderate, albeit more strongly held, opinion:
Hyman accidentally let the cat out of the bag: AD Ray Tanner is already a done deal.
Why else would a grown man discuss another grown man’s abilities and challenges in such an open way? Why would he comment on the differences between the AD job and a head coaching job? It’s no secret that the two men have disagreed during their common tenure, but would he take a parting shot at arguably the greatest head coach in Gamecock history?
I suggest to you that even Hyman is not is that small.
What he told Kornblut sounded like something he had said a time or two before. Perhaps to the Trustees, perhaps to Tanner himself. The AD job is different, you will need strong people around you, the learning curve will be steep, etc. all sounds like job advice, and not candidate selection tips.
And perhaps most telling of all, Hyman indicated that a “national search” was always his philosophy as it served to “validate” an internal hire.
In other words, you conduct the national search to reassure everyone that the best person got the job, when you knew all along that the best person was already in an office down the hall.
Hate Hyman all you want (we’ll stand with you all the way) but I think he just bumbled his way to some big news.
Surprised there hasn’t been more excitement about tonight’s SEC East football showdown between the Gamecocks and the Bulldogs of Uga. The game is set to be nationally televised beginning at 7:00 pm on ESPNU. Check your local listings.
As for predictions, this game is always a slugfest, but seems to follow a biannual rhythm of low scoring contests at the Brice, and shootouts in Athens. I’m gonna predict another Athens high scoring affair.
Something tells me that Big Melvin is gonna be primed for a stellar game, and I would look for at least one trick play from the HBC in the kicking game.
In the end, I think #21 takes over down the stretch, and the Gamecock defense hold on to the win.
As the Eric Hyman era officially comes to a close this month, the search has commenced for someone to follow perhaps the best Athletic Director in South Carolina history. While people with ties to USC like Dan Radakovich (GT), Brad Edwards (Newberry), and Chris Massaro (MTSU) have been mentioned, the primary attention has turned to head baseball coach Ray Tanner.
My question is – why?
Now before you jump me, I’m not saying Tanner couldn’t do a fantastic job. He may very well become an outstanding AD someday. But I think it’s a reasonable question to ask.
What qualifies Ray Tanner to be the next AD at South Carolina? What I’ve heard from the gallery is:
He has run our baseball program for 16 years and turned it into the best in the country. OK.
He oversaw every aspect of the building of Carolina Stadium, perhaps the best collegiate baseball facility in the nation. OK.
He was an Associate AD at North Carolina State before coming to South Carolina. OK.
He has expressed interest in being an AD someday. Um, not a qualifier, but OK.
He…um…oversaw every aspect… You already said that.
Honestly, I hope he does get the job, I really do. But the fact most people are speaking of it as a foregone conclusion baffles me. There are people out there with much better resumes as actual Athletic Directors than Ray Tanner that would kill for this job.
Now, Tanner has done an immeasurable amount of good not only for our baseball program, but for our entire athletic department. That certainly counts for a lot. If he really wants this job, he should get serious consideration (which it appears he is).
This is a hire that cannot be screwed up, people. For whatever faults he may have had, Eric Hyman left us in much better shape than he found us, and we need that momentum to continue.
Will Ray Tanner make a great Athletic Director? I don’t know, but I have a feeling we’re about to find out.
Sweeping on…
The Yes Man.We’ve given Eric Hyman quite a bit of guff in this blog space before, but the fact is the guy did a heck of a lot to improve our Athletic Department. Sure, he let his alma mater (UNC) off the hook a couple of times on the gridiron. And more than a few old-timer pinchpennies were bent out of shape when they finally had to pay more for their football tickets after 50 years. But the fact is all that was long overdue, and has led to an impressive master building plan that will make all our facilities among the best in the country.
And the Next Next Herschel Walker is…Keith Marshall! Did anyone NOT see this coming for Isaiah Crowell? Well, maybe you didn’t see scratched off serial numbers on a handgun, that’s pretty serious business. I would’ve put my money on weed, of which the entire car apparently reeked, but there was no evidence and therefore no additional charges. Look for Mr. Crowell to surface at Jacksonville State if he doesn’t get any substantial jail time.
The Dogpile – A familiar sight the last three years.
For the past couple of days I’ve been struggling to come up with a post about the baseball team and what they have done. Many excellent writers have written about the team and its mindboggling accomplishments: back-to-back National Championships, three CWS Finals appearances in a row, the NCAA winning streak, the utter dominance of CTU on the diamond, etc. Instead of a continued rehashing of all of the feats of the past three seasons (and the entire Ray Tanner era for that matter), I thought I would take this opportunity to reflect on the bigger picture:
What really happened here? What did we witness?
Well, Gamecock fans, I am here to tell you that we witnessed (and are witnessing) a dynasty unlike anything we have ever seen as a fan base. We are a program that has emerged from a decent history in baseball to become the unquestioned top program in the sport.
I tried to come up with some comparisons of teams who became the best and were not a traditional powerhouse: We are the equivalent of LSU’s baseball program in the 90s (trust me, it’s harder now than it was then). We are the baseball equivalent of Miami football in the 80s (stay with me, I’m talking new dynasties-otherwise, we have nothing in common with them). We are the basketball equivalent of UConn basketball (both men and women, to a certain extent).
Make no mistake, this is extremely rare air for us. Aside from a very brief period in the 70s when the basketball team challenged the big boys, we’ve never even approached this level of excellence at anything. Now, our baseball program is the simply the best in the country, and I challenge anyone to make a plausible argument otherwise (yes, Arizona, you won and deserved it, but we are talking about the overall program for a moment).
Soak it up folks. This is what it feels like. We’ve always wondered what it would be like to be on top, to have everyone else aspiring to be like us. Sure, I know it’s baseball and not football (or even basketball). You know what I say to that? So what. Our fan base has long hungered for a big winner. Now we have one. And dag blastit, we deserve this.
Coach Tanner and the players have been profusely thanked and honored and they too deserve all the praise they are getting. We at TRC join in. Our only regret is that we didn’t get to dogpile.
Other stuff:
I blame Aaron Fitt. A dynasty, yes, but we did not get to this point by beating up the opposition with overwhelming talent. Instead, the program became the best by being the best at the little things: pitching and defense. We also benefitted from being the underdog. I really think there’s something to the underdog thing.
While I like Aaron Fitt and Baseball American a whole bunch, things were best for us when Aaron and his cohorts were picking us to lose to UCLA, to Florida, to UConn, and others. Over the past few years I can’t remember those guys ever picking us to win a big game. That changed when Fitt and John Manuel did their finals preview podcast last week. While Manual held true form and picked the more “talented” Arizona team, Fitt succumbed to the allure of the gritty Gamecocks and actually picked us to win.
So, I blame Aaron Fitt for the loss. It’s clearly his fault for upsetting the underdog karma.
The Shirt. It didn’t always work, but it was uncanny how often my old South Carolina Baseball shirt has proven to make a difference. Purchased at the Regionals or Super Regionals in 2002 (I think Buck was with me, but I’m not entirely sure), The Shirt has seen better days. It’s faded and rotten around the collar. Worn as an undershirt during important games (both Alabama wins come to mind), The Shirt has consistently produced for the Gamecocks.
The Shirt
At a football tailgate last year I had the luck of running into Coach Tanner. Less than fully sober and thinking that Ray surely wanted to hear about The Shirt and its vast powers, I proceeded to give him a viewing, holes and all. While I thought it was pretty cool, Ray told me not to wash it but sort of looked at me like I was crazy.
This post season I left The Shirt off until needed. Put on right before the 5th inning against Florida, The Shirt produced 5 runs. Put on in the 7th inning against Arizona in the final game, The Shirt produced the tying run. Coupled with my ritual of watching TV when we hit and listening to the radio when we pitch and play defense (which worked like a champ the last two years), I thought The Shirt would get it done once again.
Alas it wasn’t to be. While The Shirt is undoubtedly the most powerful good luck charm out there besides the Avatar Spirit Stick, we at TRC would like to know what other items or rituals are out there that seemingly cause the Gamecocks to win.
Shortly after South Carolina’s Super Regional win to earn its third straight trip to the College World Series in Omaha, I wrote the following:
Michael Roth, Matt Price, Evan Marzilli, and Christian Walker have all been indispensable parts of the two National Championship teams and the current CWS team. And as those four threw their last pitches and took their last swings at Carolina Stadium, they received well-deserved standing ovations and one absolutely necessary curtain call for Roth.
Win or lose in Omaha over the next two weeks, we know there will be a statue someday for the architect of all this success, Ray Tanner.
But as we watched 29, 22, 31 and 13 participate in one final dogpile in Columbia, it got me to thinking – do they deserve more?
I’m not talking about retiring numbers, I don’t really believe in that practice except in extraordinary circumstances (see Steve Wadiak and George Rogers).
But how about a mural? What better way to honor the cornerstones of our two (and maybe three) time National Champions by permanently putting their faces at the entrance to Carolina Stadium?
Or even better, put their faces on the outfield walls. Even if you just put them up for the next 2-3 years, the fans would have a reminder of the monumental accomplishments of these guys. Plus, if you want to intimidate the competition, the steely eyed stare of Matt Price, even in mural form, couldn’t hurt.
A standing ovation and a place in the historical record is nice, but these four deserve more. They have helped make South Carolina the current gold standard in college baseball, and put us historically in the conversation with legendary programs Southern California, Texas and LSU.
They are special players, and should be remembered in a special way.
Now, today, after a tough loss to an excellent Arizona team ended the dreams of the third straight national title, I feel more strongly about this than ever.
We have heard the amazing stats and numbers over the course of the last two weeks. There are multiple records our boys set, many of which may never be broken. And the four guys mentioned above were major contributors to what is easily the greatest run of any Gamecock team in history.
Email associate AD Charles Waddell at charlesw@sc.edu if you think Roth, Price, Walker and Marzilli deserve a permanent place at Carolina Stadium. I sure do.
Taylor (real name SQUAK SQUAWKA SISQUAK), was sired by the only extant pair of prehistoric terydactdyls still living.
The Rubber Chickens Blog 
