re: Never Been A More Depressing Time To Be A Gamecock

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I wake up tomorrow and life is still awesome

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I with you. I used to get worked up over Gamecock sports but I haven't really in the past few years.

It just isn't worth getting invested in.

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You guys know what? It's okay though, because we do it the right way or no way at all.

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That’s what confuses me

We have Muschamp.
He’s coached under a lot of coaches with title winning teams, Saban one of them.
Why hasn’t he adopted their philosophy already?
Or is it not him calling the shots? Maybe it is and that’s why he was such a failure at Florida

On cheating to go the extra mile

Cheating is not the problem in the long term if the NCAA were fair and balanced. The problem is they are not. Indiana basketball was wrecked by the NCAA because their coach sent too many texts. North Carolina had one of the worst cheating scandals in the history of the NCAA yet they did not even get a slap on the wrist. Herein lies the issue if SC went that route. Enough ACC schools are close enough to Columbia to wreck the Cocks if they were given the opportunity.

This is not helped by the ESPN help in swinging power from the SEC to the SEC because many in front of the camera and more behind it are alumni of ACC schools than SEC and using an ACC footprint for the SECN when they built the LHN studios in austin makes me feel this is more than just a coincidence. In the last major round of realignment the ACC was all but dead and the B12 was #2. Just over 5 years later the B12 has cratered and the ACC has become a football conference.

Just as ESPN flipping a committed Maya Moore from Tennessee to Connecticut altered the balance of WBB, so now ESPN is leveraging up the ACC to run at the SEC. While the SECN may be a money machine we forget it is not owned by the SEC nor worked by the SEC so it is nothing more than a money stream to the mouse. ESPN's early roots and staff are heavily laden with ACC folks so it is only natural that as growth happened, the ACC had a more powerful ally.

SEC alumni owned the marketing company (Alabama) and the media company (Kentucky) that were early leaders in their industries. Now they are owned by private equity companies on the east coast and their offices have been moved from their respective states and footprints. While this may not be seen or reported in the daily twitter feeds it is a very real issue as local interests are supplanted by folks running the show who have never been inside the borders of an actual SEC state and think we are the parody we are portrayed in the mainstream.

ESPN pumps Paul Feinbaum because it makes them money to do so even if it sets a less flattering view of our neighbors across the south. ESPN does not care because that is what folks in Ohio and Michigan want to believe and that means higher ratings and higher advertising revenue. The cycle will continue as long as we let them destroy our bonds between each other. Frankly, I am sickened by all those attacking Alabama and praising Clemson from inside our own borders. I am fine with LSU and Auburn attacking Alabama when they play each other but not when they are playing outside our borders.




Which takes me to Lonnie's point.....

A strong Clemson takes power from our borders and moves it away from us. A strong Alabama keeps the power somewhere inside our borders. You can hate a fellow conference member for beating you but when you break line and allow the outsiders in, your empire is compromised. Rome fell to the barbarians but had not battles for power between Romans for 50 to 100 year prior occurred, the walls would not have been breached by outsiders latter.

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Which takes me to Lonnie's point.....

A strong Clemson takes power from our borders and moves it away from us. A strong Alabama keeps the power somewhere inside our borders. You can hate a fellow conference member for beating you but when you break line and allow the outsiders in, your empire is compromised. Rome fell to the barbarians but had not battles for power between Romans for 50 to 100 year prior occurred, the walls would not have been breached by outsiders latter.

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Yea!
We couldn't even chant SEC last night!

Borders alone, It's our Rival. We can't have that happen.
I don't care if it was Penn State or Baylor playing them last night, we don't pull for our Rival and we can't have them win.
The state may not be that talented but it hurts us for in state recruits

That said It's just a game, but rewind this to 21 year old me and I'm blackout drunk in rage. This morning well rested and just another day.

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A strong Clemson takes power from our borders and moves it away from us. A strong Alabama keeps the power somewhere inside our borders. You can hate a fellow conference member for beating you but when you break line and allow the outsiders in, your empire is compromised. Rome fell to the barbarians but had not battles for power between Romans for 50 to 100 year prior occurred, the walls would not have been breached by outsiders latter.

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I hear you, but isn't Clemson in our borders as well? Geographically, SC and Clemson are in the same state. We play them every year with a long history.

Regardless of who's strong and who's not, our path is long and difficult. To get there we'd have to survive a difficult conference schedule and a difficult championship game. Now add in a strong Clemson. But let me ask you this. If you were trying to make the playoff's and had to take a loss, which one 100% knocks you out, A loss to a top 1-2-3 team in Clemson or a loss in the SECCG? The answer is the SECCG.

None of this makes any of it any easier. But just something to ponder.

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I hear you, but isn't Clemson in our borders as well? Geographically, SC and Clemson are in the same state. We play them every year with a long history.

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He's talking about "our" borders as in the SEC.

He's upset Clemson won because it's taking away the SECs Dominance

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He's talking about "our" borders as in the SEC.

He's upset Clemson won because it's taking away the SECs Dominance

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I understand.

But in order for the SEC to be the best league, it can't be a one team league (which it was this year.) It has to be good from top to bottom. That can't happen when Alabama wins everything every year.

And the same thing can be said about the ACC.

I'm pretty numb to it, honestly. I just knew after our bowl game that Clemson was going to win it all. Had that feeling in the air.

It sucks but there is nothing we can do, aside from not give our money to the school until they grow some fricking balls and get rid of deadweight and bring in people who actually want to win by any means necessary. Even then, who knows if they'd listen.

No point in investing energy into our AD for a long time, fellas. Our teams are going nowhere. I'd suggest picking up learning a new language in your free time or something like that.

Depends on the priorities of the new president, I'd guess. If they're a business-oriented individual, odds are they'll prioritize ensuring a successful AD to bring in millions of dollars for the school. Have to hope that's who we replace Pastides with.

However, if they're more focused on improving USC's academic rankings and grant reception, they may just reorganize the budget to attract new professors and programs, and let the AD carry on as is.

Regardless, unless the new president is someone who is already a USC insider and recognizes what needs to be done, I can't see any drastic changes to the AD for a while. Tanner is safe for the foreseeable future.

Events like this are milestone events that define people’s lives. And Clemson fans are the epitome of that. It is bigger to them than their wedding day, birth of a child, etc. So yes, they are going to talk major shite. You can bet on that.

I wish and hope we will cut the dead weight and take a win at all costs mentality, but ultimately, I won’t let it affect my quality of life. Too much other stuff that brings equal or more happiness.