The Tiger

Issue date: 11/21/08 Section: Sports

Daniel Taylor
Sports Editor
The Tiger

Tiger Nation has had little to roar about this season. The drubbing by now No. 1 Alabama in the season opener killed any anticipation for a successful season. Following the devastating loss, Clemson limped through their ACC schedule. The hiring of Dabo Swinney rejuvenated the Tigers enough to gain a rare victory over Boston College, but there remains a gloom in the 2008 season, as they continue to fight for a winning record.

However, dejected Tiger fans do not need to look far to realize our situation could be worse. Just over two hours away in our state capital, one can observe how pitiful a football team can be. These not-so-lovable losers of the college football world are the South Carolina Gamecocks. If Clemson fans ever feel down about their team, just think of those poor South Carolina students.

The last time USC undergrads witnessed back-to-back wins over their hated Tigers was 1969 and 1970. Unfortunately, most Americans were too jacked up about the recent moon landing to really notice. Even most home games in the rivalry are heartbreakers for the Gamecocks, as Clemson has won 10 of the last 11 games in Williams-Bryce Stadium. The Battle of the Palmetto State almost never ends well for Carolina students. On the other hand, the Clemson graduates of 1983, 1991, 2000 and 2005 can brag that they never lost to South Carolina in their college careers.

Even outside of the series with Clemson, South Carolina has nothing to hang their hat on. Prior to this season, their all-time record stood at 521-520 - just one game above .500. For a fanbase as large as South Carolina, this winning percentage is pathetic. Among schools that regularly have 80,000 people at home games, South Carolina has the worst record in the country. Not one school with at least 60,000 per game attendance has a losing record; two years ago, USC was the only one. The largest fan bases that have similar all-time records to the Gamecocks are Iowa State and Kansas State. However, their attendance numbers are usually well under 50,000.

What makes Carolina's situation even more pitiful - I can't think of a good reason USC is that bad historically. Our state produces some great high school athletes. The Gamecocks play in the most attractive football conference in the land and have a great gameday atmosphere. Everything on paper says they should be an annual football powerhouse. The problem hasn't even been the coaches.

Over the years, South Carolina has had some of the best coaches in the land - that is, before they lead the Gamecocks. Three USC coaches (Paul Dietzel, Lou Holtz and Steve Spurrier) won national championships before coming to South Carolina. However, this trio of national title holders at USC combined for zero 10-win seasons, one conference championship, and a 6-12 record versus Clemson. Despite making history at other schools, these top-caliber coaches ruined their careers the moment they set foot in Columbia.

Thank goodness John Heisman, Bear Bryant and Tom Osborne never coached at South Carolina. College football would be without so much of its lore and pageantry.

When USC adds to their long history of losing to Clemson, I urge Tiger fans to resist the urge to kick the Gamecocks when they are down. When they use names like "rednecks" and "Cow College," they are simply acknowledging our century of dominance by resorting to insults instead of records. Have comfort in the fact that even if Clemson doesn't make a bowl game, at least it didn't take us 102 seasons to win our first one.

Michael Aguilar
Sports Editor
The Daily Gamecock

I have waited through four years and just as many different sports editors at The Daily Gamecock to get my chance to say my piece. Every year The Daily Gamecock and The Tiger exchange columns for a war of words before Carolina/Clemson and now it's my turn to speak.

It reminds me of an experience that my buddy Hace had. Hace attends the University of Georgia but grew up a fan of Ole Miss. Hace hated Tommy Tuberville because of the way Tuberville handled leaving the Rebels in 1998 for their SEC West rivals the Auburn Tigers.

Hace despised a lot about the way that Tuberville carried himself and finally, when Tuberville was patrolling the sidelines at Sanford Stadium, my friend got his chance to tell the object of his hatred how he truly felt.

He waved his arms and shouted, "Tommy! Tommy Tuberville!" Finally, Tuberville turned and looked. Tuberville stared him right in the eyes. My friend was blown away; it was his moment, his one chance to say everything that had boiled inside him for seven years.

For some unknown reason with the weight of lifetime fandom on his shoulders, all that he could muster while staring down the man who had left him so many years ago was

"I can't stand you!"

Sure, I could write a column about the many reasons I have to hate Clemson University.

I could talk about Charlie Whitehurst and how he quarterbacked for my high school's rival. I could talk about how my hatred for Whitehurst brewed in the suburbs of Atlanta before boiling over in Columbia.

I could talk all about the plain hideous nature of everything Clemson, from orange overalls to orange uniforms to orange cars to orange buildings. Nothing looks good in orange. Not to mention all the purple uniforms that make the Tigers' traditional run down the hill look less like a football

entrance and more like a gay pride parade. Not that there's anything wrong with a gay pride parade compared to football, it's just that never shall the twain meet.

Speaking of sheer ugliness. I could talk about anything from the quality of Clemson girls (Is that another cow? Or a Clemson co-ed? Who can know?) to the ugliness of Clemson spirit. Do I need to bring up Yusef Kelly? What about the fact that the Clemson/Carolina game was suspended for seven years after Carolina's first victory because Clemson cadets attempted to take over USC by force? Talk about sore losers.

Clemson cannot even treat its own employees with some civility.

All Clemson faculty and staff were asked to take an unpaid five-day vacation because of economic hard times. "We don't want to pay you, but we also don't want you to have a good reason to go out and find a better job either. So just have this 'vacation.'" Really? Classy.

Then of course I could just hate on Clemson because when you boil it all down, that pitiful university in the Upstate isn't really anything other than the pure embodiment of every negative stereotype the rest of the nation has about this beautiful state.

I could just say that Carolina fans have hated Clemson for more than 100 years, so why stop now?

However, now that the moment is finally here and it's my chance to say whatever I want to the Clemson world, I can really only think of one thing. So here is my message to everything Clemson, to every student, fan, professor, dean, president, booster, alumni, custodian and athlete, I say only this.

I just can't stand you.

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