When I checked out the conversation on Facebook this morning, I ran across a post from one of my Gamecock buddies that got my attention. As I clicked his Post and read a little my first thought was, “Why is The Wall Street Journal writing about the unimpressive history of South Carolina college football???” Reading further, my next thought was, “Well…we knew most of this, but dang if this isn’t interesting.”
As a South Carolinian it’s an interesting article that on the surface, is a slap in the face. Deeper reading however illustrates that it’s more than a fun poking article, as it offers true dilemmas and potential solutions.
It’s obvious there’s a passion for college football in our state. In a reverse kind of way, it can almost be deemed as painfully obvious. This said, the article illustrates there’s more to a successful program than fan support, and ‘X’s & O’s.
According to The Journal, the way to win is through an exponential addition to our population or a dramatic improvement to our education system. Ooof. Yes, the latter can somehow be achieved, but reality says that it won’t produce a winner soon. This said, in the short term USC and Clemson are just going to have to out recruit the competition. When this is achieved, South Carolinians are just going to have to depend on the respective coaching staffs to take the programs to the next level.
Yes, the WSJ reveals an inconvenient truth to millions of readers. Even so, I have great memories of attending Clemson games and of my 37 years, four of the best ones were at the University of South Carolina.
Perhaps in some small way this ‘calling out’ will make some small difference. Time will tell but in the meantime, good luck to Clemson and… GO COCKS!!!
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