A champ is a champ
posted by David Cloninger, 3/08/2009 07:50:00 PM
Don't let anybody stop you."
-------------- THE MISFITS
There’s been some snide discussions going around that since South Carolina’s SEC East co-championship has to be shared, it doesn’t mean as much.
Once again, some have done too much completely unnecessary thinking about a rather simple affair.
At least nobody’s jersey had to be (un)retired this time.
The Gamecocks are SEC East champions. So is Tennessee. They will each get a trophy and they can each hang a banner if they wish.
Nowhere on either of those will the prefix “co” appear. It’ll just say “champion.”
Guy I spoke to on the way home from Athens said, “Well, Kentucky wouldn’t honor any co-champion.”
I dunno. Seems to me Kentucky would be quick to honor anything it could this season.
But it did make me think. I checked back through the books and found several instances where there were ties in the league standings. One particular case was in 1999-2000, when Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee and LSU each finished 12-4.
Each was named the regular-season champion. The first three were each named SEC East champions. If I recall, every one of those schools had the corresponding banner up in their arenas and not one of them said “co-champions.”
Plus, this isn’t Kentucky. They’ve got so many trophies that they stick them in some back room at Rupp (along with the rest of those un-mailed recruiting “letters”). Big deal if they choose to ignore some of them.
Sorry, Jethro, you’re wrong. Much like when you e-mailed me to tell me my SEC tournament scenarios weren’t correct because I had not figured in the coin flip – which is only an option after all of the other tiebreakers (which led me to put out the correct SEC tournament pairings before the league office did, thank you very much) are done.
The Gamecocks are division champions for only the second time in their SEC history. That’s not something to be brushed aside – that’s something to be celebrated.
I’m sure there will be a nice banner hanging at Colonial Life Arena next season proclaiming the title, as there should be. It’s not like the Gamecocks have a whole lot of other ones fighting for room.
And if Tennessee wants to play the card of, “Well, yeah, but we all know who won each head-to-head meeting,” reply with, “Well, if it was that important to you, why didn’t you win it outright when you had a chance?”
(Note to the Gamecocks: Each of you needs to send a thank-you note to Anthony Brock. That was the best shot to clinch fourth place I’ve ever seen.)
A co-champion is still a champion, and that’s all anybody’s going to remember 10 years from now when they walk into the CLA and see that banner. There might even be a few more around it by that time.
If they can avoid the coin flip.
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“If you want to reach the top,
Don't let anybody stop you."
-------------- THE MISFITS
There’s been some snide discussions going around that since South Carolina’s SEC East co-championship has to be shared, it doesn’t mean as much.
Once again, some have done too much completely unnecessary thinking about a rather simple affair.
At least nobody’s jersey had to be (un)retired this time.
The Gamecocks are SEC East champions. So is Tennessee. They will each get a trophy and they can each hang a banner if they wish.
Nowhere on either of those will the prefix “co” appear. It’ll just say “champion.”
Guy I spoke to on the way home from Athens said, “Well, Kentucky wouldn’t honor any co-champion.”
I dunno. Seems to me Kentucky would be quick to honor anything it could this season.
But it did make me think. I checked back through the books and found several instances where there were ties in the league standings. One particular case was in 1999-2000, when Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee and LSU each finished 12-4.
Each was named the regular-season champion. The first three were each named SEC East champions. If I recall, every one of those schools had the corresponding banner up in their arenas and not one of them said “co-champions.”
Plus, this isn’t Kentucky. They’ve got so many trophies that they stick them in some back room at Rupp (along with the rest of those un-mailed recruiting “letters”). Big deal if they choose to ignore some of them.
Sorry, Jethro, you’re wrong. Much like when you e-mailed me to tell me my SEC tournament scenarios weren’t correct because I had not figured in the coin flip – which is only an option after all of the other tiebreakers (which led me to put out the correct SEC tournament pairings before the league office did, thank you very much) are done.
The Gamecocks are division champions for only the second time in their SEC history. That’s not something to be brushed aside – that’s something to be celebrated.
I’m sure there will be a nice banner hanging at Colonial Life Arena next season proclaiming the title, as there should be. It’s not like the Gamecocks have a whole lot of other ones fighting for room.
And if Tennessee wants to play the card of, “Well, yeah, but we all know who won each head-to-head meeting,” reply with, “Well, if it was that important to you, why didn’t you win it outright when you had a chance?”
(Note to the Gamecocks: Each of you needs to send a thank-you note to Anthony Brock. That was the best shot to clinch fourth place I’ve ever seen.)
A co-champion is still a champion, and that’s all anybody’s going to remember 10 years from now when they walk into the CLA and see that banner. There might even be a few more around it by that time.
If they can avoid the coin flip.
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David Cloninger. David is a full-time staff writer for GamecockCentral, and covers Gamecock football, men's basketball, baseball and recruiting. He may be reached by email at david(at)gamecockcentral.com. Replace (at) with @.