Ah, Hoover usually sucks anyway
posted by David Cloninger, 5/24/2009 06:19:00 PM
“We are the champions.”
----------------- QUEEN
Stopped by Memorial Stadium last night to watch my beloved alma mater, Northwestern High School, win the Class AAAA state soccer championship. It was the Trojans’ third in the past four years and something much more – by beating No. 2 Irmo, the nationally-ranked No. 1 Trojans claimed the mythical national championship.
I’m not a soccer guy – I have constantly told a friend of mine who loves the sport that it is nothing but cross country with a ball. I was never a fan of it, watching or playing (although that latter term is used very loosely. I retired from soccer after five years as the all-time worst goalie in the history of the Rock Hill recreational leagues).
Watching those boys, though, was something. There are representatives of eight different countries on that team. The coach has now won 98 of his 106 matches at the school.
I’d heard about the matchup and decided to check it out, if I was home from the SEC tournament. I was, and being a proud NHS alumnus – one of the things they preach to us as we walk across that stage is undying loyalty – I checked it out.
The Trojans beat Irmo 3-1 and won each championship. The only regret I have – thanks to some bureaucratic nonsense, the best player in the state, Northwestern’s Enzo Martinez, won’t be playing for South Carolina or Clemson next season. He signed with North Carolina after there was some garbage about his Uruguayan nationality impeding his progress to attend an in-state school. That’ll be a decision that each coach will wind up cursing the legislature for over the next four years.
Well done, Trojans. Purple Pride, class of ’96.
And now, to the main event …
“Never mind, never mind.”
-------------- NANCI GRIFFITH
Don’t be too concerned with USC’s less-than-stellar performance at the SEC tournament. The Gamecocks are where they want to be – the NCAA Regionals – and doing well in the tournament would have only meant they’d be at home.
As it is, they’ll be on the road (destination revealed at 12:30 p.m. on Monday). Based on what I think might happen, USC stands an excellent chance of advancing past the regionals and at least playing to get to the College World Series – a favorable draw with the other side of their mini-bracket could have the Gamecocks hosting a Super Regional.
The road will be announced in less than 24 hours and all of our fevered brains can start working the Memorial Day-soakings out and try to concentrate on pitching matchups, dark horses and just what in the hell Green Day was thinking when they wrote that last album. As for the Gamecocks, don’t worry about their moxie or gumption for next week.
The best thing I saw in Hoover was Nick Ebert. Not at the plate, not in the field, not out at the mall.
Ebert sat on the USC bench, head in hands, wiping his eyes after striking out with the bases loaded in what would be the Gamecocks’ final game. That told me all I need to know about him and the team he’s a part of.
This team cares.
It’s not a case of, “Hey, we lost. Big deal.” It’s a case of losing opening an abyss in the heart.
The Gamecocks don’t like it. And the old excuse of “That’s baseball” may be fine to say to the traveling scribes, but I don’t believe for a second that’s the line handed out in the clubhouse.
I didn’t expect anything great in Hoover. USC went into the tournament with a lifetime record of 19-20 in that park. Yeah, there’s been a couple of good showings but the majority haven’t been.
The 1-2 record wasn’t surprising or concerning. The back-to-back rallies to put themselves within a swing each time of winning was a little disturbing – not so much that they didn’t do it, but that they didn’t do it two days in a row. That kind of hangover can carry over.
But I don’t think it will. Ebert’s reaction made me realize that even in the jaded, cynical world we live in, where athletes are pampered and told they’re special (read: above the law) from Day 1, there are still some that are torn apart by a loss.
It was refreshing. I know coach Ray Tanner wasn’t happy with the tournament’s result, but he had to be happy with how his team fought to get in position for the result. Three weeks ago, the Gamecocks were dangling by a scrap of a toenail, about to fall into the strange land of No Regional.
Now they’re back where they’re used to being, and if there was a publicized report on the subject, I believe it would show USC was one of the last one or two schools considered to host a regional.
History shows me that since the NCAA went to its current format of four-team regionals, USC has gone on the road four times. The Gamecocks are 2-2; not great, but far better than 0-4.
The four top seeds in the most likely destinations don’t give me any reason to doubt that record could be 3-2 after next week. Georgia Tech went 3-4 down the stretch and 1-2 in the ACC tournament. North Carolina went 4-3, 1-2. Florida State went 5-2 (with four of those against Grambling State), 2-2 and East Carolina went 6-1 (against teams who averaged around 26 wins this year), 1-2.
USC, same stretch – 7-0, 1-2.
Of course it will depend on who else is in the regional – USC won’t face a top seed in its first game. But the confidence from winning 10 of 11 games to finish the regular season won’t disappear because of the SEC tournament.
The Gamecocks planned all season to be here. They’re here.
Don’t think for a second they don’t know what comes next.
Link to this entry - Discuss this entry - Return to Blog Home
First, a note of congratulations …
“We are the champions.”
----------------- QUEEN
Stopped by Memorial Stadium last night to watch my beloved alma mater, Northwestern High School, win the Class AAAA state soccer championship. It was the Trojans’ third in the past four years and something much more – by beating No. 2 Irmo, the nationally-ranked No. 1 Trojans claimed the mythical national championship.
I’m not a soccer guy – I have constantly told a friend of mine who loves the sport that it is nothing but cross country with a ball. I was never a fan of it, watching or playing (although that latter term is used very loosely. I retired from soccer after five years as the all-time worst goalie in the history of the Rock Hill recreational leagues).
Watching those boys, though, was something. There are representatives of eight different countries on that team. The coach has now won 98 of his 106 matches at the school.
I’d heard about the matchup and decided to check it out, if I was home from the SEC tournament. I was, and being a proud NHS alumnus – one of the things they preach to us as we walk across that stage is undying loyalty – I checked it out.
The Trojans beat Irmo 3-1 and won each championship. The only regret I have – thanks to some bureaucratic nonsense, the best player in the state, Northwestern’s Enzo Martinez, won’t be playing for South Carolina or Clemson next season. He signed with North Carolina after there was some garbage about his Uruguayan nationality impeding his progress to attend an in-state school. That’ll be a decision that each coach will wind up cursing the legislature for over the next four years.
Well done, Trojans. Purple Pride, class of ’96.
And now, to the main event …
“Never mind, never mind.”
-------------- NANCI GRIFFITH
Don’t be too concerned with USC’s less-than-stellar performance at the SEC tournament. The Gamecocks are where they want to be – the NCAA Regionals – and doing well in the tournament would have only meant they’d be at home.
As it is, they’ll be on the road (destination revealed at 12:30 p.m. on Monday). Based on what I think might happen, USC stands an excellent chance of advancing past the regionals and at least playing to get to the College World Series – a favorable draw with the other side of their mini-bracket could have the Gamecocks hosting a Super Regional.
The road will be announced in less than 24 hours and all of our fevered brains can start working the Memorial Day-soakings out and try to concentrate on pitching matchups, dark horses and just what in the hell Green Day was thinking when they wrote that last album. As for the Gamecocks, don’t worry about their moxie or gumption for next week.
The best thing I saw in Hoover was Nick Ebert. Not at the plate, not in the field, not out at the mall.
Ebert sat on the USC bench, head in hands, wiping his eyes after striking out with the bases loaded in what would be the Gamecocks’ final game. That told me all I need to know about him and the team he’s a part of.
This team cares.
It’s not a case of, “Hey, we lost. Big deal.” It’s a case of losing opening an abyss in the heart.
The Gamecocks don’t like it. And the old excuse of “That’s baseball” may be fine to say to the traveling scribes, but I don’t believe for a second that’s the line handed out in the clubhouse.
I didn’t expect anything great in Hoover. USC went into the tournament with a lifetime record of 19-20 in that park. Yeah, there’s been a couple of good showings but the majority haven’t been.
The 1-2 record wasn’t surprising or concerning. The back-to-back rallies to put themselves within a swing each time of winning was a little disturbing – not so much that they didn’t do it, but that they didn’t do it two days in a row. That kind of hangover can carry over.
But I don’t think it will. Ebert’s reaction made me realize that even in the jaded, cynical world we live in, where athletes are pampered and told they’re special (read: above the law) from Day 1, there are still some that are torn apart by a loss.
It was refreshing. I know coach Ray Tanner wasn’t happy with the tournament’s result, but he had to be happy with how his team fought to get in position for the result. Three weeks ago, the Gamecocks were dangling by a scrap of a toenail, about to fall into the strange land of No Regional.
Now they’re back where they’re used to being, and if there was a publicized report on the subject, I believe it would show USC was one of the last one or two schools considered to host a regional.
History shows me that since the NCAA went to its current format of four-team regionals, USC has gone on the road four times. The Gamecocks are 2-2; not great, but far better than 0-4.
The four top seeds in the most likely destinations don’t give me any reason to doubt that record could be 3-2 after next week. Georgia Tech went 3-4 down the stretch and 1-2 in the ACC tournament. North Carolina went 4-3, 1-2. Florida State went 5-2 (with four of those against Grambling State), 2-2 and East Carolina went 6-1 (against teams who averaged around 26 wins this year), 1-2.
USC, same stretch – 7-0, 1-2.
Of course it will depend on who else is in the regional – USC won’t face a top seed in its first game. But the confidence from winning 10 of 11 games to finish the regular season won’t disappear because of the SEC tournament.
The Gamecocks planned all season to be here. They’re here.
Don’t think for a second they don’t know what comes next.
Link to this entry - Discuss this entry - Return to Blog Home
Previous Blog Entries
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 @.