To Slip or Not to Slip -- That is the Question
posted by David Cloninger, 6/05/2009 11:39:00 AM
Season wrapup
2010 Lookahead
“I’m finding it harder to get by.”
------------------------- SUM 41
I waited a few days to write it, reading most of the posts on our message boards that had their opinions of South Carolina’s baseball season. It seemed it was about half-and-half, arguing The Program Has Slipped/The Program Has Not Slipped.
As I banged out a rather tender reply to those of the former opinion, my fingers seethed with anger. “It’s not that the program has slipped, you idiots,” I wrote, “but that the rest of the country has caught up with the Gamecocks.”
Then I re-read it and thought, “You’re the idiot here. That’s the very definition of a slipping program.”
It’s tough love, looking at a program that has won so much and realizing it’s not as good as it used to be. And it’s not that USC can’t get back to where it was.
But it’s the price one pays for being so incredibly successful for so long. It hasn’t happened much around USC, and outside of track and field, it’s almost never happened for a straight decade.
Folks get too used to winning too fast. Fact.
When the team that’s used to winning doesn’t win as much, it has to be characterized as slipping. It’s a harsh word to use, but whatever variations you can find, i.e. “losing ground,” “falling,” “been surpassed,” are synonyms for the original.
Those first five years, where USC really came together under coach Ray Tanner, were glorious. Trips to the SEC and NCAA tournaments were constant and USC always stuck around for a while (at least, in the latter), finally breaking through in 2002.
That season began a three-year stretch of Omaha appearances. The Gamecocks have been trying to get back since.
Understand, it’s hard – fantastically hard – to go to the CWS every year. There’s a few teams that are usually there (Texas comes to mind) but the rest of the country hopes for a streak like USC had. North Carolina’s on one now.
It’s a lofty expectation and it’s no problem, as long as you keep hitting it. Go a few years without it, and that “slipping” word comes up.
Looking at this year’s team, it met my expectation. I looked at what it had lost and realized it would a Herculean task to get to the CWS considering what it had. I said in the preseason that getting to the regionals would be a fine season.
As the Gamecocks struggled to be consistent until past the season’s midpoint, I think a great number of you agreed with me. We all realized the same conclusion – USC had lost a lot of talent, something that happens to the best programs, and while the replacements were good ballplayers, they could never be good enough to replace the contributions of who had left. It’s unfair to ask the current group to do that, but Tanner had no choice – there are no “down years” where he comes from.
Expectations were lowered, which was good. That made it easier for the team to do better than what was expected.
Until.
USC hit that win streak to close the season and all of a sudden was back in the country’s good graces. Taking 10 of 11 games to once again make it to the SEC tournament and make itself a no-doubt regional team was impressive.
The problem was, it also raised those pesky expectations again. That winning streak fooled all of us. While it was fine baseball, look at who it was against – Vanderbilt, a team that struggled late and made it into the SEC tournament as the eighth and final seed; Tennessee, which finished last in the SEC East; non-conference wins over USC Upstate; and Georgia, which free-fell from a No. 1 ranking midseason to barely making a peep in the postseason.
USC got to the regionals and was sitting pretty with two wins in two games, ready to win one more game and head to Chapel Hill. I don’t think I’m alone in saying that for this team to make the supers when last year’s team didn’t would have been successful, no matter what happened against UNC.
The Gamecocks had their trip for all but three outs.
Three outs.
It’s an awfully thin string to teeter on, high above a pit where falling on one side is success and the other is failure.
But that’s what it is this year.
USC gets those three outs, it heads to the supers and the tag for this season becomes “exceeded expectations.” Maybe it even wins two games and heads to Omaha, and I challenge anyone who would dare suggest a trip to the CWS, even a two-and-barbecue trip, equals failure.
The Gamecocks didn’t get those three outs (at least, not before the best chance to win was long gone). The win streak, the overall season, the contributions of first-year players who weren’t thought to be able to contribute so much were all cast into the pit of disappointment.
That’ll leave a mark. It’s a rotten thing to say, but again, when you win so much and suddenly don’t win as much, what else can you say?
By itself, the last five-year stretch of USC baseball is excellent. The Gamecocks have won 40 or more games every year, gotten to Hoover, gotten to the regionals and gotten to two supers. Most programs would open a vein to have that on their resume.
Compared to the first five years of the decade, it’s good but not great. Those first five had two SEC championships, an SEC tournament championship, five super regional appearances, three trips to Omaha and three 50-win seasons (with another 49-win season).
It is good to know that USC baseball has risen to the point where not making the supers is considered disappointing. That is the sign of a terrific program that commands the nation’s respect – not too many others around here that can say that.
But boy, is it painful to watch and write about when a few consecutive years of not reaching that point come up.
Tanner is much too good of a coach to not be able to turn it back around. He will – I’ve got no doubt. With Chad Holbrook now on board and a solid group of recruits coming in, USC will be back.
It’s only recently that getting back became a goal.
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Also see:
Season wrapup
2010 Lookahead
“I’m finding it harder to get by.”
------------------------- SUM 41
I waited a few days to write it, reading most of the posts on our message boards that had their opinions of South Carolina’s baseball season. It seemed it was about half-and-half, arguing The Program Has Slipped/The Program Has Not Slipped.
As I banged out a rather tender reply to those of the former opinion, my fingers seethed with anger. “It’s not that the program has slipped, you idiots,” I wrote, “but that the rest of the country has caught up with the Gamecocks.”
Then I re-read it and thought, “You’re the idiot here. That’s the very definition of a slipping program.”
It’s tough love, looking at a program that has won so much and realizing it’s not as good as it used to be. And it’s not that USC can’t get back to where it was.
But it’s the price one pays for being so incredibly successful for so long. It hasn’t happened much around USC, and outside of track and field, it’s almost never happened for a straight decade.
Folks get too used to winning too fast. Fact.
When the team that’s used to winning doesn’t win as much, it has to be characterized as slipping. It’s a harsh word to use, but whatever variations you can find, i.e. “losing ground,” “falling,” “been surpassed,” are synonyms for the original.
Those first five years, where USC really came together under coach Ray Tanner, were glorious. Trips to the SEC and NCAA tournaments were constant and USC always stuck around for a while (at least, in the latter), finally breaking through in 2002.
That season began a three-year stretch of Omaha appearances. The Gamecocks have been trying to get back since.
Understand, it’s hard – fantastically hard – to go to the CWS every year. There’s a few teams that are usually there (Texas comes to mind) but the rest of the country hopes for a streak like USC had. North Carolina’s on one now.
It’s a lofty expectation and it’s no problem, as long as you keep hitting it. Go a few years without it, and that “slipping” word comes up.
Looking at this year’s team, it met my expectation. I looked at what it had lost and realized it would a Herculean task to get to the CWS considering what it had. I said in the preseason that getting to the regionals would be a fine season.
As the Gamecocks struggled to be consistent until past the season’s midpoint, I think a great number of you agreed with me. We all realized the same conclusion – USC had lost a lot of talent, something that happens to the best programs, and while the replacements were good ballplayers, they could never be good enough to replace the contributions of who had left. It’s unfair to ask the current group to do that, but Tanner had no choice – there are no “down years” where he comes from.
Expectations were lowered, which was good. That made it easier for the team to do better than what was expected.
Until.
USC hit that win streak to close the season and all of a sudden was back in the country’s good graces. Taking 10 of 11 games to once again make it to the SEC tournament and make itself a no-doubt regional team was impressive.
The problem was, it also raised those pesky expectations again. That winning streak fooled all of us. While it was fine baseball, look at who it was against – Vanderbilt, a team that struggled late and made it into the SEC tournament as the eighth and final seed; Tennessee, which finished last in the SEC East; non-conference wins over USC Upstate; and Georgia, which free-fell from a No. 1 ranking midseason to barely making a peep in the postseason.
USC got to the regionals and was sitting pretty with two wins in two games, ready to win one more game and head to Chapel Hill. I don’t think I’m alone in saying that for this team to make the supers when last year’s team didn’t would have been successful, no matter what happened against UNC.
The Gamecocks had their trip for all but three outs.
Three outs.
It’s an awfully thin string to teeter on, high above a pit where falling on one side is success and the other is failure.
But that’s what it is this year.
USC gets those three outs, it heads to the supers and the tag for this season becomes “exceeded expectations.” Maybe it even wins two games and heads to Omaha, and I challenge anyone who would dare suggest a trip to the CWS, even a two-and-barbecue trip, equals failure.
The Gamecocks didn’t get those three outs (at least, not before the best chance to win was long gone). The win streak, the overall season, the contributions of first-year players who weren’t thought to be able to contribute so much were all cast into the pit of disappointment.
That’ll leave a mark. It’s a rotten thing to say, but again, when you win so much and suddenly don’t win as much, what else can you say?
By itself, the last five-year stretch of USC baseball is excellent. The Gamecocks have won 40 or more games every year, gotten to Hoover, gotten to the regionals and gotten to two supers. Most programs would open a vein to have that on their resume.
Compared to the first five years of the decade, it’s good but not great. Those first five had two SEC championships, an SEC tournament championship, five super regional appearances, three trips to Omaha and three 50-win seasons (with another 49-win season).
It is good to know that USC baseball has risen to the point where not making the supers is considered disappointing. That is the sign of a terrific program that commands the nation’s respect – not too many others around here that can say that.
But boy, is it painful to watch and write about when a few consecutive years of not reaching that point come up.
Tanner is much too good of a coach to not be able to turn it back around. He will – I’ve got no doubt. With Chad Holbrook now on board and a solid group of recruits coming in, USC will be back.
It’s only recently that getting back became a goal.
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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 @.