Read, then think

posted by David Cloninger, 1/03/2010 04:24:00 PM

“Think.”
------- ARETHA FRANKLIN

I get it.

You’re angy and looking to vent, and you have a right to. South Carolina was terrible, awful, pathetically bad at the Papajohns.com Bowl and you as a fan should be justifiably steamed that such a fine last month put up snake-eyes on its first roll at the table.

But calm down. Ignore the little chicken on your shoulder, the one in place of your conscience, that’s running in circles shouting, “The sky is falling!”

All is not lost.

I make it a policy never to act on anything until I sleep on it. This way, logic kicks in over the rivers of rage and I can present an informed front.

I have to have that approach. Unlike many of you, whatever I post on GamecockCentral.com has my real name beside it, not some handle. I can’t offer up barbs at whoever I feel behind the cloak of anonymity, nor do I want to. It’s part of the job – stay in the middle, scout both sides, present each.

So here it is.

The last game was bad. The season was not. The Gamecocks did exactly what I thought they would – and look it up in the archives if you don’t believe me – by finishing around .500 and going to a low-level bowl.

And at USC, that’s usually as good as it’s going to get.

Sure, you want more, as we all do. I’m still holding out hope the basketball team gets past this horrendous stretch because I have yet to cover an NCAA tournament game and really want to cross that off my list. A BCS bowl game wouldn’t be too bad, either.

But you can’t just look at what you hope will happen. You can’t just think with your heart and not your head. You have to take into account what has happened in all of the years before this one, what is likely to happen this year and then set a reasonable expectation.

This year, reasonable was exactly what occurred. The Gamecocks had questions at quarterback, receiver, offensive line, running back, place-kicker and defensive secondary before the season and questions on the defensive line during it.

I said in the preseason that 6-6 would be satisfactory and anything above that would be time for a parade down Assembly Street. Guess what?

You got 7-6 with a beatdown of Clemson and a radar-boosting win over Ole Miss. Unfortunately, the sixth loss was the last game and that’s what everybody has to remember during the offseason.

The bowl game stunned me, too. I turned to a friend who also covers the team and asked, “How did this team beat Clemson?”

He turned to me and said, “This team didn’t,” which says one hell of a lot.

You’re only as good as your last game and the Gamecocks couldn’t have beat themselves on Nintendo on Saturday. They were ridiculously bad, but as bad as they were, it doesn’t wipe away the games they won this season.

So as I typed up my post-game stuff while trying to unthaw my fingers, I knew what was coming. There would be anger, red-hot steam and boiling vitriol from several folks and all of it would be justified. That it had to come within a two-day stretch that featured a loss of a basketball player, a loss on the basketball court and the seeming loss of a high-profile in-state recruit iced the proverbial cake.

It’s why I held my tongue (and fingers) from replying to some of the nastiest threads, mentioning such well thought-out topics as firing Steve Spurrier and Eric Hyman and anyone who had the slightest bit to do with the Papajohns.com Bowl. Not sure how Hyman’s name ever got in the discussion – go look at the Dodie that’s opening this month and then the department’s books, while considering shutting up.

As for Spurrier, he has never a losing season at USC. The last guy to do that was J.P. Moran, who guided the Gamecocks to a 5-2 record in his only year on the job (1943). There have only been three coaches who were at USC for at least four years and never had a losing record – N.B. Edgerton (1912-15), Billy Laval (1928-34) and Spurrier. In terms of wins in a five-year period under one coach, there’s only one name on top (I’ll leave you to fill in the blank).

Of course we all want more because Spurrier’s never lost like this in his career. We can expect more than this year as well, looking ahead to next year and seeing what’s coming back. SEC champions? I won’t go there, but I can see how some of you could.

As Saturday segued into Sunday and I got back home (finding out some key knowledge on the way – a plastic trash barrel, when hit in the fast lane of I-20 while doing 90 in a Mazda 6, explodes on impact), I was pleased to see most of the hatred dying down. Hiring Shawn Elliott as the offensive line coach helped, as did the whispers of what may be the worst-kept secret in the state – come Feb. 2, all of you are going to be very, very happy.

But there will continue to be some pointed messages, which is the right of all of us. Freedom of speech and all that. Feel free to offer your opinions, suggestions, agreements, denials, etc.

Just please sleep on it beforehand.

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