The Cool Chicken

The State of Gamecock Football… and things related to it.

Let’s get the negative out of the way first. Ron Morris is still a tool. I always thought the media was supposed to be fair and balanced. Apparently Ron Morris missed that class. One of the things that truly bothers me about the man I will now and forever more refer to as “The Tool” is that he refuses to admit his bias. He blasts South Carolina every chance he gets and yet still pretends as if he isn’t a closet Clemson fan. If only he would come out of the closet (I am sure it is cramped in there with Jad Dean) and say: “Hey… I love me some Clemson.” I might be able to respect him a little for at least being honest. Why the rag known as The State newspaper even allows such a talent less writer on their staff escapes me. It seems as if they in some way support his hatred of all things Gamecock. It is a huge part of the reason I refuse to pay for The State. If not for his articles coming up when I google search the name “Spurrier” I would not read it at all. Another thing that bothers me is that he represents South Carolina in other media. I listen to the Pac-man in the afternoons with exception to the days Ron Morris is a guest talking about Carolina football.

This is why I have started an online petition to encourage The State newspaper to either move Ron Morris away from South Carolina football or fire him out right.

Click Here to Sign.

Speaking of Ron Morris he of course wrote an ass wipe of an article today speaking about how Spurrier should be suspended from coaching one game (I bet Morris would love for that game to be against Clemson) for Spurrier’s comments in regards to SEC officials. He also used this opportunity to take a shot at Carolina fans for feeling vindicated by some of Spurrier’s comments.

Of course as Spurrier said today when asked directly about Ron Morris; “He is entitled to his opinion and a right to say it.” Let me add but does not mean I have to read it.

Persoanlly, I think Ron Morris would like nothing better than to see Spurrier leave South Carolina. Ron knows Spurrier has us on the right track.

At this point in the article I am going to walk away from Ron Morris and move on to this subject. I really despise giving him so much attention to begin with.

The rule itself is based on the American Football Coaches Association Code of ethics. It officially states: On and off-the-record criticism of officials to players and or the public shall be considered unethical.

There is no other group in football anywhere given that luxury. Not the players, not the coaches, not the Ads… hell not even the grounds keepers get that kind of protection. I disagree with this rule with every fiber of my being. Why does this rule exist? If a player gets hosed on a call… he should be able to say so. If a team gets hosed on a call, the coach should have the right to say so. This rule can only exist for one reason and one reason only… so that the team that gets hosed by a bad call is kept in check thus protecting the conference from the fan bases anger which in turn prevents a movement in which the SEC loses revenue through attrition or even attendance at games. This is a PR move plain and simple. Give me one other legitimate reason! Please.

He is my thought process. If a fan base feels they were housed on a bad call… they have no one to affirm it. Even though most college football teams exist now as a way to bring revenue to a university, revenue provided by the fans, we are to be kept as disconnected from the teams as possible. Now if a coach can walk out and say… hey you guys are right we got shafted. What happens? We get angry. We get mad. At who? The officials which are an extension of the conference in this case the SEC. This can lead to a lot of things including the tarnishing of the image of the conference and as I said before which could lead to losses in revenue and respect. After all, who wants to play in a biased league if it is indeed biased? What bothers me the most about such as rule is how many times has a game been decided by one of these bad calls and there was no accountability because it was all kept hush and hidden in the closet? How many times have calls cost teams a win? Not just South Carolina but all teams?

I may speak for just me but I am do not trust a lot of people in this world. I might need to seek counseling, I don’t know. But I surely do not trust organizations that police themselves. There are too many self interests that get involved. The NCAA and the conferences have ‘gentleman’s agreements” that things that can be kept quiet are. The only time you see the NCAA or a Conference truly get involved is when there is some sort of obvious violation or public out cry.

Think of it like the government and I am no politician or whatever so I may have a warped view… the president is kept in check by congress and congress is kept in check by the people. The people are not involved in this aspect of college football and that can only be because there is something to hide.

Last thing on this… Coach Spurrier did agree to coach in the SEC. This means he agreed to the rules and regulations implied and written out. One could say he could choose not to coach in the SEC and not abide by the rules. I guess it is similar to us as Americans. We have a choice to abide by the rules implied on us by our government or we could move to another country. The difference is the people have a voice in our government that we do not in the SEC. For him to give up coaching in the SEC would mean he would have to give up coaching at this level entirely. This rule is pretty rampant in all of college football. If we did have a voice would this rule exist? I think not. It is a win win for the SEC. Our only avenue of revolt is through our money and we love our teams too much to revoke our support of them. So the SEC will never have to face it’s own hypocrisy.

This is not just a South Carolina football issue. It is an issue for all of football. So what do we do? I am open to ideas.

Now… on to South Carolina specifically. I am torn at this point. Do I think my Gamecocks got homered and or hosed on some calls? You are damn right I do. Does that give me comfort? No. It does not.

Let me explain. South Carolina is a good team. As proven by how we played against some of the top teams in the country this year. We took teams to the wire and we proved you can’t just beat us in the first half. You have to play all four quarters to beat us. This is much different from teams of the past in which the game was decided at half time and the team gave up. This year we have played whistle to whistle. Unfortunately, there have been calls, bounces that cost us the game and that is why we are only a good team. A great team wins anyway. A great team has bad calls and horrible bounces and yet they still win the game. So, no having knowledge that we could have, should have, would have won some games if the ball would have bounced down versus up or if a call would have went our way does not give me comfort.

What does that mean in the overall scheme of things? It means 2006 has been a good year for South Carolina but not a successful one. Even if we beat the orange headed troglodyte unwanted step-children from the upstate this year, you cannot count this as a successful year. If we go to and win a bowl game it goes from a good year to a better year but still is not a successful year.

I consider this a good year because of the way the Gamecocks played. No team has had a walk in the park when they faced the Gamecocks. Unless we have put the starter out of the game, the backups for other teams have not been on the field. Coaches have had to sweat and players have had to bleed to beat us. From one point bullet sweating losses to unbelievably lucky bounces to interceptions dropped, to tipped balls, teams have had to rely on us to beat ourselves or the football gods to give them a gift in order to squeak out wins. We lost by a combined 7 points to two national title hopefuls in Arkansas and Florida. We played our hearts out against Tennessee and Auburn (both ranked in the top 13 when we played them) losing to both by a touchdown or less and we lost a fluke game to Georgia* who was also ranked in the top 10 at the time. We have scratched, clawed and continued to fight and held our own against all of them. Some of the best games I have watched or attended as a Carolina fan took place this year. The only thing better would have been hitting that field goal, or making that interception and pulling out a win. The games we have won, we won by an average of 17 points.

*Considering we stomped Vandy and beat Kentucky who both beat Georgia, I consider it a fluke game.

Still a loss is a loss and I do not believe in moral victories. I do not come away from a loss feeling like we won anything. I can be encouraged by the teams play and be impressed upon to look for a better future… but I do not feel like a winner.

As the old battle cry goes, look to next year as a bench mark. Based on the starters we have coming back and how well the team has played, we should come in to the preseason ranked. We should also have some of these teams who escaped with their lives shaking in their boots at the prospect of playing us next year.

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