Time For A Reality Check
posted by Scott Hood on Tuesday, October 30, 2007
That means I’m not supposed to root for South Carolina whenever they play a football games.
But that didn’t stop me from replaying the final minutes of Saturday’s 27-24 overtime loss to Tennessee over and over in my mind late Saturday night and most of the day on Sunday.
The horrific special teams blunder, the failure to fall on two fumbles, the game-tying field goal with five seconds left, the mishandled snap and five-yard loss, the near completion to Kenny McKinley at the goal line, and finally, Ryan Succop’s miss of the seemingly innocent 40-yard field goal that would have extended the game to a second overtime period.
Frankly, it made me angry. Most certainly, disappointed. Maybe even a bit disenchanted. Same ‘ol Gamecocks, I thought. Can’t make the big play when they need to.
You know, all that negative nellie stuff.
Once I arrived back at my home in Columbia, I did my usual Sunday things. I participated in Steve Spurrier’s Sunday afternoon teleconference. I wrote a summary and posted it in the website. I cranked out a 1,200 word article on every detail Spurrier had discussed. I did a 15-minute radio interview rehashing the loss.
By dinner time on Sunday, I started feeling better as I started to think ahead to this week’s game at Arkansas. Time is, indeed, the best healer
Then, on Sunday night, I heard for the first time that six USC students and one Clemson student had perished in a fire at a beach house in North Carolina.
Suddenly, any ill will I had felt towards the football game dissipated. There are far more important things in life than a rotten ending to a football game.
Human life being one of them.
No one seems to know for sure why the house burned. But it did.
No one seems to understand why the Great Gamecock In The Sky snatched the lives of those seven students. But he (or she) did. I’m not sure we ever will.
It’s been a reality check of the first order.
I saw the photos of the victims on the front page of the local newspaper this morning while enjoying breakfast with my wife. I noticed their ages, all 18 and 19. All good-looking, all talented, all charming, I’m sure.
Now they’re all gone. Without explanation. Tragic is the best word to describe it.
It made me forget about the Tennessee loss pretty quickly.
Although I’m a Yankee, I’ve lived in South Carolina long enough (next May will mark my 14th anniversary in the Palmetto State) to understand the important role college football plays in our society. It’s part of the culture.
Sports, pro or college, are important everywhere. I grew up in the Northeast surrounded by pro teams. I’ve learned that whether it’s college or pro, the passion is the same wherever you are.
The USC football team has an opportunity to seize the moment. Hopefully, they will feel a sense of motivation and a sense of duty to the thousands of students mourning the loss of their fallen brethren.
If it inspires them to play harder, focus more, compete with all their might, and, of course, stay in their lanes on kickoff coverage, all the better.
Although on a smaller scale, the USC football team finds itself in the same position as the Virginia Tech football team last spring when the unthinkable - a mass shooting that killed 32 people – occurred on that rural, peaceful campus.
In the South, the local college football team is one of the most visible inhabitants of the community.
Hopefully, the USC football team will serve as an inspiration over these final three weeks of the season.
But, if they don’t, I won’t fret about it.
Instead, I’ll just think about the pain the families of those seven students are going through.
Come to think of it, I should do that anyways.
Win or lose.
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I’m supposed to be an objective journalist, I guess.
That means I’m not supposed to root for South Carolina whenever they play a football games.
But that didn’t stop me from replaying the final minutes of Saturday’s 27-24 overtime loss to Tennessee over and over in my mind late Saturday night and most of the day on Sunday.
The horrific special teams blunder, the failure to fall on two fumbles, the game-tying field goal with five seconds left, the mishandled snap and five-yard loss, the near completion to Kenny McKinley at the goal line, and finally, Ryan Succop’s miss of the seemingly innocent 40-yard field goal that would have extended the game to a second overtime period.
Frankly, it made me angry. Most certainly, disappointed. Maybe even a bit disenchanted. Same ‘ol Gamecocks, I thought. Can’t make the big play when they need to.
You know, all that negative nellie stuff.
Once I arrived back at my home in Columbia, I did my usual Sunday things. I participated in Steve Spurrier’s Sunday afternoon teleconference. I wrote a summary and posted it in the website. I cranked out a 1,200 word article on every detail Spurrier had discussed. I did a 15-minute radio interview rehashing the loss.
By dinner time on Sunday, I started feeling better as I started to think ahead to this week’s game at Arkansas. Time is, indeed, the best healer
Then, on Sunday night, I heard for the first time that six USC students and one Clemson student had perished in a fire at a beach house in North Carolina.
Suddenly, any ill will I had felt towards the football game dissipated. There are far more important things in life than a rotten ending to a football game.
Human life being one of them.
No one seems to know for sure why the house burned. But it did.
No one seems to understand why the Great Gamecock In The Sky snatched the lives of those seven students. But he (or she) did. I’m not sure we ever will.
It’s been a reality check of the first order.
I saw the photos of the victims on the front page of the local newspaper this morning while enjoying breakfast with my wife. I noticed their ages, all 18 and 19. All good-looking, all talented, all charming, I’m sure.
Now they’re all gone. Without explanation. Tragic is the best word to describe it.
It made me forget about the Tennessee loss pretty quickly.
Although I’m a Yankee, I’ve lived in South Carolina long enough (next May will mark my 14th anniversary in the Palmetto State) to understand the important role college football plays in our society. It’s part of the culture.
Sports, pro or college, are important everywhere. I grew up in the Northeast surrounded by pro teams. I’ve learned that whether it’s college or pro, the passion is the same wherever you are.
The USC football team has an opportunity to seize the moment. Hopefully, they will feel a sense of motivation and a sense of duty to the thousands of students mourning the loss of their fallen brethren.
If it inspires them to play harder, focus more, compete with all their might, and, of course, stay in their lanes on kickoff coverage, all the better.
Although on a smaller scale, the USC football team finds itself in the same position as the Virginia Tech football team last spring when the unthinkable - a mass shooting that killed 32 people – occurred on that rural, peaceful campus.
In the South, the local college football team is one of the most visible inhabitants of the community.
Hopefully, the USC football team will serve as an inspiration over these final three weeks of the season.
But, if they don’t, I won’t fret about it.
Instead, I’ll just think about the pain the families of those seven students are going through.
Come to think of it, I should do that anyways.
Win or lose.
- Permalink, Discuss, Blog Home
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Scott Hood. Since February of 2005, Scott has covered the South Carolina football, men's basketball and baseball programs for GamecockCentral. He may be reached by email at scottblog(at)gamecockcentral.com. Replace (at) with @.