Too late for Holloween. . .

. . .Too early for April Fools Day. I watched a horror show on Saturday. It was called Florida Gators vs. South Carolina Gamecocks. Back when I was in school a/k/a Sparky Woods and Brad Scott regimes, this was a recurring matinee. And you could count on end of the year shellackings from Florida and Tennessee and whatever other SEC west fill in the blank team we were playing (Auburn, LSU, Alabama). It didn't matter, 40 and 50 point losses were common place and the mantra of "wait til next year" was nonexistent in the ever hopeful vocabulary most Gamecock fans. We were just hopeful of putting a team out there that could compete.
However, with the arrival of the most recent saviors, Lou Holtz and Steve Spurrier, we have been delivered from the ridiculous back to the mediocre. Hey, there's over 100 years of history here, trust me, mediocrity is as good as it gets. All the way back to the late 1930's when Rex Enright came to town, there have been savior coaches that have either descended from the hallowed grounds of the elite (Notre Dame, LSU), or been lured from other half baked programs they had resurrected (I will not insult those programs by naming names--this is my cynical rant, not theirs) to this one in hopes of doing what has never been done. . .win in Columbia South Carolina. As yet, the miracle remains unperformed.
Reading this, you might think that I am not a fan of the feathered fighters, and you would be wrong. Nothing would make me happier than to see my Gamecocks consistently at the top of the college food chain in some type of sport. However, I have harbored this hope for the better part of my 48 years on this earth, and I shall continue to harbor such hope for many more years. The Gamecocks have extended this fantastic Odyssey to it's faithful for even longer. It is a birthright, a burden of love that is generally reserved for a parent to a ne'er to do well child. For I am a son of the South-land of the lost cause. How dreadfully symbolic, or would a better word be bucolic??