Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Wk (Bamecock Sean Rayford/The Gamecock The USC defense, regarded as one of the top units in the nation, is another reason fans have bought season tickets. Tickets CONTINUED TOM PAGE 12 State will only get about 500 tickets, and probably won’t use them. If someone wants a ticket, I’d suggest friends, neighbors and classifieds. If we get returns, we’ll announce it.” The only available tickets right now are for USC’s away games at Arkansas and Mississippi State. Although the trip is a long way, Barber expects USC’s allotment to be sold. “We have 3,500 for Arkansas and 4,000 for MSU, so there are some available,” Barber said. The run on football tickets has also caused the athletics department to start thinking about its future. “We’ve started preliminary plans for stadium expansion, but it’s just an idea right now,” Barber said. “ If we continue, it wouldn’t happen for a long while and would probably be built on top of the Floyd Football Building in the north end zone. But, nothing’s definite.” USC has also signed a deal with Comcast/Charter Sports Southeast to broadcast all of its games on a tape delayed basis this season. The games will be shown every Wednesday at 8 p.m. during the season. The sports desk can be reached at gamecocksports @ hotmail.com Around the SEC ■ Florida freshman dies after week-long coma GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Florida freshman fullback Eraste Autin died this week due to heat stroke sustained in conditioning drills July 19. Autin’s body temperature shot to 108 degrees after the workout, sending him into a coma. The heavily-recruited freshman has a twin brother playing at Louisiana-Lafayette, and had never reported any health problems before the accident. ■ Tusk I mascot finds home at Tyson Foods FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas mascot Tusk I has been relocated to a new home owned by Tyson Foods, Inc. The 380-pound Russian boar has been housed at the Washington County Livestock Auction Bam since June 19 when he was transported from the Little Rock Zoo. ■ Five Tigers make U.S. Women’s Amateur ANDOVER, Kan. - Five Auburn golfers are competing at the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship at Hint Hills National Golf Club. Courtney Swain, Celeste Troche, Danielle Downey, Katie Gallina Rump and Virginia Derby-Grimes will be playing against Lady Gamecock Kory Thompson. ■ Hacker retires as “Voice of Wildcats” LEXINGTON, Ken.— Ralph Hacker, after 29 years on the Kentucky radio network, has announced he will not return as the play-by-play man during the 2001-02 basketball season. Hacker helped carry the torch that legendary announcer Cawood Ledford established after Ledford’s retirement in 1992. ■ Basketball players dismissed from Vols KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - New Tennessee basketball coach Buzz Peterson has dismissed Harris Walker and Terrence Woods from the team after a violation of team rules. If sports are only games, let's make them fun Rick Johnston The Rick Says Today there is a gross dichotomy between sports fans. There are those who, despite the love of a sport, can barely watch it because of pessimistic views on the athletes and how they don’t play it as well as they should. Then there are fans like me, who still believe sports can be the embodiment of greatness. True, this is a very sappy, idealistic and at times naive point of view to take, but the way I see it, if I can’t stand the way the game is played by the people playing it, then why watch it at all” Simply put, I can suspend the off-the-field problems long enough to enjoy a game. Ignorance can be bliss if one tries hard enough. Every time I read about a Patrick Ewing or an Andruw Jones getting “favors” from the friendly employees at Atlanta’s Gold Club, I think of A.C. Green, who practiced what he preached by abstaining from pre marital sex. Every time I read about a Jamal Anderson, who skipped training camp last season for more money, I think of Wayne Gretzky, who was the absolute best at his sport, but yet never got into contract disputes. He was such good friends with one his owners, Bruce McNall, that the two split the cost of a Honus Wagner baseball card. Every time I read the injury reports to see somebody can’t play because of a hangnail on his pinky finger, I think of Lance Armstrong. This guy beat cancer, one of the most deadly diseases in the world, to win one of sports’ most grueling contests, the Tour de France, three times. For those who may not consider this a big accomplishment, look at a map of France and then think about riding across it on a bicycle. Not quite so easy as the bike ride across campus. Every time I read about unions threatening to walk out on a sport because they feel they are not getting a fair shake, I think about Joe Namath, who didn’t need a union, but walked out on football over a matter of principle with NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle. Rozelle thought the fact that Namath owned a nightclub was a big no-no for an NFL player and gave Broadway Joe an ultimatum to sell his club. Namath didn’t see any problem with it, and walked out on football. The backlash against Rozelle was so fierce that he retracted his statement about Namath and his club. One man versus the league on a matter of principle, that’s gutsy. Every time I read about pro athletes griping about how they want to be in a “big market” town (remember Shaquille O’Neal wanted to go to L.A. for a reason), I think of guys like Rulon Gardner, who pulled one of the biggest upsets in Olympic history when he beat Aleksandr Karelin in the 2000 Olympics in Greco-Roman wrestling, handing Karelin his first career loss and giving Gardner, the prototypical “good ol’ boy” from Wyoming, Olympic gold. The bad thing is, unless you were either watching the event (like I was) or you closely follow the Olympics, this event will be nothing more than a footnote in sports history. Some other great figures in sports include: the 1988 Jamaican bobsled team, a group of guys who had Olympic dreams and wanted to see them through; Dale Murphy, who, despite his skill, labored away on horrible Braves teams, eventually asking for a trade only when he knew his presence was a burden to the . team’s future; or Charles Barkley, tne self described anti-hero, who stated how he’s not responsible for raising your kids, a bold statement to the parents of America to get involved with their children’s lives. It’s for these reasons I take my views on sports. Perhaps today, the glass really is half-empty, but I’d rather not view it that way. It just takes the fun out of things. And since these are just games, aren’t they supposed to be fun?