HE DIDN’T BELIEVE
m Lee Corso looks disapprovingly at a Cocky figurine during Saturday's GameDay
broadcast from the state fairgrounds, photo by aaron hark
Corso chooses Florida,
gets boos from crowd
Carolina faithful
get up early to
show support at
GameDay taping
g
BY CHRIS FOY
Till’ fSAMBCOCK
ESPN’s College GameDay
made its first-ever appearance in
Columbia on Saturday morning
in front of a record crowd esti
mated at more than 15,000. Chris
Fowler. Lee Corso, Kirk
Herbstreit and Tony Barnhardt
hosted the show.
USC fans displayed countless
signs and flags to show their sup
port for the Gamecocks. When
the fairgrounds opened at 9 a.m.,
the crowd pushed its way
through the gates as people tried
to get the best spots possible.
g, Within an hour, the area behind
the stage was swamped with
screaming fans. The hosts of the
show arrived at about 10 a.m. and
were greeted by cheers from the
fans.
At 10:30 a.m., to start off the
show, Gov. Jim Hodges declared
the day ‘GameDay Day’ in South
Carolina in recognition of the
show’s first taping in the state.
The crowd made their pres
ence known throughout the
show, shouting cheers like the
call and response “Game ...
Cocks.” The enthusiasm con
stantly spurred Fowler jo turn
around and check out thej crowd
when the camera wasn’t on him.
As the show began to wind
into the last couple of segments,
fans became antsy in anticipation
of USC head coach Lou Holtz’s
live interview on stage. When
Holtz arrived, the crowd went
wild, chanting “Lou! Lou! Lou!”
After Holtz left, the announc
ers, except for Fowler, gave then
picks for the matchup between
USC and Florida.
Though Barnhardt and
Herbstreit each initially sound
ed like they were going to pick
the Gamecocks, they went with
Florida.
Then it was Corso’s turn.
Corso, renowned for not only
calling upsets but for showing the
crowd his choice in a goofy fash
ion, had teased choosing both
sides throughout the show. When
his time came, the veteran broad
caster leaned back and picked up
the head of the Florida mascot.
With the alligator head firmly on
his shoulders, Corso went for the
Gators in spite of the loud boos
he received from the crowd.
The GameDay crew stayed the
rest of the day, broadcasting sev
eral times during the day and
twice during the game. After the
game, they returned to the set to
do a final broadcast, recapping
the day in college football. Only
this time, the large crowd behind
them was predominantly Gator
fans.
Comments on this story?E-mail
gamecocksports@hotmail.com.
USC prepares
for blood drive
USC-Clemson
rivalry extends
beyond the field
BY KEVIN FELLNER
THE GAMECOCK
The 17th annual Carolina
Clemson Blood Drive will begin
today in the Russell House
Ballroom. The event, sponsored
by Fraternity and Sorority coun
cils and Clemson’s Alpha Phi
Omega fraternity, is traditional
ly held during the week of the
Carolina-Clemson football game.
Blood can be donated from 11
a.m. until 7 p.m. through Friday.
The blood drive is a competi
tion between the two schools to
see who can recruit more blood
donors. Both students and area
residents are,allowed to partici
pate in the event. All of the do
nated blood will be given to the
American Red Cross.
The blood drive’s assistant di
rector, second-year student Lara
Bratcher, said USC’s organizers
are more confident of their
chances of winning because of
their advertising tactics this year.
“We’ve had more promotional
ideas this year,” Bratcher said.
“We talked with the faculty sen
ate and asked them to give incen
tives to their students to come
out, we put it on the radio, The
State will do an article and we’re
hoping to get WIS to come out ear
ly in the week and do some
footage.”
Bratcher said all of these new
advertising strategies are in ad
dition to the handouts, daily an
nouncements at meetings and
events and information tables in
the Russell House that have been
used to promote the event in re
cent years. Free food and prizes
will be available this year for
blood drive participants. Each
donor will also receive a free T
shirt.
This year, participants can
make appointments to donate. A
table will be set up on Greene
Street from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m.
where students can sign up.
Bratcher said doing this would
cut the amount of time students
would have to wait in line.
♦ BLOOD DRIVE, SEE PAGE 2
No place like home
USC’s Habitat
for Humanity
chapter builds
its first house
BY JACOB RABON
THE GAMECOCK
USC’s chapter of Habitat for
Humanity began building its first
house on Nov. 9 on Greene Street
in front of Preston College.
Nearly 200 students will put in
1,100 volunteer hours to finish
the house by Nov. 12. The house’s
permanent location will be
Graham’s Alley off of Gervais
Street.
Fourth-year marketing major
Christy Dickhans, volunteer co
ordinator, said the volunteer
turnout and response was much
better than she expected.
Dickhans has been involved with
Habitat for Humanity since high
school and wanted to continue
when she came to USC.
Laura DeWitt, fourth-year
journalism major, said: “I be
came involved because it is such
a good cause. Although I am not
great with my hands, it is for the
people; so I am just glad to help.”
Beth Tally, executive director
of the Central South Carolina
chapter, which is helping the
USC branch with the house, said:
“Clemson has put up a house
every year for the last six years,
and last year, they put up six
houses at once in a blitz build.
The USC student organization
Game to me and said that
♦ HABITAT, SEE PAGE 3
Jason Bliss, a volunteer worker with Habitat for
Humanity, constructs a door frame on the house being
built this week on Greene Street, photo by candi hauglum
BY GREG MYRE
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN -
Osama bin Laden said he had
nothing to do with the anthrax at
tacks in the United States and de
clared he would never allow him
self to be captured in the second
part of a newspaper interview
published Sunday.
“America can’t get me alive,” bin
Laden was quoted as saying. “I can
be eliminated, but not my mission.”
Bin Laden granted the inter
view Wednesday to Pakistani jour
nalist Hamid Mir, who said he was
blindfolded and bundled into a
jeep in the Afghan capital, Kabul.
He said he was driven five hours
to a cold, mud hut where he spoke
with bin Laden for two hours.
It was impossible to indepen
dently verify Mir’s account of the
interview.
Mir’s newspaper, Ausaf, pub
lished part of the interview
Saturday and included addition
al excerpts Sunday. Mir, who
has written a biography of bin
Laden that will be published
soon, said the terror suspect de
clined to answer many of his
questions.
When Mir asked if bin Laden
was responsible for the anthrax
attacks, he laughed and said: “We
don’t know anything about an
thrax.”
Bin Laden did claim in the
portion of the interview pub
lished Saturday that his al
Qaida organization had nuclear
and chemical weapons and
would use them if the United
States employed such weapons
on him.
Mir wrote that when he asked
bin Laden where he allegedly got
the mass destruction weapons,
bin Laden replied: “Go to the next
question.”
The United States says it has
no evidence that bin Laden pos
sesses nuclear weapons.
Intelligence experts believe al
Qaida has experimented with
crude chemical weapons at a
training camp in Afghanistan.
Mir said bin Laden vowed that
if his Taliban allies lose the capi
tal Kabul and other cities, “we
will move to the mountains. We
will continue our guerrilla war
fare against the Americans.”
“America can't get me alive.”
OSAMA BIN LADEN
SUSPECTED TERRORIST MASTERMIND
users PAST
Nov. 16,1895
The Clariosophic Literary
Society amended its
constitution to prevent
women from becoming
members of the society.
\ 4
WEATHER
Today Tomorrow
Sunny, Sunny,
69/35 71/43
t
INSIDE TODAY’S ISSUE
Jack Black excels
in music, film
Actor/singer gets chance to
shine in new movie. ♦ PAGE 5
it
< Gators crush
USC’s dreams
Loss is worst in Lou Holtz’s
USC career. ♦ PAGE 7
ONLINE POLL
Out for blood
Are you planning to donate
blood this week? Vote at
www.dailygamecock.com.
Results are published on
Fridays.
)