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Football isn’t the only sport you can watch at Carolina CHRIS FOY GAMECOCKSPORTS@HOTMAIL.COM Congratulations. Perhaps un known to you, you have chosen — or returned — to one of the best athletic schools in our nation. This is a feat that I, and many of my colleagues, can not claim to our respective arrivals here at the University of South Carolina. When I entered the university three years ago, our football team had just come off of a one-win sea son. I figured it couldn’t get any worse, but, I was wrong. When I entered here, our men’s basketball team had made the NCAA Tournament two years prior. Surely, they would be able to do it again. Wrong. un, ana tnen mere was also our top-rated b.aseball team with ace pitcher Kip Bouknight. That was our ticket; we’d surely make the College World Series that year. Man, 0-3. And, at that point in time, that was all I knew of Carolina sports. But this season is certainly a different start for many of you. You have chosen a NCAA school that finished 11th in the Sears Cup race. That’s right, the competition for the best all-around athletic school. Perhaps that doesn’t impress you. Maybe it will when you hear that it was the first time in our school’s history we’ve broken the Top 25 in that race. Maybe you’ll be impressed when you realize we have a great chance of going up higher this year. We might have lost a lot of starters on our football team, but every year Lou Holtz has been here we have been getting better. That’s not just with these starting players. This off-season, Holtz has re cruited a class ranked as high as sixth in the nation. In addition, since his arrival, he has been packing that squad with depth. A preseasori rating of 22 might be misleading; under Coach Holtz our football team has a habit of turning some heads. We might not have made the NCAA Tournament since 1998, but if you realize that Dave Odom fi nally got the production he want ed midseason, we missed out this past year by not going to the tour nament. A full season of that caliber bas ketball team will not only put us in the tournament but also might see the Gamecocks advance a few rounds. We might not have captured the College World Series crown this past year, but hell, we made it to Omaha. After having a team that — at one point in the season was num ber one — fall short two years in a row in game three of the Super Regionals, you’d realize how muGh of a feat it was to actually make the Series. It’s even better that we twice obliterated a team as good as Clemson (they have to be good at something). Our women’s track team won a national championship this past season. That’s a large part of how we finished No. 11 in the country. It was also our first national championship ever at this school. That team deserves mad props. The men’s track team is a top five squad every year. You can thank Track and Field Coach Curtis Frye for putting together two remarkably strong programs. Our women’s basketball team made a lot of headlines this past season by pulling off its best sea son ever, and ending its season in the Elite Eight at the Women’s Tournament this past year. -Go check out a men’s or worn en’s soccer game at the Graveyard. As sadistic as it sounds, our soccer teams actual ly play their matches on a field with a graveyard. But we have an exceptional men’s team, which has finished in the Top 20 since I’ve been here. Our women’s team hasn’t enjoyed as much success, but with second year Coach Shelley Smith, it won’t be long before they reach the same level as the men’s team. Swimming, men’s and women’s tennis, men’s and women’s golf, and even our equestrian team fea ture great athletes that frequent the Top 25 rankings of their sports. With all of these fantastic pro grams at USC, I encourage you not to limit your USC sports experi ence to simply football. Basketball games are a lot of fun to go to. The only problem this past year was that we had little student support. Granted, we didn’t have a student section then, but even so, don’t miss out on an awesome winter sport. I know I didn t think I d enjoy a soccer or tennis match the first time I went to one here, but I was certainly surprised. It was a lot of fun, and it was even better that all I had to do was show them my ID to get in. I didn’t have to wait through a long line like you’ll discover foot ball and basketball tickets require. This school is regarded by many as having some of the great est fans in the country. You are now apart of this proud tradition. We showed the nation this past season that we were among the best in our athletic programs. I encourage each of you to check out some sports you might nor mally overlook. Certainly go see our football and basketball teams, but you’ve got plenty of time. Check out some of our other teams as well. Foy is a fourth-year entreprenuer management student. Watson at South Carolina State is a win-win situation J. KEITH ALLEN GAMECOCKSPORTS@HOTMAIL.COM Now the Gamecocks can get down to the business at hand. Derek Watson is going to play football at South Carolina State this year. Pass the beer nuts. While my indifference is obvious ly exaggerated, it is the first step to distance myself from Watsongate and the cloud of dis traction it has placed on the USC football program. These are exciting times for Carolina football because there are so many thrilling things hap pening on the field. But with each arrest, altercation and arraign ment, Watson would take a little more focus away from its proper place. Now we can concentrate on football and players we actually have, not one drifting in and out of the fray — and in and out of the courtroom. There are not many players in college football like Watson with speed, skills and the ability to thrive as runner or receiver. He has had memorable games for the Gamecocks, rushing for over 2,000 yards and scoring 19 touchdowns. However, he did to himself what few defensive backs could do: he tackled himself for a loss. Prior to his dismissal after a marijuana arrest, Watson was charged with simple assault stem ming from an altercation with a female student. He was also in volved in an intramural basket ball fight and was suspended for the 2001 Outback Bowl. The past two USC seasons have been memorable: the team bounced back from a 0-21 hole to two consecutive Outback Bowl victories. This pleasure has been mingled, however, with the pesky distraction of Watson’s transgres sions. Watson’s infractions have put Head Coach Lou Holtz in a tenu ous position. Watson was the first marquee signing for Holtz after he arrived in Columbia and, even now, Holtz clearly wants to see Watson do well — as we all do — but Holtz obviously has had enough. Yet, there was the coach, on the radio recently opening the door a crack to possibly allow Watson back into the fold in 2003. In the end Holtz did the right thing. Allowing Watson to return would send a negative message to students, teammates and Carolina fans. He simply used up his chances. NCAA rules allow Watson to play this season at S.C. State rather than sit out a year, because he is transferring from a Division I program to Division I-AA school. Perhaps Watson will thrive in Orangeburg. He reunites with for mer Carolina assistant coach Buddy Pough, who is entering his first season at the helm for the Bulldogs. Pough maintains he is interested in helping Watson over come his problems, and he has permission from the school ad ministration to allow him to at tend classes and join the team. So after all the Watson hulla baloo, this might actually turn out well for all involved. Watson gets another chance to play football, away from many of his burned bridges and reminders of past in discretions, and USC gets to con centrate solely on football. The football team is always the biggest story in these parts, and there has been no more com pelling or covered aspect of the team than Derek Watson, but now we can finally move on. The me dia and fans, which have obsessed over Watson’s talents and foibles, can now fixate on Andrew Pinnock blowing through a de fense like a Sherman tank. The coaches and athletic departmenl staffers who grew tired of dis cussing Watson’s academic, legal and playing status can now talk about Ryan Brewer’s recovery, oi Corey Jenkins adjustment to his starting QB gig. To answer Bosephus’ rhetori cal call, I am ready for some foot ball. I am just sick and tired of ev erything else. Now we can shift our attentions to the matters at hand, hopes of an incident-free and successful 2002 season. Allen is a second-year history student. WORKING FOR STUDENTS WHO WORK FOR US. I UPS DELIVERS EDUCATION "Work Out While You Work" Interested part-time applicants should contact United Parcel Service @ 822-6294 An equal opportunity employer, m/f/h/v Wanna write for The Gamecock? Do ya like sports? Write to gamecocksports@hotmail.com. it’s Tue ife §TU©enT 0R@iiniziiTi©n 5, —-----77H Rflfi Wednesday, September 4th 11:00 am - 3:00 pm Davis Field ** Set-up starts at 10:30 ** Rain Location: Russell House Ballroom s§s 1 ©MGR 3®® @IR©©\iy STUBGflT ©R@iiniZilTI©n§! •it For more information call 777-2654, or stop by the Off ice of Student Government A Student Organizations Sponsored by the Office of Student Government A Student Organizations