Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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'25t POINT COUNTER POINT NEWS EDITOR JL. JL JL ^ JL ^ H*F ^WF 1 V a NMM & m -M- ^ SPORTS EDITOR (THE TIGER) I saw a Clemson fan in the bowling alley Monday night. He was sporting a wife beater and an orange hat turned sideways on his head. Every time this guy bowled a strike he’d dance a little jig, and his chosen bowling alias, “KKK,” would flash on the screen above his head. This would be the perfect opportunity for me to launch into a stereotypical tirade, but it won’t happen. I realize not all Clemson fans are poor dancers and racists. Actually, I’m sure we have our share at USC. Not all Clemson fans are cow-tippers or sister lovers either, although there is little evidence to back it up. Talk about Saturday’s rivalry game can involve the actual game rather than the character flaws of fans from each side. Both teams come in with a winning record and are bowl eligible. Both teams are coming off wins against powerhouses from Florida. There’s not a whole lot riding • on a win or loss Saturday if you look at it from an outsider’s standpoint. Of course, being a USC student, I know that a loss would ruin my next 12 months. Thankfully, that won’t be the case this year. The best piece of evidence I have to support my case for a Gamecock win is one man, Steve Spurrier. Spurrier has won every game he was supposed to win this year. There have been no letdowns as in years past. College football experts at ESPN said the Gamecocks’ ball coach would be lucky to win four games in his first season. When he walks off the field with a win Saturday, he’ll have doubled that number. Clemson fans who come to Williams-Brice expecting Spurrier to throw all over the field might be surprised. Spurrier turned the Cock ’n’ Fire into the Fun ’n’ Run last week against the Gators, and the Gamecocks rushed for four touchdowns while throwing none. Urban Meyer had his defense prepared to stop the pass, and the man famous for throwing the ball down the field ran it down their throats. Spurrier has a 1-2 all-time record against Clemson, but those losses came during his first two seasons at Duke. His third season as a Blue Devil, Spurrier beat the Tigers on the way to winning the 1989 ACC championship. Remember that Spurrier was 11-1 against rival Georgia during his days as a Gator. Exhibit No. 2: USC’s defense is not as bad as people think. The Gamecocks could give up 1,700 yards to the Tigers on Saturday and still win. Despite their opponents’ ability to run all over them this season, the Gamecocks have found a way to keep them out of the end zone. Matter of fact, I’m surprised USC linebacker Dustin Lindsey hasn’t called out Charlie Whitehurst yet. Lindsey proclaimed before the Vanderbilt game that Commodores’ quarterback Jay Cutler had something coming for him, and despite Cutler throwing for a career high that day, USC won. The next week he said Tennessee had something for them, and they did. I guess Lindsey’s not in the business of providing bulletin board material for an in-state rivalry game, but then again, the week is young. That being said I’m not sure what argument Clemson has. Sure, you can say, “Look what happened last season and the year before that and the year before that,” but doesn’t it get old? When “2001” blasts over the speakers Saturday, the past doesn’t matter. Whitehurst will end his career with his only loss against USC, Jad Dean will still look silly in a Tiger uniform, and the new ball coach will have completed a wildly successful rookie season. My fellow Tigers, it is that time again when we all must pack up our orange and head to the filth-ridden city of Columbia. You know, the place that claims a chicken for a mascot, coined the phrase “wait till next year,” smells atrocious and boasts a school that has given our beloved Tigers 10 percent of their 606 wins during the last 109 years. Clemson heads to ~ Columbia this year to face a somewhat brighter, rejuvenated Gamecock team and hopes to add win No. 63 to the overall series total. Wait, 63, that’s a familiar number. If you don’t remember it, that’s the number of points we put on the board last time we ran -their “loyal” fans out of the dead cockroach (a.k.a. Williams-Brice Stadium) just before halftime. But that shellacking was in the past, and now it’s simply time to head South and do it again. Prior to this season, all I had heard from my best friends I grew up with, who by the way are mostly Gamecocks (that hurts to admit), was that Steve Spurrier was going to come in and save the program, the city and the whales (if he had enough time). Yeah well, I’ve heard that one before when Lou Holtz embarked on the venture to Columbia that would end up ruining and ultimately ending his coaching career. But I have to admit, Spurrier has done a heck of a lot more than I thought he would ever do. Long before his ' team defeated perennial powerhouses Tennessee and Florida, he had his work cut for him. After removing numerous players from the team for taking after some of their fans and going to jail, he yanked spme scholarships (I won’t even start with that), managed to get the entire South Carolina Football Coaches Association to boycott him and made a new hat to replace his visor: the Spur Lid, which is basically a bucket hat with no top that’ll only run you around $24.99. Don’t get me wrong, the man can design a smooth passing offense, but I just don’t know about these “stylish” hats. After doing all this before the season started, Stevil was ready to kick off another year of Gamecock football. In the season opener, he had to beat UCF (who carried the nation’s longest active losing streak into that game, which Carolina has once owned), next came Troy (4-6 overall, 3-3 in the mighty Sun Belt Conference), then Kentucky (3-6, 2-4 SEC) and Vanderbilt (who has not won a game since its 4-0 start). But the;, win against Tennessee was convincing, a 1 point, 16-15 win against a team that is now 4-5 on the year. Seriously, though, anytime you can take out Phil Fulmer and his-Vols it should be done, even in an off year, even by only 1 point. The Cocks also had to down an Arkansas team right after that ’ batde that now sits at 3-6 overall and 1-6 in the SEC. But seriously, to beat Florida for, the first time since 1939, that does kind of make my ears perk up. And that is a win that all Shamecocks should embrace. Five straight SEC wins and beating a powerhouse such as Florida for the first time in more than 65 years is something to be proud of. And so in my junior year of college in God’s Country, I will be forced to return to the concrete jungle that is Columbia, S.C. I just hope that for the sake of both teams, universities and our beloved state that this year’s game does not end in a brawl like the last. Hopefully, our game will be on “SportsCenter,” “Inside Edition” and any other major news program for a good game, not bad behavior. This weekend is a time for celebration: Two very good football teams will resume a contest that will once again produce a state champion and good friends will once again be reunited for good times. tiger burr •cortirueoproiri Music Award two days ago. “The best part about it is he’ll be in Clemson on Sunday, but tickets are like $35,” Alpert said. This event is free to USC students, faculty and staff. - Opening for Bentley is Texas group Cross Canadian Ragweed, who have a local following as well as a hit song “Boys From Oklahoma” playing on Country Music Television. “It’s one of the first cool sounding school sponsored events,” said Danielle Newberry, a first-year psychology student. Caroline Williams, a first year psychology student, looked forward to hearing a few words from the head ball coach. “I’m excited about hearing Spurrier talk. He’s the whole reason I’m going.” Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocknews@gwm.sc.edu Im-mwu ■ White Hon Garnet ■ $13 XL-SM I $15-XXL Heavy-Duty Cotton __and «tl Faroa an roundtrip from ATL. Cotcaintota, SC departures also N Tana additional. Ellgfciaty rattrlcoons apply; fana subject to . 1 SPRING BREAK Packages now available! j * BOOK EARLY for biggest savings!!! ll TRAVEL CUTS 1 -8oo-592-cuts (2887) _See the world your way Calllorbookonlinel — -1 m I YOUR CATERING I SOLUTIONHI ir ’M,s •'’H