Monday, December 3, 2007

When did you people become so entitled?

The Gamecock message boards are littered right now with people bitching about the current state of Gamecock football. They feel like we're not living up to expectations...we should be in a bowl game...we deserve better than this.

Really?

What exactly in the 100+ years of mediocre Gamecock football leads you to believe that we deserve better than this? We are who we thought we were. And what's wrong with that?

Part of the unique...um...charm of being a Gamecock is the shared sense of disappointment. We've all been through a lot of crap together. I mean a lot of crap. But it's those perpetual lows which have brought us all together and made the good times even more sweet.

Do we really want to become like Clemson? They're basically another mediocre team that had one really great decade to create some space between themselves and the .500 record around which we seem to be stuck. When you average out our lifetime records, Clemson has really only averaged about one win per season more than us. But that's it. Really, what's the difference between 100 years of 7-5 records and 100 years of 6-6 records?

But that one decade of hovering around the top of college football has given Clemson an inflated sense of self that still lingers...nearly 20 years later. They were mediocre before Danny. They've been mediocre after Danny. But each year they demand more—somehow rationalizing to themselves that the belong amongst the elite. Yet they never get there. They always fall short. Always. It makes you wonder which team is the one with the supposed curse.

If a misguided sense of entitlement—and therefore a constant state of disappointment—is the price you have to pay for winning, then I'm not sure I ever really want to reach the top of the mountain. Why can't we savor the occasional good years, of which we've had may in the last decade?

Sure, we're all disappointed with this season. But there's always next year! Embrace that next year. It's who we are and we should run with it.

Tis better to have lost and not been to a bowl than ever to have been to the Humanitarian Bowl at all.

3 comments:

Willy Mac said...

Don't try to pull a Chicago Cubs and stamp yourself with the lovable loser mantra... you stink. Face it. No matter what coach you get, no matter what recruits you get, Columbia is a sinkhole for college football. Come on Strange Cock, you're better than that.

Tim Cooper said...

"Tis better to have lost and not been to a bowl than ever to have been to the Humanitarian Bowl at all."

Classic Strangecock literature...worth every read. Thank you good Doctor!

sunshyne said...

"Tis better to have lost and not been to a bowl than ever to have been to the Humanitarian Bowl at all."

LOVE IT! I'm sure people have plenty to say about UGA and their bowl predicament, but I loved these comments abous USC...who dealt us a lost this year. If nothing else, embrace the fact that the Cocks were part of the reason that the Dawgs will NOT be playing for a National Title.

I'll continue reading. GO SEC!