The Truth About Kenneth Page

There are a lot of rumors going around about that infamous Kenneth Page MySpace picture. You know, the one where he's holding about $10,000 cash. Or it looks like he's holding $10,000 cash.

The Fake

Well, in this day and age of PhotoShop, you can't trust everything you see. And now the truth has come out...

The Original

Shame on YOU, internet, for besmirching the reputation of a fine young man. And an animal lover, at that.

Odom's Last Stand?

Is this it? Is today's first round SEC Tourney matchup versus LSU going to go down as Dave Odom's final game at Carolina? Or will he engineer another late-season tourney run?

Honestly, anything happen. It was only two years ago that the Gamecocks marched into the finals against a Florida team (soon to be the National Champs) that USC had already beaten twice. Dave also has two late-season surges which led us all the way to the NIT Championship. He also has had more than his share of tank-jobs.

So as we approach The Warchest's potential USC finale, we can only look at this final game with the focus gained from seven years of disappointment, surprise, and malaise. In other words, no focus at all. I wouldn't be shocked if we made a run...but I certainly expect to pack it up and head home this afternoon.

George Washington was a bad mutha...

This has nothing to do with college football. But on this fine President's Day, I thought we'd honor our very first President with a special video history lesson. It is entirely accurate, if perhaps a bit NSFW. Make that definitely NSFW.

We now return to this blog already in progress

"I've abandoned my blog!"

The Writers' Strike is over! I can finally return to writing this blog!

OK, that's a load of crap. I haven't been striking. I haven't had "more important" things to do. I haven't even been busy doing anything in particular. I just...stopped.

Looking back, I think I was just bummed out. No question about it, last football season was a drag. Started out great...ended in a whimper. It sucked. It was painful. I really didn't feel like dwelling on it. And the next two months weren't really much better.

Here's the short, short version:

• No bowl.

• Basketball sucks again.

• Nix out.

• VanGorder in.

• LSU proves SEC dominance...again.

• Odom (soon-to-be) out.

• Basketball maybe not-so-bad.

• VanGorder out.

• Johnson in.

• Basketball settles in at "mediocre."

• Spurrier signs his second-best class...still not enough for some folks

But this is a new year. A fresh start. We just signed a new class. We're going to get a new basketball coach. Our one true national powerhouse team is about to begin its season. There Will Be Blood made me believe that new classics can still be made. Lost is back and better than ever.

So look for more regular updates from here on out. Some basketball here. A movie review there. Always some room for a YouTube. Maybe a little election stuff. Baseball updates. But always back to football. This is first-and-foremost a Gamecock football blog. And Gamecock football, if you stop your abusive ways, I promise never to leave you again.

Tense Bowden hostage situation nears resolution

"Give me more money or the coach gets it!"

Looks like the treading-water will continue at Clemson. Rumors abound that Tommy is about to ink a lucrative ($2.2 million!!!) contract to stay in Tigertown. If this is true, Bowden will have orchestrated one of the most blatant — and befuddling — cash-grabs this side of Sabanation. Arkansas got played and this "good Christian man" straight-up robbed the Clemson piggy bank.

What exactly is Clemson paying for? Tiger fans go on endlessly about "demanding excellence" and "producing championships." Yet, in nine years, Tommy Bowden has delivered nothing.

Except one thing.

Beating South Carolina.

For all their talk of belonging in the football elite and demanding more than 8-win seasons, this last-ditch attempt at luring Tommy back only proves one thing...all he has to do is beat South Carolina. Lose to Wake? Fire Tommy! Beat USC? Contract extension! Lose to Duke? Fire Tommy! Beat USC? Contract extension! Get reamed at home by Virginia Tech? Fire Tommy! Beat USC? Contract extension!

Go ahead and keep talking about championships, Clemson fans. But as long as you keep paying this man more and more for only beating South Carolina, you're revealing your true aspirations and rewarding a man for nothing more than mediocrity.

Is Tommy ready to end this abusive relationship?

Leave? Me? Noooooo...you guys have treated me so well!

As of 12:46am, the Tommy Bowden to Arkansas rumors are really starting to pick up steam. Why? I can't even begin to figure out why this makes sense for either party. But wouldn't it be hilarious...after nine years of not winning the ACC championship, not winning the little games, and just not being Danny Ford...Tommy might bolt town? And just when Tiger fans were starting to warm up to him.

Judging by these responses on HawgSports.com, Tommy might be heading into a grumpy shitstorm of malcontents just like the one he left. Some choice comments:

"I think we just traded in a 1998 Ford Taurus for a 1999 Ford Taurus with similar miles. And we lost our ass in the process! What was the point?"

"FIRE BOWDEN...I would rather take my chances with Gus...FRACKING, MUTHER FRACKERS!!! Screw the UA and their athletic program!!!"

"Houston, we love you....come back to us."

"Bowden hire not what the fan base needs...not what the school needs, not a commitment to improving the football program IMO. WTF is going on up there?!?!?!?!?!?!"

"If we got rid of Nutt for Bowden...we took a step backwards"

"Bowden has only proven he is capable of medicority in the ACC."

"We know what Tommy Bowden can do and he could not carry Houston's jock strap."

"The destruction of the program is complete....unbelievable."

Just gives you the warm and fuzzies, huh?

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.