The Price of Greatness

"Paranoia strikes deep, into your life it will creep."

It's been said that paranoia can be good in small doses. Problem is, paranoia, like meth, can be habit forming and bad for your mental piece. Famed educational philosopher, Robert M. Hutchins, put it more succinctly, saying of paranoia, "You know you've got it when you can't think of anything that's your fault." So here we stand on August 25, just 8 days away from the start of the 2010 college football season, a season that once appeared to hold so much promise for Steve Spurrier's University of South Carolina Gamecocks. The Gamecocks were coming off a record-tying 2nd consecutive bowl appearance in 2009, they had signed a really good running back on National Signing Day, and Stephen Garcia had gone at least 365 days without getting arrested for the first time since joining the program in 2007. There was even chatter of challenging Florida for SEC East supremacy. Then the bottom fell out.

In July, starting tight end Weslye Saunders became embroiled in an NCAA investigation into the legalities of an agent-sponsored party in South Beach last Spring, thrown for potential high-round picks in the 2011 NFL Draft. Though the school and the NCAA have been tight-lipped about the issue, MOAG has learned that officials are concerned with two things at this point. Who paid for Saunders to go on the trip, and what the hell was he doing at a party for 1st day draft picks? Despite this setback, the team still had reasons for optimism. After all, according to ardent Gamecock supporters, Saunders was officially listed as 2nd on the team depth chart behind noted hustler Patrick DiMarco. And though that was solely a product of his week-long suspension during the Spring, it was still a reassuring thing for fans to tell themselves. Besides, if they could get through the next few weeks without further trouble, the Gamecocks still had plenty of reasons to believe their magical season, the season they have waited on since (insert the year you were born here), was on the horizon. But so was something else...

"It starts when you're always afraid. You step out of line, the man come and take you away."

In early August, NCAA officials returned to Columbia. They even reportedly stopped practice and ordered Saunders to come with them for another round of You $#%@ed Up, Kid. Most South Carolina fans had believed that the issue had been put to rest. And why shouldn't they have, given the NCAA's history of starting and concluding major investigations in a matter of weeks? Despite their well-reasoned belief that it was over, the investigation was still active. Saunders' eligibility was now officially in question. To make matters worse, another investigation was underway. Various media were reporting that 3 players had been living all summer at The Whitney, an upscale hotel on Devine Street near Yo Burrito. Whitneygate, America's first gate scandal since Watergate to involve an actual hotel, was dismissed by fans as a non-issue. After all, coach new about it and compliance signed off on the lease. Yet it was still proving to be a distraction for a team that, at one point, appeared poised to do great things. Assistant Head Coach for Defense Ellis Johnson even admitted such.

Over the past two weeks, it has come to light that as few as 7, and as many as 10, players were living at the hotel. The NCAA is concerned that the players might have been staying at the hotel rent-free, or possibly at a reduced rate not offered to the general public. If their investigation bears that out, it could be deemed a violation. For a team that showed so much promise, these investigations so close to the start of the season could prove costly. Assistant Head Coach for Defense Ellis Johnson said yesterday that he didn't know exactly what the penalty - or penalties - would be, but that the staff has been given a range of potential punishments depending on what the NCAA finds. As a precautionary measure, the school told all the players to move out immediately and settle up on their bills. As a precautionary measure. In Saunders' case, being at the heart of two investigations could sideline him for some or all of the season. Coach Spurrier has said he expects the NCAA to let him know something before the start of the season next Thursday. But Saunders, apparently not content with just having his eligibility at risk, has decided to up the ante this week. On Monday, Spurrier announced that Saunders has been suspended indefinitely for a violation of team rules. He'd missed several team meetings and was late to a scrimmage last Saturday morning. When questioned by coaches about his tardiness, Saunders realized he had two options. He could tell the coaches the truth, whatever it was, and accept his punishment, or he could lie. In a stunner, Saunders chose option 2.

"Stop, hey, what's that sound, everybody looks what's goin down."

Many coaches will tell you they would sooner coach scrubs than liars. Coaches need to be able to trust their players on and off the field. At the beginning of the initial agent investigation, Spurrier went to bat for Saunders, saying, "Weslye told us he didn't do anything wrong, and we believe him." And it was the right thing to do, because players need to know their coach has their back. A lack of reciprocal trust can destroy team chemistry, but every now and then such truisms need to be put to the test. Sensing that now was one of those times, Saunders decided to conduct an experiment to see if he could somehow find the perfect blend of selfish behavior, public humiliation, and total lack of respect for the school and coach who gave him a free ride to college. Not only did Saunders lie to the coaches about where he had been, the lie itself was that he had been - get ready for it - meeting with NCAA investigators about his case(s). A quick check with the compliance office uncovered that no such meeting had taken place. So not only did he lie, he actually used the investigation, that he created, as his lie. If there were ever three words that Spurrier wishes he could unsay, "we believe him" would have to be them. Now Spurrier not only has every reason not to believe a word that comes out of his mouth, but he also has a reason to believe that Saunders would lie to anyone, including the NCAA, to save his own skin. For his part, Saunders has skillfully played the victim card from jump street, accusing others of misunderstanding him and trying to bring him down, which brings us back to the paranoia issue.

For a long time it was just the crazy, crazy South Carolina fans who felt that the world was out to get them, but this summer has turned even the players into true believers. Even so, our focus here at Mind of a Gamecock is the crazy, crazy fans and the funny things they say. We don't yet know how these investigations and suspension(s) will affect the promising 2010 season, but we do know this - that 9 win, 2nd in the East dream season might be on hold until further notice. What I can give you right now is this:

- "Riddle me this.....a player at Clemson can be allowed to live in a house on Lake Hartwell (owned by a CU supporter) along with his girlfriend and their baby for 3-4 years and the NCAA doesn't find fault. A player at Carolina has a legitimate contract with a local hotel for an extended stay and the NCAA finds fauult? At what point will the playing field be level? Clemson has multiple players staying 'off campus' in 'put up' situations on or near the lake. Always have and always will. It's time USC stands up to the NCAA, The State, and any other group that is creating this constant harrassment."

- "This is a media created this whole story, before the season starts their looking for anything to talk about."

- "Just like the NCAA to do away with athletic dorms and then look into housing. What is up with these hostesses at Cheating Clemson Tech and Kiffin's kittens? Why doesn't ESPN run with that? That's what continuously gripes my tail. Spiller and his girlfriend living on the lake driving a Tahoe. Heck I can't even afford the gas for a Tahoe, how does he?"

- "I'M SURE JOE PERSON IS BEHIND ALL THIS!!!!!"

- "Joe Person and The State rag need their media credentials pulled!!"

- "Joe Person has worked feverishly to report anything negatively on our program true or not. Joe's been busting our balls over this hotel situation almost every day and would like nothing more than to see it be true and NCAA sanctions befall our program. The state rag as been that way for as long as I can remember and I'm 60!"

- "Reading papers across the country over the years, I have never seen any local paper covers the local sports team with more negativity than The State. Plain and simple.

- "I really think it bothered the snake that our baseball team won NationaL championship this summer!"

- "If it were Clemmers players, you wouldn't read a damn thing about it in the snake."

- "This has been going on at the State for over a half a decade and it's time it STOPS!"

- "Why is it The State will turn a blind eye to a politician they like, but go after Carolina at the drop of a hat? If the hometown paper can't support the hometown team, what use are they?"

- "Last minute bad luck always seems to stab us in the back, and we have more than a chance to win the SECEast and the title."

- "This is no curse, this is a conspiracy."

Gamecocks Trip To Clemson, Get Punked

Another year, another victory for the Clemson Tigers over their pathetic midlands rival. Today's easy 72-61 win was the 6th in a row for Purnell's squad. That should come as no shock to readers, as beating South Carolina every year is just something Clemson does. But what made today's win exceptional was the way the Tiger defense completely shut down the gamecocks' best player, Devan Downey. Downey didn't score until 10 minutes were left in the game, and he ended up with 7 total points (5 of which were garbage points). Downey could not shake the Tiger D, his frustration showing with each possession.



Coming off a mind-numbing loss to Illinois the other night, frustration is just what the Tigers needed to exorcise. Amazingly, this might end up counting as a quality win for Clemson when the selection committee is deciding where the Tigers will land in the Dance. Soon enough conference play will begin, and this year the ACC is up for grabs. Clemson isn't ready to win it at this juncture of the season, but this is a talented bunch that could make a strong run once it's all said and done. With a week off to enjoy today's glorified practice, a rested Tiger team will run through its OOC slate before a showdown with Duke on January 3rd. The gamecocks will recover from this, largely because they play in the worst conference in the history of college basketball, but Downey won't soon forget getting pwn3d by his rival.......again.



Here's some MOAG, both football and basketball-related. Let's start with a doozie:

- Spiller Hurt His NFL Stock Last Night

- Classless Spiller sat on bench after loss and Tech player came over to him. He is such a puss; he can run all over the field but cant walk to congratulate the winner?

- Spiller only came back for his senior season to improve his chances in the draft and get a bigger paycheck, has nothing to do with being classy.

- If we had Holmes and Archie we would be killing Clempson !

- Sad fact is that Clemson is not that good...The team we just lost to is not that good. I think they will be on the bubble come March. With Archie and Holmes I am confident we would have won.

- Sorry taters you suck in basketball too!!! LOL (editor's note - this was said 23 minutes after the game)

- If we had Archie and Holmes this game wouldn't be close.

- I'm about to toss my laptop watching the team shoot after taking the ball away so many times. This is not the offense that showed up vs Jacksonville State. And this is not the Defense that showed up either.

- Even being Downeys worst game ever they still only won by 11. Taters happy we only play once a year.

- Pitt's secondary is very weak. You saw what that Cinci quarterback did yesterday just imagine what Garcia will do.

- We play in the SEC. Pitt's defense should be nothing to us.

Uncle Fester's

I just got back from Columbia, and it was truly a great weekend. Lots of old friends, laughs, and fellowship. I used to live in Columbia, and it was fun being back in my old stomping grounds. Also, a couple of my friends unwittingly hung out and had a great time at a gay bar, which was an excellent encore to an already pleasant day. But even so, it's great to be back home with my family. There's nothing quite as warm as getting a big hug from your daughter after being away. I'll have more later this week as we prepare for the big ACC Title game this Saturday, but for now I'm going back for another hug.

Early Friday MOAG

- Look. I have said it before and I will say it again. CAROLINA plays HANDS DOWN the toughest schedule out of CAROLINA and KKKLIMPSON!!! NOTHING and I mean NOTHING that happens on SATURDAY will change that! taters can brag all they want now or after the game on Saturday, but the BOTTOM LINE is that CAROLINA plays a MUCH, MUCH better conference than KKKLIMPSON. That's a fact. They can sugar coat it all they want, but that is the WAY IT IS. taters got NOTHING to brag about. NOTHING. If they win the rest of their two games the fact is that they played a much weaker A-SHE-SHE schedule than the GAMECOCKS. Period. They have to live with that. We can hold our heads up for playing the VERY BEST in the land!!!GO COCKS!!!

- The truth is we have NO reason to play clempson.We play the Highest profile schedule in America.Nothing and I mean Nothing good comes from playing clempson.On the other hand it is clempsons season maker.The best thing we could do is DROP em.That would be sweet.They would be left with nothing to hang their hat on.

- If it were up to me I would never play another ACC team in any sport unless it was a tournament. That charter group of clowns could not take it when we starting beating their a$$e$. They did everything they could to take us down and I would do the same if given a chance.Had we stayed I think we would have countless ACC championships in all 3 of the major sports.

- would not bother me one way or the other, taters, neighbors, but we have other teams we play that mean more to us financially and from a p.r. standpoint, so it would convince some with results

- Most Clemson fans have an inate ability to make people dislike them. That's why I decided after going to Carolina, that it was a more civil and cultured environment that suited my style and personality.

- rivalry be damned. Think with your head instead of your, well heart I guess. Is it logical for SC to keep playing CU? Nope, so why do something illogical year in and year out?

- Every Cock has its day. USC will soon start beating the Taters more and more. The losing shoe's gonna hurt on those orange stained feet.

- Clemson is the last school to talk to anyone about owning someone.

I'm Thankful For MOAG

- Clemmons University about to run into a BUZZ SAW. This is one of those rare times that Ive felt this good about a USC/CU game. I know many of you have doubts due to the history but I think huge celebrations will be going on in here saturday night. This will be year one of a string of victories over the hated rival.

- Seems like Klempsin has the coaches' and players' full attention this year. That's the difference!

- I agree. I think Spiller and Parker get knocked out of the game and the domino effect is we win big. We're the best defense they will see all year since they don't play Virginia Tech (how is that anyway?)

- next year starts Saturday

- Tatersuck Fag Univ is just trying to copy what we did with Under Armour! They need to try and match the publicity that we got with the wounded warriors gig! That faget University will do anything to try and "one up" us!!!!

- Hey where can I down load one of those pictures of the kid pupping in the clumpsun helmet?

- Taters really do have an inferiority complex to us. They beat us regularly enough that they shouldn't. But then they do things like last Saturday. After we had a classy camoflage uniform and cleats with honor, integrety, committment etc. on the back, to honor the fallen warrior project. They come out and redneck up what is a nice gesture to honor our military. I guess the coaching staff saw our guys and rushed off to the local army/navy store and bought some camoflage hunting pants. I know they meant well, and it was nice. But you just kinda have to laugh at them. Bless their hearts.

- think we can shut Spiller down running. We match up better against the shifty types.

- Somebody has to win this ballgame so it might as well be us ....people near and far have Clemson so built up , yet they forget how they got that way , they play PoS teams that are all "use to be's"...

- he is good but who wouldn't be playing against the teams he has played against , put him against big powerhouse teams he would be CJ SPILT !!

- If our defense hits him hard and early, we could mentally take him out of the game. I dont think he has been physically challenged much all year with the acception of the FSU game.

Important Note

I'm not sure what happened, but today's blog posted below the sunday and monday blogs. Scroll down until you get to the one entitled, Urgent.

Monday Night MOAG

Just more of the good stuff:

- We are every bit as good as TCU or Georgia Tech, and we're better than Miami. Taters gonna find out on Saturday.

- If we suck so bad and yall are the future ACC Champs (at least champs of your division), then why did vegas set the line only at Clemson 2.5? I mean, it's such a SURE win and we're just this bottom tier SEC team... Why would the ACC champs only be a 2.5pt favorite over lowly South Carolina?


- Clemson is 22-47 vs Georgia Tech (32%)South Caraolina is 35-61-4 vs Clemson (37%)So if SC does not have a chance vs Clemson this weekend, why does Clemson even show up for the ACC Championship Game? The numbers show, as bad as SC is vs Clemson, its better than Clemson vs GT.


- We just came off a 24-14 home loss to the number one team in the nation, beat the number 4 team earlier in the year at home, and played the number 2 team well on the road. 20 points may be enough.

- fortunately for us we are facing a team that spit the bit against Maryland.


- This time next week....I will have been celebrating a Gamecock victory for hours. Not a shred of doubt in my mind. I BELIEVE! GO COCKS!!!


- This is rivalry week, time to get excited. This game is in our house and that western SC technical school full of inbred hillbillies should have nightmares after what is going to happen to them at WB next Saturday!!!! Get ready for a beat down you toothless redneck SOB's because next Saturday at noon hell will be unleashed on your sorry a$$es!!


- Keep Spiller and Ford from busting big plays and they are dead meat!

- James and Demps didn't do a dang thing and netiher will Spiller and Ford!!!

- We've played a MUCH more difficult schedule and when you look at the top 2 teams in America, we've played BOTH of them WELL into the fourth quarter! With the proper mindset, we SHOULD BEAT CLEMSON!!!!

- Carolina will win. The ACC does not stack up like the SEC. The only deserving team to go to the ACC championship is GT. Everyone else is mediocre (yes, the word used to describe our team and program). The SEC will be against 2 undefeated teams as of now. Clemson is 8-3 and has a chance to play for the crown and go to the Orange Bowl? Come on, no competition. We played a hard schedule with freshmen/sophmores and they at most times, gave it all they had. The SEC is a tough conference to dominate and if you do, you earned it. The thought of GT playing Clemson makes me sick. We are at home for the SC/Clemson game and the stands will rock again. This is our year to win and decent bowl depends on this game. 2010 will be interesting and should go our way as our guys gained a lot of good experience this year as a young team. We are a year ahead of other programs b/c we had freshmen/sophmores on the field. They should play well for the next few years.

- They havent seen a defense like ours all season and our home field advantage will be too much for them to overcome.

- If we play the way we did against florida we WILL win. Plain and simple if the players can get over making the #1 team in the country sweat for 3 quarters..... we WILL win.