My work schedule is not conducive to being a Gamecock football fan. When I drove up, I lost the radio signal for the broadcast at about kickoff time, and had another 30 or so minutes to go. Couldn't watch much.
But a slight benefit is a Spartanburg station carries Clemson and it comes in the whole way, almost.
Nice on a night like tonight.
Was also listening after week one, when Will Merritt said, after beating the mighty Auburn Tigers, "I don't want to get too far ahead of myself, but we are maybe looking at a team that can go 15-0."
After week one. After Auburn.
Anyway, tonight, the game ended, and it took me like 20 minutes at least to get to the car and put it on.
And Yanity said they were waiting for Dabo.
So they chit chat, said despite the result, there were still some good things to talk about. Talk about some. Will says there so many good things, probably 50 plays to talk about. Then says, unfortunately FSU had 60 plays to brag about. Nice.
So Yanity says they are still waiting for Dabo.
Chit chat some more.
Merritt says the good things were so good that if you took away a couple of stalled drives and a couple of mistakes, Clemson "certainly" could have won this game. But, he says, unfortunately that is all "locked in time."
So, I think, Clemson would have won if they had only had a time machine. Poor Clemson.
Yanity says again that they are waiting for Dabo.
There is so much to report on what they said, but, unlike Godot, Dabo finally shows.
Don't know if this was during the interview or not, but another GREAT point they made was that, let's not forget FSU is a great team. They have threats at every position. Just like Clemson, they have awesome threats at EVERY position.
Will and Pete say hat Clemson actually got a taste of what they have been handing out (against Furman, Ball State and suck-ass Auburn) to others. And I think about that for a second and realize what they are REALLY saying. They are saying it is almost like Clemson played itself. And what a shame the other Clemson was SO good that it beat the real Clemson.
It is worth the listen. I recommend buying one, if you have the means. so choice.
So Dabo is devastated, and says he has told the team the "season starts next week." Can they win the ACC only playing seven games?
A big key is to put the loss behind them and "not let the loss beat you twice."
Dabo leaves, they pivot to player interviews and Tajh and the senior lineman they interviewed both talk, one at length, about not letting the loss beat you twice.
So guys. ...
If Clemson loses again, I'm waiting for Dabo.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Thursday, September 13, 2012
DNC: IL delegate enjoys experience
http://www.carolinagatewayonline.com/content/il-delegate-enjoys-experience
This one might be the last I put up, but I might get just one more, if I can get through.
This one might be the last I put up, but I might get just one more, if I can get through.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
USC Sports: Calling out Coach Spurrier
I'm going to start this by saying that I believe, unequivocally, that Steve Spurrier is the best thing to happen to USC football since Joe Morrison laconically stalked the sidelines of Williams-Brice Stadium.
He has, to use a cliche, forgotten more about good football than I will even learn, and he has reshaped USC football into something that is feared by opposing teams at present, and perhaps will be feared for years to come. All things to be desiered, and he has delivered beyond the epectations of many.
But he said something that I cannot, in good conscience, let lie unchallenged.
A lot of fans bailed on the Gamecocks when they were up 21-0 at the half against East Carolina on Saturday.
He thought the fans should have stayed to the end, because there was a lot of football yet to be played.
I am generally one to stay to the last tick of the clock, and being a Gamecock, it has usually been a very bitter tick of the clock. I would tend to agree, though I have no idea how hot it was in Williams-Brice, nor if there was indeed a shortage of bottled water by the half.
But the way Spurrier said it bears challenging. He said he hoped Gamecock fans were not going to "return" to being one of those fan bases that shows up for a half and no matter what, heads off to party sometime around the beginning of the second half.
My USC experience began in 1984. I went with fellow students to the very first game of that storied year of Black Magic. So I was in the game when, USC trailing, told a friend, we need a "trick play, perhaps a halfback option pass," to get a quick score.
On the very next play, we had a trick play. A halfback option pass. For a quick score. We went up and went on to beat the Citadel. But that was in the fourth quarter of a packed Williams-Brice.
I didn't know much about football at the time, and to be honest, I was just trying to sound more informed than I was. I admit it was a lucky guess. But there was a lot of luck involved with USC that year.
In 1986, I remember sitting there, watching as time was almost near off the clock, in a game against Georgia, in which Coach Morrison was disputing a call that pretty much gave the game to the Bulldogs. It was odd, just standing there, for a LONG time, with an almost packed house, waiting for a reversal that never came. Coach Morrison kept the players on the field when Georgia guys were headed to the locker room.
I was there on a different night, in 1987, when we beat Clemson 20-7, the crowd just hazing Clemson QB Rodney Williams without mercy. I was doing that myself. Packed house. All night.
I was there under very different circumstances. In 1988, USC played Florida State, and the Seminoles must have been pissed about something. They shut us down completely on offense and roared over us on their offense. I think the final score was 59-0.
That was the first time I saw something: Fans leaving early. The performance on the field was pitiful, and I couldn't blame those who left, but I also couldn't join them.
We knew what ws going to happen and we had a little fun chanting, Jimmy Crack Corn.
"Jimmy Crack Corn, and I don't care, Jimmy Crack Corn, and I don't care, Jimmy Crack Corn, and I don't care .... We ain't gonna score tonight."
FSU was a perennial national powerhouse and we were breaking in a new quarterback. We weren't taunting our players, though they might have thought so. Just a grim acknowledgement that we weren't where we wanted to be.
But it was a first time. And it was a first of a few rare times. USC fans had a reputation for being among the best in the nation. Students caused the upper deck on the east side of the stadium to sway, and it became a catch phrase, instituted by our head coach. "If it ain't swaying, we ain't playing."
While Spurrier and Morrison have to my mind been the best things to happen to USC football since I have been a fan, the absolute worst thing, in the entire history of the program, was Brad Scott's tenure. It came to a head with me when I attended a game in 1998 where Mississippi State beat us 33-0 or 39-0.
And that's the second time I really saw it. USC fans left en masse, starting in the middle of the third quarter.
I was sitting in the new South Upper stands. I had binoculars and I trained them on the sidelines. The players were laughing it up, having a grand old time. They did not care. In that instance, I almost bolted myself. If the players don't care, why should I?
But I had my own reasons for caring. I was a graduate of USC and loved the Gamecocks.
I thought then that Brad Scott had to go. Depsite winning our first bowl under him, I never much cared for him.
That was the second time in following the Gamecocks in 14 years where I had seen a mass exodus of fans, early. While I agreed not with those who did it, both times, I could understand.
Lou Holtz was hired and gave us some initial success. He was then followed by Coach Spurrier, who turned us around. I pray that, whenever he leaves, the success he has brought has been institutionalized.
Both Spurrier, to some small extent, and Holtz, to a much greater extent, thought they had to teach the fans how oto be fans. While I think they were right to beat out and kill any "traditions' inside the locker room that might have cost us over the years, USC is a program rich in tradition and history.
The only thing it has lacked over the years has been winning, which can be laid at the foot of the many, many coaches we have had over the years. When we had a small moment of success, it was not sustained.
Through it all, we have had an extremely loyal fan base who have been with the team through thick and a lot of thin over the years, almost always, to the very bitter end. Only in extreme provocation have fans bailed out early on the team. That is NOT something in our history. Not never, but not often. Just once or twice. I believe fans bailed on the Gamecocks when Clemson beat us 63-17. We honestly weren't trying for some reason, that year under Coach Holtz.
The one thing USC has been known for, forever, Coach Spurrier, is a fanatical and absolutely loyal fan base. On occasion, we have bailed on our team. But it has been so rare an occurence to my mind that it just isn't in us.
I don't know why the fans bailed Saturday. I wouldn't have, had I been there.
But don't sell us short. It's not in our nature.
Lastly, I haven't been to many home games in a while. Tickets are too expensive for my family's tight budget. But I have heard some reports of fans leaving early since a certain fellow from Tennessee took over. Not a lot of fans. But a noticeable amount of fans.
Some of the fans have been eager for success so we can be like all those other big time programs.
But real USC fans are like the ones who were there for you when you beat No. 1 Alabama. They were there from the opening kickoff to the happy end. They were loud and raucous and helped the team be at the Crimson Tide.
Those are the same fans who were there in a raucous game against Alabama when Coach Holtz stalked the sidelines. I was in the west upper for that game, and I could swear the stands were swaying, just a little. The score kept trading back and forth, but QB Phil Petty prevailed. Being up there for THAT Alabama game made me recall all the games I went to as a student at USC, when the upper deck swayed to the beat of "Louie, Louie."
Saturday, coach, was not the true USC fan base.
I appreciate your time, hope you reach the 200-win mark on Saturday and add at least 11 more this season, if not more. But whatever mark you and the Gamecocks reach, I am proud of you all.
He has, to use a cliche, forgotten more about good football than I will even learn, and he has reshaped USC football into something that is feared by opposing teams at present, and perhaps will be feared for years to come. All things to be desiered, and he has delivered beyond the epectations of many.
But he said something that I cannot, in good conscience, let lie unchallenged.
A lot of fans bailed on the Gamecocks when they were up 21-0 at the half against East Carolina on Saturday.
He thought the fans should have stayed to the end, because there was a lot of football yet to be played.
I am generally one to stay to the last tick of the clock, and being a Gamecock, it has usually been a very bitter tick of the clock. I would tend to agree, though I have no idea how hot it was in Williams-Brice, nor if there was indeed a shortage of bottled water by the half.
But the way Spurrier said it bears challenging. He said he hoped Gamecock fans were not going to "return" to being one of those fan bases that shows up for a half and no matter what, heads off to party sometime around the beginning of the second half.
My USC experience began in 1984. I went with fellow students to the very first game of that storied year of Black Magic. So I was in the game when, USC trailing, told a friend, we need a "trick play, perhaps a halfback option pass," to get a quick score.
On the very next play, we had a trick play. A halfback option pass. For a quick score. We went up and went on to beat the Citadel. But that was in the fourth quarter of a packed Williams-Brice.
I didn't know much about football at the time, and to be honest, I was just trying to sound more informed than I was. I admit it was a lucky guess. But there was a lot of luck involved with USC that year.
In 1986, I remember sitting there, watching as time was almost near off the clock, in a game against Georgia, in which Coach Morrison was disputing a call that pretty much gave the game to the Bulldogs. It was odd, just standing there, for a LONG time, with an almost packed house, waiting for a reversal that never came. Coach Morrison kept the players on the field when Georgia guys were headed to the locker room.
I was there on a different night, in 1987, when we beat Clemson 20-7, the crowd just hazing Clemson QB Rodney Williams without mercy. I was doing that myself. Packed house. All night.
I was there under very different circumstances. In 1988, USC played Florida State, and the Seminoles must have been pissed about something. They shut us down completely on offense and roared over us on their offense. I think the final score was 59-0.
That was the first time I saw something: Fans leaving early. The performance on the field was pitiful, and I couldn't blame those who left, but I also couldn't join them.
We knew what ws going to happen and we had a little fun chanting, Jimmy Crack Corn.
"Jimmy Crack Corn, and I don't care, Jimmy Crack Corn, and I don't care, Jimmy Crack Corn, and I don't care .... We ain't gonna score tonight."
FSU was a perennial national powerhouse and we were breaking in a new quarterback. We weren't taunting our players, though they might have thought so. Just a grim acknowledgement that we weren't where we wanted to be.
But it was a first time. And it was a first of a few rare times. USC fans had a reputation for being among the best in the nation. Students caused the upper deck on the east side of the stadium to sway, and it became a catch phrase, instituted by our head coach. "If it ain't swaying, we ain't playing."
While Spurrier and Morrison have to my mind been the best things to happen to USC football since I have been a fan, the absolute worst thing, in the entire history of the program, was Brad Scott's tenure. It came to a head with me when I attended a game in 1998 where Mississippi State beat us 33-0 or 39-0.
And that's the second time I really saw it. USC fans left en masse, starting in the middle of the third quarter.
I was sitting in the new South Upper stands. I had binoculars and I trained them on the sidelines. The players were laughing it up, having a grand old time. They did not care. In that instance, I almost bolted myself. If the players don't care, why should I?
But I had my own reasons for caring. I was a graduate of USC and loved the Gamecocks.
I thought then that Brad Scott had to go. Depsite winning our first bowl under him, I never much cared for him.
That was the second time in following the Gamecocks in 14 years where I had seen a mass exodus of fans, early. While I agreed not with those who did it, both times, I could understand.
Lou Holtz was hired and gave us some initial success. He was then followed by Coach Spurrier, who turned us around. I pray that, whenever he leaves, the success he has brought has been institutionalized.
Both Spurrier, to some small extent, and Holtz, to a much greater extent, thought they had to teach the fans how oto be fans. While I think they were right to beat out and kill any "traditions' inside the locker room that might have cost us over the years, USC is a program rich in tradition and history.
The only thing it has lacked over the years has been winning, which can be laid at the foot of the many, many coaches we have had over the years. When we had a small moment of success, it was not sustained.
Through it all, we have had an extremely loyal fan base who have been with the team through thick and a lot of thin over the years, almost always, to the very bitter end. Only in extreme provocation have fans bailed out early on the team. That is NOT something in our history. Not never, but not often. Just once or twice. I believe fans bailed on the Gamecocks when Clemson beat us 63-17. We honestly weren't trying for some reason, that year under Coach Holtz.
The one thing USC has been known for, forever, Coach Spurrier, is a fanatical and absolutely loyal fan base. On occasion, we have bailed on our team. But it has been so rare an occurence to my mind that it just isn't in us.
I don't know why the fans bailed Saturday. I wouldn't have, had I been there.
But don't sell us short. It's not in our nature.
Lastly, I haven't been to many home games in a while. Tickets are too expensive for my family's tight budget. But I have heard some reports of fans leaving early since a certain fellow from Tennessee took over. Not a lot of fans. But a noticeable amount of fans.
Some of the fans have been eager for success so we can be like all those other big time programs.
But real USC fans are like the ones who were there for you when you beat No. 1 Alabama. They were there from the opening kickoff to the happy end. They were loud and raucous and helped the team be at the Crimson Tide.
Those are the same fans who were there in a raucous game against Alabama when Coach Holtz stalked the sidelines. I was in the west upper for that game, and I could swear the stands were swaying, just a little. The score kept trading back and forth, but QB Phil Petty prevailed. Being up there for THAT Alabama game made me recall all the games I went to as a student at USC, when the upper deck swayed to the beat of "Louie, Louie."
Saturday, coach, was not the true USC fan base.
I appreciate your time, hope you reach the 200-win mark on Saturday and add at least 11 more this season, if not more. But whatever mark you and the Gamecocks reach, I am proud of you all.
Monday, September 10, 2012
A bunch of overachievers: More reflections on 1984 (and 1969)
Starting offensive linemen for the 1984 Black Magic squad -- a bunch of overachievers.
The Chief raised his arms to a sparse pregame crowd, ran away from the circle of his fellow teammates, and shouted.
Wildly pumping his left arm, punching it twice as if he was celebrating another many bone-crushing tackle, he yelled to the crowd, “Get UP.” Some did.
But it’s a new Carolina, one different from the days when a wild man, a butt-kicker named Kevin “The Chief” Hendrix prowled the field at Williams-Brice Stadium and made opposing offenses pay.
He was in black, wearing his old No. 98. Even though the hair was gray, he’s a still a giant. How much bigger would he be if he suited up in full pads and helmet?
He was one of about 40 members of the 1984 Black Magic squad, the team with the best-ever record in USC history, to take the field before kickoff on the 25th anniversary of the epochal season.
His on the field antics Saturday night begged the question: Is the defensive end with a reputation for hitting hard might still a wild man?
“No,” he said. “I’ve got a ballcap that says, ‘Ex Wildman,’ on it.”
But he obviously thought somebody needed to be shown a thing or two.
He wasn’t the only one.
 |
| Members of the 1969 championship Gamecocks, including quarterback Tommy Suggs (12) and Tommy Simmons (34). |
Tommy Simmons stood on the sidelines in a plain garnet jersey, with only No. 34 written on it. He was watching Spencer Lanning, bedecked in all-garnet uniform, with a fancy, striped jersey that said “Carolina” on the front, “Lanning” on the back, also wearing No. 34
Lanning was practicing punts.
“Don’t be giving this number a bad name,” he shouted.
Simmons, of Buffalo, S.C., was a fullback on the 1969 Gamecock squad. The team went 7-4 that year, but was a perfect 6-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. It remains to this day the only conference title in the football team’s history.
Not quite the wildman that Hendrix was, Simmons went and stood by the kid who now bore his number, smiling widely.
There have been many changes at Williams-Brice Stadium since Simmons was in the backfield.
Two upper decks have been added to the east and west stands. There are significant changes even since when Hendrix played. The South “Zone” has been added, upping the capacity. But the pregame crowd in the stands was probably the smallest crowd he’d ever seen at Williams-Brice.
It was probably the biggest crowd the 1969 crowd ever saw in the stadium too.
They were supposed to move to their seats after the ceremony, but most stayed around. The 1984 guys wanted to see it again. The 1969 guys prepared to see, and hear, something they never had back then.
2001.
Ken Wheat stood by old friend Dickie Harris, still in the USC record books as one of the most prolific return men to field a punt or a kickoff.
The listened, looked up, and at the appropriate place, threw their arms up.
“Unbelievable,” said Harris. “If you can’t get fired up by that, than nothing will. It’s something to behold.”
 |
| Former USC defensive back Dickie Harris listens as 2001 is played over the Williams-Brice Stadium loudspeakers and phones it on his cell to family. He is still a record-holder for returns at USC. |
The guy who brought 2001 to the USC loudspeakers and made it the most exciting 2:31 minutes of “awesome,” n college football, the 1984 head coach, Joe Morrison, wasn’t there.
He died in 1989 of a heart attack. But he was represented.
His daughter Lisa was among those joining the players. She was flocked by the 1984 offensive line on the field.
“Your Dad loved us best,” one said.
They still have camaraderie, as if they see each other and drill each week.
“You’re always freaking late,” one said to another as they lined up for a picture at Gate 12 before taking the field.
USC shifted the guards and tackles a bit back when coach Frank Sadler was running the veer here.
“Is it a left formation or a right formation?” one asked.
“It’s a wide formation,” another joked.
Del Wilkes (62), Bill Barnhill (67), Jim Walsh (77), Carl Womble (57) and Tommy Garner (55) surrounded Lisa as if she was a quarterback calling a play.
Walsh, now a football coach in Hinesville, Ga. says he wouldn’t trade his experience at USC for anything.
“This was a great place to play football,” he said.
There were no stars on the 1984 he said.
“Just a bunch of over-achievers,” he said. They tend to avoid taking much individual credit. They played like a team throughout the year.
Actually, just a few days earlier, one of the quarterbacks he and his linemates had protected, gave guys like him credit for the season.
Most of them were seniors, and they gave leadership to the team, former USC quarterback Mike Hold said.
Walsh got to see some great things. His career ended with 1984, but he played under not just Morrison, but Coach Jim Carlen. He got to help George Rogers win the Heisman Trophy in 1980.
“It was a great time, a great period,” he said.
When asked for his personal best achievement in 1984, he couldn’t even do that.
He laid a trap block, but it was part of a double team effort to contain Clemson’s star defensive end, William “The Fridge” Perry. The effort helped the Gamecocks cut Clemson’s lead and eventually win the season ender to go 10-1 in the regular season.
 |
| Frank Sadler, the wizard of the veer, offensive coordinator in 1984. |
They players were special, said Frank Sadler, the offensive coordinator in 1984. He’s still known as the wizard of the veer. He had a visit from Georgia Tech Head Coach Paul Johnson at Sadler’s Troy, Ala., home, where they shared offensive philosophy.
Johnson is running it more as a three-back set, “where we ran a two-back set,” but it’s that same veer.
“We lost just that one game,” Sadler said. “I wish we hadn’t, because we would have played for the national championship. But sometimes, it isn’t in the cards.”
The players said they appreciated the ceremony and the efforts of the Athletics Department to remember the teams.
One of the reasons the university hasn’t excelled over the years, they said, was the lack of tradition.
Even they mistake USC’s history on the field. There isn’t much history of winning, but there is also not a complete lack of such traditions.
Ira Hillary, who wore the No. 1 jersey for USC for years, a star receiver for both USC and later in the pros for the Cincinnati Bengals, who has a nephew on the USC squad right now, said USC honored the 1984 squad five years ago, and that was special. But this was different. This was better.
This time, they brought both winning teams together at the same time. Putting both squads on the field at the same time was significant.
“It was great to see those champions,” Hillary said.
 |
| In the center, in garnet sport coat, Paul Dietzel, head coach of the 1969 ACC champion Gamecock squad. |
Almost a hundred men who wore the garnet and black took the field together, the only ones in the football programs who can make a claim. They were the first. They did something special, something no one else had ever done before.
The ones in garnet won a conference title.
They got ACC championship rings as well as a Peach Bowl ring, though few wore them Saturday.
“Most of us have a hard time getting into the rings any more, “ said Dave Lucas, a defensive end on the ’69 squad. “The jerseys too.”
The ones in black won the most games ever won by Gamecocks. They were the best winners ever on field.
There’s not much tradition at USC — no one can deny that. But a lack of tradition?
These guys prove it. This program has its history. More than one group has done things no one else had done.
The problem is, no one has done it
since.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
RIP Allen Mitchell (Blast from the past: Another wasted opportunity)
Allen Mitchell in 2009 with one of his sons at a reunion for the 1984 and the 1969 Gamecocks.
According to media reports, Mitchell is dead, having committed suicide. I don't know what his pain was, but looking at that young child's face, it is almost unbearably sad news.
I wrote the below column at the time of the reunion, having met many of the players for both teams.
USC: Another wasted opportunity
I keep putting 1984 first in my
discussions of this event Saturday because it was not only my first year at
USC, but also, honestly, my first year as a college football fan. My
expectations for USC were set that year. So I've had a mostly disappointing quarter
of a century (did I really write that?) as a college football fan.
We all want this program to
succeed, some of us desperately.
We've had such heartbreak the
past few years that we forget, while we've stumbled often, more often than not,
this program has had a slightly better than winning record.
We were reminded on Saturday that
living breathing young men once won a conference title for this school. There
was an article that indicated we won another title, but it was vacated.
We've had conference football
success. Not a lot. Just a tiny bit.
But not nothing.
In 1984, we went 10-2. We rose to
the No. 2 ranking in the nation. We set the college football world on fire for
most of the regular season.
So do you think the hundred or so
guys who took the field in the pregame might have actually had a little wisdom
to impart to our current team? Maybe just a touch?
I spent more time talking to the
guys in black from the Black Magic year.
They were selfless, they said.
They had no real superstars, not even any stars. They just worked. Together.
They had senior leadership that
had been there. Some of those linemen had blocked for a guy who won a Heisman
trophy.
I'm not talking about exchanging
schemes, not Xs and Os.
They played with desire. With
heart. They cared almost more for the excitement of the game than for the win.
As a result, they got the W all but two times.
They did their jobs and they
stuck together.
So I asked. And asked. And asked,
and kept getting the same disappointing answer.
Did they let you speak to the
team at any point?
No. Not once.
These guys were treated like
boosters or recruits in the access they got to practice and pregame and
sideline. But a few of them said they were owed something different. Better
treatment over the years, perhaps. I happen to agree.
See, these guys had to pay for
their own tickets to the game, past the two they were allotted. They had to pay
$25 bucks a pop to go to the barbecue dinner on Friday night in the zone.
Our Athletics Department never,
ever learns.
There is a perception that
there's no tradition, no history at USC in football, Because of it, we continue
to distance ourselves and alienate the living breathing tradition that we
actually have.
In basketball, it is acknowledged
that we had a pretty good run under an Irishman named Frank McGuire, but we
have distanced ourselves from that program as well, with a couple of
irreparable tears.
I say this because I love my alma
mater. College was a precious experience. I made friends while we watched and
tailgated before game after game under Joe Morrison. Some friends I've kept for
a lifetime. I also got an education on the side, though it came as much at The
Gamecock newspaper, as in the classroom.
For the whole time I've been
associated with this program, the Athletics Department has done OK raising
money to build facilities. It has been up and down in hiring coaches.
But it's been dismal and almost
destructive in preserving the integrity of the history that this program has to
offer. It raises money, but it razes spirit.
There's nobody up at the Sports
Information Office, now that Tom Price has died, who knows the history well
enough to respect the history. Nobody. I don't know who could do the job. But
we need someone there who, if they can’t master Gamecock sports history, can at
least protect the legacy of what we have really done.
Some might laugh and think,
"Is he serious? Isn't the Athletics Department USC sports?"
No. They've gotten too big for
their britches down there in the Rex Enright Building. So big I wonder if they
know anything about the guy for whom the building is named.
This program can be big. It has
been big. The 100 or so guys in garnet and black, though aged, a few of them
stumbling slowly on crutches to the Block C at midfield are the biggest thing
to ever happen to USC.
Yeah, we fed them Friday, let
them see a practice. Showed them around. Put them out at midfield before the
game when "no one would see them," more than one former player said
to me.
It's amazing how USC can
ostensibly honor, yet shush them aside at the same time.
And I'm not talking a
metaphorical shushing. Once the ceremony at midfield was over, more than one
guy tried to “direct” them to the seats provided for them.
The 1984 guys, as shown by Kevin
"The Chief" Hendrix, still have the fire. They deserved to hear 200I
from the field one more time.
The 1969 guys had never heard it
before, and they wanted to.
"Awesome," said USC
record holding return man Dickie Harris after it was over. "Unbelievable.
If that doesn't get you fired up, nothing can."
It's awesome because it's loud,
but it's awesome because it's a quarter of a century of a tradition. To the
outside world, that entrance and the rocking, bopping upper decks are the
biggest things about USC football.
But not to me.
Those guys in garnet and black,
they're as big as it gets in USC. They are awesome. They are unbelievable. If
you walking among them and talking to them doesn’t get you fired up, nothing
can.
They had something to tell our
current players. They could teach teamwork, leadership, perseverance and drive.
A million tiny things.
Unfortunately, no one bothered to
ask them.
How I got ready for my summer vacation
@FakeDNC2012, #FakeDNC2012
That was me.
I wanted to practice live tweeting, getting bunches of things into my head and onto the iPad real fast.
So I created this Twitter account to have a little fun.
Some jokes were pretty good, but it didn't gain much traction. 18 whole followers.
But 338 tweets in about a week and a half, most designed to take advantage of Joe Biden.
It was also fun.
I see ways of continuing it. But the initial inspiration for that kind of thing, a bit about Sasha or Malia not being allowed to come to the convention because she was found in the sit room, finger perched precariously, asking, "What does this red button do?" That never actually made it to the site, because FakeDNC shut almost completely down once real DNC started.
Check it out, if you want. It was fun.
How I spent my summer vacation
For the Catholic News Herald, links on here abound:
- No Papers, No Fear Story. 2 pics, Mayor Anthony Foxx
- DNC: Catholics Among Greeters, Greeted, 1 pic, Villairagrossa
- Former Rep. Stupak says HHS mandate illegal
- DNC Platform
- Catholics Front and Center:
- Polar Bear, 1 pic, 1 video (TwitPic)
- Julian Castro
- Can you be pro-life Catholic, Democrat, 2 pics, (Stupak, protestors at Convention) Center)
- Sister Simone Cheered, Twitter SIDEBAR
- Biden next to last Catholic to speak, SIDEBAR, short
- Dolan's prayers
- Dems for Life plan summit
14 stories (two are sidebars) not separate, six pics. That does not include the two preview stories I did in advance of the DNC.
Also for the Catholic News Herald of Charlotte, N.C.
Three nights, live tweets including the following TwitPics
- Fr. Schmidt picture.
- Fr. Schmidt, video
- Stupak Pic
- Nosebleeds pic.
- Nosebleeds 2 pic
- Sebelius pic
- Joaquin Castro pic
- Julian Castro talks about grandmother video
- FLOTUS pic
- FLOTUS video
- Street singers video
- Polar bear video interview video
- Short DNC entertainment video
- Clinton "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow" overheard video
Seven pics, seven videos to Twitpic
With the exception of the greeted, greeters story and most of the No papers no fear article, all of the above was done over three days. The polar bear twitpic/story kind of overlap. The picture for the story was lifted from the video. That was the most fun interview.
Also,
DNC story on Gilda Cobb-Hunter for The Times & Democrat of Orangeburg, picture of her. I also later submitted a kind of standalone picture of the Orangeburg County state Senator, John Matthews, riding on the light rail up to the convention.
Also, they used my story, quoting me and not the story, as the guts of an editorial So that's two story items (only one I can get paid for) and two pics for Orangeburg.
I wrote a feature for The Lancaster News/Carolina Gateway and sent two pictures.
The Fort Mill Times was doing a story on the same person. I sent them another pic of the same woman.
I sent a story, which the Fort Mill Times might use, to the SCNewsExchange website and put up six DNC pictures for the SCPA.
18 pictures, seven videos, 18 stories, with the exception of the two preview, over the course of three days.
In the words originated by the incredible Jack Donaghy, "I need a vacation from my vacation."
Still, a productive effort for a guy who actually didn't get around very fast.
The damage from it? Well, in the downpour that came on Thursday, I was stuck outside, ON the phone, so my cell phone got killed. And my feet still ache a bit.
Saturday, September 8, 2012
DNC: Obama accepts nomination in smaller venue
Obama accepts nomination in smaller venue
In addition to covering the convention for the Catholic News Herald, I also agreed to send a short nomination story to the S.C. Press Association, and some pics.
In addition to covering the convention for the Catholic News Herald, I also agreed to send a short nomination story to the S.C. Press Association, and some pics.
Friday, September 7, 2012
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Monday, September 3, 2012
DNC: Do more than welcome; Stand in solidarity with needy
http://www.catholicnewsherald.com/component/content/article/198-news/roknewspager-vote/2321-do-more-than-welcome-stand-in-solidarity-with-the-needy
This story is interesting. Both my wife and I share a byline on it. She did the first half, and I came back to knock the rest out of the park.
This story is interesting. Both my wife and I share a byline on it. She did the first half, and I came back to knock the rest out of the park.
Sunday, September 2, 2012
DNC: Yup, I'm going
I am on vacation, starting at just about 11 p.m. Saturday.
But it's going to be a working vacation.
My wife asked me a few months back if I would like to cover the Democratic National Convention as a freelancer for her paper, the Catholic News Herald, which covers the diocese of Charlotte, which is the western half of North Carolina.
Thinking she was pulling my leg, I said, "Sure."
She put in for credentials for me and for all her people. She got one. (It can apparently be shared, but she got ONE.)
And she's giving it to me.
This is what is referred to as a niche publication, so I'm not going to be doing straight up, gavel-to-gavel political coverage. I might get a little of that in there.
No. I'll be covering the mayor of San Antonio, a Catholic Latino. It's the first time a Latino has given the keynote speech at the DNC. DNC keynoters have gone on to become presidents. Guys by the name of William Jefferson Clinton and Barack H. Obama are the two most recent. Might be a glimpse at the future.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, my "native" diocese, where I was born and my "bread" was buttered as a "ute," will give the closing benediction, as he did this past week at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla. There are meetings in between.
It will be different than anything I've ever covered before. Certainly the biggest meeting I've ever gone to. That Barnwell County Council five-hour barn-burner will pale. This is three days of official time, five days plus of coverage.
And I'll be walking all over downtown Charlotte. I'm pitifully out of shape.
But I plan on making it through. Just don't know what shape I will be in when I'm done.
Anyway, pray for me, if that is what you do. Think good thoughts if not.
It will be fun, regardless. But I realized, talking to my brother tonight, about carrying my laptop, iPad, an Android phone for twitpics, a digital camera and a portable wireless hub, that I will be the "One-Man Mobile News Crew" that was such a famous bit on Saturday Night Live, as portrayed by Al Franken.
And I might also bump into SEN. FRANKEN!
Now, how cool is that?
Practicing my question already so I can get paid for the encounter. "Sen. Franken, I know you are Jewish. Have you ever considered Roman Catholicism? It's an up-and-comer."
Lastly, I thank my lovely bride for making this possible. I thought it was a goof, but two days out, it's very real.
Love you.
But it's going to be a working vacation.
My wife asked me a few months back if I would like to cover the Democratic National Convention as a freelancer for her paper, the Catholic News Herald, which covers the diocese of Charlotte, which is the western half of North Carolina.
Thinking she was pulling my leg, I said, "Sure."
She put in for credentials for me and for all her people. She got one. (It can apparently be shared, but she got ONE.)
And she's giving it to me.
This is what is referred to as a niche publication, so I'm not going to be doing straight up, gavel-to-gavel political coverage. I might get a little of that in there.
No. I'll be covering the mayor of San Antonio, a Catholic Latino. It's the first time a Latino has given the keynote speech at the DNC. DNC keynoters have gone on to become presidents. Guys by the name of William Jefferson Clinton and Barack H. Obama are the two most recent. Might be a glimpse at the future.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, my "native" diocese, where I was born and my "bread" was buttered as a "ute," will give the closing benediction, as he did this past week at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla. There are meetings in between.
It will be different than anything I've ever covered before. Certainly the biggest meeting I've ever gone to. That Barnwell County Council five-hour barn-burner will pale. This is three days of official time, five days plus of coverage.
And I'll be walking all over downtown Charlotte. I'm pitifully out of shape.
But I plan on making it through. Just don't know what shape I will be in when I'm done.
Anyway, pray for me, if that is what you do. Think good thoughts if not.
It will be fun, regardless. But I realized, talking to my brother tonight, about carrying my laptop, iPad, an Android phone for twitpics, a digital camera and a portable wireless hub, that I will be the "One-Man Mobile News Crew" that was such a famous bit on Saturday Night Live, as portrayed by Al Franken.
And I might also bump into SEN. FRANKEN!
Now, how cool is that?
Practicing my question already so I can get paid for the encounter. "Sen. Franken, I know you are Jewish. Have you ever considered Roman Catholicism? It's an up-and-comer."
Lastly, I thank my lovely bride for making this possible. I thought it was a goof, but two days out, it's very real.
Love you.
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