I think it is more of a cultural thing.
Clemson and South Carolina football fans are awesome - especially for as poor as their teams are.
Second - you never see kids up here in North Carolina playing football. Basketball is what you usually see kids playing up here. It seemed that growing up in Florida - all the kids played football. You were some kind of wierdo if you played some sport other than football.
So a ton of kids playing one sport year round in Florida = a lot of great competition which will produce some great players.
Whereas up here in the Carolinas - you have fewer kids, smaller percentage playing football, and they usually only play at most nine months out of the year - the other three months being too cold to play outside.
And then the best players like Chris Leak, Brandon Spikes, Carl Johnson, Carlos Dunlap and Xavier Nixon leave the state and go to Universiy of Florida.
It will be interesting to see how Butch Davis does at University of North Carolina. I consider Davis another high profile, great college footall coach. If he can't get North Carolina dominating the ACC - then it will be very similar to Spurrier at South Carolina.
I never thought much of Tommy Bowden at Clemson.
Perhaps the ACC should save themselves some time and money and stop playing football?
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [gatortalk] FW: [gatornews] [SUN]: Gamecocks tarnishing
Spurrier's legacy (Dooley)
From: "Oliver Barry" <[email protected]>
Date: Sat, January 03, 2009 8:18 pm
To: <[email protected]>
This is a really sad story. I felt bad for Steve during that game. I just don't understand what is wrong at South Carolina. Clemson is in the same state and they can produce a winner occasionally. Why not the Gamecocks?Oliver
Gamecocks tarnishing Spurrier's legacyPat Dooley is The Gainesville Sun's sports columnist.They want to know about Steve Spurrier.
Do I think he's going to walk away? Is it time for him to hang it up?
It was painful to watch his team play in the Outback Bowl. The Gamies looked like they didn't care. And that's what tells me that it's not going to happen for Spurrier in Columbia. After four seasons, he still can't get his players to give their all day in and day out.
When two players declare for the draft after the game, guess what? Their minds were elsewhere.When a starting safety doesn't bother to go to class because he knows he's going out, it tells me that Spurrier has not been able to transfer his passion to his players.
There is a culture of losing in that town and I can't explain except to say every time I'm there I feel it.
I consider Steve to be a friend and it really hurts to see his legacy tarnished by his time at South Carolina. But you also have to consider this " Spurrier has put the Gamecocks into bowl games in three of four seasons and this is only the third time in modern history USC has had four straight years without a losing season.
So it's not like he has failed. He just can't get his program over the hump. And I don't think it's ever going to happen.
As a result, it's not Spurrier's legacy that will suffer the most. It's South Carolina's. New motto: Gamecock football " even Steve Spurrier couldn't make us great.
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