Full disclosure...Half-Scholarship donor for 26 years, get 4 season tickets each years, support all Gamecock athletics and a 1988 graduate of USC.
Also, I'm not a proponent of booing.
Unlike the anti-boo crowd, though, I don't believe booing affects recruiting decisions, other coaching staffs using it against us in recruiting, etc. It is what it is, and each school has portions of its fan base that voice their displeasure by booing.
My Perspective...74 years ago, our country sent its 18-year old, high school graduate KIDS into the beaches of Normandy, only for our KIDS to witness the horror of war, their friends get gunned down, shot in the head, and watch while crews on Higgins boats get summarily executed by German gunnery when the doors dropped on those boats. Our KIDS, the ones that survived, watched their friends die, watched their friends pick up severed limbs and try to seek safety of from the horrendous number of bullets aimed at their bodies.
Today, we continue to send hundreds of thousands of our brightest and eager 18-year olds into war zones, get legs and arms torn off by roadside bombs, see their friends brought home in body bags.
Conversely, each Saturday in the fall, thousands of college athletes run out on a football field, athletes who have been given every advantage in the world within the sport. Yes, they work their asses off. They also get a free education, free clothes, the best weight rooms in the world, the best nutritional staffs in the world, each and every tutoring perk known to man, fly to games in charter jets, get the hands-off treatment through their schooling years because of their athletic prowess.
I have no problem with that...its how it is.
So I should be concerned about a 20-year old's ability to get over a few boos from the crowd? Really? Nah...I don't think I'll get to upset about that.
Kids younger than these guys fight for their lives every day. They defend a country while taking live bullets. They come home with legs missing, eyes blown out, and their minds altered.
Forgive me if I don't pout too much about a few molly-coddled athletes getting booed.
SERIOUS QUESTION FOR ANTI-BOO FOLKS
Your program is steeped in mediocrity, around 20 games over .500 in 126 years of football, your team can't score in the first half of many football games, your team looks like the coaches have never reviewed tapes of the team you are playing, you have sub-par QB performance every significant game that is played, your NFL quality WRs drop passes like they've never played the sport, you get numerous unsportsmanlike conduct penalties (coaching problem?), your offense continues to look like a middle school offense, and Dutch Fork High School would give you a battle, at least for a half. You buy your tickets, support your school, holler for your teams, and continually get less than adequate coaching, performance, and improvement (at least for the men's sports).
So as a fan, WHAT ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO DO INSTEAD OF BOO? Answer that question.
Stop giving money to the program? Stop going to the games? Clap during these sub-par performances? Sit their during the game quietly like your watching a funeral?
Anti-booers, what are you supposed to do when sub-par coaching, performance, and improvement are the hallmarks of your football program?
Don't want boos? Put a product on the field that looks eager to perform, a coaching plan that looks like someone actually watched film, and perform a lot better than what we've treated to for over 126 years.
I'm not so concerned about winning and losing. I would really be pleased if we showed up each week like a well-coached, well-prepared team that always gave all-out effort and a team that always played the best players, regardless who they are. I can take losing if we put all that on the field. We haven't seen a lot of that over the history of our program. Sad that we have all the tools to be a lot better than we are...but continually underachieve.
Also, I'm not a proponent of booing.
Unlike the anti-boo crowd, though, I don't believe booing affects recruiting decisions, other coaching staffs using it against us in recruiting, etc. It is what it is, and each school has portions of its fan base that voice their displeasure by booing.
My Perspective...74 years ago, our country sent its 18-year old, high school graduate KIDS into the beaches of Normandy, only for our KIDS to witness the horror of war, their friends get gunned down, shot in the head, and watch while crews on Higgins boats get summarily executed by German gunnery when the doors dropped on those boats. Our KIDS, the ones that survived, watched their friends die, watched their friends pick up severed limbs and try to seek safety of from the horrendous number of bullets aimed at their bodies.
Today, we continue to send hundreds of thousands of our brightest and eager 18-year olds into war zones, get legs and arms torn off by roadside bombs, see their friends brought home in body bags.
Conversely, each Saturday in the fall, thousands of college athletes run out on a football field, athletes who have been given every advantage in the world within the sport. Yes, they work their asses off. They also get a free education, free clothes, the best weight rooms in the world, the best nutritional staffs in the world, each and every tutoring perk known to man, fly to games in charter jets, get the hands-off treatment through their schooling years because of their athletic prowess.
I have no problem with that...its how it is.
So I should be concerned about a 20-year old's ability to get over a few boos from the crowd? Really? Nah...I don't think I'll get to upset about that.
Kids younger than these guys fight for their lives every day. They defend a country while taking live bullets. They come home with legs missing, eyes blown out, and their minds altered.
Forgive me if I don't pout too much about a few molly-coddled athletes getting booed.
SERIOUS QUESTION FOR ANTI-BOO FOLKS
Your program is steeped in mediocrity, around 20 games over .500 in 126 years of football, your team can't score in the first half of many football games, your team looks like the coaches have never reviewed tapes of the team you are playing, you have sub-par QB performance every significant game that is played, your NFL quality WRs drop passes like they've never played the sport, you get numerous unsportsmanlike conduct penalties (coaching problem?), your offense continues to look like a middle school offense, and Dutch Fork High School would give you a battle, at least for a half. You buy your tickets, support your school, holler for your teams, and continually get less than adequate coaching, performance, and improvement (at least for the men's sports).
So as a fan, WHAT ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO DO INSTEAD OF BOO? Answer that question.
Stop giving money to the program? Stop going to the games? Clap during these sub-par performances? Sit their during the game quietly like your watching a funeral?
Anti-booers, what are you supposed to do when sub-par coaching, performance, and improvement are the hallmarks of your football program?
Don't want boos? Put a product on the field that looks eager to perform, a coaching plan that looks like someone actually watched film, and perform a lot better than what we've treated to for over 126 years.
I'm not so concerned about winning and losing. I would really be pleased if we showed up each week like a well-coached, well-prepared team that always gave all-out effort and a team that always played the best players, regardless who they are. I can take losing if we put all that on the field. We haven't seen a lot of that over the history of our program. Sad that we have all the tools to be a lot better than we are...but continually underachieve.
