Saturday, November 12, 2005

COCK AND FIRE



Oh wow. What a day! What a day!

USC beats No. 12 Florida! 30-22.

What a game! What a game! And what a gorgeous Carolina November day to spend with 83000+ people at Williams-Brice Stadium.

COCK AND FIRE BABY! (That being Coach Spurrier's name for the offensive line. The banner above was ubiquitous at the stadium). And the fans. Oh the fans. Nuts! With chants of "Lets Go Gamecocks" and "Eff those Gators" and "We've got Spurrier" the Gamecocks were cheered on to their first victory against Florida ... since 1939. The first time Carolina has won a fifth consecutive SEC game. Ever. And delicious irony, against Spurrier's old team. And we knock the Gators out of the SEC championship (and hey, if Georgia loses tonight against Auburn, and next weekend against Kentucky -- yep, unlikely -- we have a shot at the championship ourselves!). And the noise in the last quarter, especially with that last illegal participation penalty that gave the Cocks a 1st down with 1 minute on the clock. There's something deeply elemental about the gladiatorial frenzy of Gamecock football. I'll be hoarse for days.

As the clock ran down, stadium staff and police lined the end zone, protecting the goal posts. For a moment, it looked like a riot would break out. A few diehard fans broke through onto the field and were unceremoniously tossed back into the crowd by the police. The goal posts stayed up. We waited for the crowd to leave, and the Carolina band (the Mighty Sound of the Southeast) calmed things down by playing the Alma Mater and Amazing Grace.

What a beautiful last home game for me (I won't be able to make the Clemson game next weekend. Promised Fr. T I'll be at his parents' 50th anniv celebration down in Summerville). I even have a twinge of regret that I'll be overseas when we go to a Bowl game (barring another brawl against Clemson next week!). I should be able to catch it, in the middle of the night no doubt, on the Internet. Peach? Outback? Oh the suspense ... Anyway, we've got to SMOTHER CLEMSON next week!

As we walked back to the car across the fairgrounds, I spotted a bunch of rather loud Gator fans wave an ugly little poster, showing a buff looking fellow with a caption "Hey Gamecock, you're a fag." Oh, the audacity! Geez, y'all lost, ok! Stop strutting! I paused in front of them to take a picture with my phone (sorry, haven't transfered them yet), and this obnoxious, rather inebriated Gator fan jumps at me and screams, "Go back to effing India you eff-er!" I was a little starlted. Then he started doing some bizarre dance or chant (pretending to be Indian, I guess?), "Effing Hare Krishna." Woah! "Shut your racist bull-sh*t" I shouted and moved away. Don't want get into a fight. And hey, at least he's an intelligent bigot, if he guessed my nationality right away!

Even the first proper racist denigration of my life can't dampen my spirits today.

CAUSE THE GAMECOCKS WON!

GO COCKS!

[Hey, Lou Holtz just went "GO GAMECOCKS" on the ESPN Half-time show! We're watching the Auburn-Georgia game on TV. Go War Eagle!]

:: UPDATE :: O M G! Auburn beat Georgia, 31-30! (And what a darn game! Those last 5 minutes were heart-stopping!) And if Georgia loses to Kentucky next Saturday (yes, yes, unlikely), we go to the SEC finals! Woah!

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