Finally, something not just positive, but SUPERLATIVE for South Carolina on the national stage.
Tonight, America sees us as the BEST!
For so long, we’ve been last where we want to be first, and first where we want to be last, the punch line of far too many national jokes. I’ve grown so weary of typing it.
Not any more. Not after tonight. The Gamecocks just changed all that. We can do anything now. We’re not only the best in the country at something, but at the National Pastime, no less!
It would be sweet to see this happen with any major sport, but having it happen with baseball makes it SO much more awesome.
Congratulations, Ray Tanner! Glad we built that new ballpark for you — you’ve made good use of it. (You know, the ballpark in the Innovista.)
Congratulations, Harris Pastides, and Eric Hyman, and all the coaches.
But congratulations most of all to the kids who won it, the Gamecock nine, South Carolina’s finest!
You’ve made us all proud…
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I noticed the glowering face of Steve Spurrier in the stands during the game. Maybe the Head Ball Coach put a hex on the Bruins.
AMEN!
Congratulations, but how will this really change the State of SC? By next week it’ll be old news.
Hell just froze over.
You may be the only person in the state who could throw in an Innovista reference when it comes to the USC Gamecock baseball team. If “we” built the ballpark for USC, how come “we” can’t use it for a minor league team?
Let’s also thank Mark Sanford while we’re at it for being the Governor of the state with the national championship baseball team! Thanks, Governor!! You da’ man!
Hear, hear!
@Doug Ross– “we” didn’t the park–a subset of “we” did. There are all sorts of restrictions put on municipal finance to curb all sorts of abuses by private parties before the mid-1980s–now “we” can’t let a for-profit team use a not-for-profit stadium.
Michael P. you are such a killjoy. For thousands of Gamecock fans this has changed everything.
@Kathryn
The term “not for profit” is misleading. That just means they spend all the money they take in.
If public funds were used to build the stadium, it should be available for more than 40 days per year.
AND I know for a fact that private groups use the stadium for high school age baseball tournaments during the summer. My son plays for one of the travel teams that has played at the stadium. His team pays around $900 to enter the tournament and that money ends up in SOMEBODY’s pocket. They also charge admission ($6.00) and sell concessions. This has nothing to do with USC.
So if it can be used for private for-profit baseball tournaments, why not for a minor league team?
bud – What has changed?
Will the sun set in the East tonight?
Will the Gamecock football team follow the baseball team’s lead and finish above .500 this year?
Will the basketball teams now gain Academic All-American honors?
Will the Innovista suddenly be Silicon Valley II?
What will change with the #1 Fair-Weather Fans of America?
Kathryn – How did USC “let” the Columbia Inferno use the Coliseum for all those years? They leased it to them, just as USC could lease the ballpark to a minor league team.
The spirited performance by the USC baseball team serves as an inspiration for a community that has long suffered through the mediocrity of it’s sports program and the insanity of it’s politics. I suggest to naysayers like Michael P. that the baseball victory WILL make a difference in the attitude of throngs of people over the course of the next few weeks and months. They can channel their energy into improving their lives and the lives of those around them by striving to emulate a team that has suffered so much adversity over the years. The impact on folks lives my not be tangible in the sense that people will have more material possessions but that’s not really the issue. The issue is that people in the midlands of South Carolina now understand there is something more to their state than the “You Lie” politics of Joe Wilson, or the bizarre behavior of it’s governor.
Folks like Michael P. in their zeal to discredit an outstanding accomplishment don’t understand life beyond a bigger house or car and simply cannot fathom the joy and hope that a victorous underdog baseball team can bring to the hearts and souls of the people. But for those of us who understand the real meaning of this victory, the sweetness and fulfillment of a lifelong dream there is now hope for further accomplishments away from sports venues. Sadly people like Michael P., embittered in their own cynacism, are the losers in this game of killjoy. For the rest of us, the joy and inspiration of the Gamecock boys of summer does change things for the better.
Michael P.,
What has changed? Not your attitude, but aside from that….
general city/state wide level of morale, national awareness and exposure for the university, recruitment potential, the country seeing a news conference of south carolina people who are fairly articulate who have accomplished something that is not shameful.
True these are possibly somewhat ephemeral feelings based things which you probably don’t value or give much credance to – but nevertheless they are things that have changed and that matter to a lot of people, and that can make a difference going forward, whether you choose to believe it or not.
Feeling particularly generous as part of the USC family today, I’d just like to send props to the other outstanding schools in our state that make the state as a whole a real hotbed for collegiate baseball. Let’s not forget that 2 of the last 3 teams playing in Omaha were from SC (though decorum prevents me from saying the other team by name) and that by season’s end, the 4th rated team in the NATION was Coastal Carolina. Plus College of Charleston and Citadel had very good teams this year. So I do think everybody in the entire state can take pride in this feat.
You know what I liked? It was real baseball. They didn’t win it with home runs or anything cheap and easy like that. They won it with good, solid baseball.
scout – Are these the same people who will be boasting about USC being SEC champs om football this year… until they lose a couple games then they’ll be whining about how the team sucks, the offensive line sucks, the quarterback sucks, the coaches suck, calling for Spurrier’s head, etc…?
Or easier said, will the fans act just like every other year.
Oh, and Doug — nobody wanted them to share that park with a minor-league team more than I did. I wrote about it at the time (although for the life of me I can’t seem to find a link to it). I had conversations with the owner or GM or whatever of the Jackson, TN AAA team that badly WANTED to come here, but he got nowhere with the athletic department here. They wanted Ray to have his own ballpark and not have to share, which I didn’t think was right at all.
So what I said above about “glad we built the ballpark for you” was my way of saying that on such an auspicious occasion as this, I can even forgive him that…
And I’m sorry the Innovista reference bothers you, but from the beginning, that park was seen as a sort of initial anchor tenant for that corner of the Innovista. It’s nice to see at least that small part of the plan being this successful. Forgive me for enjoying that, while I continue to hope for more good things from that initiative.
I don’t recall peoples lives changing all that much when the USC Women’s Equestrian team won their national championship a couple years ago. How about when the USC Women’s Track Team won their national championship?
And Bud — I really appreciate your remarks. You’re completely right.
You, too, Scout. And Phillip, and just about everybody…
“And I’m sorry the Innovista reference bothers you, but from the beginning, that park was seen as a sort of initial anchor tenant for that corner of the Innovista.”
I’d love to see the announcements where that was one of the selling points. All we heard about was jobs, jobs, jobs and hydrogen fuel cells. $100 million wasted dollars later, you’re giving Innovista credit for a baseball team winning some games in Omaha. Like I said, all the people who can make that sort of mental leap probably could all fit into a batters box.
I listened to audio clips of the Colonial Center celebration on Sports Talk (WVOC) tonight.
Coach Tanner and his players are a class act.
And I’m definitely enjoying the “feel good” vibe this accomplishment brings to the community.
That final game with UCLA was nerve wracking! I wasn’t able to relax until we tied the score. With us batting at the bottom, I knew we could win.
Ralph, I won’t be able to relax until a few years pass and it’s clear they won’t take the trophy away for type of rules violation. It just happened to the other USC.
One crucial thing has just changed. They’re flying the gamecock flag in third position atop the dome. Now, we’re able to talk about the topic of flying flags at the State House.
For example, I like H.3757, the bill that calls for the flying of the Marine Corps flag atop the dome on November 10, the anniversary of the date the Marine Corps was founded. Are we allowed to talk about this bill?