Published May 26, 2019
Scott Davis: That's a Wrap
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Scott Davis  •  GamecockScoop
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You can finally close the books.

It’s over. Done. Finished.

No, I’m not talking about Game of Thrones (but more on that later).

I’m not talking about your kid’s school year (although those just ended where I live, too).

I’m talking, of course, about the 2018-19 athletic season for the University of South Carolina. You can stick a fork in it. Or toss it in the trash can. Whichever feels like the right decision to you.

True, a few of the Gamecock athletic programs are still technically active. But after the baseball team one-and-done’d its way out of the SEC Tournament on Tuesday night, all of the major sports are officially in hibernation for a few months.

To be honest, I’m kind of looking forward to the slumber period. Rip Van Winkle me, baby.

It seems like just yesterday when South Carolina and Coastal Carolina opened the football season under a brutal September sun…hang on, wait a second. No, it doesn’t.

That Coastal game seems like a relic of the Age of Enlightenment.

The truth is, it’s been the longest of sports year for Gamecock athletics. Hey, if you enjoy mediocrity, then these were the best of times to be a USC fan.

But if you were hoping for positive breakthroughs and sparkling new hope, then nice knowing you, ’18-’19 season. May the road rise to meet you.

I don’t have to list the results for you. But what the heck – let’s take a survey of this thing now that it’s over.

Football took neither a step forward nor a step backward with a 7-6 campaign in Year 3 of the Will Muschamp Project. But that 28-0 pasting by, um, Virginia in the Belk Bowl was almost like an Insta-Step Back in itself. Plus, there were these unfortunate realities to contend with:

Yet another confounding, infuriating loss to Kentucky (Kentucky? In football????)

Yet another straight-up pounding at the hands of Carolina’s archrivals (with many fans sadly congratulating themselves about the fact the team lost to Clemson by a mere three touchdowns)

L’s to Texas A&M (again), Florida (in excruciating fashion) and Georgia (in “Wow, I didn’t realize that these two teams are miles apart in terms of depth and talent” fashion)

Baseball, under Mark Kingston for just the second season, is in the very definition of the Transition Phase. And injuries piled up in terrifying fashion. Still…8-22 in the SEC? That’s the worst league record since the Gamecocks joined the conference (by a wide margin). Omaha might as well be in another Solar System, at least right now.

Basketball might be in the weirdest shape. Frank Martin’s program made the Final Four just two years ago, but after missing the NCAA Tournament yet again in ’18-’19 (and for that matter, the NIT), it’s getting harder and harder to get a feel for where this team will wind up from year to year. I have less of a feel for this group than I do for social media-obsessed tweens. I just don’t know what to make of these guys.

I’m not one of those gurus who gives out grades or report cards or ranks sport seasons on a scale of 1-10. So I won’t try to sum up 2018-2019, which feels palpably un-sum-uppable.

I do feel comfortable in saying that it felt very, very strange while it was happening. And, if I’m being honest, not particularly enjoyable. Can I admit that I’m glad it’s over?

I can. I just did.

The Resilience of Memories 

Many thanks to the readers who wrote to me after reading last week’s newsletter, “Opening the Gamecock Scrapbook.” It turns out I’m not the only one who occasionally gets stopped in my tracks by Gamecock nostalgia and the power of memory.

I heard from a couple of readers named Larry this week. Larry B. wrote to me about living in North Carolina in the 1970s and driving to Columbia to watch USC rout Clemson in 1975. “From then on, ticket stubs from big football victories, especially wins over ACC schools, were tacked up on my wall at work for all to see,” he wrote. He eloquently added, “Programs like Alabama, Georgia, and Ohio State have programs that produce wins like a flowing river. Gamecock fans have only islands in the river. But it's great to revisit those islands once in awhile. Islands are special.”

A reader named Larry S. wrote of joining his son in “dog-piling my then 70-year-old father” after South Carolina beat Michigan in the Outback Bowl, an act he called “three generations of suffering expunged.”

A reader named Frank wrote of saving the program from his first USC game, a 1967 Gamecock win over Iowa State (he remembered a bespectacled assistant coach for the Carolina team named Lou Holtz). And a reader named Lark wrote about being 10 years old and hanging on to a ticket stub from the last Big Thursday game with Clemson – “Little did I know at the time, I’d go on to graduate from South Carolina with two degrees,” Lark wrote. “I’ve been riding the roller coaster of ups and downs with our beloved Gamecocks ever since!”

Thanks again to all the readers who wrote in, and for sharing your memories with me.

The Goodbye Game 

You may have heard that the biggest show on television ended this past Sunday night.

Game of Thrones took its final bow in front of 19 million viewers (an extraordinary number for a pay television service like HBO).

Some fans wept. Others were downright angry.

A few members of my family were so enraged by the developments of the finale that I thought they might burn downtown Greenville to the ground. Millions joined them in outrage.

I didn’t necessarily feel like rioting in the streets or looting and pillaging the Atlanta suburbs when it was all over. But there’s no doubt the final season was an uneven, unsteady affair from beginning to end. It felt like we were sprinting to the finish line in an effort to wrap up a wide range of stories and character arcs, with the end result being that none felt particularly finished or satisfying.

Still, there’s no need to make an ultimate declaration at this point. It will take years before we truly understand how this final season really made us feel.

My guess? It will linger as a disappointing end to an unforgettable show – one that was undeniably the most important television experience of the 2010’s.

I may not be done talking about this thing just yet, either. I’ll let a few weeks drift by and allow my perspective to deepen. We’ll see what I think about the end of GoT in a month or two.

As for USC’s 2018-2019 sports season? I need no additional perspective.

I already know how I feel about it.

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