Scott Davis has followed Gamecock sports for more than 30 years and provides commentary from a fan perspective.

He writes a weekly newsletter that's emailed each Friday. To sign up for the newsletter, click here. Following is the newsletter for Friday, Dec. 10, 2021.

Scott also writes a weekly column that appears on Gamecock Central during football season.

I thought maybe you’d be lining up outside my house with pitchforks.

I wondered if you’d demand my resignation as a South Carolina fan, question my sanity, challenge me to a duel or some combination of the three.

After I had the audacity in last week’s newsletter to suggest that the South Carolina-Clemson rivalry no longer seemed to have the seismic importance it once did for me, or for many of my friends and family members who support the Gamecocks, or for that matter, for Gamecock Nation itself, I braced for an avalanche of hate mail.

Mail did indeed pour in, but a crazy thing happened along the way to my expected ex-communication from the family: Many of you agreed with me.

I did hear from some readers who felt I’d been a little too dismissive of the rivalry’s ongoing magnitude…but even those notes often had an “I hate to admit this, but I kinda sorta agree with some of this” vibe. Almost everyone who wrote in acknowledged that at the very least, the rivalry felt different these days. Maybe we’re on to something here (though who knows what it all means).

So let’s get into the feedback, shall we?

Before we embark, though, I do feel it’s imperative that I make this spectacularly clear: I hate Clemson, folks. Probably more than you do. That hasn’t changed and will not change. I grew up in the Upstate, and instead of embracing all of the orange around me, I decided at an early age that it represented everything I was not – an experience you can read about in my old column, “Gamecock in Exile."

We cool, then? Of course we are. Let’s go. (Please note that my responses are in italics, and thanks to everyone who wrote in, even those I didn’t have the space to include).

A reader named Thomas felt the changing nature of college football had affected the rivalry, but could ultimately benefit South Carolina: “I think you nailed it,” writes Thomas. “Obviously the games are exciting. We watch every minute of every game. We rewatch most of every game. But there’s so much more to the game of college football now that it does seem as if recruiting and the coaching carousel is a sport itself. I liked your point of people clamoring on about tradition as well. Just don’t think it matters as much in this day and age. When you can win a national championship, then get fired two years removed from that, it seems as if tradition can be built and tossed out in one coach’s tenure.

Between players being able to earn money, the transfer portal, and the new age of head coach-led recruiting, I genuinely think it’s a perfect opportunity to let the bygone era fade. Carolina can take advantage with the right mind at the helm. I personally think we have that in Beamer.” (I like this approach, honestly. Since South Carolina’s football tradition hasn’t always been what we’d hoped it would be, perhaps we could position our school as a place that isn’t beholden to the past).

A reader named Carl also pointed to the altered college football landscape as a factor in the rivalry’s diminishment. “I agree with you that the Clemson game and rivalry is no longer the center of our universe,” Carl writes. “Yes, I still don’t like them and I hate to lose to them. My feelings go all the way back to where I played against them in soccer in 1971. But a half century tends to put things in perspective. We now have three seasons that I enjoy watching: 1. The actual football season; 2. Recruiting (this has been enhanced by the transfer portal); 3. Coaches being fired, hired and promoted (including Beamer being mentioned at OU and the talk around our own staff of assistants).”

A reader named Lark wrote in with a list of seven factors that had affected the rivalry’s preeminence, including the cost of tickets, the televising of nearly every football game throughout the season, the growing importance of conference play and more. “It was sad to see (USC) send out the statement proudly pronouncing the game was a sellout,” Lark wrote. “In the old days, the game was a sellout in August. When I was at Carolina you had to stand in line to get a student ticket to the Clemson game.” (I’m not going to lie, Lark – I grimaced when I saw that announcement, as well. Still, I didn’t attend the game personally, which makes me part of the problem. Let’s hear from someone who did…)

A reader named Johnny felt the Gamecocks’ recent play in the rivalry game left him no other choice but to move on with his emotions…and quickly. “I completely forgot about the game last Saturday night when I left with a minute to go in the third quarter,” Johnny writes. “And, leaving early was not on my agenda. I’m not specifically bothered about losing again this year, but I did expect to see the team that beat Florida and Auburn show up for the game and not the team that played Missouri.” (Many readers agreed that South Carolina’s ongoing inability to compete at all in this game has had the odd effect of making the losses sting less).

On that note, a reader named Alex sums up the dilemma succinctly. “I have to agree with you on the current status of the rivalry. Until we are on a dependably competitive level with Clemson, why deal with the stress?” (Why indeed? Just say no to stress…until further notice.)

A reader named William agrees and then some. “I’ve been a Carolina fan longer than you have been alive, but my age has nothing to do with my current opinion about continuing the rivalry with Clemson. Continuing to lose to Clemson does. To have a rivalry, you have to win once in awhile.This year’s 30-0 shellacking was no surprise. No one who watched how anemic our offense was this season could possibly have believed that we would beat Clemson. I didn’t, but I really don’t care anymore. The outcome is generally preordained.” (Sadly, many Gamecock fans can sympathize with this level of frustration. Other readers felt that many of us have turned off our emotions precisely because we do still care about this game…a lot).

A reader named Tom believes a South Carolina win would go a long way towards making the rivalry matter again. “I do recall when Spurrier had beaten the Tigers five years in a row and how wonderful and satisfying that era was,” Tom writes. “Now, USC has lost seven in a row, and we seem to be more content in letting the latest 0-30 humiliating loss slide by without much comment. How best to express humiliation? Well, at least don't dwell on it, move on, and that is what most of us are doing. I join my 1970's Freshman Football Class reunion each year and I can assure you this 7th defeat in a row was painful and humiliating for all of us. We had a short text string going during the game in which many of my former teammates expressed their disdain, humiliation and despair throughout the game. When it was over, we said nothing. My point being, nothing has changed, just let us win five in a row and listen to us crow!” (These kinds of quality thoughts make me want to start caring about the Clemson game again. Please don’t make me do it, please. Wait, there’s more…)

A reader named Lochlan knows I still care about the Clemson game, because I just said I did two newsletters ago. “I do remember (not THAT long ago), when we had just sealed our 5th straight victory in the series in 2013, and that victory did indeed make me giddy for the next 365 days,” Lochlan writes. “I know I’m not the only one that flashed a high five to every person clad in orange for the next year. That doesn’t scream a rivalry that has lost potency since the early 2000s to me. And even though the game itself has sadly been somewhat of a foregone conclusion since then, the loss still does affect my mood when I see orange throughout the year in real life. Perhaps social media is ready to move on quickly, but when I have to actually interact with those people, a part of me still cringes and dies a little bit inside every time. There still exists a special place of hatred in my heart for Clemson people, that cannot be breached even by the Georgias and Tennessees of the world.”

“Finally, I awoke on the morning of Saturday, November 25th of this year more nervous for a football game than I had been in years,” Lochlan continues. “The fact that we had made improvements in Beamer’s year one, and that it seemed that Clemson was much more vulnerable than in years’ past, made me start to hope. You talked about it in your pre-Clemson column too: the butterflies had returned. They worked me up into a veritable frenzy that was even stronger than when I had actually been able to go down to Columbia for the Auburn game the week before (thank goodness that was a fun one at least). I spent the entire day on the 25th cursing Dabo and Kirk Herbstreit and all of the national pundits for not acknowledging or respecting the magnitude of this game and the sheer amount of hatred in the rivalry that clearly meant so much to so many. Then the game itself happened, of course. And I was reminded why it hasn’t been getting the national attention. But I don’t think I was alone in my Saturday morning frenzy. The Game still means something.” (Well said! I hate when my own words come back to haunt me. The butterflies were real. Sigh.)

OK, OK, OK. You’ve found me out. Yes, I still care about this rivalry. You still care about this rivalry.

Now that we’ve established that, can we do something new next year?

Can we compete in it?

Let me know how you’re feeling as South Carolina prepares for a bowl game by writing me at scottdavis@gamecockcentral.com.