In South Carolina, the verdict is published by the Clerk of Court. In other words, when a jury has reached a verdict, the Clerk of Court, not a member of the jury, announces the verdict to the courtroom.
But in every jury trial – whether criminal or civil – there is no mistaking that the jury, and only the jury, is the finder of all facts.
Starting in August and running throughout the season, I will be writing a weekly column called The Verdict - presented by the Goings Law Firm. And much like a jury, I will try to base my findings and opinions on facts. But unlike a jury, I want to hear from the gallery, both what I got right and what I got wrong.
This week’s Verdict is in: winning not only takes skill, but winning also is a skill.
I said it a million times over the weekend. Heck, I heard it a million times over the weekend. “Carolina last year would have found a way to lose that game.” But what do we mean when we say that?
Most athletic accomplishments and abilities on the football field are easy to attribute to God-given athleticism or hand-eye coordination: the ability to run, catch, block, tackle, etc. When Dakereon Joyner leaped into the air and caught that second-half touchdown, you could point to his athleticism as one of the primary reasons he scored. When Damani Staley intercepted that deflected screen pass to close out the first half, you could point to his incredible hand-eye coordination as the primary reason he was able to catch the ball.
But there are certain skills in football that are tough to explain. My favorite is the “ability to fall forward.” The ability to fall forward is applied to offensive ball carriers, usually running backs. When someone says that somebody can fall forward, I always think of Jerome Bettis. Better known as “The Bus,” Bettis was a wrecking ball of a running back.
One of the most iconic runs by Bettis happened in a snowy Heinz Field in Pittsburgh when he ran over Brian Urlacher at the goal line for a touchdown. That took some serious power. But what I liked the most about Bettis was that you rarely saw him fall backwards when getting tackled.
On the contrary, when Bettis was tackled by a defender (or multiple defenders), he always found a way to either spin forward (or roll over) the defender to gain those extra couple of inches and feet. It helped the Steelers not only gain extra yardage, but also snag first downs and touchdowns.
Many Carolina fans equate the skill of falling forward with Marcus Lattimore. (Think about the number of times you saw Marcus Lattimore not go down after initial contact but churn and spin and fight his way for extra yardage.)
In many ways, the skill and ability to win is like the ability to fall forward. Yes, it takes the combination of a slew of individual talents and abilities to win a football game. I am not taking away from Parker White’s field goals, or Kai Kroger’s place holding abilities, or the pass rushing skills of this defense.
But you know and I know that if this game had been played in 2018 or 2019 or 2020, Carolina would have lost that game. Yes, you can point to Missouri in 2018, or Georgia in 2019, or Auburn in 2020. But the fact the exception to the rule is wins instead of losses should tell you all you need to know.
Because Florida in 2018 (and in 2019), and App State in 2019, and North Carolina in 2019, and Texas A&M in 2017 (and 2018), and Tennessee in 2020, and Ole Miss in 2020, and Kentucky in 2017 all just come rushing into your brain when you see Carolina in a close game.
That’s because for years now, when Carolina’s back was against the wall, you assumed they would find a way to lose the game.
On my podcast last week, I said East Carolina would throw some early haymakers and that Carolina should not be judged by the first quarter, but quarters two through four. Quarters two through four were not exactly pretty. This offensive line continues to struggle to get any sort of push in their run blocking initiatives and struggled in pass protection at times, as well. But quarters two through four also saw sacks and forced turnovers and big-time kickoff returns.
On Saturday, for the first time in a while, we saw Carolina football exhibit the skill of winning. That innate skill of a football team to force the key turnover, to generate the third down pass rush, to march down the field at the end of the game and kick the game-winning field goal.
Reggie Miller called it "winning time." Ahmad Rashad, describing Miller’s uncanny ability to play his best basketball when the clock was winding down, said it best when he said “There’s a time to play, and there’s a time to win. What do you do in winning time?” In the past, Carolina found a way to lose the game in winning time. This week, they found a way to win.
The skill of winning, in part, comes from the ability to not fear losing. The alarming trend under Muschamp was Carolina’s paralyzing fear the staff had as decision makers late in games.
Carolina lost games because the staff was afraid of making a mistake.
By being afraid to take shots because of the possibility of giving up a sack or throwing an interception, Carolina ironically gave the other team hope and energy. In a weird way, the more conservative Will Muschamp and Bryan McClendon and Mike Bobo were, the more their opponents played with fire. That fire burned Carolina out of a lot of wins.
So many of us know that the fear of losing can be crippling. That is also true in the legal profession. Last Friday, a Richland County jury awarded one of our clients a verdict of 12.5 million dollars due to the reckless behavior of a habitual drunk driver.
Of course, most of the attention goes towards a big verdict like that. What isn’t discussed are the cases the Goings Law Firm has swung and missed on. Losing a case for your client hurts. I would know. But what separates great lawyers from average lawyers is not allowing that pain to turn into fear. The pain of losing for Carolina football had turned into fear as the years passed by under Muschamp.
Next Saturday is going to put my theory to the test, because waiting for the Gamecocks in Athens is a foe that will likely put a whooping on us that will be painful (both physically and emotionally).
Does that pain allow for fear to creep back in? Or are the Gamecocks starting to learn the skill of winning? Only time will tell with this team. But from what I saw in Greenville, North Carolina, I am hopeful.
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