“To call someone from an Atlanta newspaper, that covers professional sports mainly and college sports secondarily, an enemy reeks of Richard Nixon in 1973.”
Longtime radio host and ESPN college football analyst Paul Finebaum was on The Dan Patrick Show revealing some of the biggest story lines from SEC Media Days the past week and a half, which in recent years during a slow month of July has resembled the type of fruitless gossip and inane drama you see during in the week leading up the Super Bowl.
Finebaum, who has long been heralded as one of the South’s most recognizable college football pundits, took exception to South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier’s time at the podium, as the candid Ol’ Ball Coach known for his shrewd diction was bordering on frustrating this time around.
“I was embarrassed for him. He came off like a crazy uncle in the attic. There was no explanation, there was no reason.”
Coming off their worst season in four years, Spurrier has repeatedly alluded to his age during many press conferences. A ploy Finebaum says isn’t exactly helping.
“He really has made his age an issue, and guess what, he’s not as good a coach and he’s not at the same type of program that he used to be.”
At this point, I’m sure Spurrier would love to have a drop the mic-type of season – double digit wins and a trip to Atlanta, followed by telling everyone he’s unhappy with to kiss his wrinkled ass. But wishing ain’t enough to make it so. It’s gonna be an interesting year to follow Gamecock football, though.
Get The Picture 
So PF was “embarrassed for him”, yet he used the incident to yack it up and make the man look even worse in his own words to Dan Patrick.
SOS may be a dick, but only an even bigger one would try to score professional points cutting up someone while at the same time claiming empathy.
He might as well have prefaced the remarks with, “Bless his heart,”
LikeLike
Heralded? By who?
LikeLike
If things go south for the Gamecocks quickly, a loss in Charlotte followed by a thumping in Athens gets the Cock faithful on the edge. A loss at Missouri and then another thumping in Red Stick get the fans wondering if they’re back to 2nd or 3rd tier. Finally, a loss to a Gator team that may be much improved by that point and another woodshed job by Deshaun and the Tigers may make the OBS decide that’s enough. We can only hope it goes that way the OBS.
Regarding PAWWL, he and the OBS deserve each other.
LikeLike
Here is another scenario. SC “out talents” NC and KY and heads to UGA undefeated to face a Georgia team struggling to find their QB. SC wins for the fourth straight time and questions swirl about Richt and his OC hire. The season ends with Georgia missing the SECC for a third straight year with the most talent ever assembled on a football team. More hot seat talk…more losses to Spurrier…more disappointment. Rinse and repeat.
LikeLike
I fully expect Carolina to roll into Athens 2-0, and leave 2-1. 6 wins looks like a max for the Cocks this year.
LikeLike
Which for Carolina is more than normal.
LikeLike
Pretty much right on their historical average. SOS is becoming a very average coach, in fact may now be below average as a HC. Still an excellent on-the-field play caller though. Doesn’t matter, he has the always crazy SC fan base behind him although there is some undercurrent of grumbling among their rational fans (15 % would be a good estimate).
What else do we expect from such a UGA homer as F-Bomb? It is well known in national media circles that Bradley and F-Bomb play a role in helping Mark Richt in recruiting. Those guys, and Stevie, are much too sharp to miss that.
LikeLike
I don’t know I would claim SOS as becoming average yet. His first 5 years at SC produced very average records…and that was with him combatting a culture built on an average football culture. The 9 wins in 2010 seemed to be the turning point then he ripped off three 11 win seasons. In 2007 Rivals ranked his best recruiting class at #6 and his 2nd best class at #12 in 2009. No other class ranked in the top 15. 2013 and 2014 were both #16 so that will be the level of talent he will be playing with in 2015. I’m not sure why the wheels came off last season. He fell short in some close games that could have went either way. I will hold my judgment for at least another season. I have a bad feeling that they will be hungry again after possibly becoming complacent after three 11 win seasons. I’m sure if anyone gets their best shot, it will be us.
LikeLike
The wheels coming off had nothing to do with Spurrier. His offense was fine and it will continue to be. The D fell apart transitioning to 4-3 (sound familiar) and cost the team at least 3 games. I would say it was impressive winning 7 games with that D. A new coach and some Juco pass rushing help should fix a lot of these problems.
LikeLike
Agree 100%. If there is one coach I would not want to be in the crosshairs of, it is SOS. One year don’t mean shit. Hell, we were only one win better in 2013 than Spurrier was last year. Guess what shitty team whipped our ass last year? And yea, I know there are plenty of excuses for 2013 and the loss to SC last year, I’m just not real big on making them. I for one, am not writing the old bastard off just yet.
LikeLike
He will fire them up as best he can for UGA, but he is just a coach. Much more about the jimmies and joes and he doesn’t have them, and is unlikely to get them. He will be 71 next year and another unsuccessful season will have passed him by. Whether you take his short or long timeline, more sand has slipped out of the hour glass. SC fans can ride up to the bottom of the SEC East, or he can leave gracefully before he has to be laughed out.
LikeLike
Exactly…. they get 2 recruit (Clowney and Latimore) who they normally would never get, much less at the same time) – have a couple of 11 win seasons and presto ! they are Bama ! Never mind the fact that they have zero conference championships, oh wait a minute,…. they do have that acc thing from the 1960’s (I think I saw somewhere it was the 60’s…. I don’t keep track of what the chickens do, but they do fry up real nice !)
LikeLike
I think you guys should beat UNC and UK. I hope you come to Athens undefeated because it would be embarrassing for the SEC for you to lose to the Heels. If you think we’ll be struggling at QB, I think you’ll be wrong. Oh, by the way, you’ll have won 2 in a row. I believe Georgia will win convincingly like we did in ’13.
Talk about disappointment. That’s Carolina football. 1 conference championship and 1 division championship in the long storied tradition of Gamecock football … Rinse and repeat
LikeLike
But you need to clarify that conference championship was not an SEC championship…. it as ACC
LikeLike
Thank you for mentioning that as well – even more ammunition for that great tradition that is Carolina football …
LikeLike
Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days.
Benjamin Franklin 😉
LikeLike
Aww c’mon. I have been reading for so long I’m starting to feel like family. The amount of Spurrier posts is making me think he is in UGA’s head.
LikeLike
LOL. I’m Bluto’s guest here just like you. I can take a little trolling from a Cock fan. But seriously, you really don’t get it that Georgia is in the Ole Ball Coaches head and why? And maybe yours too? I don’t read the Chicken blogs at all. Just sayin’
… *Holding pigs for my dad to castrate was quite a challenge. I can’t say that helped prepare me for football, but it sure did remind me an awful lot of sacking Steve Spurrier. Bill Stanfill DGD!
http://static1.1.sqspcdn.com/static/p/249270/1300695/1215708668487/penley_georgia_steve_spurrier5786.jpg?asGalleryImage=true&token=f0EGPInVw6CeZNmYJaK4y2Rt8Ns%3D
LikeLike
😉
http://s58.photobucket.com/user/loxahatchee/media/spurrier.jpg.html
LikeLike
LOL. AHD, I love Bill’s analogy. I too had that horrible job as a kid. I didn’t weigh much more than the pigs I was holding down. The thing I remember most is the ear-piercing squeals. Talk about deafening. I also remember thinking that I could probably reach those high notes if it was me under the knife. 😦
LikeLike
Haha. I do know Spurrier has it out for Georgia but it was all well before my time.
Although this is a Georgia blog it has a much broader appeal. That is why I can’t help to comment when I see too much SC bashing. I wish SC blogs were this good.
LikeLike
Well played sir ..but with one minor correction .
There can never be too much SC bashing.
IMHO.
LikeLike
Rational people can decide which of these two scenarios is more likely. It’s not a tough decision.
LikeLike
Saxon, you know when we talk rational Gamecock fan, that’s an oxymoron. Delusional may be a better descriptor. 🙂
LikeLike
I must confess.. I’m loving all this shit thrown at the Old Ball Coach. Does that make me a bad person?
LikeLike
It is insane to underestimate South Carolina as long as Spurriers is there. There is no denying that Spurrier is probably the greatest coach in SEC history. Spurrier is innovative and brought passing game to the SEC. It will come as no surprise if South Carolina beats UGA again this year.
LikeLike
HP, he’s not really innovative anymore. He’s a very good tactician and great play caller. He runs the same stuff everyone runs now.
He’s not the greatest coach in SEC history. That title still and will always belong to Bear Bryant.
LikeLike
I am old school and watched Spurrier for a long time. Before Spurrier, it is more like run and more run with no passing game with QBs like Belue. That was about it in the SEC. Spurrier is to the SEC what the late Bill Walsh is to the NFL.
I haven’t checked winning percentages of coaches in the SEC and my guess is that Spurrier has a higher winning percentage than Bryant. Bryant stretched the rules to the extreme to his advantage.
LikeLike
Spurrier was wildly successful when he had superior talent. He took that talent and won all of one national championship. The Bear won multiple national championships and did it passing with Namath and Stabler and then running with the wishbone.
I’m old school as well – the 2 of them are at the top but Coach Bryant did it for a longer time.
LikeLike
It is insane to underestimate anyone in a 12 game football season HP, but I hope SC comes in undefeated just to insure our guys have focused on the game. Even if they drop one of their 1st two games, I don’t see us taking them lightly. I also don’t think SC can stay within 10 points of UGA, we should beat them by 2+ TDs, may even blow them out. Important for them to beat UNC at least, would be bad if they lose to two ACC teams in one year. But I would consider that game a tossup right now, should be good Thursday night viewing.
LikeLike
It’s always a surprise to me when SC beats UGA, especially in Athens. Absolutely no excuse for this Georgia team not be undefeated going into the Bama game. That said, I still see this as another 8-4 or 9-3 type season. The QB will lose at least a game or two for us…or maybe the better way to put it is that they won’t be good enough to step up and win games against some of the better teams on the schedule (like Mason). Among this group of teams – Bama, UT, Mizzou, UF, AU and GT – we’ll have a few wins and a few brutal losses where we either lay down or choke it away in the final minutes. 3 of the last 6 years we’ve gone to Independence, Belk and Liberty bowls despite top 10 recruiting classes every year. I don’t have the numbers in front of me, but I saw something not long ago showing the times we’ve lost when favored and the times we’ve won when underdogs over the past several years…it’s mind boggling in a bad way. Hopefully, Richt finally has the coaching staff in place to capitalize on the talent. I’ll believe it when I see it.
LikeLike
Greg consider your source for the comment that we lose when we are favored….It is Vegas ….. I could be wrong too but at the beginning of 2014 we were favored or a pick’em in every Vega point spread…so the logical question that follows is…If we are favored in every game how can we not lose when we are favored without going undefeated? Also, always remember when talking about top Ten recruiting classes that will usually qualify as the number four or five class in the SEC which is ,by the way, where we play most of our games..
LikeLike
Personally, I hate all this potential hater motivation being given to him and his team. Whoever the gamecock is that came up with the idea to interview 50 media-types and post their opinions leading up to the season is a genius. We are going to be fighting a wounded animal in a corner when our game rolls around.
LikeLike
May I be the first to say that Carolina always gives the Dawgs their best shot? Thank you.
LikeLike
I would change that to Spurrier always gives Georgia his best shot. Bitter OBS …
LikeLike
Everyone is looking at this one incident while Spurrier is looking at the big picture. He’s creating a “us against the world attitude.” If this works then the joke is on everyone else and he remains the evil genius. If it doesn’t, nothing changes and his program is in the same place in Nov/Dec that it is now, so he hasn’t lost anything.
LikeLike
Smells like fake juice to me.
LikeLike
Agree, seems desperate because he doesn’t hold good cards. Will upset someone, my guess is FU, TN, or Mizzou. He won’t go down without a fight but in the end, he will have a tough sell to recruits about playing for a title any time soon.
LikeLike
Never ever poke the Ole Ball Sack. He even managed a shot at Dooley in his rant. He is a great coach but a miserable individual with a long memory for slights real and imagined. He has always been like that and as any senior citizen can tell you, that part of your personality only gets worst with age.
LikeLike
The one thing about Spurrier that has always impressed me is this..his teams always come out of the blocks and play at a super -hyped level..at least against the Dawgs, who seem to be a half-qtr behind SC in getting into the game. He get’s them fired-ass-up against Georgia…that’s the biggest advantage he’s had, IMHO.
LikeLike
I don’t trust the sneaky old bastard. He’s got something up his sleeve. Like they say in Star Wars: “I have a bad feeling about this”.
LikeLike