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GamecockCentral.com Response #1 :: MotorCityChicken's Comment

Sunday, September 04, 2011 0 comments
Evidently someone got a hold of my blog post over at GamecockCentral.com and posted it there. Some of the forum users over there are discussing it and I wanted to do my responding here, if that's alright with everyone. Oh it's not? Well then stop reading. (Otherwise read on!)
Quotes taken directly from GamecockCentral.com forum threads.
MotorCityChicken has over 11,400 posts in the GamecockCentral.com forum so his opinion is well documented to say the least. His comments are very well thought out and very reasonable. While discussing my blog post (at this link), he wrote:
Although the result I think is what he [Marty Simpson] wrote... I seriously doubt Spurrier put Shaw out there knowing he wouldn't play well. That's just silly. I think Spurrier put him out there to see if he could carry over the practice play to the real thing. We are going to need Shaw to play in pressure situations, and what better then to start a game with half (or more?) of the fans almost against you, with one quarter to prove your worth? That's ballsy, and Spurrier was going to find out if Shaw had it or not. And right now he doesn't, but the great news is that Spurrier knew he had Garcia on the bench, so no harm no foul. If Shaw doesn't cut it right away, you go to Garcia. If Shaw does, then you have a great problem. Nothing to be worried about - Garcia will be the man and Shaw will continue to prepare for next season.
I completely agree with MotorCityChicken's assessment. I do not believe that Coach Spurrier put Connor Shaw in the game with intentions of seeing him play poorly. Nor do I think he sabotaged Connor Shaw's efforts. In fact as I re-watched the game this morning Shaw did have a deep ball thrown to Alshon Jeffery. However, I do think it was a simple Win-Win decision for Coach Spurrier to make. Meaning, if Shaw drives down the field and scores and takes charge then the more the merrier. Either way, starting Connor Shaw puts the underdog mentality squarely on Garcia. Coach knows we need Garcia down the stretch and we need the full backing of the fans.

But I do agree with MotorCityChicken that Coach did not WANT Shaw to play poorly. I think HBC is too competitive for any orchestrations that would jeopardize victory!

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Clarification of What I Meant By "Mad Genius"

Sunday, September 04, 2011 1 comments
In my previous blog post about Coach Spurrier being a "Mad Genius" for his decisions, I never meant to imply he was evil. I was discussing how SMART his decisions were and how most of the media missed out on the fact that (in my opinion) a lot of his "antics" are things he does on purpose to make his players be in the best position possible to win games. Some folks at some forums have decided to post that what I was writing was making him look like an evil villain in a James Bond film or something, and really all I meant was that his actions were ON PURPOSE.
So don't confuse my alliances here. I am not trying to make Coach Spurrier look devious or evil. I was just trying to make a quick metaphor to communicate how smart what he was doing was! GO COCKS!

Tune in soon for some responses to some individual posts that I have read on the GamecockCentral.com website concerning my "Mad Genius" post.

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Why Starting Connor Shaw Proves Coach Spurrier is the Mad Genius! And 5 Other Reasons to Back That Up!

Sunday, September 04, 2011 13 comments
I have always felt like Steve Spurrier's true genius manifested itself in ways that regular media members often ignored. I remember the "Free Shoes University" and the "Echo of the whistle" comments he made about Florida State leading up to the National Championship game and how all the media wanted to make him out to be this whiny, arrogant, coach that liked running up the score. The real genius that was overlooked by the media was how his Heisman winning quarterback didn't have to sit through interview after interview about how the Heisman often struggles to win championship games. Coach Spurrier diverted all that media frenzy with his comments. The media frenzy was only concerned with Coach Spurrier's comments and Coach got to do all those interviews that distract the Heisman winners from the actual game!
Cool Picture of Garcia Running for a
touchdown would be here if I could
afford the licensing fees to photos
taken by the Gamecock photographers
I will outline some other examples at the end of this blog post as to why Steve Spurrier's perceived arrogance is actually all part of his master plan to manipulate the media into doing his bidding for him, but the brunt of this article is devoted to the number 1 reason. That starting Connor Shaw, much to the dismay of the main stream media, is actually a stroke of genius by Coach Spurrier!

For months now, Gamecock fans everywhere have been drastically divided on whether or not to get behind Stephen Garcia because of all of his antics. Some message boards have even questioned whether or not Garcia should have been let back on the team at all! Coach Spurrier realizes that he cannot win an SEC Title or a National Championship without an entire city, school, and team united behind it's quarterback. (This may be overly dramatic, but certainly Coach Spurrier believes the media darling role has never come naturally to Garcia so he needs a little help in this department.)

So Coach Spurrier decides to honor the militant, over zealous work ethic of Connor Shaw and reward him the start. This was the most UNIFYING thing Coach Spurrier has ever done in his tenure as the Gamecocks coach. I will repeat, THIS WAS THE MOST UNIFYING thing that Coach Spurrier has ever done since becoming the coach at South Carolina. How is this unifying when everyone hated it, you say? Well you answered your own question! Coach Spurrier decides to use his cockiness and arrogance to manipulate the media devils into spinning this story in favor of his quarterback.



Photo from Rivals.com
HOW can Coach Spurrier do this to a fifth year senior and by far the "toughest" quarterback we have ever had ( I still remember him limping the entire game back to the huddle as he commanded us past the then #4 ranked Rebels from Ole Miss. ) The forums were blowing up with talk of how stupid Coach Spurrier was to do this.

So in an act of seeming grand posturing and control-freakishness, Coach Spurrier puts all the negative on HIS "decision," (instead of his players' actions) and FORCES the media devils to start writing positive things about Garcia. I am telling you, this man is a genius. I bet even Ron Morris himself was ready to throw Garcia a bone of encouragement over this decision. I am certian Ron Morris will slice Coach Spurrier in half over it based on how stupid this decision looks in hindsight. I can predict Coach Spurrier's comments will be, "Yup, we just had to play the best quarterback from camp in that first quarter, and that was Connor, but old Stephen came in and played pretty good, so he'll probably start against Georgia." You can almost feel the wink from Coach Spurrier as he says it!

If Garcia goes in and plays in the first quarter of the first game in the sweaty humidity and fumbles like Shaw did, folks would immediately instinctively start wondering, "Did he work hard enough in the off season, did he really put the time in, can Connor Shaw be a better player this year for this team?" Doing it this way throws ALL of the positive forces BEHIND GARCIA who Coach Spurrier KNOWS is the key to the magical run ahead of the Gamecocks. As great as Lattimore and Jeffery are (and now we can say Clowney too, right?) they can only probably get us 8-10 wins on their own with any old quarterback. That gutsy intangible quarterback play provided by Stephen Garcia is what is going to make this year HISTORICAL. I am not saying that Lattimore and Jeffery aren't the bigger reasons for greatness, I am just saying, without the "Garcia factor" we won't win it all!

NOTE: As I am typing this blog post, ESPN is recapping the ECU vs Gamecocks game and the announcer said, "After coming in for relief, The GARCIA show continues..." Come on! You think Coach Spurrier didn't KNOW this was going to happen! Why are we calling plays with Shaw throwing to Barnes (who is a fine player, not taking away from him) but Garcia's first pass play is a fake reverse bomb to Alshon? Incomplete, I am just saying.) If Connor Shaw's first scripted plays would have been dumps to Marcus and deep balls to Alshon, don't you think he would have done better? THIS WAS ORCHESTRATED PEOPLE!

A quick google tonight for the word, "gamecock" rendered this interesting result.
Google News Result for the word "gamecocks" after the ECU win.
Don't you think Coach Spurrier knew that Garcia's name would be in every headline. I wouldn't be surprised if Garcia throws for 300 yards against Georgia after this heroic "off the bench" game, if some publications don't start mixing him in the Heisman race with Alshon and Lattimore!

Now the media will be instinctively rooting for Garcia to pull this thing off. At least for a few weeks. I am sure their questions will be, "Did it feel good to go out there and provide that seasoned leadership that we have seen from you in the past? Did it seem odd that you didn't get to start as a fifth year senior?" And Garcia will get to answer in Coach Spurrier trained fashion, "Well sort of, but really, I just go out there and play the best I can and see what happens. We'll just take the win how we can get it and try and correct our mistakes."

I am telling you - Steve Spurrier orchestrates these things, and the media won't give him credit for it. It takes a comedian to write a blog post about it to reveal the truth about Steve Spurrier. And if he is asked, I am sure his response will be, "Naw, we don't think about those things, we just think about ways we can beat Georgia, you know?" He knows if he ever lets on, the gig will be up. So he will continue to brainwash the media into writing about his supposed arrogance and cockiness and manipulate them into writing stories he wants written about his team, like "How great was Stephen Garcia tonight?"

Other Examples of Same Type Thing in the Past

Yes, Coach Spurrier comes across as arrogant or cocky at times, but I have always felt like it was part of his cosmic plan. A few years ago after the Kentucky game that USC won in a nail-biter that included a Hail Mary completion in the waning seconds that ultimately fell short but scared everyone, Coach Spurrier was asked, "Why were we in such a loose prevent and still gave up that long pass at the end?" His answer was simply, "You know what? I was thinking the same thing, let's get the defensive secondary coach in here and let him answer that." This played out cocky and arrogant at first glance, but what it really did was give that coach a chance to impress the media with his explanation and actually be held accountable for his coaching. Which is yet another fancy "cocky" way the Head Ball Coach manipulates the media for his own team's ultimate success.



...

When Tommy Bowden was crying about his salary not being as high as Coach Spurrier's his response was simply, "Why doesn't Coach Bowden just go and ask the President for more money, I am sure they will pay it to him." This looks cocky at first glance, but what Coach Spurrier was actually doing was forcing the hand of the media to actually take that comment back to the Clemson campus and put it in Bowden's face. Which he then could use on recruiting trips. "Hey All-American Player XYZ, don't you think it's odd how Clemson's coach probably asked for more money like I did, but Clemson decided not to give it to him?" Again, the method behind this madness is lost in the media's fascination with trying to point out that Steve Spurrier is simply arrogant.
...

When Len Robbins picked South Carolina as a pre-season number one ranked team for the New York Post, Coach Spurrier's comment to this was, "Yeah, we are the sexy pick this year aren't we?" This seems arrogant on the surface, but what the media fails to inject into their stories about Coach Spurrier is what affect this confidence has on the PLAYERS. You don't think the players are not whispering in the locker-room about how Coach Spurrier flat out predicted great things for this team?
...

How about when practices were "going to be closed to the public?" This was also orchestrated by the underground forces of Coach Spurrier's genius plan. This way he gets to tell the media, "Well, NFL teams open up those practices so why can't we?" And then he comes across as the coach that "looked out for the fans!" And also he kept other practices of opponents open as well in case we have spies there. (I made this last part up, but that sounds good if you understand the dynamics I am discussing.)
...

He has allowed Garcia to speak to the media this year. This is all part of the master plan people! Now we have gotten to know Stephen a little more. We are on-board with his changed attitude. We are rooting for him! And then he gets benched! NOOOOOO! Put Garcia in, coach!!! You can almost feel the swell of 73,000 screaming Gamecock fans demanding that Garcia play, when only four short months ago probably half of those fans were calling for his head!
...

So to all the Gamecock Nation out there that thinks starting Connor Shaw at quarterback makes Coach Spurrier strange, unpredictable, and over the hill, I say, you couldn't be more wrong about your assessment! Do your homework. Look back on what Coach Spurrier has accomplished and simply TRUST HIM!

GO COCKS!

P.S. -Also noteworthy: Look for upcoming blog posts about how Bruce Ellington is the x-factor in this year's championship run. I have been saying for a full year since I was privileged enough to do Berkeley's high school highlight film for Dr. Jerry Brown's team that Bruce Ellington is the best player in South Carolina since Freddie Solomon!

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My Defense of Making Fun of the Gamecocks

Friday, September 02, 2011 1 comments
People have asked me why I make fun of my former team, the South Carolina Gamecocks in my act. The simple answer is, because I have a sense of humor.

I love my Gamecocks! I will bleed Garnet and Black until I die. Just because I point out a few misfortunate foibles of our storied past doesn't mean I am not a loyal fan and supporter! But lighten up people, they are JOKES! And I would challenge anyone to refute any truths pointed out in the jokes I tell on stage about the Gamecocks! Laugh at yourself before the world laughs at you, and then instead they will laugh WITH YOU!

I thought I would take the time to explain my jokes about the Gamecocks, so I could start referring people to this blog post, instead of defending it over and over again via email! Now that the blog has a few hits going to it, I thought it might be time to post this explanation of some of my jokes.

I really only tell jokes or stories on stage that are based on true, real life, experiences I have had. Therefore, my Gamecock humor is rooted in that same truth.

It is clear that some of the basis for the humor in my Gamecock material is fast disappearing (with all the recent success and all) but the historical pretext is and always will be there. I fully expect us to win big this year, making some of my jokes become more and more obsolete, but not FALSE!

The jokes I tell about the Gamecocks are either FACTUALLY accurate, or happened to me while I played there. It is as simple as that.

Just be excited that the days of the Chicken Curse are long stomped out by Ray Tanner and Michael Roth and company and Coach Spurrier will continue to bury the curse over the next few seasons!

For those of you that cannot find the humor in my Gamecock jokes because you are offended as a Gamecock fan, I suppose there is nothing I can say to you, other than to predict you are one of those type fans that wants Clemson's bus to crash on the way to the game. I want bad things to happen to Clemson during the game sure! But I don't want bad things to happen to Clemson off the field! I would go so far as to say I was willing to pull for Clemson in a bowl game if they weren't playing an S.E.C. team. I have many friends that are great people that went to Clemson and still work there.

It's time to lighten up people! Coach Tanner and Coach Spurrier have changed the culture at South Carolina forever! Not being able to make fun of the past simply is short-sighted.

And remember this: After we win 12 or 13 or 14 games this year, our overall historical football record will still only be about .5 of a percent above 500! That means that we have the best fans in America! Because our fans pack the house every year for a hundred years knowing that ... well, we might win! It's a coin toss really!

GO COCKS!

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