The South Carolina football program is in flux right now. The school’s all-time winningest head coach just resigned, the team is on the verge of not being bowl eligible for the first time in nearly 10 years and the program will almost surely have a new head coach and face by next season. I say we keep the changes coming.
In two seasons in the student section, I have never heard anyone say that they loved our microphone guy. You know, the guy who yells at us all game every game, regardless of the situation? It’s nothing personal against the man himself, it’s just the nature of the job.
Nobody likes being told what to do, especially when the person telling you is all sweaty and begging you to cheer. Why else are we sitting in the student section, to get yet ANOTHER free towel? We come to the game to support our team, and I think most students have enough rally towels to clean up all of their ramen noodle messes for the rest of their time at South Carolina.
We don’t need someone yelling at us to make Williams-Brice loud. Tennessee has used a DJ instead of a head student section cheerleader (just a suggestion).
We also have one of the most underutilized video boards in the nation. Aside from watching mega-sized replays, our scoreboard is operating at the same level as the board on my high school football field.
Going to other schools and seeing how they use their board makes me shake my head. They have student-made videos they play pregame, between quarters, during time outs and before third downs when the other team has the ball. We have over 30,000 students and I am sure at least one of them knows how to work a video camera and make a highlight video. We paid $6.5 million for it, so let’s put the board to good use.
On the same note as third down videos, we need better music. I love a good "Sandstorm" just as much as the next Gamecock, but I don’t understand why I have to hear more techno music during one quarter of a Carolina football game than most people listen to in a lifetime.
In an informal poll taken in my apartment room, “Jumpman" by Drake and Future seems to be the next fan favorite. I am not calling to replace “Sandstorm,” just supplement it with another song that students and players can get hyped to.
I love playing “Lose Yourself” to start the second half, but during the UCF game the music started so late that I couldn’t even feel my knees weaken or my palms get sweaty. Come on, Carolina, the play button is the big one with the triangle on it. Press it earlier next time.
My last change would be adding a ticker or bottom line to the board. My phone hardly works during tailgating, much less in the game itself, but, come on, this is a Saturday in the South. People here know what we want and when we want it, and on Saturdays we want college football.
I want to see every time that Clemson almost loses to a team that they are supposed to beat, and that happens a lot, so we need a bottom line to at least show scores from around the country more often and in more prominent places.
Steve Spurrier is gone, and I don’t think we can ever replace him. Without the advantage of having the Head Ball Coach on the sidelines, we will need all the help we can get. Let’s make the atmosphere at Williams-Brice the best it can be.