Those pesky Gamecocks!

Let me get something out at the start of this post: I hate Steve Spurrier. I don't even have a reason to hate him. I just do. I dislike that his nickname is The Old Ball Coach when there are other, older ball coaches in the game, I dislike this Sports Illustrated story about him from like 15 years ago. If only you could see the picture that ran with that story. It's unbelievable -- he's on an exercise bike in the stadium working out. It will take 10 years off your life.

Anyway, tonight South Carolina beat the holy hell out of Ole Miss, which was surprising since Ole Miss was ranked #4 in the country. The score, 16-10, doesn't really do it justice, since the Rebels' quarterback was like 5 for 15 with 54 yards going into the fourth quarter. It was atrocious. As a side note: the Rebs' QB is named Jevan Snead. For those playing at home, that is not pronounced Je-VAHN. It is apparently pronounced Jevan, like Kevin. What?

More amazing yet: the head coach of Ole Miss is named HOUSTON NUTT. I can't make this stuff up. It's too good to be true.

Here's something interesting about the loss: apparently Ole Miss has an outbreak of swine flu on campus and like 30 of its players were out last week. And I read a really interesting article about swine flu and sports and how most schools are recommending that kids be away from other kids until they've been fever-free for 24 hours, and yet here we've got all these kids suiting up with "flu-like symptoms" and spreading them to their teammates. I get it: it's college football, you're on scholarship, sack up and play. And yet. Seems like maybe you'd want to quarantine your random 3rd-string punter so he doesn't give swine flu to your starting QB. Such a dilemma!

Lastly, dear sad USC fan pointed this out to me a few days ago and I have been remiss in not including it: an Oregon fan pissed about his team's performance against Boise State sent a letter to the new coach, Chip Kelly, along with an invoice for the $439 he spent on travel and accommodations and tickets. Chip Kelly sent him a check.

I can't decide whether I should write Chip Kelly to tell him I want that portion of my cable bill back or not. But I'm going to call it even, because the endless replays of that dumbass Blount sucker-punching the Idahoan totally made up for the crappy game.