So, if you’ve known me for five minutes, then you probably know that I’m a huge South Carolina football fan. On Saturdays in the fall, you will always see me donning my garnet and black, getting geared up for the game.
But being a gamecock fan, as my husband (who is a gamecock only by marriage, but one with a lot of heart), is not easy. In 1998 and 1999, we had a record 21-game losing streak, which is right before I personally became a gamecock. I was an unlikely gamecock, having been raised as a Clemson fan, but when it came time to choose colleges, South Carolina was just the place for me.
And so it was that I was in the student section in the fall of 2000 when we beat New Mexico State 31-0 to break that 21-game losing streak. We took the goalposts down that night, and the week after when we beat Georgia. Then later that season we beat Florida and won the Outback Bowl against Ohio State. We were riding high. I came to be a gamecock at one of the best times in our history.
In my ten years as a fan, we’ve been on some serious rollercoasters. To say that our football program is inconsistent is the understatement of the year. But we’re not bad. If we were, it might be easier. No, what’s worse is that often we’re good enough to believe that we could be really great, but more often than not we end up disappointed. Gamecocks are a tough breed. They say we bleed garnet. We don’t leave the stadium when we’re losing because we think there might be a miracle. Our rallying cry is, “Maybe next year.”
And then there was this year. Folks were calling 2010 the Year of the Gamecock. We took down number one undefeated Kentucky in basketball, number one undeafeted Arizona in baseball (going on to win the College World Series!), and number one Alabama in football. On November 13, after winning against Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia, we defeated Florida (for the first time in Gainesville) to earn a spot in the SEC Championship game at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, marking our first ever SEC East Championship and our first time at the title game.
It looked like we could be the Cinderella story of the season. The gamecocks (dubbed “the punchline of the SEC” by New York Times writer Pete Thamel–a little harsh, Pete?) could defeat the number one team in the country (Auburn this time) for the second time in a season to win the SEC Championship for the first time in school history. Lee Corso picked us for an upset. Though Auburn was the clear favorite, the point spread was only 5.
We believed it could happen. We remembered not that long ago that we had believed we could beat Alabama, despite all odds, and that we had done it.
The facebook community went crazy. Half of the profile pictures on my newsfeed were graphics that proclaimed, “Beat Auburn.” There was lots of trash talking back and forth between friends of different allegiances. All over, Cam Newton, Auburn’s quarterback and likely Heisman winner, undergoing an investigation by the NCAA, was dubbed Scam Newton. Some friends wrote, “Cam’s a sham! Beat Auburn!”
Then the game started. It didn’t look good. At halftime, we were down by 14 but still holding hope. Then Auburn began racking up the score. All the up to 56, while we stayed at 14.
It wasn’t just a loss, it was a massacre of epic proportions. It was so bad that the Outback Bowl, who had been planning to invite us, chose Florida instead, landing us in the Chick-fil-A bowl. So bad that there were actually people at the game crying.
The trash talking on facebook stopped. Not surprising.
Then something really astonishing happened. As soon as the game was over, I started seeing a new kind of facebook status.
Congrats Auburn! We were totally outplayed–no question about who deserved to win this one. Good luck at the national championship!
That was rough, but at least the SEC is sending someone to the national championship. War Eagle! Beat Oregon!
Well, that was kind of embarassing. Oh well, gamecocks, we still had a great season. Auburn played well. And hey, there’s always next year!
Even this:
I really hope that the NCAA clears Cam Newton. It would be a shame for such a talented young person to already be involved in a real scandal.
So then I understood that one thing that being a gamecock has taught me* is how to be a graceful loser. Losing gracefully requires that one loses on a regular basis. It takes practice, and we have a whole lot of practice at being losers. Graceful losers understand that as much as they may have wanted to win, as good as it would have felt, and as much as it was so close that they could taste it, it’s not the end of the world. There’s always next season.
Graceful losers know that our value comes from being children of the most high God, not from a football title, so they can concede a loss, congratulate the winner, and wait for next year. They know that people are more important than games, and that love wins every time. That’s why I think that being a graceful loser is a sign of a mature faith.
*I can totally speak for myself and for my facebook friends. I’m sure there are some gamecocks out there who are still learning about losing gracefully. That’s ok–you always have next year!
