The Daily Gamecock

Issue date: 2/26/08 Section: Sports

Michael Aguilar, Third-year English student

As you all probably remember I wrote a column several weeks ago about The Drought because I know that you all just sit there waiting until The Daily Gamecock comes out every morning and quickly flip to the sports section searching for my column. Well, I'm writing this one to update you on my progress through The Drought, how I'm doing, how things are going and what I'm up to.

The first thing I took part in to appease my yearning for football was my first Pro Bowl tailgate party. The Pro Bowl is the most meaningless all-star game for the most important pro sport in all of the U.S. What did I do? I tailgated for it; I broke out the chicken wings and burgers, the beerr and of course the chips and dip. I think that even the people who go to the Pro Bowl don't tailgate for it, but I was desperate and desperate times call for desperate measures.

The first annual Pro Bowl tailgate helped ease me into The Drought like a nicotine patch helps a smoker ease off tobacco. Basically, what I'm saying is that it didn't. Tailgating for the Pro Bowl only made me crave football more and more. So what I had to do, in turn, was begin tailgating for all the all-star games. For the Army All-American game, the Shrine Bowl, the Under Armor All-American game, the Texas vs. the Nation Bowl (starring Blake Mitchell) and many, many more.

By the time the postseason games were over, I was in a sad state. It would be as if our hypothetical smoker went from smoking one pack a day to using three cases of nicotine patches a day, wearing the patches like a four-year-old wears stickers.

Through the help of my close family and friends, I realized that I had to change something. I had to move on; I had to get my life together and figure out a solution. So I started to move on to other sports. I watched the Duke vs. North Carolina game and actually worked up some passion about it. It felt good to see some energy in the college world again, to feel something. After weeks of getting my weak fix after weak fix from college football postseason all star games, I felt like I was making headway.

Then, everything came to a crashing halt when a lull in the college basketball season hit. The Gamecocks had a couple of away games and baseball was still a few weeks away. The next really exciting matchup was the same weekend as the start of baseball, with Tennessee traveling to Memphis. I was desperate; I felt like I had made so much progress and now it was all in danger.

I watched college hockey on TV. I watched a couple of women's basketball games. I went to the South Carolina Class A/AA State High School wrestling championships. Then I woke up one morning sitting on my couch in my underwear, surrounded by cheese puffs and with the number to call to pick up a season highlight from Sports Illustrated commemorating the Giants' Super Bowl victory.

I've hit a couple low points along the way. But baseball season is finally here and, even though we had a rocky start, we looked strong. I think that I've finally made it. I think that I've gotten far enough so that I'll be able to survive until next season starts; the first couple months are always the hardest.

We'll see if I really have when the spring game gets here, or if I just fall off the map again. I'll keep you posted.

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