Exuberance against Georgia justified
Mackenzie Grant stated in her article that during Saturday’s beat-down of Georgia, Gamecock fans became obnoxious. I strongly disagree.
The rivalry between Georgia and USC is a one-sided rivalry. Georgia fans do not consider us to be a big rival, whereas USC fans consider Georgia to be one. This causes our fans to be very passionate about beating Georgia and proving that we should be considered a rival. The “overrated” chants in the crowd were completely warranted; Georgia has been ranked higher than USC since the preseason despite USC finishing 2011 ranked higher. The passion behind this chant was also fueled by a lot of trash talk by Georgia and their fans. The timing, however, was wrong.
While our football team did tell the students to be quiet, it wasn’t because they felt like it was obnoxious to Georgia, it was because we were on offense and they couldn’t hear. Had that chant started while Georgia had the ball, nobody on our football team would have minded.
As for the “F--- Georgia” chants during GameDay, I didn’t hear them, and I was everywhere from the back to the very front of the pit area. I actually hadn’t heard anyone mention a vulgar chant until I read Grant’s article. Trash talk is a part of sports, and it is expected. While many casual fans don’t always understand why hard-core fans act the way they do, it doesn’t mean that they should stop acting that way. In fact, most fans showed restraint and didn’t rub it in to Georgia’s fans.
All in all, I feel Carolina fans showed that we are a passionate bunch of fans and that we are proud of our team.
-Taylor Post, fourth-year sports and entertainment management student