Stepping into Williams-Brice Stadium before a game, you notice a few things.
First, you see how casually both teams' players are moving around the field, laughing and dancing before the event of the night truly begins.
Next, you sense a feeling of surprising solitude, realizing just how much a difference 90 minutes can make between not being able to hear yourself think and the only sound in the stadium being some chatter from a small group to your left.
And finally, as you turn to go find your seat, you come upon the white wave of towels that covers the entire student section.
It is these towels that have become part of the identity of Gamecock fans, as they are swung to the rhythm of Sandstorm in one of college football’s greatest spectacles. It is also these towels that are beginning to cast a negative light on the student section as a whole.
Please ask yourself, what good does tying up your towel into a ball and throwing it onto the field do for you or anyone else?
The correct answer is, of course, nothing. To begin with, you’re losing a free towel, one that could be hung in your room to decorate your walls, or if you’re artsy enough, even turned into a quilt.
But the main problem stretches far beyond how this simple action affects you.
When you launch your towel, it’s usually because you’re upset with someone or something. Maybe it's the performance of our team, the calls by the referees or just the plain fact that we are losing. But these towels don’t ever punish the people that you’re actually mad at.
The referees never are the ones to pick up the towels, nor are the players, nor is there some magical rule that gives the Gamecocks one point for each towel that lands on the field. Instead, our university's employees are forced to run around the field, cleaning up after the mess that we created.
Not only does this punish fellow Gamecock fans, but it also portrays an image of our student section that no one wants. We don’t want to be the sore losers, the ones that can’t take a bad call or the ones that’d rather whip their towel onto the field in defiance and anger rather than support their team. As proud Gamecocks, we are none of those things.
So next game, let's use those towels the way we’re famous for. Let's create a swirling sandstorm of white — not a landfill of towels in the end zone.