The South Shall Rise Again!

South Carolina universities are giving a whole new meaning to "The South Shall Rise Again". After our state was pummeled in 2015 by two of the worst tragedies in its history, the Charleston 9 church hate crime and a flood of historic proportions, I think it's safe to say our wonderful state had seen better times. But we have slowly, but surely been making a comeback! And right now it's our off the chain collegiate athletics programs!

I have never been a huge sports buff. Odd, I know...seeing as I was raised with 3 brothers and now have 3 sons. But I have always been a cheerleader for whatever's happening on the scoreboard, because I usually have no clue what's going on on the field, court, or course.  Maybe it's my ADD or something. To that end, the sports I can most easily pretend I know the most about are baseball, swimming, and basketball.  And fortunately for me, the NCAA basketball playoffs were particularly exciting this year with both the women's and men's basketball teams from USC making it to the final four, and the women bringing home the National Championship for the first time!

I won't, and can't recap all the details, number one because if you're a human being, then you most likely saw it firsthand, and secondly because I don't know enough about the details to recap it. All I know is that the men have never made it that far in the finals and the women had made it pretty far but have never won until this year! The USC men losing to Gonzaga was heartbreaking and caused me to take a Xanax and made Darius Rucker cry on TV, but it added a kind of syrupy sweetness to the women's victory two nights later.

And if you don't know a whole lot about our men's coach Frank Martin and our women's coach Dawn Staley, get to know them. They are both class acts and stellar human beings! USC is beyond fortunate to have them.

Currently we have the National champs in football with Clemson, baseball with Coastal Carolina, and basketball with The USC women's basketball team. South Carolina is cranking out other amazing athletes as well. We have the #1 golfer who is projected to win the Master's this year, Dustin Johnson. And if that isn't enough, a cute guy by the name of Hampton Anderson, who I know personally, is our 2016 National champ in collegiate fishing, representing USC. I hear we are on course to be in the finals for that this year as well.

You know, I mainly post here to serve as a journal and memoir of sorts for my boys. I want them to remember how awesome this moment felt! Not only is it a great time to be a Gamecock. It is a great time to be a South Carolinian! Couldn't be more proud to see us rising again.