Random Thought of the Day

Topic----Cows and illegal immigration

Is it just me, or does anyone else find it amazing that our Government can track a single cow born in Canada almost three years ago, right to the stall where she sleeps in the state of Washington? And, they tracked her calves right to their stalls. But they are unable to locate 11 million illegal aliens wandering around our country. Maybe we should give each of them a cow?

What do you guys think out there?

You go girls...

The University of South Carolina "Lady" Gamecocks Softball team, is ranked No. 21 in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association's final softball poll of the 2007 season. The poll was released this past week.

Also last week, USC capped off the season with a No. 24 ranking in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll.

Blake's summer work outs seem to be going well

Friday Joke of the Day

MEXICAN OLYMPIC TEAM

Q: Why does Mexico have such a bad Olympic Team?

A: Everyone who can run, jump, climb or swim has already crossed the border.

Ex-Gamecock reaches majors

{Source: Greenville News} Former University of South Carolina infielder Kevin Melillo has reached the major leagues.

The Oakland Athletics today called up Melillo to replace outfielder Milton Bradley, whom the team removed from its roster by designating him for assignment.

Melillo had been playing for the Athletics' Class AAA affiliate in Sacramento, Calif. He was hitting .267 with seven homers and 40 runs batted in.

We here at the LOHD wish him success!

Funny Ravenel Video...

With any scandel there will be You Tube videos.

Here is a Ravenel Remix video on YOUTUBE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EupDOxtpj_U

Sparky needs a Job...

USC’s former head coach Sparky Woods is looking for a job these dayz. Anyone got any leads for him?

Coach Woods record at USC from 1989-93 was 24-28-3 record. After getting the "boot," he would hop around the SEC, and most recently was the running backs coach under Mike Shula at Alabama. But, since Shula got canned, all of his assistants have found employment elsewhere.
Except for Sparky Woods. I know it is hard to believe.

Sparky hoping to harvest new job soon [The Huntsville Times]

Anyone what a tall glass of Cucumber?

{AP report} Japanese are staying cool as a cucumber this summer with "Pepsi Ice Cucumber" — a new soda based on the crisp green gourd.

The soft drink, which hit stores this week in Japan, doesn't actually have any cucumber in it — but has been artificially flavored to resemble "the refreshing taste of a fresh cucumber."

"We wanted a flavor that makes people think of keeping cool in the summer heat," Pepsi spokesman stated. "We thought the cucumber was just perfect."

The mint-colored soda is on sale just for the summer and only in Japan.

LOHD fans what do you think about a glass of cucumber?

USC Baseball losing its' Players to the Pros

South Carolina left-handed starter Arik Hempy has agreed to a contract with the Chicago Cubs, the school said today. Hempy, a junior, was taken in the 17th round by the Cubs in the Major League Baseball draft earlier this month. Hempy spent the first few weeks of the season recovering from reconstructive “Tommy John” surgery he had on his left elbow in April 2006.
He made 13 starts for the Gamecocks, going 7-3 with a 3.58 earned-run average.

Hempy joins two other South Carolina juniors who gave up their final year with the Gamecocks to go pro. Travis Jones joined the Atlanta Braves’ organization, while starting pitcher Harris Honeycutt went to the Cincinnati Reds. Jones was taken in the draft’s seventh round by Atlanta, while Honeycutt was selected by the Reds in the 10th round. The junior college transfer hit 18 home runs and led the Gamecocks with 83 hits. Jones also hit .318 with 14 doubles, two triples and 68 runs batted in. He also had a team-leading 13 stolen bases.

South Carolina coach Ray Tanner also expects junior reliever Wynn Pelzer to forgo his final year. Pelzer was taken in the ninth round by San Diego.

Kyle Greenwalt, a University of South Carolina baseball signee, has decided instead to play professional baseball in the Houston Astros organization. The right-handed pitcher from Harleysville, Pa., was a 20th-round draft pick of the Astros in the Major League draft two weeks ago. Greenwalt is the third USC recruit for next season to sign a pro contract, joining infielder Austin Gallagher (Dodgers) and outfielder L.V. Ware (Braves).

Losing all of these guys above hurts! I hate to see Jones go the most, I think he could have been a big time star next year. Also losing our pitchers hurts we need those guys badly....Tanner has some work to do next year.

What are your thoughts? Team Outlook for 08?

what in the world is going on in College basketball

Aurora phenom Ryan Boatright commits to USC
Tim Floyd snags the 5-10 guard before he even picks a high school...
Aurora phenom Ryan Boatright hasn’t decided where to attend high school, but he’s already picked a college.
The 5-10 guard gave an oral commitment to USC coach Tim Floyd on Sunday. Boatright was at USC for a basketball camp over the weekend. Word leaked out on Monday that Floyd had offered Boatright a scholarship. The family announced the commitment Tuesday.
“It was just a coincidence,” Tanesha Boatright, Ryan’s mother, said. “Ryan has always loved USC and North Carolina. So when one of his favorite schools offered him a scholarship, he couldn’t pass it up.”
DePaul and Indiana both expressed interest in Boatright, but USC was the first school to offer. Floyd made quite an impression on the family.
“He was just amazing,” Tanesha Boatright said. “Such a warm, nice man. He made us feel so comfortable. He was awesome. You couldn’t have asked for anything more.”
Boatright is just the latest in a new trend of ultra-early commitments. Floyd received an oral commitment from a 14-year old last year as well, 6-6 Dwayne Polee Jr. from Westchester, California. Cully Payne committed to DePaul before playing a high school game for Burlington Central and Jereme Richmond committed to Illinois after his first game at North Shore Country Day, but Boatright is the first player to commit to college before choosing a high school. He’s expected to make that choice later this week.
“I’m not sure what we are going to do,” Tanesha Boatright said. “There is so much pressure on him about that. We want to find a good school and a good team.”
Boatright has family on both sides of Aurora, so he is deciding between East and West Aurora

Real life Rambo

Check this story out

Sin City

Columbia is the greatest city in the world, where else can you find corrupt politicians using there powers to get out of speeding tickets, crashing planes, getting arrested for cocaine and naked people falling out of the sky.

SC Treasurer Thomas Ravenel charged with cocaine distribution

WOW.....this is breaking news today at 5pm.

State Treasurer Thomas Ravenel has been indicted on federal charges of conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine, federal and state authorities announced at a news conference at SLED headquarters this afternoon.

The Charleston Republican raised millions of dollars to unseat long-term Democratic incumbent Grady Patterson in November.

Ravenel, 44, is a millionaire real estate developer and the son of Arthur Ravenel Jr., a powerful South Carolina politician who served in the General Assembly and the U.S. House.

Terry Hoeppner

Terry Hoeppner, Indiana's football coached died from cancer today. (Yes, its unbelieveable - I didn't think Indiana still fielded a football program either)

From all reports Hoeppner was apparently pretty well liked. For a bit of local interest, Hoeppner coached at Mullins High School in Mullins from 1976-1978. Hoeppner had recently been replaced by Bill Lynch.

Following is the suprisingly large amount of media coverage this is getting.

Indiana football coach Hoeppner dies of complications from brain tumor (ESPN)
Indiana head coach loses cancer fight (Fanblogs / Rivals)
Terry Hoeppner: 1947-2007 (Everyday Should Be Saturday)
R.I.P., Terry Hoeppner (Deadspin)
Terry Hoeppner, 1947-2007 (Sunday Morning Quarterback)

Football Notes

Gamecocks make plans to wrestle with Peasants

In an move of almost unparalleled stupidity, South Carolina has agreed to play East Carolina in football 5 times. The teams will meet as follows:

2011 Charlotte
2012 Columbia
2014 Charlotte
2015 @ Greenville, NC
2016 Columbia

Why is this so monumentally stupid? I'll tell you why - no good can come from this. There are 4 possible scenarios that come from playing ECU 1) we win close 2) we win big 3) we lose close 4) we lose big. Here are the corresponding reactions from the college football savy world: 1) You all aren't any good - you barely beat ECU 2) so what, it was ECU 3) holy shit - you lost to ECU ha ha ha 4) actually I don't think I would be able to verbalize this; a loss like this to a team like this would actually cause the program to begin a rapid sprint backward. Three out of the 4 outcomes are bad for us.

I know what you are thinking - so what if they are not good, are we supposed to try to play Southern Cal in our out of conference weeks? Of course not, playing ECU in and of itself is not a bad thing. Playing ECU 5 times in 6 years is a bad idea. We have nothing to gain. We are not going to start some new rivalry with ECU (God forbid the series is that competitive). All that can happen is that the series legitimizes ECU. It cannot help us, it can only bring us down. Most people in the country probably don't know what state ECU is in, much less what town.

A further problem - why in God's name are we doing anything with ECU other than paying them to come here. We are going to Greenville, NC!??!!? (that's where ECU is located by the way) That's one home game we are giving away that year for no reason. Two other years we are going to split Charlotte with them - also a problem of sacrificing a home game for no obvious gain.

And if we are going to go to the trouble to go to Charlotte for a neutral site, shouldn't we be playing a major school from North Carolina there? I understand that neither North Carolina nor NC State wanted to take part in a "Border War" in Charlotte. Do you know what that means? There is no longer any reason to play the game there. We now have just sacrificed any sort of pseudo-regional relevance for nothing.

Why is ECU getting any respect at all from our athletic department? Would you go meet Central Florida for a game in Jacksonville? Or how about playing neutral games with UTEP, Rice or Marshall?? No? Would that be ridiculous - well, they are all in the same conference with ECU. Hell, Rice finished with a better in conference record last year.

Now our best case scenario is to beat the piss out of this second or third tier team and then endure the mocking from the collective college football world as they look at our out of conference schedule.

Oh and by the way - I don't give two shits who their coach happens to be right now, what he thinks he was promised / should have been promised, or how he has managed to reinvent an offense that was so predicable when we last saw it, that any barely functioning retard could predict the next play.

Nobles should never wrestle with the peasants. Hell, if the Russians figured it out, you would think Hyman could too.

In Good News - This Year's Schedule is Brutal

This year our away conference games are @ Arkansas, @ Georgia, @ Tennessee and @ LSU. The rest isn't much better. Rivals thinks we have the second hardest schedule in the nation, though an argument could certainly be made for first. Read about it here.

Columbia is ground zero for Burnlounge

So what does Ford, Rogers, Stoops, Spurrier, Ellis, Merritt and Bouknight have in common?

They were all investors in 'BurnLounge.' Individual BurnLounge pages were marketed as an alternative to iTunes — a place to steer friends to buy music. BurnLounge’s payments, the FTC said, are structured so that investors are rewarded much more lucratively for selling franchises instead of products — the definition of a pyramid scheme.

Here is a good article to read about this "scheme."

Article HERE


Two questions for you -

Is this a pyramid scheme in your eyes and should the FTC crack down on this?

Also should Todd Ellis lose his job at USC for his role (according to this article he was near the top of the pyramid i.e "the big cheese")??