Its game day Bitch's

Well it is a bowl game, which sounds pretty good if you have been a gamecock fan for a long time. The Outback bowls were great while I was in School but last years Shreveport, Louisiana poor-white trash bowl was hard to swallow. Granted we blew a large lead to a crappy Missouri team, which we should have smashed.

The bowl sets up a match up of bowl troubled team with Carolina being 3-11 in bowls games in the last 100 years and Houston losing there last 5 bowl appearances. If Carolina can stop the Houston high flying offense we assignment football, and have a balanced offensive attach, we should win by double digits. If Fred and Carlos decided to play there normal touchdown corner football we might be in for a long day against a Conference USA powerhouse.

My final prediction

SC 38 Houston 17

Cory Boyd & Blake Mitchell Co-Liberty Bowl MVP's

Kevin Kolb 15- 40 Passing with 3 picks

Politics: A look at Barack Hussein Obama

We here at LOHD like to talk about many different things "from sports to politics, with a little mixture of some antics from our crew and a splash of the unusal."

In talking about politics it seems that the race for 08 is shaping up. So every so often on LOHD we may throw a "bone" at ya with some politcal thoughts to satisfy the need for a 'leftover hot dog.'

Here is a thought for that 'dog.....Seems the national media is pushing for a Obama vs. Clinton on the left and a Romney vs. McCain on the right, to determine the next Chief. African American vs a Woman. POW vs. a Mormon.

Well, LOHD ran across a interesting piece on Obama. Becasue let's be honest who is this guy and where did he come from. We know the famous speech he gave that sent chills up some spines of Liberals that they have not felt since JFK. Obama's trick of voting like a liberal and talking like a moderate is working. The media is eating it up right now but what is this guy all about?

Well here is a interesting fact: The nonpartisan National Journal gives Mr. Obama an 82.5 liberal rating in the Senate. For comparison, National Journal gives Sen. Hillary Clinton -- the other most-talked about Democratic presidential wannabe -- a 79.8 rating. But the media is talking about the "other" Obama that is more liberal than most liberals, the media is in love with this smooth talker that talks big picture stuff. His record as a state senator does not even get a thought and has been effectively wiped clean since he entered the U.S. Senate? I guess it is fitting since the early days of Bush before he ran where not really discussed. Election 08 seems to be on the front burner with the media so look for more thoughts in the future.

What another serving....Read more here: Washington Times (Editorial)
http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20061218-093212-5950r.htm
http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20061213-083908-2933r.htm

Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday's

Bugs Bunny changeup...

that is what former University of South Carolina star center fielder Marcus McBeth calls his change up. The Oakland A's just added him to their final 40 man roster---as a releif pitcher. Yes I said pitcher, you may remember him as a 6-foot-2, 195-pound outfielder. McBeth was considered by many as the best defensive center fielder in college baseball as a junior. I am sure McBeth never thought when he was a fourth-round pick of the Oakland A's in the 2001 draft that his pro debut would be as a pitcher but after inconsitent batting things like this happen.

While he's not guaranteed a spot on the A's 25-man regular-season roster, McBeth will get a shot in spring training to make the team. If not, he likely would be sent to the Class AAA Sacramento River Cats. McBeth has a fastball he can throw in the low to mid-90s along with a devastating change-up. He is working on a slider. McBeth had 25 saves and a 3.07 ERA in 70 1/3 innings last year. Baseball America this month ranked him as the No. 8 prospect in the A's organization.

Also did you guys see where USC is ranked number 3 in the Pre-Season College Baseball Poll (Clemson is number 2 and Rice is number 1)....should be a interesting 2007.

Memphis on my mind...

You may remember that LOHD wrote a blog about Kevin Kolb (pronounced "cob") who is the QB at Houston. {It can be read here.} He was my sleeper pick for the Heisman but we all know how that turned out. But he still puts up big numbers and the offense is much like Texas Tech. Highest score wins. So the USC defense and offense will have their hands full for the game but the main thing is not to give up like they did vs Mizzouri last year.

Kolb is the real deal...His career statistics are insane -- 12,578 passing yards; 82 touchdowns; 60-percent completion percentage. He has claimed nearly every school passing record. His 49 consecutive starts rank fourth all time among Division I quarterbacks, behind some familiar names: Georgia’s David Greene (52), Rivers (51) and Marshall’s Chad Pennington (51). Kolb is the C-USA career leader in total offense with 13,424 yards, good for fourth on the NCAA all-time list. After throwing 15 interceptions last season, Kolb has thrown for 27 touchdowns with three picks for the NCAA’s second-best touchdown-to-interception ratio.

Here lies the obstacle to USC claiming victory in Memphis.

If Fred "I pulled my hammy" Bennett, Stoney and the Captian can step up and not allow a big play then USC should win this game. And just knock the passes down....too many tip passes caused us some "L's" this past season. Also put pressure on Kolb....i.e blitz. If Nix and the 'D' allow Kolb to stand around in the pocket and pick his targets it could be a long evening with Memphis blues. With that said the offense has to put up numbers too....big numbers which I know Spurrier can do.

So with all that being said....who is going to Memphis to watch the game?

Follow up on SC Recruiting...

To follow-up on a previous article on LOHD.

I mentioned how the current SC recruits have a certain "wow" factor in a previous post you can read here.

Well, ESPN analyst Tom Luginbill has South Carolina rated as the number 5 Top Recruiting Football Class for 2007.

Having commitments from 7 out of the top 150 players does wonders not to mention a few out of that 150 are still looking at SC (i.e Carlos Dunlap, DE -- rated number 9 in the country and the number 2 DE).

Tom Luginbill's Top Five 2007 Classes as of 12/20/06

1. Notre Dame
2. Texas
3. USC
4. Florida
5. South Carolina

Let's look at Football Attendance...

USC ranked 19th in attendance in the nation, averaging 75,630, according to NCAA figures. The Gamecocks were sixth among Southeastern Conference schools, with Tennessee (105,789) leading the way.

Michigan led the nation in attendance at 110,026. Clemson University was 15th, averaging 81,000.

Expanding the stadium would help...

Shrimp eating champion of the world

Dev- 15 shrimp in 30 seconds

LJ- 11 shrimp in 30 seconds

check www.summerofdev.blogspot.com for the video in the future.

Damn it Dev, give Riley back her sweater