Clemson; C'mon Now.....

3 Hours Clemson Would Like to Erase

Playing Thursday night, USC enjoyed the first primetime spot of the new football season. This was great and all, but the real primo spot was given to Clemson.

This couldn't have turned out any worse for the Tigers.

Tiger fans couldn't end the terror fast enough. T.V. sets around the country blared these quotes, all night long;

"Alabama is starting 10 freshmen..."

"Clemson has the best backfield tandem in the country..."

"Clemson is the best in the ACC..."

"'Bama is 2nd tier in the SEC...Maybe 3rd."

"Clemson doesn't look like they're even trying..."

"Clemson walked out of the tunnel like they deserved to win this..."

"Clemson is getting pushed around..., etc".

Herbstreet went on and on, about these issues. Not that they didn't deserve it, but I'm just sayin'.

Saturday, Tommy Bowden made Nick Saban look worth $4 million, and the Tigers made the ACC look down right inferior.

915 Chester St. Is For Sale...

Historic Elmwood Park Home, Hits Market...

This two story, Charleston style home has 2,350 sq. ft. and features 3 bedrooms and 3 full baths. >>Click Here for more pics

Walk in the front door (from the Charleston style front porch), and you are immediately impressed (again). The beautiful foyer leads into a large dining room to the right, while the large eat-in kitchen is straight ahead.

The three bedrooms are on the second floor. The large master suite has a brand new (large) bathroom, which is rare for the area. The master has all of the modern features, while keeping the historic charm intact.

The finished third floor acts as an enormous playroom. This area has many potential functions, and is nicely done.

The home features four fireplaces, smooth ceilings and designer colors throughout. It's very well done, and fun to walk through.

As the story goes, Elmwood Park is the one downtown area that avoided Sherman's troops. Therefore, the old southern charm lives on in this popular neighborhood.

Chester St. is one of the most popular streets, in Elmwood Park. The tree lined street is dotted with different colored homes, and is home to many of Columbia's truly "historic" homes.

Call/Email/Text if you are interested in 915 Chester St. The home is offered for $289,900.

"Tear Down These Meters!" Go David!

To Pay County, We Must Pay City Toll. WUT!?

Notice that the picture above, is taken at the only angle that doesn't show one parking meter.

When I went to pay my taxes in January, I was greeted by nice, shiny red parking meter. I asked the friend with me, "Is there any sort of double taxation here?" He asked me what I was talking about. I explained, "We're paying the city, for the opportunity to pay the county." WUT???!!! (Of course its not "double taxation," because the money for the meter is a "fee, or toll." Uhh, huh. I'm calling it a "Toll Tax")

David and I spoke about it for about 20 minutes. I was glad to know, that I was't the only one that had discussed the matter with him.

It bugged me so much, that I had to blog about it that night. >>Click Here To See Post

Well done Treasurer. >>Click Here to see David's letter.

We understand, that parking meters are an important component to Columbia's budget. Having said this, Columbia needs to take the high road on this one.

Big Kite & Hurricane = Total Stupe

As My Uncle Used To Say, "Dude...You Ain't Hittin' On Much..."

>>Click Here To See Flyin' Stupe... It's in slow motion, the second time they show it. Complete sandplant, then ragdoll..

I hate to beat anyone while they're down, but holy crap. This fella is either a suicide situation, or just a plain ole' stupe.

I'm all for an adrenaline rush, but Mr. Windsurfer and his giant kite tempted a Florida hurricane, and got blown up.

Thank God, he's expected to live.

This Was Awful To Watch...

I Was Pullin' For Some LoLo...

This gorgeous U.S. athlete, was the favorite to win it all....and doing it. Finished 7th.

Lolo Jones was cruising to a gold medal, when her heel pushed the ninth hurdle over. Pushing the hurdle with the bottom of her cleat, instead of the regular "clipping" with the toe, forced Jones to slip awkwardly. She was passed by almost everyone.

This was pretty dang tough to watch. In her interview, she handled it perfectly. Privately, she bawled her eyes out.

Hotsheet; Columbia's Newest Listings

>>Newest Listings; Aug 6 - 17, 2008

"Famously Hot" Columbia, Tries Again

Finally, We Are Superlative At Something.

I know Columbia has a hard time branding itself. I've actually tried to come up with something clever myself (w/ the heat being my #1 subject). For a while, I thought Columbia needed to "name itself," to create its brand (Charlotte = The Queen City). The new slogan, and logo come very close to this. I wish the font was bolder, but I actually like what they've done with the logo.

Further, "Famously Hot," has some sort of superlative flair to it. The slogan may stick this time, but I'm not sure it will recruit anyone to visit Columbia. >>Go to http://www.famouslyhot.com/ to view the new website.

From the article in The State, it seems like Columbia wants to bring conventions here, and fill hotel rooms. In my mind, two things will need to happen before we can accomplish Columbia's goals.

1) Conventions; Get on the phone. Our people need to work the phones, cut deals with cities and groups, and ask organizations to have their conventions in the midlands.

2) Fill Hotel Rooms; Get the Gamecocks consistently in the Top 10, in football and/or basketball. Nothing will fill hotel rooms faster, than a great SEC major sports program. The Gamecocks are Columbia's quickest route (if we can do it), to the national map.

Don't get me wrong. The effort is fine, and the new slogan is far better than, "Where Friendliness Flows". I'm just not sure that continuously presenting Columbia as a destination city, is the thing to do. I'm just not sure it's who we are...

Below are some of the ads that will appear in print, with puns galore. The T.V. ad is actually upbeat. I'm not sure that it will recruit companies and organizations to visit, but the music and flashing pictures are pretty upbeat. FJ

‘Make your gathering sizzle’
Wording from one of Columbia’s “Famously Hot” ads that will appear in travel industry journals

Go ahead, put our feet to the fire. We’re hot but never bothered.

Our city and the Columbia Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau are ready and eager for any challenge. We’ve got a well-placed Convention Center in this historic state capital that simmers with cool river-edged scenery, open-air restaurants, live music, sports and concerts.

Or if you’re looking for something different, we’ve got plenty of other venues — from the high-tech and mod, to perfect postcard locations of columned mansions and sprawling oak trees.

Hungry? Cuisine here ranges from grits to gourmet. (Actually, in the kitchens of some of our hottest chefs, grits are gourmet.)

Columbia’s heat is legendary. If your event has been singed by false promises and poor service, look no further. Our mix of Southern hospitality and fiery dedication will make your gathering sizzle.

Conspiracy Theory; 13ish Years Later

Tanneyhill Only One Cuffed; I Was There...

USC Trustee: Campus Cops Targeted Athletes

"One of the longest-serving and most influential members of USC's board of trustees believes Gamecocks athletes have been targeted by the university's police force.

Eddie Floyd, a Florence surgeon who has served on the board since 1982, said several months ago he was told that some campus police officers were overzealous in their investigations and arrests of athletes". The State Newspaper

I don't know if Dr. Floyd is on to something, or not. I can tell you from first hand knowledge though, that something fishy seemed to be going on around 15 years ago.

Around '94-'95, there was a HUGE party at what we called "the soccer house," on Green St. There were tons of people there, and the front yard was flooded with drinkers. I was a little worried about the spill over crowd, because three of the soccer players were Sig Eps, and I was president.

Nevertheless, I happened to be sitting next to USC quarterback, Steve Tanneyhill. He hadn't been there 5 minutes, and had just gotten his first beer. Within 1 minute of Steve taking a seat, I noticed something going on outside the front door.

When I noticed that it was the police, I leaned over (said, "Steve") and nudged him. I put my cup on the table beside me, and he put his on the floor. The moment the uniformed fellow squeezed between everyone blocking the door, he pointed directly at us (Tanneyhill). He didn't even LOOK at anyone else. I mean, it was a laser towards the guy. They stormed right up to us (I was scared to death), and told Tanneyhill to get up. They cuffed him, and left. I followed them out, and watched the front yard start booing the situation.

Those officers could have arrested anyone on the premises. It would've been like fishing in a keg. Nevertheless, they chose not to ask for anyone else's I.D.

I'm sure everyone has experienced events, that's left them scratching their heads. For me, this is one of them. Tanneyhill seemed to get a raw deal that night, just because he was a (the) high profile USC player.

Consultant Diagnosed w/ Brain Tumor

"As a political consultant and a newspaper publisher, I’m familiar with “spin”… but there’s not really much way to spin this: A few days ago, tests revealed I have a cancerous brain tumor". Rod Shealy

See interview with Rod on link below;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzgVqTCg2mE

Updates on Rod Shealy (written by his son at, http://www.scbarbecue.blogspot.com/ )
8/6/08: Surgery has now been set for Monday.

8/5/08: The news from MUSC today was good regarding my dad. The tumor is operable, and there does NOT appear to be any recurrence of melanoma from his 1983 melanoma. Although there is no firm time and date, as of now, there is likely to be an operation scheduled in the next few days, possibly as early as this Saturday. The operation will occur at MUSC in Charleston.

Thank you for your prayers.

The Shealy Family

As a brand new Realtor, Rod sold me an ad in his then popular 20/20 Magazine (a freebie paper, in thousands of locations in the midlands), while having lunch at Mr. Friendly's. As lunch went on, he became fascinated by the story of my late wife, and how we turned our terrible time in the hospital, into (of all things) a decorative mailbox flag business.

The next thing I knew, Rod had me on the cover of 20/20 with two other entreprenuers. During the "photo-shoot," he told me where to stand (in front of a mailbox of course), and helped me fan out about 15 different flags in my hands. It was hot as hell, but we had fun.

Inside his magazine had my very first ad as a Realtor (1/16 of a page, I think), while the cover had a piece of my immediate past. There's no telling how Rod's cover may have jump started my real estate career.

I'm glad he seems to be in such good spirits. Get back to Columbia soon, Rod!

Columbia's Newest Listings...

>>Click Here For Listings; July 27 - August 6, 2008

Bring It, Mr. Quarterback...

Can Stephen Garcia Bring the Noise?

Below, are the thoughts from our fellow bloggers at http://www.palmettoscoop.com/. I'm posting it because I thought Garcia's statements were interesting, to say the least. All we can say in Gamecock Nation is; Bring it...Just bring it. FJ

Stephen Garcia is chipper
By Adam Fogle Thu, Jul 31, 2008 - 4:20 pm Posted in Around the state
FRESHMAN QUARTERBACK GETS UMPTEENTH CHANCE

As you can see in the picture above from The State, University of South Carolina quarterback Stephen Garcia has been reinstated two weeks early from a suspension for underage drinking and he is so excited that he’s frolicking around like a Unicorn chasing a rainbow. He even issued a statement through USC thanking the school for not giving up on him the last 742 times he screwed up.

I thank everyone at the University of South Carolina that was involved with my reinstatement – for giving me another chance to be a student-athlete here.

All I can say is that I will try to be the best student-athlete I can during my career here and make this decision a positive one for our university.

The media attention needs to go to Tommy Beecher and the other players on our team.
I will not start talking to the media until I begin playing in the real games here at Carolina.