… so yes. Yes we can.

It just ticks me off. When South Carolina wins the East, I write:

Many who believe the Palmetto State Poultry will prove to be a flash in the pan would agree with what Steve Spurrier said at SEC Media Days; namely, that South Carolina’s Eastern Division title was to a substantial extent attributable to the fact that Georgia, Florida, and Tennessee all happened to be down simultaneously. Such arguments as that usually are mistaken, and they particularly are in this case. The Gamecocks, after all, did not back into an SEC Championship Game berth or earn a critical win by fluke; they took care of business on the field, impressively beating a solid Alabama squad, notching a two-touchdown victory over Tennessee, and trouncing the Gators in the Swamp. Add to that the fact that, just as Georgia’s 2009 win over South Carolina in Athens was nowhere near as close as the final score suggested, so too was the Gamecocks’ eleven-point triumph over the ‘Dawgs in Columbia last autumn more convincing on the field than the margin on the scoreboard indicated. The Garnet and Black didn’t simply prey upon rebuilding powers; South Carolina lined up, straight up, and beat them. There is no dismissing the Gamecocks’ 2010 run as a function of other teams’ failings, and there must be no underestimating the defending division champions’ status as the most complete team in the East heading into the 2011 campaign.

When Georgia wins the East, they write: “South Carolina defeated Georgia in Athens and compiled a better MOV over the rest of the East only to see the Dawgs back into a division championship thanks to an easier West schedule.” An easier West schedule? You mean like facing Auburn at home? They faced the same Western Division teams we did, with one exception: South Carolina played Arkansas, and Georgia played Ole Miss. How big is the difference between the Razorbacks and the Rebels? Five points.

That would be annoying enough on its own, but, when it comes from a crew that consistently claims we fail to give them adequate credit and aren’t man enough to concede when they’re the better team, the hypocrisy simply becomes too much to bear. The cognitive dissonance that accompanies such incoherent and irreconcilable crowing would stagger even an Auburn fan’s imagination. I’m sick of these silly, perennially indignant whiners.