FROM THE DESK OF: The Corso Curse — An Explanation and a Request

BY: Taft Matney

Unless you’re a fan at some level of either Clemson or USC (The real one. The one founded in South Carolina in 1801. Not the one founded in Southern California in 1880.), this will have no meaning for you. If, however, you spend your fall Saturdays clad in some combination of Garnet and Black or Orange and Purple, you know what this is about.

ESPN’s “College GameDay” broadcast team owns football Saturday mornings. There’s Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, and, rounding out the pigskin quartet, there’s Lee Corso.

Without a doubt, Corso has the experience and street cred to be a part of ESPN’s college football mainstay.

After all, he played his college ball at Florida State, he had assistant coaching posts at Maryland and Navy, and he served as head coach at Louisville, Indiana, and Northern Illinois before stepping in to the world of the short-lived USFL.

He knows where of he speaks. He knows football. He knows how to pick ‘em on Saturday mornings.

Not so fast, my friend.

When he delves in to Palmetto State pigskin picks, it’s figuratively possible to hear a collective, “Awwww,” whenever Coach Corso picks USC and/or Clemson to win their respective games. You can feel the excitement of the day slip away as fans bury their heads in their hands with the thought that the Corso Curse has struck.

More often than not, or at least that’s the way it feels to Gamecock and Tiger Nations, a pick by Coach Corso means defeat. Now that social media has become such an integral part of communication, Twitter and Facebook abound with comments that cheer when he picks the opposition and sob when he taps our teams to win.

Last weekend as Clemson traveled to Georgia Tech with an 8-0 record, I tweeted, “No! @CollegeGameDay’s Corso picks Clemson over Tech! C’mon, Tigers! You can win anyway.” A number of friends echoed my sentiment.

You see, Corso lied to us. He said only a couple of weeks prior that Clemson’s season would end at Georgia Tech. This wasn’t fair! We called “no takebacks.” He couldn’t change his mind the day of the game. It was just wrong.

Nevertheless, he did, and we got whipped like a government mule.

It was a game that on paper we should have won. Tech lost its two previous match-ups. Friends from across the country were texting and emailing me before the game saying, “Clemson’s got this. Tech’s too far down this year.” Watching game tapes, Clemson even had a blueprint of how to stop Tech’s offense.

It was a lock…except Lee Corso went back on his word and picked Clemson for the win.

As far as Carolina goes, yeah, Corso picked them, and they won, BUT they had a tough time in their game and could have easily blown it. I guess the worst of the bad juju had already spilled on to Clemson since he picked our game first.

All I know is this. South Carolina likes Lee Corso as a person. He comes off as a nice guy with an affable demeanor. He had an admirable career as a player, a coach, and now as a broadcaster. We think the personal adversity he works every day to overcome as a result of his stroke a couple of years ago is an example in tenacity and a model of intestinal fortitude.

We just don’t want him picking our teams to win.

So, with that, I have a request for ESPN and Coach Corso.

On behalf of my fellow football fans across South Carolina, don’t pick us to win. Always believe that the Gamecocks and Tigers are overmatched or that their successes are no more than fluke victories. Always underestimate us. Just pick us to lose. Well, maybe not always. If you want to pick Carolina on November 26, I’d be OK with that.

UPDATE: Well, Arkansas beat USC. Coach Corso was right on this one, but as my good friend Chad has often been known to say, “Even my broken Mickey Mouse watch is right twice a day.” Please, Coach Corso, don’t pick us to win.