The final month of the decade has also served as a reminder that ten years is a long time. In the sports world, it's basically an eternity. LeBron James started the decade with The Decision, came back to Cleveland and won a title, and he now seems destined to start the 2020s making a run at a championship in Los Angeles. Tiger Woods started the decade fighting off scandal and back surgeries and ended it winning another green jacket. So many others introduced or reintroduced themselves and created moments that fans will remember forever.
Unfortunately for some football fans, like myself, the 2010s resulted in far more losses than wins. I would consider myself a leader in that camp because of more than just the sheer number of losses. It was the magnitude of a few of the most painful losses. The disbelief at the most stunning losses. The complete lack of potential of many of the teams I supported. Let's go back to the beginning and start on the collegiate level.
It all started in 2011 when my hometown Ohio State Buckeyes became embroiled in the landmark scandal throughout college football history (Please read this with heavy sarcasm. The fact that free tattoos got so much press in hindsight remains one of the most glaring ways the NCAA's model has soured over the past ten years). They would compile a 6-7 record the following fall which remains the only season the program has had a losing record this millennium.
I traded in the Buckeyes for the South Carolina Gamecocks in 2013. Coming off of Jadaveon Clowney's heroics in the Outback Bowl and consecutive 11 win seasons, it seemed like I was jumping on board at the perfect time. My new team would win eleven games again that year, but I was there in person when they lost in Athens to Georgia. This miraculous catch in Knoxville would ultimately rob the Gamecocks from playing in the SEC Championship where I adamantly believe they would have beaten Auburn and had the chance to go to the national championship game. You will not convince me otherwise.
The next preseason would be the last time South Carolina registered a blip on the national radar. A beat down at the hands of Texas A&M, which was the first game broadcast on the SEC Network, was as a friend puts it, "the day the music died." The Gamecocks would end up 7-6 in 2014, 3-9 (with a loss to The Citadel after the resignation of Steve Spurrier) in 2015, 6-7 in 2016, 9-4 in 2017 (Not a bad record, but it led to way to high hopes getting obliterated the next fall), and 7-6 in 2018.
As for my professional football fortunes? As Arthur Fleck said in Joker, "I used to think that my life was a tragedy, but now I realize, it’s a comedy." The Cleveland Browns were the only team in the NFL to not have a winning season during the 2010s. While the quarterback play got progressively better, the head coaches got comically worse. The list of first round busts is simply too painful to relitigate. The team went 1-15 and 0-16 in consecutive season. We don't talk enough about how the one game the Cleveland Browns won over two years was all because a blocked and then a missed field goal in the final five minutes!
All of this misfortune, heartbreak, and agony was supposed to end in the fall of 2019. It did not. All three were amplified.
South Carolina was slated to face one of the toughest schedules in college football, but Will Muschamp had his most talented team during his tenure. Jake Bentley was going to shatter every record at the quarterback position. The team would go toe-to-toe with Alabama, Georgia, and Clemson, and the next decade would begin with steadfast belief in the team's trajectory.
South Carolina lost their season opener to a North Carolina team with a true freshman making his first career start. If that wasn't bad enough, our own quarterback suffered a season ending injury. If that wasn't bad enough, Mack Brown's celebratory dancing went viral. The following three months consisted of any shred of momentum being crushed by all sorts of forces:
1) Ryan Hilinski showed incredible poise and moxie in his first two starts against Charleston Southern and Alabama, but the team and university's devotion to his family's mission to advance dialogues around mental health was the biggest highlight. After a banged up Hilinski struggled on the road against Missouri, though, Columbia South Carolina's local newspaper ran one of the most tone deaf headlines of the decade.
2) South Carolina pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the season by beating Georgia, but Hilinski was knocked out of the game with a leg injury. Rumors swirled about the extent of his condition, and after the season, conflicting reports made it impossible for the casual fan to understand the severity of what the freshman quarterback actually battled for weeks. Other injuries plaguing the teams led to the strength and conditioning coach being dismissed following the season. Bryan Edwards, the team's leading receiver, found himself in a similar position to Jake Bentley losing the opportunity to break more records at his position.
3) The Gamecocks would attempt to build off the momentous win the following week, but in one of many examples of horrific officiating across the sport this fall, ultimately came up short against Florida.
4) South Carolina's only win after the Georgia game would be over Vanderbilt's third string quarterback in early November. The team's other home games that month saw disheartening efforts against Appalachian State and Clemson where opposing fanbases took over the stadium in the fourth quarter.
What began with hopes of a decisive springboard to vault the program back towards the top half of the SEC ended with a 4-8 finish with much of the fanbase wanting Will Muschamp fired.
This would have been a hard pill to swallow if I wasn't concurrently following the last twelve months of the Cleveland Browns. I'm not even going to pretend I summarized everything because there were so many storylines in 2019 I'm bound to have forgotten a few of them.
The offseason saw the Browns hire Freddie Kitchens, the blue collar NFL vet who unleashed Baker Mayfield in the second half of 2018. He says and embodies all the right things to initiate himself with Cleveland's ethos. John Dorsey trades for Odell Beckham Jr., the most electric wide receiver in the NFL. They acquire Olivier Vernon and Sheldon Richardson to build one of the most stout defensive lines in the NFL. Some pundits claim the Browns are now America's team. Media outlets run article after article claiming the Browns will accomplish everything from winning the division to making the Super Bowl.
Then, the season started. From September 8th through December 29th, it was as if every major character engaged in a "Hold my beer!" off with one another.
1) Myles Garrett: Gets thrown out of the first game against the Titans for throwing a punch. Gets thrown out of a November contest against the Steelers for assault and borderline attempted murder. Currently he finds himself suspended indefinitely.
2) Baker Mayfield: Calls out the Giants for drafting Daniel Jones. Films a couple of Progressive commercials. Calls out Rex Ryan. Films another Progressive commercials. Shaves his facial hair three times in one day. Films a couple of Hulu commercials. Gets turned into a meme. Films a couple more Progressive commercials. Engages with a vendor in Cincinnati after losing to the 1-14 Bengals. Films another Progressive commercial.
3) Odell Beckham Jr.: Gets in trouble with the NFL for wearing improper cleats. Tells every opposing team to "come get him."
4) Freddie Kitchens: Where do we begin? The soft spoken, blue collar NFL vet said all the right things during the offseason only to make it abundantly clear from the first game he was in over his head. He repeatedly said he didn't coach penalties despite the fact the team was incapable of not committing penalties. He called a draw play on 4th and 9. He could not score in the red zone with one of the most talent laden offenses in the NFL. He instructed an intentional false start to turn a 4th and 11 into a 4th and 16. He refused to relinquish any control over the offense. He admitted he didn't consult statistics. He got into several altercations with the team's best players on the sidelines during the final weeks of the season.
What began with hopes of establishing the Browns as a contender and Baker Mayfield as a dynamic franchise quarterback ended with a 6-10 record and yet another search for a coach and general manager to maximize their quarterback.
To add insult to injury, my childhood team couldn't beat my alma mater's arch rival after one of the biggest "what if" games in recent college football history (Included in the numerous what ifs were some very questionable officiating because that's basically a given at this point). I also couldn't even make my fantasy football championship after drafting Lamar Jackson, Chris Godwin, Josh Jacobs, and Mark Andrews.
Will 2020 and the decade ahead be any better? It certainly will be tough to be any worse. I'd love for my professional football team to have a quarterback that exemplifies the same maturity as my college football team. I'd love for an adult with head coaching experience at the helm in Cleveland. I'd love for Jordan Burch and MarShawn Lloyd to make an immediate impact for South Carolina in the fall.
As I type this, though, I'm reading rumors the Browns might hire Urban Meyer. I'm reminding myself Jordan Burch hasn't signed his letter of intent. It took one day after watching the majestic sights of the Rose Bowl to lose all my romanticism about football.
So for now, I guess I'm just praying. Praying Joe Burrow hangs 70 points on Clemson's defense again and shuts Dabo Swinney up... At least for a couple of minutes.
J. Nave
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