by woffordgrad94 on Thu Nov 15, 2007 7:39 pm
I doubt a lot of Wofford folks really care about this , but I'll post it anyway. A while back, in a game in which Wofford upset then USC-Spartanburg, Jerry Waters refused to shakes hands after the game, which led to some ill feelings and the series was stopped. This was back in the mid-to-late 80s (not sure of the exact year...it was before my time at Wofford). Anyway, USCS contacted us every year after that asking for a game, and we refused to schedule them. That stopped once we became D-1. NBow that they have moved up to d-1 too, they contacted us for a game this season, hich we turned down, simply stating that "they are not the kind of team this best fits our needs". Now I know that AD Richard Johnson has been at Wofford a long time, as has Mike Young. Is it possible they still hold some kind of grudge against Upstate? I can tell you that a lot of people at Upstate think they might. Upstate also says that we think "it would be demeaning to us to stoop to their level and play them". Overall, many Upstate students I have known, past and present, have a verynegative opinion of Wofford, and see us as "snobs". I think it's silly we don't play them. I'm not saying to let them in the Southern Conference by any means, but we easily could and should develop a strong rivalry with them in all sports (well, except football). I think Wofford would get into the rivalry just as much as Upstate. We would have more than mothers and girlfriends at the game, I can assure you. It couldn't be any worse thjan what we had for Lees-McRae anyway. I would also like to point out that in my senior year at Wofford, both us and USCS made the D-2 women's basketball playoffs, and we just happened to be paired up against them at the Hodge Center (the USCS gym). The gym was FULL and the atmosphere was ELECTRIC- and this was for a WOMENS game. Wofford lost, but it was a LOT of fun! We haven't played them in men's basketball in roughly 20 years- and they are like 3 miles away! The attendance for the Lees-McRae game was pretty low, as I'm sure it will be for our next two games against those two college basketball juggernauts Virginia-Wise (NAIA?), and Toccoa Falls (even lower than NAIA- me and four friends could probably beat those folks' starters). Especially since the Virginia-Wise game will probably confict with the Clemson-USC football game (it is supposed to be a 2pm, but I hearit will likely be moved to night because of playoff football).