The Daily Gamecock

Issue date: 10/6/08 Section: Sports

Michael Aguilar, Fourth-year English student

As you may already know, South Carolina's victory over Ole Miss was a long time coming; it had been exactly one year since Carolina's last SEC victory and even longer since Carolina's last SEC road win.

On Oct. 4, 2007, Carolina beat Kentucky by a score of 38-23. Since then, Carolina had gone 0-6 in the SEC and looked to be in a death spiral.

A lot of things have changed since Carolina's last SEC win.

For instance, the last time Carolina won an SEC game Andrew Sorensen was still the president of USC and bow ties were still acceptable everyday attire. Speaking of university dignitaries that have left since the Gamecocks' victory over Kentucky, Blake Mitchell had yet to graduate the last time Carolina won an SEC game.

Marion Jones still had five gold medals from the 2000 Sydney Olympics. The Mitchell Report had yet to be released.

The Dow Jones Industrial was hovering around 14,000 points. On Friday it closed at 10,000 points a share.

Evel Knievel, Sean Taylor, Heath Ledger, Bobby Fischer, Charlton Heston, George Carlin and Paul Newman were all still alive.

Former Vice President and current environmental enthusiast Al Gore had not yet been named a Nobel Prize winner. In related news, the Nobel Prize still held some clout in the world of science.

The price of petroleum had never even sniffed $100 per barrel.

No one in history had won more than seven gold medals in a single Olympic Games.

The New England Patriots hadn't lost a game in the NFL season. The Giants looked like they were going to miss the playoffs. Tom Brady's ACL was still intact.

Ohio State was still considered a viable option for the national championship. Some people still respected the Big Ten as a conference.

Hillary Clinton was still on the list of Democratic presidential options and no one knew who Sarah Palin was, including some people in Alaska.

No one knew who the Jonas Brothers were and fewer people's ears bled on a regular basis. No one thought that Rihanna would actually sample the "Numa Numa" song and Lil' Wayne was still on hiatus.

Dave Odom was still the coach of Carolina basketball and most USC fans did not know what a Hilltopper was. Thanks to new Gamecock coach Darrin Horn, we're all fully aware that a Hilltopper is a giant red blob.

I suppose more than anything, the point I'm trying to make is this: The Gamecocks won an SEC game and good gracious ... it has been a long time coming.

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