Nike Pro Combat unis unveiled, Bama’s subdued

It seemed like the world stopped for a few minutes when Nike did its college football fashion show on Wednesday morning, unveiling the 2010 edition of the Pro Combat uniforms. Each uni, from helmet to cleats and the underlying clothing, is connected to the traditions of the universities and local communities. For instance, Ohio State’s is a tribute to the 1942 team. For West Virginia, they’re... [Read more]

Ethics investigation snags Wilson

Congressional ethics committees are notorious for being toothless, only really acting when someone gloriously screws up, like former U.S. Rep. Jim Traficant. It’s a sort of mutually-assured destruction pact between the two parties. This is why self-policing doesn’t work. And for some strange reason, the House ethics committee has launched an investigation into six congressmen right as the... [Read more]

Ending political debates: A modest proposal

Back during the Republican gubernatorial primary campaign, after one of the many debates someone asked us if we watched. Internal response was, “Why the fuck would we?” External response was, “No.” It might have had a little bit to do with the candidates, but a whole lot to do with the office and level of political polishing. For most debates for higher office, they’re... [Read more]

Ingram out for one, possibly three weeks

O God. Alabama fans on their lunch break today probably didn’t want to see the story come over the wire, the one that basically says, “Your star junior running back and Heisman Trophy winner basically lost a knee yesterday in practice and had arthroscopic surgery this morning.” OK, maybe it’s not quite that bad. The only guarantee is that Trent Richardson is the starter for... [Read more]

Federal health care dollars won’t be opposed by Sanford

Maybe Gov. Mark Sanford is shutting it down early, but he’s decided not to oppose $127 million in federal spending that’s slated for state health care programs. Specifically, programs dealing with the poor and disabled. Mind you, this is a guy who camped out on cable television during the second stimulus debate and went to court against the General Assembly to stop federal stimulus money... [Read more]

USC med school expansion in the crosshairs

Don’t call it a turf battle. Maybe. Reps. Jimmy Merrill and Chip Limehouse, both from the Charleston area, are being pretty vocal about opposing the new expansion by the USC School of Medicine. It’s no coincidence that MUSC, which has to compete for talent and resources, is in their backyard, right? But whatever the motivation, Carolina’s plans to get together with the Greenville... [Read more]

Columbia’s hottest summer ever

We had a lot of fun with climate change deniers this winter about snowmageddon, because we knew this was going to happen — the blazing heat of a Columbia summer. A four or five-block walk, and things might be getting a little swampy, not to mention sitting still in the shade. Even people used to dealing with the summer heat have been talking about how this season has been different. Distance... [Read more]

Week One SEC lines — make your bets

Got hooked on those illegal parlay cards in college? Bill Simmons‘ musings on gambling turned you into a prop-bet degenerate? Well, time’s winding down to the kickoff of the college football season, so it’s time to get those bets in. We’re taking ours from Betus.com, and there’s some interesting lines. SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE, WEEK ONE Southern Miss at South Carolina... [Read more]

EA Sports ads on Facebook are a little off

While we broke our addiction to the EA Sports college football franchise a couple years ago, we go way back with EA. For example, the NBA game “Lakers vs. Celtics,” and the first edition of the Madden series. Naturally, we get ads for NCAA Football 11′s Facebook page every once in a while, and it’s clear that whoever is scripting these things doesn’t exactly have it together.... [Read more]

Greene headed to another restaurant — hide the kids

Democratic senatorial nominee Alvin Greene is going to another campaign-stop nosh. Time to get the cops on the phone, already. When he showed up an an Oconee Democratic Party event at a Seneca restaurant last week, national headlines followed. Because you know, he was indicted for showing porn to a college student and all, so the local Dems disinvited him. But you can’t keep a Greene man down.... [Read more]

Holly Springs soap opera enters new phase

Last week, Seventh District Solicitor Trey Gowdy — also the all-but-elected new congressman from the Fourth District — stepped in to help manage the Freedom of Information Act complaint brought by a local reporter and prosecuted by the state regarding the Holly Springs Volunteer Fire Department commission. He appointed John M. Rollins Jr., who until recently was a Spartanburg County magistrate,... [Read more]

Geddings released from prison

Kevin Geddings is pretty much known for three things these days — getting Jim Hodges elected, Blenheim Ginger Ale and going to prison for ethics violations as head of the North Carolina lottery. For the last one, he received a measure of vindication when a federal judge threw out his conviction and ordered him released from prison in late June. He resigned five weeks later after reports that... [Read more]

Where are Chumley’s expenditures?

Back in June, Bill Chumley made a surprise upset of Rep. Keith Kelly in the Republican primary for House District 35. The campaign, according to the disclosure reports, appeared to be chronically underfunded. But, there seemed to be a lot more spending going on. Then the July 10 reports come out, and there’s nothing showing the stepped-up effort. Somehow, only $12,000 was spent between late May... [Read more]

Carolina players broke rules at Whitney

We’re shocked — shocked! — that Carolina football players received discounted rates and/or didn’t pay for their rooms at all. The news of this situation has led USC coach Steve Spurrier to say the players in question will be suspended. We’re thinking that the NCAA will want a tougher penalty. Some South Carolina football players owed the Whitney Hotel several thousand... [Read more]

‘No, really, Coach — the NCAA investigator was talking to me’

The Chicken Curse is getting started early this season, which is hysterical to casual Carolina fans like ourselves. Any other time in recent memory, it would be a star running back or wide receiver firing up the stickiest of the icky about half a dozen times, to the point where the athletic department has to say, “Dude, you’re getting blazed out too much. You’re off the team.”... [Read more]

Alvin goes golfing

Democratic senatorial nominee made another of his rare attempts to leave the Manning city limits on Sunday to, of all things, go golfing. Lowcountry resident Gary Shea invited Greene down to Murrells Inlet course Indigo Creek Golf Club just to find out who the man was, if anything. The idea of actually following through with taking Greene along to hit some balls around is simply genius. Shea said he’s... [Read more]

Upstate students busted for kegger

When you want to see what is the epitome of a slow news day, just check out a bylined story on, of all things, college students getting arrested for a keg party. Well, a couple kids at USC-Upstate got their names in print today for having a party off campus as students tend to do, especially at the beginning of the semester. We can only imagine what would happen if Richland County deputies decided... [Read more]