with all apologies to HST......
Can the state of soccer in SC be any worse or any more boring? Not so long ago.......state cups were up for grabs for the St Giles and GFC's and CSC's and NECSA's and Mount Pleasants and Lexington's....with every once in awhile a once a decade team popping up in an Aiken or a Rock Hill.
Then consolidation started.......first with GFC-St Giles, then Bridge, then Columbia United. Then the Academy program started....which indirectly led to the merger, for lack of a better word, of Bridge and COlumbia United.
So what is left in SC, competitively? CESA wins every state cup, in every age group, in every gender. Kids from Mount Pleasant, Columbia, and York County going to Greenville to play. Which maybe wouldn't be so bad......if the net result was a collection of dominating teams. But thats really not the case. Take the u17 boys.....to win State Cup, CESA had to beat SCU's 2nd team, 3rd team, and then their own 2nd team. Every game......a 1 goal game. Not just that age group.....everything seems to be sliding towards mediocrity.
Where are the rivalries? Where is the pride and good natured smack talking on this forum? Most everyone would agree that competition......is the catalyst for the processes that result in improvement. The desire to win, the desire to avoid losing, the burning for championships.....is what fuels the hard work and the passion and the sacrifices....that ultimately forges winners.
In my opinion, that has all been lost in the last couple of years. Which begs this question: if a state cup is played and no one knows, did it really happen?
Ali had Frazier. The Yankees have the Red Sox. The Steeler have the Ravens. Northwestern has Irmo. Oops, IRMO.
Where are those rivalries in SCYS? And are we not poorer, without them?
