"Why do they [write] for their money? Why do they [work] for short pay? They ain't getting nowhere and they're losing their share. They must have gone crazy back there." — Michael Burton (paraphrased)
By MONTE DUTTON For Clay Hendrix, there's no place like home (Furman photo). Click here. Furman fans were not alone. The first full weekend of college-football brought little to savor for Palmetto State partisans. What could be worse than Ole Miss pounding the Paladins, 76-0? Oh, Furman fans are downtrodden, but the Paladins were playing …
Continue reading Furmanology: Learn from mistakes and move on
By MONTE DUTTON The Battle for the Belt went Clinton's way last year (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. Clinton is playing its third rivalry in as many weeks. Seriously. This Friday’s game is at Newberry, which, like Woodruff and Laurens, has been lining up in anger opposite the Red Devils for more than a century. …
Continue reading County Signs: Devils hope to tighten grip on Belt
By MONTE DUTTON Steve Englehart (Monte Dutton photo) Click here. What do you do? You shake hands, pick up the check and get back to work on games you can actually win. Mystery surrounds the Presbyterian Blue Hose in the aftermath of last Thursday night’s 63-10 shellacking at Mercer. The Bears won an FCS playoff …
Continue reading County Signs: How fleet is the Fleet when it flies?
By MONTE DUTTON (AI generated) Click here. It occurred to me that two of my favorite things are the Clinton-Laurens football game and the Southern 500 stock car race. One was Friday night and the other was Sunday night. Not that the week was perfection. Furman and Presbyterian lost by 76 and 53 points, respectively. …
By MONTE DUTTON Home never looked more welcome (Furman photo). Click here. I watched three football games, two of them, fortunately, on TV. Mercer crunched Presbyterian, 63-10, on Thursday. Clinton High raced past Laurens, 35-8, on Friday. Ole Miss destroyed Furman, 76-0, on Saturday. The combined scores were 174-18. For a Furman grad, seldom has …
Dylan Chiedo (Furman photo) Click here. OXFORD, Miss. – Oh, 50 years ago or thereabouts, Winn-Dixie distributed cards for entries in a TV show of taped horse races. If No. 3 won and it was on your card, you won. It was the Draft Kings of its day. The show was called Let’s Go to …
By MONTE DUTTON (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. I think Aug. 30 might end up being my favorite night of the year. It’s not just this year’s game for the Laurens County championship. It’s the game. It’s the atmosphere. It’s standing down on the field, trying both to take photos and pay attention to what’s …
By MONTE DUTTON Javen Cook breaks for the end zone (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. One hundred. Sixty. Four. Clinton’s 35-8 victory over Laurens on Friday night was the 100th of Corey Fountain’s head coaching career, the 60th all-time against the Raiders and the fourth in a row. The town was coming off a devastating …
By MONTE DUTTON Clinton won, 49-7, last year (Monte Dutton photo) Click here. Football rumbles down a road. Basketball’s not the same. There’s almost a game every night. Same with baseball and most sports. NASCAR rumbles, but that’s literally. Maybe it vrooms. One aspect I love about football is … it’s organized. A game is …
(PC photo) Click here. MACON, Ga. – Mercer handled Presbyterian on Thursday night, but it took a while. It took a while because the dreaded “lightning in the area” resulted in a 90-minute delay. It was a long time to wait for a butt whoopin’. The Bears won 63-10, totaled 500 yards, twice converted turnovers …
Nightrider's Lament 