"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 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 (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 (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. Presbyterian at Mercer is Thursday night. Laurens at Clinton is on Friday night. Furman at Mississippi is on Saturday night. Someone asked me what I was doing. What do you think? The stories on PC and Furman won’t have my name on them because I won’t be …
By MONTE DUTTON Cincere Gill (0) (Monte Dutton photo) Click here. Perhaps, at last, a change is going to come at Presbyterian College. It was a precipitous fall, and it has been a tortuous climb from a football abyss. In hindsight, Presbyterian College’s timid advancement to NCAA Division I, Football Championship Subdivision, and then its …
By MONTE DUTTON (Monte Dutton photo) Click here. Here’s a prediction that doesn’t require a soothsayer. Wilder Stadium will be packed when Laurens comes to town Friday night. Clinton’s band will be pumping out its knockoff of the Notre Dame fight song. Laurens will mimic Ohio State. It will be hot, with thunder in the …
Continue reading County Signs: All roads lead to Wilder Stadium
By MONTE DUTTON Wilder Stadium was already packed at the opening kickoff when Laurens last visited in 2022 (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. Until time changes from Daylight Saving to Standard time, I begin Clinton High School games shooting photos on the visitors side because the lighting is better until the sun goes down. A …
Continue reading County Signs: It couldn’t get bigger … but did
By MONTE DUTTON Ian Williams scores against ETSU (Furman photo) Click here. The most inane stoppage in sport has spread to college football, which at least has the decency to call it “a two-minute timeout.” The NFL’s “two-minute warning” dates back to a time when many stadiums didn’t have visible clocks. An official trotted to …
By MONTE DUTTON Lots of flags fly above Wilder Stadium. (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. Have you ever seen a presentation of That Championship Season? It was a play and movie about old teammates getting together. That tale takes a dark turn. Nothing dark happened at Clinton High School on Saturday night. It was all …
Nightrider's Lament 