The Valley Dispute

With all the cynicism about our political process, the state of the economy and other stuff going wrong with this country, sometimes it's not easy to recognize how good we have it.

Our way of life is pretty darn good, and the best evidence of that is the trivial stuff we're fortunate enough to preoccupy ourselves with.

One of those things is snide interplay between rival college football coaches.

As about 100 percent of you know, Steve Spurrier unleashed a barb earlier this week by saying he'd never heard of any Death Valley other than LSU's Death Valley. Classic Steve.

Then Dabo Swinney returned some fire yesterday with a well-played retort. The Death Valley thing was low-hanging fruit, and Swinney snagged it by reminding folks that no one outside the Palmetto State thinks of the University of South Carolina when "USC" is mentioned. They think of the University of Southern California.

I think it's great stuff, and admittedly I'm biased because this is the kind of stuff you look for when you're researching a book on this rivalry's rich history.

This is the kind of stuff you remember. Civility is great and all, but it's boring in the context of a fierce rivalry. For years and years and years, both of these football programs have been trying to cut each other's throat for 365 days a year. So when some of that behind-the-scenes nastiness spills into the public domain, it's fun.

In terms of bland personalities, we have way too many Nick Sabans and Bill Belichicks and Tom O'Briens and Frank Spazianis and Jimbo Fishers and Ron Zooks and Al Grohs and, well, a bunch of other guys.

We need more Danny Fords and Mike Leaches and Les Mileses and Rich Rodriguezes and Dana Holgorsens and, yes, Steve Spurriers and Dabo Swinneys.

Speaking of Ford, he once brought a big sack of potatoes to a press conference to dispute the popularly-held notion that Clemson's offensive line was much bigger than South Carolina's defensive line.

In his own scientific way, the difference consisted of only "a couple taters" so it wasn't really all that much. Everyone laughed. But most important, everyone remembered it.

This has gotten way too long-winded, and I've strayed from the original point of this posting. Former Clemson Tiger Fletcher Anderson -- yeah, the guy who was responsible for the 63rd point against the Gamecocks in 2003 -- is a friend, and several months ago he told me he was embarking on research to determine whether Clemson or LSU could stake the claim to having coined the Death Valley nickname first.

How timely.

I asked him to share some of his findings, and here's what he gave me:

In an article from 1961 in the New Orleans Picayune, you'll see "Death Valley" referenced in the summary of the LSU-Georgia Tech game. (keep in mind none other than Paul Dietzel was the coach at the time).

This is the earliest print we can find for LSU that claims the name "Death Valley" or "Deaf Valley," for that matter. I will send you some articles that show it was called "Deaf Valley" from time to time during the 1970s and 1980s, but it kind of went back and forth for a while.

Myth:Howard's Rock being from Death Valley has anything to do with the nickname Death Valley.

Myth: Tiger Stadium was called Deaf Valley and the TV announcers mispronounced it as Death Valley, and it stuck (this is very common, but just not true).

Plausible reason for some LSU alumni saying it was indeed "Deaf Valley" when they were in school: People from southern Louisiana have such a thick accent, you can't tell if they are saying "Deaf" or "Death." It sounds the exact same with a true LSU Tiger accent. So, we have to believe the print. Because it shouldn't have taken them over 15 years to get the papers to print it as "Deaf" if that were the actual name.

I believe we have an N.C. State program from 1956 and a newspaper article from 1954 that lists "Death Valley" for Clemson.

It does go back to the Presbyterian College coach, Lonnie McMillan, saying that going up to Clemson was like playing in "Death Valley." One interesting note we have discovered was that Lonnie McMillan had actually been to Death Valley, California in 1932 on his way to see the Olympic games that year in Los Angeles. So, he had a basis for the comparison.

Also keep in mind that Clemson played PC for several years in a row and it was usually the first game and the hottest game of the year.

Also keep in mind: Legend goes that Lonnie McMillan made this comment to Frank Howard and it was Frank Howard who took the ball and ran with it. As we know, Howard understood showmanship and selling tickets.

Howard would be very pleased that Dabo fired back at Spurrier to defend Clemson and the name Death Valley, even if most of Howard's comments were just meant to build the rivalry and sell football tickets.

Interesting stuff. Fun stuff.

LW