In case you have not noticed, over the past four years the SCHS Lady Gamecock cheerleaders have claimed four straight Region 3AA titles and finished fourth in the state the past two. 
In the past four years, the SCHS Lady Gamecock softball team has been Region 3AA champions three times and advanced to the state finals three times as well.
In the past four years, the SCHS Lady Gamecock cross country team has claimed one Region 3AA title and advanced to state another time.
In those same four years, the SCHS Gamecock football team has been to state twice and sports an 0-2 record. They have not been close to winning a region championship. They have not been to state the past two seasons.
There is a truth however.
When Reggie Jackson joined the New York Yankees in November 1976, he was quoted as saying “This team, it all flows from me. I’m the straw that stirs the drink.” 
Good, bad or otherwise, the fortunes of an athletic program, especially economically, often flow from football. The football program is the “straw that stirs the drink.”
Good, bad or otherwise, it is a fact that if cheerleading, cross country and softball all go on to win a state championship this fall (that would certainly be a trifecta of some sort wouldn’t it?) the athletic department would lose money. That is the way of sports. Football outdraws all else.
No, because the SCHS football program has not been up to the standards set 1994-2003 does not mean that the Gamecock athletic program is floundering. Far from it. 
Fans have not deserted the game. The Gamecock Athletic Booster Club still is a very strong and viable organization, supporting the entire program. However, over time a floundering football program coupled with an understandable 50 cents a mile charge for diesel on athletic trips and 50 cents a mile rent (?) for buses on those same trips will take its toll.
With a new coach and a new game plan on both sides of the ball, can the Gamecock football program emerge from the shadows of the Lady Gamecock programs this fall?  There is an old cliché -- only time will tell.
The next few months could well produce banner years for cheerleading and softball.  Mary Helen Harrison and Vette Rountree boast nine seniors in their starting lineup.
Billy Pollock boasts six seniors in his starting lineup and eight on his roster. Not since the baseball class of 2001 or the football class of the fall of 2002 have seasons been as anxiously awaited as these about to begin. 
If those teams live up to expectations and things fall into place (unlike the baseball playoff brackets of 2001), the sky is the limit. Let’s hope so.
Friday night Aug. 27 is a new beginning for Gamecock football.
The spread-wing of Greg Manior along with his 3-5-3 defense will pack folks into the home side of Kelly Memorial Stadium. Hope springs eternal at this time of year and hopefully those fans and more will come back Sept. 10.
The presence of a brand-new coach, with an outstanding résumé (except in Valdosta) on the other side of the stadium for the visiting Effingham County Rebels should pack the visitors’ side as well. Of course, they will not be back.
Economically, the athletic program should get a shot in the arm from this one.
What about the game itself? 
I have said it before in this very publication and I will say it again. I expect to win next week. This is not a boast about us or a diss on our neighbors. This is just my opinion as if anyone cares about mine. 
One game will not make or break the upcoming season. It is not a region game. That will not happen until week three and Jefferson County.
Greg Manior says we will be considered underdogs in at least our first three games -- of course, No. 4 is in Brooklet and that should be an economic bonanza for them. For those needing a little reminder, the Gamecocks’ former coach Pat Collins has gone back to SEB.
Can SCHS football emerge from the shadows? 
In my terms, can SCHS football become relevant again? 
Last week no less a publication than the Georgia High School Football Daily after saying “Region 3 is GHSF Daily’s personal favorite statewide. No good region provides more close games and upsets than this one,” picked the Roosters as one of the four playoff teams from this region.
The prep publication has us going to 1AA champion Fitzgerald in the first round of the playoffs. Maybe they think so. Maybe we can emerge.
In the end, there will be a lot of folks who say football has never gone into the shadows. Those folks do not put softball and cheerleading on the same par. Maybe not, but the biggest measure of a team is what it does on the field. 
Can football emerge from the shadows? Maybe so.
By the way, next week I will unveil my 10th most historically significant game in Kelly Memorial Stadium history. Only four folks have sent in any type of list of their favorite or most important or most exciting games.
One of them does have my No. 10 on their list. So maybe Dr. Jimmy High’s games go in next week. Let me hear at bukemp@windstream.net.
Be in either Marlow of Glennville tomorrow evening.

Burton Kemp Jr. is a contributing writer to the Sylvania Telephone.