Darius Rucker is a superstar in more ways than one

My wife and I found an unexpected source of enjoyment on HBO this spring.

For reasons that remain unclear, we took a flyer on “Winning Time,” the network’s deep dive into the late ‘70s and early ‘80s heyday of the LA Lakers. This was surprising for one simple reason: Neither my wife nor I are Los Angeles Lakers fans – I’m a long-suffering and perhaps somewhat masochistic Atlanta Hawks fan, and my wife doesn’t even particularly like the sport of basketball, period.

Still, the show featured acting everyman John C. Reilly playing longtime Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss, plus Jason Clarke playing a delightfully crazed version of Lakers GM Jerry West (so crazy, in fact, that West himself has demanded an apology from the show’s creators). Mix in ridiculous 1980s fashion and hairstyles, a groovy soundtrack and some inspirational sports moments, and it was a combo platter we couldn’t resist.

Part of the fun in watching the show is that it serves as a kind of origin story for so many now familiar figures: Magic Johnson, Pat Riley, Paula Abdul and Buss’ daughter, Jeanie, who currently owns the team.

In an entertaining scene, Reilly’s Buss – wearing his wide-collared shirt unbuttoned to his navel – tries to convince some bankers to extend his loan so he can hang on to the team long enough for them to win a championship. He gets Laker Fan Number One Jack Nicholson to send the group a drink as a show of support, and the deal inevitably gets sealed.

Buss reveled in having celebrities embrace the Lakers. The show hints that he comped Nicholson’s season tickets in the early years because he wanted the world’s biggest movie star sitting courtside. He believed in buzz. The buzz surrounding the team became infectious, and the best players wanted to be part of the party, and pretty soon the franchise was winning five titles in a decade. Was Nicholson responsible for the winning? No, but having him on hand certainly didn’t hurt.

Watching a swaggering Nicholson cheering on his team, I was reminded of South Carolina’s own celebrity superfan: Darius Rucker, former lead singer of Hootie and the Blowfish, current country music star, longtime Gamecock supporter.

Darius has never needed comped tickets to express his love for his school and his state.

His undying loyalty to this place has inspired me over the years, and probably has inspired you, too. Too often, those of us who love the University of South Carolina find ourselves in defensive mode, clinging to our everlasting belief in a place that it sometimes seems we alone truly understand (remember when former SC president Bob Caslen said this was “by far the most hostile and destructive community I’ve ever been a part of”? We didn’t recognize the place he was describing.)

Like the rest of us lifers, Darius understands. He gets it. He knows South Carolina is special.

He doesn’t feel the need to explain. He just knows. You can tell he feels it in his bones, just like all of us do.

And this weekend, he’s coming home to celebrate his alma mater (Darius Rucker free concert for students to celebrate women’s basketball’s national title).

I’m not at all surprised. He’s always been there for us. And I suspect he always will be.

Making Music and Making Memories

As Dawn Staley and the Gamecock women’s basketball team began to lay waste to the 2022 NCAA Tournament, Darius kept showing the team wild amounts of love on Twitter. I haven’t held a social media account in four years, and even I was aware of his support.

Pretty soon, he’d pledged to play a celebratory concert if the team won the national championship.

We all know what happened next: The Gamecocks won the title, and Darius made plans to return to Columbia. It was as simple as that – no wheeling, no dealing, no demands, no drama. He said he’d do it and he did.

Fanhood is about faith.

You keep believing even when it seems like there’s nothing to believe in. You can doubt, you can worry, you can despair…but you keep believing. The hope is that someday, you’ll get to heaven (that’s the plan, anyway).

Darius’s positive, sunny, never-ending faith is the kind we could use more of around here.

I could certainly takes some Sports Fan Notes from him.

Anyone who reads my column regularly knows that I’m no stranger to doubt – not after a lifetime following South Carolina sports.

I’m sure Darius feels those same doubts that we all feel from time to time. But it almost seems like he knows that we need him to be above all that, that the rest of us need to lean on him in the tough times. We need him to be our source of inspiration when it comes to thinking about our school and its teams. We need to be able to at least count on him, if we can count on no one else.

We can.

We have.

And we will again.

The Song Remains the Same

Several years back, I wrote a column for Gamecock Central about my nostalgic and surprisingly moving experience at Hootie and the Blowfish’s annual homecoming concert in Charleston. It wound up being one of the most read pieces I’ve ever written for the site, which came as no surprise to me – South Carolina fans will always have a large soft spot for the band in general and Darius in particular.

And we should.

Through the years, I’ve seen many former Gamecock athletes and recognizable figures leave the university and never look back. They’ve found fame and fortune elsewhere, and too often, they’ve never felt a need to acknowledge the place where it all started.

Not Darius.

He’s the George Washington in our Gamecock Fan Mount Rushmore – solid as a rock, unchanged by wind and rain.

We can count on him.

Is there anything more that a person can ever give you than that?

Start the Darius Rucker appreciation thread by sending me your thoughts at [email protected].

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