Should I apologize for calling some USC fans ‘braying donkeys’? Neigh!

With Thanksgiving Day drawing near, I thought I would clear some thoughts off my plate before enjoying some turkey on my plate.

Actually, it’s just these two thoughts:

1. In last week’s column I predicted that USC President Robert Caslen, athletics director Ray Tanner and the university’s Board of Trustees would fire football head coach Will Muschamp to satisfy the segment of braying donkeys in the Gamecocks fan base who were demanding Muschamp’s head.

I’m happy to say I was wrong!

Late last week Caslen issued a statement — albeit a sheepish-sounding one — declaring that he was looking forward to Muschamp serving as USC’s head coach “next year and for seasons to come.”

Fantastic.

That said, I have a feeling that the “Muschamp must go!” crowd will make one last run at getting him fired after Clemson hangs 56 points on USC during Saturday’s season finale — so Caslen, Tanner and the trustees had better hold firm when that madness begins.

2. Regarding last week’s column, it’s fair to say that it drew a passionate, intense reaction.

Some of the responses were thoughtfully pro-Muschamp.

Some of the responses were thoughtfully anti-Muschamp.

Some of the responses offered complimentary comments about the column.

And some of the responses were not only not complimentary about the column, they weren’t very complimentary toward me either.

For example, one reader suggested that I was “snotty and condescending” and that I needed to “get over” myself. Another reader, meanwhile, called me an “arrogant, overbearing know-it-all” who should “go back to Cleveland with the rest of the losers.”

(Gee, I just got here. I quite like it here. Can’t I stay?)

But if there was one common sentiment running through all of the anti-column — and anti-me — responses, it could probably be summed up in these two questions:

▪ Shouldn’t I apologize for using the phrase “braying donkeys” in referring to the section of USC fans who have been relentlessly screaming for Muschamp’s firing?

▪ Shouldn’t I apologize for comparing those USC fans to the obnoxious braying donkeys who follow my hometown Cleveland Browns and constantly hound the team’s executives into making poor decisions that are aimed at appeasing and pandering to them — but only end up relegating the Browns to being NFL losers year after year?

Well, just to stay consistent with the equine theme, my answer to both questions is “neigh.”

No, I don’t see any reason to apologize.

In fact, I would suggest that instead of demanding that I apologize for using the phrase “braying donkeys,” the hee-hawing segment of the anti-Muschamp USC fan base should actually be thanking me.

Really.

Yes, you already know that I’m a native of a city that has allowed its braying donkey element to keep the town’s football team mired in perennial mediocrity.

But you may not know that I came to Columbia from Florida, where the braying donkey segment of Florida State’s football fan base has become so deranged that some wealthy supporters recently raised nearly $20 million to help FSU afford the cost of firing head coach Willie Taggart — with no apparent thought given to the fact that Florida State, a public university, will now have to spend more millions to replace Taggart.

Really, that was the road that the Gamecock braying donkeys wanted USC to go down?

They really wanted the university to fire Muschamp and pay his staggering $19 million buyout clause?

Talk about madness!

So that’s why I called the braying donkeys, well, “braying donkeys” — to sound the alarm that they seemed intent on pushing the USC football program down a treacherous path of toxic dysfunction and squandered millions.

Seriously, I should apologize for that?

Sorry, but no way.

However, to foster peace and extend goodwill toward everyone during this freshly minted holiday season, I will humbly offer these two simple words to all of the anti-Muschamp folks who have been dying to direct two other words toward me during the past week:

Go Gamecocks.

Opinion Editor Roger Brown can be reached at (803) 771-8464 or by email at rjbrown@thestate.com. You can also follow him on Twitter@RBrown_SCOpin.

This story was originally published November 27, 2019 at 5:15 AM.