Buckeyes booted; can Hillary be far behind?
CODY SOSSAMON Publisher

Cody Sossamon (cody@gaffneyledger.com) is publisher of The Gaffney Ledger.

Now that the college football season is over and it appears my Gamecocks' basketball season was over before it started, I can turn my attention to something really important.

The NFLplayoffs. I could care less about the regular season, especially when the Panthers are playing so poorly, but when it comes time for the playoffs and each game really means something, I do enjoy watching the thrill of victory - and the agony of defeat.

Speaking of the agony of the feet, mine have been killing me.

The pain got so uncomfortable I went to a foot doctor a few weeks ago. Actually, I do believe they're called podiatrists, but that's too sophisticated for me, so foot doctor it is.

Whatever. The diagnosis is that I'm getting old and the pads on the balls of my feet are wearing down so there's not much natural cushion to absorb all of the shock.

Speaking of shock, what about Hillary's seeming demise? I'm not sure how she did in New Hampshire, but as of this writing (Tuesday afternoon) her coronation appears to be in jeopardy. Big time.

I'm enjoying observing that unfold almost as much as I did watching the LSU Tigers beat up on Ohio State on Monday night (condolences to John and Ruby Travers). If my Gamecocks can't win, the next best thing is for a school in the same conference to be National Champs. That's probably as close as we'll ever get.

But back to Hillary and her nemesis, Barack Obama. Never in a million years would I have imagined that a man with a name like that would be a frontrunner to become the next president of the United States. It hasn't been that long since a bunch of guys with similar sounding names changed the world when they hijacked some airplanes and flew them into the Twin Towers and Pentagon. For days and months after that attack, anyone with a Muslim-sounding name living in the United States was fearing for their safety.

You know it's gotta be driving Hillary and Bill nuts. To wit, read this blurb from an Associated Press story: But even as the campaign retools and considers a new strategy, Clinton herself has been forced to acknowledge what amounts to a painful rejection of her as a candidate.

''This is very personal for me - it's not just political, not just public,'' she said Monday, eyes brimming with tears.

And ol' Bill's getting his dander up. Again from the Associated Press: Bill Clinton, who has campaigned doggedly throughout New Hampshire for his wife, complained bitterly Monday that his wife had been unfairly treated while Obama had been given a free pass.

''The idea that one of these campaigns is positive and the other is negative when I know the reverse is true and I have seen it and I have been blistered by it for months is a little tough to take,'' the former president said at a campaign forum at Dartmouth College. ''Just because of the sanitizing coverage that's in the media doesn't mean the facts aren't out there.''

It would all be great fun, if the outcome wasn't so serious. Barack could very well be our next president.

And if Barack or Hillary don't win, I can't say that the Republican alternatives put me at ease. Maybe I'm just getting more and more cynical in my old age (remember the foot doctor told me I'm getting old), but I don't have much confidence in the ability of anyone out there running for president, Democrat or Republican, to lead our country.

Maybe I will be swayed as time goes by and the airwaves are filled with those wonderful political commercials we just can't get enough of.

I just hope they don't air them during the upcoming playoffs and especially during the Super Bowl.