Charming and quirky: How ESPN College GameDay repped the Grand Strand Saturday morning
Flanked by virtual fans from Coastal Carolina and BYU, the crew of College GameDay sat above the teal turf in Brooks Stadium.
And in a rare sighting this season, a few fans were in the audience. Cheering, sign-holding fans, not cardboard cutouts. The fans came early to the stadium for the national show that aired from 9 a.m. to noon on ESPN. The game wasn’t to kick off until 5:30 p.m. and tickets on second-hand sites were going for as much as $500.
After a roller-coaster of schedule changes and COVID-19 cancellations, the Chants were able to maintain a game on the schedule and, more notably, the College GameDay crew. As usual the three-hour show featured segments showing off the area they visit weekly.
On the Grand Strand here’s what made it on the show.
Bargain Beachwear Shark Mouth entrance: Myrtle Beach has no shortage of gift shops, but this unique entrance made the cut and caught the attention of the College GameDay crew.
Myrtle Beach Skywheel: The centerpiece of the Myrtle Beach Boardwalk, the Myrtle Beach SkyWheel offers soaring panoramic views of the Atlantic Ocean. Standing 200 feet above the ocean it was promoted as the largest wheel of any kind in the U.S. when it was constructed in 2011.
Gay Dolphin Gift Cove: Another gift shop made the cut. This Ocean Boulevard gift shop boasts that it is “the nation’s largest gift shop.” One of Myrtle Beach’s oldest landmarks the store has roots as a reptile show, Myrtle Beach’s first aquarium, a monkey exhibit, and later Gorillaland, a rifle range, Kiddieland with many rides including a Tilt-a-Whirl, bumper cars, and a pony rink, the Gay Dolphin Park with the Wild Mouse roller coaster and the Flying Cages, Jones Bingo, a donut shop and of course, the Gay Dolphin Gift Cove.
Giant Crab Seafood Restaurant: You won’t miss this restaurant from the road. Another sea creature greets guests as they walk through the entrance, a giant crab. The all-you-can-eat buffet now has another thing to boast.
Pancake Houses: While the crew didn’t specifically feature one of Myrtle Beach’s many pancake houses, they did pay tribute to the fact that a short drive on Ocean Boulevard might overwhelm visitors with options for places to get delicious hotcakes.
Shag Dancing: Also called the Carolina shag, is a type of swing dancing that traces its origins to Cherry Grove, S.C., and is the South Carolina state dance. The dance involves a six-count, eight-step dance done by two people and often involves dancing with a variety of people. This year the dance festivals were responsible for some COVID-19 cases and deaths.
Airbrush: The art form is a staple of the Myrtle Beach boardwalk. The crew described it as a way to “immortalize” your memories of the Grand Strand.
Minigolf courses: Take a drive anywhere throughout the Grand Strand and you’ll see dinosaurs, plane crashes and tropical mountains. They’re all artificial, of course, part of the many different mini-golf courses that dot the coast of Horry County.
Who’s going to win?
The crew of College GameDay put a lot of effort in their game predictions. So did they think the Chants would “embrace the greatness of the mullet” or be outmatched by BYU?
Dustin Johnson, a CCU alum and two-time major champion, was the special guest picker this week and called the game for his alma mater.
Desmond Howard called CCU the “Cinderella story of the college football season” and that College GameDay gave them much-needed attention but called the game for BYU.
David Pollack went the same way, saying that CCU would be worn down by the Cougars.
Kirk Herbstreit agreed, citing the line-of-scrimmage battle between the two teams would end in a BYU win.
Lee Corso stood on his pool, which the crew turned into the teal turf in his backyard, in Orlando, Florida and put the Cougar mascot head on, predicting they would win.
Another segment focused on the team’s celebrations, which they have had a lot of this season. Flashes of players sporting masks and mullets were given a national audience. The segment showed players smashing symbolic rocks in the locker room and coaches dressed as professional wrestlers and putting on a postgame show.
A scheduling nightmare
“A lot of hard work in a short period of time,“ that’s how Coastal Carolina’s athletic director Matt Hogue described how the school handled the scheduling fiasco this week.
On Monday, College Game Day announced that it would take the show to Conway, S.C. On Wednesday, reports that Liberty, CCU’s original opponent, had COVID-19 problems and the game was in jeopardy, which Coastal denied. Then came Thursday, Liberty canceled and BYU stepped in to make sure the game went on.
The game was set to be broadcast on ESPNU at 5:30 p.m.
This story was originally published December 5, 2020 at 2:29 PM.
