Sorry Finebaum, but South Carolina and Arkansas Add Plenty To the SEC

South Carolina and Arkansas add nothing to the SEC. 

This misguided and uniformed sentiment has been poisoning the media for a couple of weeks now, with Paul Finebaum as one of the major "preachers" of this message. http://bleacherreport.com/tb/b4smh .

Please.

As incendiary media goes, he certainly picked a good topic. South Carolina and Arkansas fans are as feisty as they get. Arkansas and South Carolina have given more to the SEC than people even begin to realize.  

While the success in football has been moderate, the other sports have given the league everything they could have asked for.

South Carolina

Since South Carolina joined the SEC, they have seen a great deal of success in many sports, with baseball easily being their most successful area. 

Coach Ray Tanner has led the Gamecocks to four SEC East championships (1999, 2000, 2002, 2003). They have won two outright SEC championships (2000,2002), and one tournament championship (2004). 

The team has nine college world series appearances (counting 2010's) and was the NCAA runner up in 2002. 

Basketball has had some success as well. The Gamecocks won the SEC East in 1997 and 2009, while winning the SEC overall crown in 1997. They have been SEC tournament runner ups twice (1998 and 2006). 

The Gamecocks have appeared in the NCAA tournament eight times, and won the NIT in 2005 and 2006.

In football, South Carolina is consistently in the middle of the pack in terms of winning.  But they are by no means in the bottom half of the SEC, and are consistently competitive. 

Other than the "big three" sports, they have numerous SEC and national championships in many lower level sports.

Women's Equestrian: National Champions (2005, 2007)

Men's Golf: 19 NCAA Tournament Appearances, 2007 West Regional Champions

Women's Golf: SEC Champions in 2002, NCAA East Regional Champs in 2010, along with 19 NCAA tournament appearances

Women's Soccer:  SEC Tournament Champions in 2009

Women's track:  SEC Champions in 1999, 2002, and 2005.  NCAA Champions in 2002, NCAA Runner-Up in 2005.

Also, the men's and woman's track teams have produced numerous NCAA individual champions, Olympic medalists, and World Champions.

South Carolina has six SEC East Championships, two SEC Tournament Championships, and four Overall SEC Championships.  They have only been in the SEC since 1991, so these numbers are very good, and are mostly from the 2000-2010 decade, which means that the programs are only getting better.

Arkansas

Arkansas has an equally impressive SEC resume. 

In football, Arkansas has won four SEC West Championships (1995, 1998, 2002, and 2006).  This is a very impressive number for a team that has only been in the league for 19 years. 

In basketball, Arkansas actually has the 1994 National Championship under its belt, defeating the Duke Blue Devils.  They also made the Final Four three times since joining the SEC. In 2000, they won the SEC Tournament and they won the regular season title once. The Razorbacks won the SEC West twice.

In baseball, Arkansas has made it to Omaha for the College World Series twice (2009 and 2004). The Diamond Hogs (as they are called) won the SEC in 1999 and 2004.

Arkansas has known TREMENDOUS success in track, winning 27 NCAA National Championships since joining the SEC (seven in Men's Cross-Country, nine in Men's Outdoor Track, and 11 in Men's Indoor Track). 

Arkansas has 42 total championships according to the list of SEC national championships.  That is highly impressive. 

So while the football programs of South Carolina and Arkansas are not particularly strong, they are always competitive. While South Carolina has had moderate success in many different categories, Arkansas has been dominant in track and field.

Mr. Finebaum would then like to argue that the programs have added little monetary value to the league.

I would like to take a moment to debunk that absolutely ridiculous argument. 

According to Forbes, the South Carolina Gameocks have the 12th most valuable program in college football, with a profit of 37 million dollars.  They are also one of the most nationally televised teams in the COUNTRY, opening the season on a Thursday night game for the third year in a row this year.

Arkansas, from the same report, is ranked as the 17th most profitable team in the country, with a profit of 20 million dollars.

So why did Finebaum choose South Carolina and Arkansas as his object of SEC hate?  Well, I have a couple of theories... one, he was raised in Mississippi (which would be the only explanation of why he doesn't talk about the championship-less teams from his home state (Ole Miss, and Miss. St)... or he is a Vanderbilt fan (which would make it understandable for one of the worst SEC schools (athletically) fans to trash teams with middling success). 

The most likely explanation is those were the two teams that were chosen to expand the SEC in 1991, and it makes a neat little package to compare what expansion brings to a league in today's expansion crazy world.

However, Mr. Finebaum, I would suggest that you become familiar with the teams that you are out to "get," because you might end up looking foolish. 

Any fan of the SEC will tell you that Arkansas and South Carolina are right where they belong, and contributing to the powerhouse conference that is the SEC. 

You can bank on that.