Shane Beamer may be home for Christmas, but Clemson’s getting coal

The holiday season has come early to rivalry week, and South Carolina fans are ready to stuff coal in stockings. During this weekend's Clemson game, a fan held up a sign with Shane Beamer in a Santa hat that read "I'll be home for Christmas." Brutal? Sure. Accurate? Also sure. When your team isn't headed to a bowl game, the calendar opens right up, with plenty of time for family dinners, shopping runs, and decking Clemson fans, I mean, the halls...decking the halls.

Just because South Carolina might be home for Christmas doesn't mean they are showing up to rivalry week empty-handed. Bowl season may not be calling, but Clemson? Oh, Clemson is absolutely getting a delivery next weekend. And it won't be wrapped in shiny paper or tied with a bow. It's coal. Rivalry week, stadium-shaking, chaotic coal.

Because this is the game where the records stop mattering. This is the week where pride trumps probability. And if the Gamecocks are going to put a cap on a rocky season, they may as well do it with a little holiday mischief. Not like we are on the Nice List, anyway.

The Palmetto Bowl has always had big brother/little brother energy, but lately it's felt more like two cousins arguing at the kids' table on Thanksgiving, loud, dramatic, and absolutely convinced that the other is wrong. And Clemson fans thinking that South Carolina will tiptoe into this matchup with "nothing to play for" is adorable. How cute.

If Beamer is "home for Christmas," he is spending that time recharging and loading up the sleigh. Clemson has everything to lose. Carolina has nothing to lose. And that is the kind of team that is the most dangerous in rivalry week.

It's officially Hate Week. Let the Palmetto State holiday drama begin.