WVOC fires anti-Gamecock radio commentators - Teddy Heffner and Carey Rich

Heffner prided himself on his
hostility for the Gamecocks.
It finally caught up with him.
Many true Gamecock fans
will not be disappointed he is
off the air.  

Teddy Heffner and Carey Rich have been fired as radio hosts on local sports radio station 560 The

Team.

Heffner was cut from “Talking Sports,” and Rich was the host of “The Locker Room,” which followed Heffner’s show at 10 a.m.

While there is no delight in the loss of employment, especially in the current horrible job market, these guys were very bad radio hosts.

Heffner prided himself as an attack dog against the University of South Carolina football program. He often made snide remarks and took cheap shots at Head Coach Steve Spurrier.

He made some unforgettable -and gratuitously negative -comments regarding Jadaveon Clowney, the Gamecocks' defensive star who was chosen as the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft last year.
Hefner also used praise of Clemson football to provoke Gamecock fans, until many just stopped listening to his dog-and-pony show. Like many local sports "experts" Heffner seemed to have trouble with the growing stature of the Gamecock program brought on by Spurrier.   Any Gamecock fan would be hard pressed to keep listening to Heffner after a few mornings of his constant mocking of the program, and its leaders.

Rich was almost as bad, and even more immature in his delivery. Rich thought he could be unique by opposing USC football, with a Devil's advocate approach. He constantly held up Clemson as a better football program than SC's, and prodded or ridiculed Gamecock fans who disagreed with him.

Rich, a former Gamecock hoops player, was also constantly presenting himself as an insider regarding USC basketball. He promised fans that current USC Coach Frank Martin would be a big winner at USC. But those wins have yet to materialize, despite Rich's expert-based assurances

The problem is that Columbia has way too many talent-less sports media people who think they can draw attention by bashing the local team. Rich's approach was unprofessional and trite.

On top of that, Rich had thin skin. On at least one occasion he challenged a disagreeing caller and  sounded as if he wanted to physically fight with him.

Hopefully these two former hosts will get into employment more suited for them. But their departure is not a loss for Columbia sports radio.