Darius Rucker of Hootie & The Blowfish fame makes his way onto College GameDay on ESPN today. The show sets up shop at Gamecock Park in Columbia, South Carolina. There, they face LSU in a huge SEC football matchup. Rucker sits down with the show's panel and offers a 'special performance' according to ESPN. However, I'm sure they didn't mean 'special' as in awkward and disastrous though.
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For what it's worth, the regular portion of the show goes according to plan. Darius gives his prediction that the Gamecocks walk away 27-20 against LSU. People didn't love his analysis though. One person jests that Rucker's take on the South Carolina football coach is largely ignorant. They argue that they haven't done anything to garner the Hold My Hand singer's praise.
However, the real mess is when the performance comes around. ESPN certainly gets a 'special performance' out of Darius Rucker because the mic barely registers throughout the performance. Furthermore, he's practically inaudible when the microphone holds together. One person on Twitter captures a snippet of the rough performance. The excitement is minimal and the singing seems to match the gloomy overcast day in South Carolina.
A 50% accurate Darius Rucker performance, as there is plenty of beer, but no sunshine, to be found this morning: pic.twitter.com/RyhYDVF4UD
— Alan Cole (@Alan__Cole) September 14, 2024
This is Darius Rucker's First Public Appearance Since His Recent Court Hearing
This bumpy appearance on ESPN comes on the heels of a recent court hearing for Darius Rucker. There, the rock and country crooner pleads no contest to his misdemeanor drug charges. Police stop him for expired tags in early 2023. However, it spirals out of control when they take him in for simple possession, casual exchange, and violation of registration law.
Darius explained a few months ago how the situation unfolds to different publications. People express their concern about his sobriety and he takes the chance to set the record straight. "Yeah, I'm OK. It was something that I had in my car, which I shouldn't have in my car," he tells Rolling Stone. Moreover, he details to PEOPLE how he simply "had a little bit of pot, and I think a little bit of some mushrooms or something in the car" that day.
Conversely, I'm sure this isn't the kind of welcoming party he was hoping for at College GameDay. What could have been a personal triumph devolves into a mess.
