CLEMSON -- Controversial artwork for off-campus apartments on a billboard across the street from Clemson University was changed Wednesday.
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CLEMSON — Part of any good rivalry is having fun with the other side’s fans.

This week, South Carolina fans proved they’re way too thin-skinned for their own good.

Following Clemson’s last-second 23-21 win over South Carolina last week, a billboard went up on a heavily-traveled stretch of Interstate 26 in Columbia.

It read: “He (Coach Spurrier) told me that we aren’t going to lose to Clemson again.” — Rodney Paulk, USC linebacker.”

Below Paulk’s quote read: “The Chicken Curse Lives On! Clemson 23, USC 21. Paid for by the Jackson Family.”

Lamar Outdoor Advertising, the company that put up the billboard, said it was originally scheduled to run for two weeks.

By Thursday, Clemson athletic director Terry Don Phillips had denounced it as poor sportsmanship (a stance he later recanted).

The billboard was changed to reflect only the score.

By Friday, it was down entirely, with another unrelated Jackson family (which, by the way, owns a chain of hotels and campgrounds) sending out a press release to make sure the public knew it wasn’t responsible for the billboard after claiming to have received a series of angry phone calls about it.

North Carolina real estate developer Ken Jackson, the man behind the billboard, got some angry messages, too, and it is surprising he caved in to the pressure.

Any good rivalry needs a little hate and a little spite, some salt rubbed in wounds.

Clemson fans might not have thought it very funny had a USC grad put up a “21-20” billboard along I-85, Exit 19 had Mark Buchholz’s kick sailed wide, but those with a level head surely would have gotten a chuckle out of it.

Today’s world has gotten too politically correct, with this ridiculous billboard flap and the ACLU’s targeting Tommy Bowden’s annual team visit to a local church only the latest examples.

Why don’t we all just walk around wearing blindfolds and earmuffs so nothing we see or hear offends us?

At worst, such billboards are fuel for an opposing team’s fire.

Two years ago, Iowa State beat Iowa in the teams’ annual rivalry game.

The ISU athletic department paid for a billboard just outside Cedar Rapids, 20 miles from Iowa’s campus, calling Iowa a “Cyclone State.”

It was right along the path the Hawkeyes took towards their stadium after their pregame hotel stay in Cedar Rapids, designed to needle Iowa and its fans one last time before kickoff.

Iowa saw the billboard that day, and took its revenge on the Cyclones, beating them soundly in Kinnick Stadium.

It was great media fodder and added to the rivalry’s lore, something both sides’ fans will remember for years.

South Carolina and Clemson fans won’t remember this billboard so fondly, and that’s unfortunate.

Was it silly? Yeah.

Was it a bit childish? Sure.

Was it pretty funny? Yeah.

Too bad South Carolina fans didn’t get the joke.