Response to Doyel/Charlotte Observer article

Oct 29, 2002, 12:00 AM

I really don't post here much, but I do really enjoy(for the most part) reading what T-netters have to say. This is my email to Doyel, for what it's worth...

Wow! What a hatchet job.
As a member of the Clemson 1981 National Championship Football Team, I am compelled to say that your article shows an absolute lack of knowledge about Clemson, Clemson football and college football, all at the same time! Congratulations! A trifecta!

Normally, I don't respond (make that never) to such drivel. But you have taken journalistic venom to a new height. Once again, congratulations!

YOU will NEVER understand what it's like to play in DEATH VALLEY. To RUB THE ROCK, RUN DOWN THE HILL and play in front of 83,000+ fans who live, breath and die with their TIGERS. Clemson football is SO much more than a winning record and bowl games. It is about tradition, about kids going to games with their parents and grandparents. It is about those same kids running on to FRANK HOWARD field after the game, win or lose, to play catch or just touch a player. It IS about John Heisman, it IS FRANK HOWARD, it IS about DANNY FORD. It's about guys like me who bring their young daughters to THE VALLEY and get tears in our eyes and lumps in our throats when we hear TIGER RAG...

Clemson IS a football school, and SO MUCH MORE.

Check with the NFL. I'd bet they would say Clemson is a football school. I played in the NFL in 1984 with the St. Louis Cardinals. I think this qualifies me to make that statement as well...

Ask any ACC football coach if Clemson is a football school. Bet I know the answer.

I could go on forever about Clemson football. It IS a way of life. A passion, an obsession bordering on some kind of religion. But somehow I know that smug, arrogant people like you don't really understand.

I do know this. I accepted a full football scholarship to Clemson University on February 16, 1980. One of the proudest days of my life. If given the choice, I would make the same decision, without hesitation. I chose Clemson because it was (and remains) a football school. My 2nd choice was, where I was also offered a full scholarhip, Notre Dame. A pretty good football school as well.

I guess the bottom line is that guys like you will never really understand guys like me. And guys like you will never really understand what being a Clemson Tiger is all about. Your loss.

Well folks, that about sums it up.

Please support the boys and ALL the coaches. I'll be the first to tell you that they need it.

Go TIGERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Response to Doyel/Charlotte Observer article

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