Hall of Famer [23854]
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To those saying that I "sold out"...
Sep 5, 2007, 4:18 PM
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First of all, maybe you are dense or something but I DIDN?T get any job with Clemson. IN FACT, when Clemson heard it was ?Shoeless? who wanted to help them out they didn?t want to have anything to do with ME. I am not making videos at all anymore for Clemson, for money or for no money. I?m not selling them online for Clemson (or any other outlet) either.
I really don?t understand what is so difficult about that.
The plan was to do that, but even if I had... what about this would have been selling out?
I have worked for nearly 3 years for FREE? when?s the last time you put in 20+ hours a week on something that didn?t pay you a dime? Even if I had started getting paid to make these videos I wouldn?t actually turn a profit for a year or more but I still had to try. You try working a full time job, going to games, having a girlfriend and a life and putting in 20 hours a week for free on something that gives back zero in monetary value. It is a bad investment, but I did it b/c Clemson fans loved it. Even fans of other schools (FSU, VT, Texas, ND, SC, NCSU, Florida to name a few) would write me at times telling me that even they enjoyed my videos ?even if it was for the wrong team?.
From my ?hobby? I have earned a career, lots of friends, great memories, and saved $1000s b/c I don?t drink or go blow my money on alcohol like all the ?cool? people do. Not to mention it granted me access to the players and coaches last season as well as sideline access for the Bowl and Spring games. Its not like all I do is sit at home and make videos in some dungeon of my mom?s house. I have a career, live alone in my own place, have a girlfriend, go to the games (home and away), do everything a lot of people do, I just made a decision a few years ago to sleep 3 hours less a night during football season so that I could make these videos.
Another thing. I didn?t go up to Clemson to try to get paid. I went to them to ask permission to continue making videos. I went to the university so that I could improve my quality of video for Clemson. I never asked Clemson for a penny and we were hoping to give any extra money we earned back to Clemson as well as some charities.
I?m sorry to say it, but highlight videos have a ceiling? you can?t make them too fast or nobody can tell what is going on. You can?t make them too slow or it?s just a bunch of boring clips. You have to try and tell a story of the game with music and highlights that are relevant. That can get pretty boring every week when essentially all I?m doing is telling the same story with different video clips and music. Not to say that I, among others, didn?t enjoy that? but I wanted to take it a step further. I wanted to added NEW stories to the mix. I wanted to show an entire season as a story with behind the scenes footage of players and coaches. I wanted to offer videos you COULDN?T get on TV or otherwise. I wanted to give you everything you could ever want about Clemson football and for a minimal price and Clemson didn?t want to move in that direction.
So to say I ?sold out? is insulting and laughable as well as to fault me for trying. Clemson is in a bad place right now and every-time they show that late 80s, early 90s video during the pre-game they take another small step backwards. Many schools, including Notre Dame, GT, and even SC are moving forward with online video and Clemson is not. It might take a year, it might take 10 but Clemson wasn?t open to most of our ideas and that?s a shame b/c I was willing to work for literally pennies on the dollar to do this. I wanted to do this LAST season and now they?ve blown their chance again for at least another year.
Clemson deserves the royal treatment on the video side - ask your IPTAY rep to get behind a new approach for online video. If you want to help, call the athletic department and ask them to be open to change.
If they tried to hire any other professionals to do this they would spend $10s to $100s of THOUSANDS and would not get nearly the heart, effort, or desire I would put into it alone. I loved doing what I was doing and Clemson decided for me that it was over.
Sorry for the rant but it?s insulting to me when someone says I sold out without merit.
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