My 1000th post...

Oct 30, 2014, 9:43 AM

In honor of my 1000th post, I want to take a break (temporarily) from the "Fire Swofford" campaign, the selection committee bashing, the SEC hating, ESPN bias and other crap that is so fun to talk about here on Tigernet. Instead, I'd like to talk about something much more important… Clemson Family.

I'm sure other schools share a camaraderie amongst fans, but the Clemson Family is utterly unique. I have seen no other like it. Let me explain...

Next summer, I will (hopefully) celebrate my 50th birthday. Growing up in SC, my father took us (3 older brothers and a sister) to many Clemson games. My mother would start frying chicken at 5am and I'd help Dad pack the trunk before setting off on that 4 hour Saturday morning drive to Clemson. To a child, four hours is an eternity. I would get so excited just seeing the Howard Johnson's coming off of I-85, knowing those tiger paws would be there on the road, welcoming fans from all over. We blew the horn at every car we saw with Clemson gear (the whole way, actually). Those were the best of times.

Today, I have my own family, wife and four children, ages 7-11. My father passed away in 1995 and my mother is not able to go to the games anymore. We take the kids to 5 or 6 games a year, both home and away, but times are a bit different. Still living 4 hours away, I've opted for a less stressful trip to Tiger town - taking the RV for the weekend. It is a different experience, but one that I hope my kids will always remember.

I write about this because, even before I went to school at Clemson, I always felt "at home" there. I still do. Perhaps that is due to Clemson football games being part of my childhood, something that I looked forward to, like summer camp or going to the beach or Christmas. But it is more than that. The people that I meet in Clemson are instant friends - in fact, they are friends even before I meet them. It's like we've all pledged the same fraternity and all know the secret handshake.

A few weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to attend the BC game in Boston. I was there with a few BC alum that I work with and their wives. As we walked around campus before the game, I stopped and talked to many Clemson fans. My hosts often had to wait on me until my conversation was over before we moved along. After each "meeting" my friend's wife would ask me, "Did you know them?". She was absolutely fascinated to find out that these were people that I had never met before, but immediately engaged in conversation like we were old friends. Later that night, after my friends had dropped me off at the hotel, I spoke to another Clemson fellow at the hotel bar. His (new) acquaintance also commented on how personable Clemson "strangers" are to each other - a thing she too had witnessed all day herself.

I live in a small town in a nice neighborhood, but don't allow my children to ride their bikes out of the yard without me or the wife outside. That is despite the fact that I am surrounded with neighbors that I have known my whole life - and my parents and their parents alike. But the other day, after the Louisville game, my wife and I sat in the stands after the game. Our children had been itching to go out on the field since the 3rd quarter. "Can we go now? Can we go now?" They love going out on the field to meet the players, get an autograph, or the Holy Grail: a glove. I waited until 2 minutes left in the game before I let them go - up to the concourse, through the breezeway from section T to section W, down the aisle to wait in line at the entrance in the west end zone. We watched, from our seats about 20 rows up, our 4 young children dash out on the field in a swarm of 1000's. I commented to my wife about how crazy it was that we let our children into that mob alone, yet neither of us had any anxiety about it at all. We felt completely secure, like they were just off playing with second cousins they had just met at a family reunion. We watched them meander through the crowd for about 10 minutes until they worked their way back to our rendezvous point.

In hindsight, that may have been a little careless - but the point is this. We feel at home in Clemson. Despite the fact that there are 80,000+ "strangers" all around, we feel safe… we feel like family. So, for my 1000th post, I'd like to say "Thank You" to my Clemson Family. Thank you for being part of my life and the reason that I am most proud to be a Clemson Tiger. Go Tigers!!

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My 1000th post...

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