This Journey |
This Journey
I have seen a lot in my time. Heck when you get this old, all you have to do is pay attention and you would have seen a lot. I remember the 1981 season. I remember beating the defending national champions Georgia that year 13-3. The Bulldogs couldn't stop turning it over and the Tigers defense could stop any offense that day. I didn't get to go to the Tulane game and had to listen to that nail biter that season, but remember my dad telling me stories of watching Clemson punter Dale Hatcher hitting the scoreboard in the Superdome. I remember Clemson climbing in the polls every week. We didn't have the internet so I had to wait for WIS-Radio in Columbia to tell me where Clemson climbed to each week. My dad would take me to school and I had to wait in his El Camino to hear the news before I got out to go to school. I remember the oranges being thrown on the field in Williams-Brice and watching them hit the hard turf and roll 50 yards on the artificial surface. I remember the blocked punt that helped Clemson beat the arch rival that day. I remember the days leading up to the Orange Bowl and the days after. Euphoria had set it. No one around these parts had ever seen anything like it. But in my 47 years, I have never seen anything like what I have witnessed this year. I have never been to a horse race the day of a Clemson game, but since we were in Louisville, I was glad to go to Churchill Downs. The rain at Notre Dame that looked like Vietnam rain in Forrest Gump. My eyes have seen huge stops on fourth down. The two point conversion stop against the Irish. The third and short and fourth and short stop against FSU. The fourth down stop and fake punt against Oklahoma. Yeah, I have never seen anything like this. But it is the little things I will remember from this season. I will always remember this journey. The sight of over 30,000 Tiger fans turning Williams-Brice orange. More than 50,000 showing up in Charlotte. More than 40,000 in Miami. I will remember Clemson Island, and BYOG, and the dancing in the locker rooms. I will remember the videos of Deshaun Watson being welcomed by the New York Clemson Club in Manhattan for the Heisman Trophy festivities. I will remember the thousands of Clemson fans in airports in Charleston, Atlanta, New York, Tampa, Syracuse, Ft. Lauderdale, Dallas and Denver. Even had to deboard two airplanes. The tens of thousands of car flags flying as I made my way through South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and Florida. I will never forget the site of Clemson fans taking over Las Vegas this past weekend or seeing Tiger fans everywhere at the Hoover Dam. This journey has given us memories of fans greeting the team coming home after victories, but I will always remember Friday where I went out with a few thousand of my family to see the boys off from the West Endzone. Until now I have never seen hundreds of fans on bridges and overpasses waving to busses as the team headed to the airport. My bank ran out of money Friday. Not all of the money, but they ran out of the $6,000 dollars they had in $2 bills. I had never seen that before. This journey will be over tonight and my eyes have seen so much. I have said many times in this space how I could never repay Clemson for what she has given me. She gave me this journey, this year. This journey is one that I will never forget. But here is the good news. This is not the final journey. Dabo says the best is yet to come. My eyes will be open. I can't wait to see what I will see in the next one. Prayer List The prayer list is a medium for our community to recognize those that are in need. If you would like to add someone to the list, please email me at mickeyplyler@hotmail.com. Please let me know when it is appropriate to remove a person off the list. Those who need our prayers include: Jo Ann Bachman, Kenneth Bryant, Pruitt Martin, Got Igers and his family, David Rowland, Leonard, Gillespie and his family, Jim S., Daniel Rosborough, the Huffman family, Nancy Winkler, John Reeve, Vinnie Brock, Kaitlyn L., Susan Miller, Joyce Harley, Steve Proveaux, Jeffrey Greene, the Hutto family, Sherl Drawdy, Caleb Kennedy, Teresa O'Connor, Matt Jacobs, Perrin Seigler, Candee Massee, Lindsey Jordan, Sam Catoe, Tyler Felch, the Nicolopulos family, "the Jacksonville, FL guys," Kim Sims, the Coyle family, Ryleigh Tedder, Steve Lee, Kelly Trakas, Jimmy Moore, the Thomas V. family, Emary Claire Young, Kitty Bowers, Julie Locke, the Scheider family, Lauren Kittles' family, Frank Gentry, Stacey McKeown, Dale Childs, Larry Lentz, Jr., Carl Sharperson, Scott Hannon, William Perry, Tyler Swaney, Lillian, Mark Feit, David Frame, the family of Matthew M. Watson, the Dowis family, Alan Putnam, the Olivers, Lee Tate, Ronnie Abrams, Eddie Greene, the Jackson family, Bill Vader, Jim Taylor, Tina DeWitt, Rock Horne, Bobby Wayne Thomas, Emma and Danielle Carothers, Robert Ditty, Mr. and Mrs. Murray Smith, Millie Heatley, Lynn Martin and family, Michael Pinson, Jake David family, Angie Crowley, Ira, Poly Wells, Dr. Muriel Bishop, Jack Cunningham, Emily Jefford Meister, Aaron Clackum, Pat James, Cortney Moore, William Moore, Angelia and Savannah Anderson, Scott Johns, Frank Carroll, Brandon Thompson, Alvin Sammons, Georgine McAlhaney, Glen Davis, Mike Price, Aaron Knight, Danielle Johnston and family, Nicholas Abrams, Lana Kuykendall, Gary, Gary G., William Huggins, Jim Bennett, Chantz Fowler, Ethel McElveen, Michele Gurganus, William Gentry, Lewis Usher and Tanya Sanders, Shon Cooper, Nick Collins, Amanda Peake, Chip Turner, Nick Collins, Allen Steen, the Sturkey family, the Lance family, Nick Chrisley's family, Allison Williams, Lt. Kyle Walker, Summer and Joel Johnson, Nicole O'Donnell, James O. Johnson, Joy Pruett and family, Bill Schmidt, Jack Bailey, Gardner Family, Charles Turner, Kathy Bartholomew, Ray Sanders, David and Robin Blocker, J.R. Ray, Kenneth Kowe, Lauren Sielicki, Jenna Phipps, Mark Lawrence, Jonathan and Jacki Sullins, Peter Laboy, Kat and Carlisle Jones, Elizabeth Galloway and family, Anita McDonald, Willard Harryman, Liz Surratt, Molly Senn, Jackie Shearer, Richard Sellers, Tim Drisdelle, Susan and Mike Brown, Julie Goodman Marshall, Willard and Dorothy Harryman, Justin Jernigan, Jack Cunningham, Mia Daughtery, Tee Senn, Skylar, Joseph Thomas, Mrs. Nelis, Sean Rowell, George Parker, Levon Kirkland and family, Catherine Sewell, Randy Davenport, David Vaughn, Keith Dalton, B.T., Bill Hilbig, Rita Elrod Hammond and family, Jim McKeller, Tony Alewine, Sharon Storck, Dick Baird, Richard Bagnal, Dustin and Brittany Peurifoy, Jan Allan, Josh Cox, Gregg and Sylvia Lewis, Travis Hamrick, Kaki Harmon, Jammie McKellar and babies, Karen Edwards, Jackson Lindsey, Cathy Hutson Gregg, Kristin Heckman, Jennifer Johnson, Jay Johnson, Lyndsie Johnson, Emily Davis, Hayes Davis, Judy Towe, Johnny Towe, Ken Brown, Elaine Brown, Rhonda Thompson, Tim Davis, Jacob Greinke, Jack Finley, Richard and Clara Crawford, Zach and Griffin Johnson, Israel, Frankie Allen, Bobby Allen, the Wessinger family, the Parsons family, Todd Price and family, Rosemary A Flynn, Dr. Mickey Shealy family, Mr. Gillespie, Bobbi Nicholson, Dr. Matt Stower, Tyler Kemmerlin, Parks Hutto, Patrick DeStefano, Robert Summerville, Michelle Richey, Julie Moore, Ashley Fitch, Drew Moyer, Kevin Anderson, Lyn Price, John Robert Smith, Allison Williams, Nicholas Wickiser, Lena Wright, Elizabeth Bruner, Bobbi Simpson, Hammond Family, Elaine G. Duvall, Addison Grace, Bennie Cunningham, Kevin Orcutt, Alan Finley, Keith Wells, Steve Byrd, Jessica Hernandez, Wayne Mullins, Rita Alexander, Tony Osterman, family and friends of Gary Cooper, Tonya Gibson, Mary Carmen Harman, Derk Denton, Tim Vacek, Mike Vacek, Jerry Brown, Phil Compton, Alma Jean Sullivan, and our great country and the men and women in uniform that protect and serve it every day, plus their families.The Brad Hughes All-State Insurance Agency
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