From the land of rolling green and trailer park pillbillies

Sep 15, 2017, 3:25 PM

Full disclosure: I have lived in Louisville my entire life. I stayed close to home to attend Bellarmine University, a small private college located within the city of Louisville, and I'm a graduate of the Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville. I'm now an attorney at a small litigation firm here in town.

I've never left Louisville, and I probably never will. I've been fortunate to travel to a number of places, and while I've been to a few places I truly love to visit (Charleston, SC being one of my absolute favorites), I couldn't imagine living anywhere but Louisville, KY.

I say all of this, not because you actually care about me (at least you shouldn't), but to give you some context for what is to follow.

https://www.shakinthesouthland.com/2017/9/13/16303602/louisville-i-hate-excuses

I read this article today, and it put a bad taste in my mouth to say the least. My gut reaction was to run to a message board and post an angry screed about that a-hole who wrote it (without putting his name on it, I might add). However, in the process of doing that, something seemed unfulfilling about it. Not only would it give the article more attention than it deserves (tbh so does this post), but it is not what you, the Clemson community, deserves.

You deserve recognition. His article isn't completely wrong. It's unfair that a defending national champion can't seem to get the recognition that an SEC school would get. The narrative on Clemson never seems to be about Clemson. The fact is, whether ESPN wants to acknowledge anyone other than the SEC or not, Coach Sweeney has built a national power that doesn't seem to be fading any time soon. By all accounts, he is a good man who has done it the right way.

More importantly, you deserve respect. Since joining the ACC, people around town tell stories of their encounters with your fans. I certainly do. Unfortunately, I couldn't be at the game last year, but I have friends that put that experience right up there with the Final 4's and other big time basketball games that they've been to. However, I did meet a group of Clemson fans at Beef O'Brady's (near the stadium) before the Clemson Louisville game my first year of law school. They asked if we were going to the game, and asked us to sit by them. They asked about us, and we told them we were UofL law students. One of the Clemson guys was also an attorney. We had a great conversation, they told stories about all the big games they've traveled to and seen, and at the end of it all, those same fans insisted on picking up our tab. I saw those crazy 2 dollar bills that your famous for. It was a cool experience. There is a certain atmosphere around the stadium when Clemson is in town. I'm old enough to have seen the University of Louisville compete in Conference USA, the Big East, and now the ACC. Thank goodness I'm no longer watching Conference USA and Big East football games. Tailgating among people like you all, real football fans, is the kind of thing that has been missing from Louisville football for most of my life.

You deserve admiration. Most of all, you deserve not to be lumped in with the likes of fake sports bloggers who would rather be sensationalistically disrespectful than anything else. If a few tweets from fans are enough to trigger him into an unnecessary hate rant on Louisville, then maybe this guy needs to find a better hobby. I say hobby, because surely he isn't getting paid to produce such filth.

So, I'll close by saying that I hope everyone heading to the Bluegrass state has safe travels, and that I run into some of you on gameday. I also hope it's a good game like last year, and Louisville has a chance to win at the end of the game against an opponent we respect so much, for so many reasons. Most of all, I hope you have a good experience at the game and that Louisville fans show you the same hospitality and respect that you all are so well known for.

I hope you prove me right in thinking that just like those few annoying Louisville fans that triggered little buddy into his pissy rant, every fan base has a couple of bad apples. Let's not let them spoil the bunches.

Thank you for providing me the opportunity to share in your community. Good luck, not only tomorrow night, but also the rest of the way.

Go Cards

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> I read that article the other day. I agree with every
> word it says...you must not be around the hillbilly
> front tooth missing louisville fans that crowd this
> board, troll twitter and espn, and are on that card
> march forum. You guys are as an internet fanbase are
> seriously worse than gamecock fans and that is saying
> a lot. It says a lot about a school who RE-hires a
> scumbag like Petrino after everything he has done.

We're used to dealing with Kentucky fans, so I guess we don't think we are all that bad. It's unfortunate you feel that way. I still think that Louisville, as a program, has a long way to go, so I'd only ask that you ignore anyone who thinks this recent bit of "success", if you can even call it that, entitles them to act like a jerk on a message board.

I'm personally not much of a message board guy. This is atypical of me to do, but between the combination of reading an article so unnecessary and pointless, and the respect I otherwise have for Clemson, I felt compelled to produce what I feel was an appropriate and tactful response.

From the land of rolling green and trailer park pillbillies

classy post is classy

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Re: From the land of rolling green and trailer park pillbillies

There is a specific reason I do not visit our opponent's...

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