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YOUR BALANCE
Memories of Anti-Tailgating
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Memories of Anti-Tailgating


Sep 30, 2014, 10:57 AM

My pops used to take me and my brother to games when we were kids. He really didnt like to tailgate. So we were always glad to go to the games...but never really got to tailgate unless my mom went and made him tailgate.
We used to leave Greenville about 2 hours before kickoff (we had to beg him out that early). He used to drive through, what he called Worm Holes. These were the most convoluted backroads to Clemson. I could never tell where we were and we never went the same way twice. But we would miraculously appear near Bowman field. Cars were everywhere but very few people were about. He would pull into that old Hardees and get what he called "mustard burgers". Hardess used to sell burgers that were drenched in too much mustard. We swore they stepped on them before bagging them up. They were flat and full of mustard. We would drive up to a tree, park, wolf down the burgers in the back of his car, and head to the Valley. He never packed a chair, a cooler, nothing. He was genuinely baffled by it. He wore a rat hat and shook his head at the church picnic feel. He approached the game like battle....not a reception.
We'd walk in and get to our seats in time to see the Tigers run down the Hill.
He's almost 71 and he still loves to scream his lungs out at the games. I need to take him this year and go old school the way we used to.

Good job, dad. You did us right.


Go Tigers!!

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+1 Great post. Sounds like a blast***


Sep 30, 2014, 11:01 AM



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Point for the flashback. Cherish those memories! My Dad


Sep 30, 2014, 11:06 AM

never took us to Clemson games but we did some Falcon and Braves since we were born in GA. He is now a Clemson fan since me and my brother both went there and I really think he would love to go to a game so I might have to see if we can get him up there one Saturday! We mostly listened to Jim Philips while working in the yard at the house or cutting wood for the winter. Still fun memories though!

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I also remember listening...


Sep 30, 2014, 11:09 AM

to Jim Phillips with my dad at home on Saturdays when I was a kid. Great memories of a bygone era. Thanks for taking me back there for a minute.

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Re: Point for the flashback. Cherish those memories! My Dad


Sep 30, 2014, 11:48 AM [ in reply to Point for the flashback. Cherish those memories! My Dad ]

I have very fond memories of games in the valley with my dad. Back in the day when the kids went to the hill and the parents to their seats. A few years back I took my dad to a game, he hadn't been to Clemson in a number of years because he was getting up in age and it was difficult for him to get up and down the stadium stair. It was a great day, my dad, my brother his son and myself. Glad we did it, as my dad passed away 2 months later. I have a large picture of us at that game hanging in my "man cave". Great memories. He was the Best!

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Re: Point for the flashback. Cherish those memories! My Dad


Sep 30, 2014, 6:12 PM

Same here, I can't watch the Tigers run down the hill without tearing up, it meant so much to him. He loved his Tigers and shared that love with me and my sisters. I am forever grateful!

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Yep. Only difference for me was woofing down that cold KFC


Sep 30, 2014, 11:06 AM

bucket chicken.

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Yup, you seriously need to return the favor.


Sep 30, 2014, 11:18 AM

Except find some new wormholes and backtrack every once and a while to keep him honest. If Hardees doesn't do a good job of smashing those burgers then stomp on them like you would a shamecock then hand him his burger and yell "Oorah" in a blood curdling scream.

p.s. My parents are good folk but as an adult I had to take them to their first baseball game and Clemson football game so cherish the memory.

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When I was a kid and first started to.......


Sep 30, 2014, 11:22 AM

going to games with my father back in the early 60s he was that way too - knew all the back roads into Clemson and we'd always park up somewhere behind where the Hardee's used to be. Of course, nobody tailgated in those days I as remember but I can identify with how your dad did things.

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Point. Good memories of my rat hat and.............


Sep 30, 2014, 11:27 AM

the flat mustard burgers. Please go old school quick. I can tell you that very sadly, time goes by very quickly and you never know what the future holds.

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We got KFC if mom went. She used to make


Sep 30, 2014, 1:51 PM

lemon squares too. I also remember squirting EZ Cheese on wheat thins on the way home.

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All that mustard can get a man uneasy...the perfect feeling.


Sep 30, 2014, 2:20 PM

The fans had a little more swagger back in the day. I remember going to games in the 80's/90's where a particular older gent would look back/up at the coaches' box after a bad offensive play call and say very colorful things. As a young kid I thought it was hilarious. Once the guy left his seat and walked up to the box. If he had a chair he would have thrown it through the glass...lol.

These folks didn't woo hoo either, FWIW.

This is something that is being lost on SOME fans IMO. People think their tailgate is as important as the game. I've never bought into this, but it is what it is.

GO TIGERS! THRASH THE PUPS!

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Re: Memories of Anti-Tailgating


Sep 30, 2014, 2:34 PM

That's great. My dad instilled the love of Clemson in the late 70's early 80's my when I was 6-7 years old. I grew up in Anderson and was lucky enough to enjoy season tickets up until 1990 because dad was an automobile donor. However, he stopped upon Ford's dismissal. My earliest memories we heading to Clemson 2 hours before kickoff. We'd hit the Katherine's Kitchen drive thru for steak and sausage biscuits and a coke. I would heckle the opposing fan traffic along the way. The best was calling Hershel like a dog..."Heeere, Hershel, come on boy," and tossing dog biscuits at the UGA fans. We'd find a general parking spot in what is now Lot 20 and I would sit in the trunk (Ford LTD trunks were huge) and eat my biscuits while we listened to the Tailgate show and Lenard's Losers. Dad would stand as he ate and sneak a little Jim Beam into his coke. Then we were off to the game and I always ran onto the field. And we always had a biscuit left to eat on the way home. For a noon game, we were usually home by 5. Those were the good old days and I would love to do that again with my dad.

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Too funny- too true! Due West has some 17 verified worm


Sep 30, 2014, 2:42 PM

holes according to science.

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With cops waiting to get you for speeding @ every single one***


Sep 30, 2014, 2:49 PM



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Ain't that the truth.***


Sep 30, 2014, 2:51 PM



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How else would a man leave Greenville and


Sep 30, 2014, 8:40 PM [ in reply to Too funny- too true! Due West has some 17 verified worm ]

be in Clemson (or Due West) in 10 minutes? The man found wormholes through the space-time continuum! I truly hate that I sold my flux capacitor and Delorean in 1994.

Anyways, great post! Fun to reminisce about everyone's different little traditions/quirks of gameday a the valley! +1




Message was edited by: TigerGrant8®


Message was edited by: TigerGrant8®


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Back in the heyday as a kid, the


Oct 1, 2014, 3:01 PM

smell of Autumn was the smell of Clemson football- I didn't know any better. 30+ years later when I said to one of my buddies that it's been over 30 years since the last time I've smelled Clemson football. I got a blank stare needless to say and had to explain to save my facade of sanity =)

Good stories indeed!

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Re: Memories of Anti-Tailgating


Sep 30, 2014, 2:47 PM

As I'm reading your post I'm sitting in surgery waiting room as my mom has pacemaker installed. She has early dementia and found out about heart and a mass on her adrenal gland after a routine Dr appt yesterday. They going to get her heart under control before worrying about other issues. Makes you reflect on your youth and things you might have hated or took for granted. Love them while they are hear and remember them when they are gone. Loved your post

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Re: Memories of Anti-Tailgating


Sep 30, 2014, 6:29 PM

My memories as a lil one was after the game running into the field getting all the autographs I could, running back to the tailgate spot diving into the homemade fried chicken, macaroni cheese and lemon squares then getting my butt whooped for running off.... Great times for sure!

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That's a great memory


Sep 30, 2014, 2:48 PM

but I much prefer showing up early and staying late to tailgate before and after the game and the feeling of the entire Clemson family gathering together to prepare for a game.

And trust me, if you go to the right tailgates it still feels far more like preparation for a battle than any church picnic or reception.

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I too remember the mustard burgers and when Hardees was the


Sep 30, 2014, 6:14 PM

only fast food place in Clemson. How times have changed.

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When I was a little girl, my Grnadmother lived


Sep 30, 2014, 6:20 PM

on Cherry Road, 2 houses down from the cow maternity ward (now the Walker Course) we would park at her house and walk to the stadium, after the game, she had a spread out in her front yard. We'd sit and eat and watch the traffic...it was so much fun. Those were the days!

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Re: Memories of Anti-Tailgating


Sep 30, 2014, 6:27 PM

My absolute favorite post. Thanks so much...Go Tigers!

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Does anyone else remember


Sep 30, 2014, 7:26 PM

2 kids that waved a big tigerpaw flag in their yard after every win? They stood in the driveway on one of the bigger two lane roads on the way out

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So You Didn't Have to Set-Up a Generator?***


Sep 30, 2014, 8:08 PM



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Re: Memories of Anti-Tailgating


Sep 30, 2014, 9:15 PM

That's the only way to do it in my opinion. I've never been a tailgater...I just want to get there and watch the game.

Great post.

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i bet one of those "worm holes" went by my parent's place


Sep 30, 2014, 9:17 PM

in central.

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This is the bost post on here in a long time***


Oct 1, 2014, 11:01 AM



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Enjoyed your story, made me laugh...


Oct 1, 2014, 11:24 AM

...and made me think of my own Dad and how he would have done it the same way...

I think tailgating is one of the pillars of the Clemson experience. I've heard non-Clemson people say on numerous occasions that our tailgating is a "science", that's how well we've perfected it and how seriously we take it. The game comes first-- always-- but the build-up (the tailgating) is an incredible experience on a Gameday in Clemson.

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Re: Memories of Anti-Tailgating


Oct 1, 2014, 2:49 PM

Best to go while you can. I went to games with my dad from 1974 to 2005 when he passed away. Sure would be nice to have a chance to make it to another game or two with him again.

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Re: Memories of Anti-Tailgating


Oct 1, 2014, 3:59 PM

When I was a kid through my days as football manager, We would go early and park at Clemson House. Mom and Dad would see everyone they knew in Textiles and we would eat there before the game.
When I was a manager, after the pre-game meal I would go up to the Clemson House and get dad's car and park it beside Fike Field house so heand mom didn't have far to walk after the game.

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