Sunday September 07, 2008

“There’s No Place Like Home”

by celtic_tiger®

While the bitter taste of humiliation is still in our mouths from the debacle in Atlanta and will stay there for awhile, it helps to come back to Gods Country! Oh and the win by Vandy over the chickens Thursday night helped many a Tiger fan have a nice Friday at work.

Though I’ve been to Clemson many times since the last home game last year, there is still a special feeling riding in on game day - seeing the faithful with their flags flying and magnets decorating the cars and everywhere you stop, people buying tailgating supplies and asking about the game.

I’ve been to many campuses over the last 30 years and NO ONE tailgates like Clemson people!! The tents are set up all over campus like a military camp. The smell of charcoal in the air, the young children, and also the ones who wished they were still young, throwing footballs. Spreads of food which range from lavish, with flowers on the table, to simple such as a box of KFC and a beer, if you can call that H2O some people drink beer. ;)

If you’re parking with the same people as normal, its great seeing friends you haven’t seen since last season. And if you’re parking beside someone new, then that’s OK also, though there never seems to be a stranger.

As for the game, well no disrespect to The Citadel because I think highly of that institution, but it’s hard to gauge our performance against them IMO. Just a few points:

I thought Cullen did well, though good stats still looked a bit off. Korn looked much sharper out there to me.

I was pleased to see us throwing to the tight end more yesterday. But also we’ve always seemed to get hurt by the other teams tight ends. No different yesterday because our linebackers really worry me!

I look forward to watching Da Quan Bowers and Jamie Harper for the remainder of this year and two more. They are the real deal IMO and I would bet big money they will be gone after three years.

Military Appreciation Day is always one of my favorite games since my father was a career military man. And if they are serving now or have in the past, these people deserve all our respect for doing what they do for us! It was a very poignant moment when the families of our country's fallen were escorted onto the field. As much as we love it, there are more important things than football.

My favorite moment yesterday though was not the sound of Tiger Rag in the stadium Or the cannon and the crowd after a touchdown. But that of TAPS and also The Citadel Bagpipes playing Amazing Grace!

As Dorothy said in The Wizard of Oz, “There’s no place like home”