But could you walk home from the Esso Club or TTT at 2 am?

these days.

Just imagine being a head coach at Clemson, or ANY college. Pretend you're Dabo. You're struggling daily to keep 100 kids humble and hungry when they're already driving Lambos flush with NIL endorsement deals. And then your bosses boss sends out a letter explaining to the donors, who fund much of your salary and scholarships for these players......how ticket distribution will be handled IF Clemson gets to host a first round playoff game.

If I'm Dabo I'd walk straight to the AD's office and light their ### up, and they'd probably not be able to keep me on staff anyway after a stunt like that. They'd have to try mightily to keep me because my inclination would be to leave. You want to run an AD like this, I'm not going to sit here and have to work against you.

WE GOT EXACTLY WHAT WE DESERVED. I'd like to pretend I was shocked at Saturday night, but after some sleep and thought, not really. Nick Saban left because of the garbage. I know Dabo's of the same mindset. And what will really be a bummer is when donors bail. It wouldn't surprise me if everything I mentioned DID happen, and Dabo just said fuggit. Why fight this battle?

If I wanted to watch professional athletes play football I'd be a Panther's fan and not a Clemson fan.

There's something in these hills..... before the nighttime stadium lights, before TV games, before TV revenue, before $5,000 a year+ to watch football in the seats you occupied as a child, before all the flashing LED lights, the fireworks, the blasting scoreboard audio, before the DJ, the world class training facilities, and indoor practice fields, before luxury student condos, and all the new buildings and shiny things......before all of that.......

There was something in these hills.

Tiggity®

Ultimate Clemson Legend [103645]

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Irony abounds, because the product on the field was the last reason

Nov 4, 2024, 11:56 AM [ in reply to I live 10 minutes from Clemson and only go to a couple of games a year now ]

I loved football games. There was no time in my life where Clemson football was LESS IMPORTANT....TO ME.....than when I was a student. If we won we'd go out and party and have a good time, with lifelong friends. If we lost, we'd go out and party and have a good time, with lifelong friends. I remember playing UTEP one perfect fall afternoon and laying out on the bleachers in the warm sun. There were probably 30-40K at that game. Maybe. And that's one of my most memorable games as a student. We had a blast.

Clemson was mostly just football until I lived it. Then it became something far more than football, as I was told it would by my mother, father, both grandfathers, cousins, uncles, and great uncles who all attended. And they were right. And now it's a shell of what it once was. Top to bottom.

In the parking lots, for football games, the PEOPLE are different. I have never understood the elaborate tailgates, and still don't do one. No TV, no elaborate food, smokers, friers, whatever. We tailgated as a kid with Po Folks fried chicken on a card table in the middle of Lot 5. We had a football, a cooler, and two card table chairs. And I loved that. I would slide down the hill on cardboard boxes (until they recently destroyed that hill).

Everyone is so invested now. They want to see a return on their dollar. I want to see a return of the people. My grandfather was a graduate, a farmer, not wealthy by any means, and he had 50 yardline seats. He was a charter member of IPTAY and was a faculty member way back in the day. He was Frank Howard's doppelganger. They looked the same, acted the same, and talked the same.

And the students are not the same either. They live in fancy condos that approach my mortgage in monthly payments. They go to class in office buildings. They have nicer cars. They don't party like they used to. The dorms, which ones are left, are all nice. No gas chambers for showers anymore. Showers are private. Bathrooms have stalls.

Just....soft. No better way to describe it. And when I attended it was far softer than in the 80's. I remember seeing students sitting on the Johnstone ledges as a kid, with a 6 pack of beer beside them, smoking, and listen to jam boxes. All of that was already gone when I attended.

I'm a 4th generation graduate, fwiw. 1890's, late 1920's, late 1950's, late 1990's, and now........that's a lot of history and family to bury, and I hate to do it. I met my wife at Clemson. My father met my mother at Clemson. My grandfather met my grandmother while at Clemson. She was a farmer's daughter from Starr. And every day, walking to class, I'd walk across my father's name on the sidewalk between Johnstone and the Library. My class didn't even have the opportunity to have a sidewalk.

I'd love to think Clemson has retained what made it special, but all signs (from the outside anyway) point to that no longer being the case. I'd really have to meet some students to get a feel for things. Maybe our sons will attend, but I'd never expect them to have the same experience. I'm fairly sure my experience was not far off from my father's experience. But their experience will be very different from mine. I stayed in the same dorm my dad lived in, and it was largely the same dorm when he attended.

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No idea who Josh Pate is but

I watched his video this morning, and I agree with him.

Hes a German football commentator.***

Re: Hes a German football commentator.***

Was sagst du?***

Nashville's finest neutral foosball commentator***

I don't question Dabo. I question our AD, and college football in general

I really didn't want to have to point you on this post, but it had to be done.

Cmon man.

The toothpaste is out of the tube, and it ain't going back in.

I am going to The Citadel game. Why? 1) my friends will be there 2) given

Have you ever been to a Citadel game?

The game will be of secondary, maybe even tertiary importance.***

Plan as of right now is to be at The Citadel game, with

Same.***

I live 10 minutes from Clemson and only go to a couple of games a year now

Re: I live 10 minutes from Clemson and only go to a couple of games a year now

Yes, it is cost prohibitive with kids involved. Unless you are big ballin or

For sure, if I had to travel I'd definitely be out

We've had our family seats and parking since 1972.

5 years ago (the last time I went to a Clemson game)

We drove back after the game. We left at the 4th quarter and got back with

I think I spent $1200 at the Abernathy one football weekend.

Yeah, I couldn't sleep with myself if I did that.

For the price of a single night hotel room, I could live for a full MONTH

Sure, if you could get a yearly lease amount for a weekend, in Clemson,

I can see the entire 'Clemson game day experience' being completly owned by

Fatz Cafe kept us humble, now that they're gone the flood gates have opened.***

H00ters was such a great family-oriented sponsor.

I can see it now. Skittles Stadium

We already call the academic buildings peoples names who never went to

Well, maybe $lightly different.***

Is it? The Snow family gave $25 Mill to "University's Study of Capitalism and

I'll repeat something I said a lot back in the Bowden days

Yet Clemson and FSU going to the conference for more money

Re: I live 10 minutes from Clemson and only go to a couple of games a year now

Irony abounds, because the product on the field was the last reason

Re: I don't question Dabo. I question our AD, and college football in general

I'm with Dabo

I am jealous of you guys who grew up going to Clemson

Priorities change as you get older.

Man, this post got me.

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