All-In [49613]
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Sunday sermon: Choose this day who you follow
Oct 27, 2013, 10:56 AM
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A quick quiz: When was the last time Clemson won seven straight road games?
Dang! I was an assistant coach then!
Here's a hint: Jimmy Carter was in the White House, R.C. Edwards was Clemson's president and Charley Pell hadn't gotten a phone call from Florida yet.
Here's another: When was the last time Clemson beat 15 straight unranked foes by double digits. Here's a hint: never.
Let that sink in ... never. N-E-V-E-R. Even in the glory days,we could constantly win road games. And if we did, they were a lot closer than the past couple of years.
We are living in a world of double-digit winning seasons, of laying waste to our opponents, of days where Tiger fans could comfortably walk out of opponent stadiums without catcalls of "Clemson sucks!" ... because we kicked their rear ends, and it would certainly suck to admit a team that sucked just blistered your team.
Those of us with age and experience can remember when that wasn't the case. And it happened more than we'd care to recall.
No matter how miserable it's making you, this is a golden era of Clemson football. Yet, this place is rife with people talking about how it sucks to be a Clemson fan.
My mind boggles from it. So, I'm going to make it easy for you. I'm calling the Sons of Clemson together, one grand gathering of the faithful at Shechem.
And I'm giving you this ultimatum: Choose.
So, I see you've decided to cheer for UCLA?
Choose this day who you will follow: a team with three losses to top 10 foes over the past 22 months or someone else. And let me tell you, the list of teams that have a better record in that stretch is pretty dang short.
Clemson is the team that you have followed from your earliest days, when your father put his hand on your shoulder and said, "Son, one day you'll be a man. I pray, and I will do all within my power, to make sure you are a Clemson Man."
Clemson is the team you made a conscious decision to follow, either as a student or a young adult swept up in the spirit of the finest institution of the South. Clemson is the home and heart of your faith and family. It is the place that calls you, the place you will always return to someday.
Granted, it can be tough at times ...
Clemson is home, and home is sometimes a mess. There are days you have a screaming, foot-stomping fight and storm out the door. But you always come back ... because it's home.
I sense many are feeling that way this morning. I get it. But I also see where others, those who do not love Clemson and our family, who are doing anything they can to warp the walls and steal the copper wiring from our home. The ones who refuse to take our team, our school, our life for the blessings that they are.
The ones who will tell you it sucks to be a Clemson fan.
"Clemson sucks! We're doomed! You should be miserable ... just like me!"
You owe these people who say that nothing but the scorn and revilement they deserve. Frankly, I'm d@mned tired of their whining. And if you find yourselves in agreement with them, then this morning is your day to stop ... and choose.
We will not think any the less of those who cannot stand with the Sons of Clemson. It isn't always the easiest path. But I can promise you, watching Clemson only beat Maryland on the road by two touchdowns is a #### of a lot easier than MANY games I've endured.
For all the complaints and whining you may produce about yesterday's game, I can offer you FAR worse, and in those my love of this team was not shaken. And I know there is a cloud of witnesses, cleansed in the trials of the past who will stand in unison as Clemson Men.
I am calling on all those witnesses who feel a bit shaken (and I realize that being shaken by a double-digit road win is an oddity to begin with) to pause and reflect. Find the truth in your heart and cast aside the chuckleheads who would sway you.
If Clemson is your team, then stand this day and say so. If not, leave and give us all peace.
And good luck finding another group who won't kick you in the head when you start complaining about winning streaks and dominating opponents.
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