A different perspective on Clemson basketball............

Mar 18, 2011, 12:19 PM

Yesterday I had the privilege of going to the NCAA regional in Tampa. I went with my son in law who is also a CU grad. It was great to put on the orange again to attend a Clemson sporting event since I had not been able to do so since our last fb game. It was a gorgeous day and we arrived VERY early to partake in a few adult beverages at the local watering hole across the street from the arena. Although the area was overwhelmed by a majority of Kentucky fans, we had the opportunity to meet many CU fans who were so happy that they had the opportunity to see an NCAA mens regional AND that their Tigers were in it!
There is something special about the bond created between Clemson fans/alumni that is hard to describe. As everyone passed by, everyone simply says "Go Tigers". When you meet one,the first greeting w/a handshake is "Go Tigers". Its hard to describe but even in an unfamiliar venue....its familiar, always because of the Clemson family. As the time approached to head across to the arena, you could see and hear our fans chanting, "one, two, three four...." or "Let's Go Tigers...." as only WE can! Inside the arena, we had a nice contingency of Tiger fans and a lot of people who were there just for the love of the game and the event, who adopted us for the day....and there were a lot of them.
The pep band and the cheerleaders were VERY active and kept the fans cheering the whole time. I don't know if you could see how well we were represented because our fans were across from the Tiger bench and the camera was behind us. In the first half, we fought hard and for all but 2 minutes, played exceptional. It was obvious that we were fatiguing, especially being there. A few times you could see the heads down and the hands gripping the shorts, but they stayed together and gave it their all. Brownell coached his a## off.
It was a disappointing ending, but the Tigers gave this old guy another thrill of a lifetime. I hate to lose...but I love being a Tiger and a Clemson fan. For me, there is something WAAAAY more important than winning that somehow I think age puts into more of a perspective. And that is the special moments spent together w/your family, friends and fellow fans. You can't get those back. And, you NEVER, EVER know how many, if any, more you will have.
I cherish those games, and opportunities, and family bonding time. And although losing sux, there is something more important going on here that CLEMSON and CLEMSON sports provides. You can't qualify it or quantify it and it doesn't compute to wins and losses. Its about Clemson and family. I had one of the great days of my life that Clemson always seems to provide.....win or lose!

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A different perspective on Clemson basketball............

Amen! We all want to win, but we need to truly appreciate

Great post! You summed up how so many Clemson fans feel

Did Mazulla look as much like a meerkat in person as he does

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