Tiger Memories (long)

Nov 6, 2006, 4:25 PM

I had just turned my attention to my Tigers game that night.
My Sooners had just demolished Texas A&M 77-0. I watched in laughter as Stoops had his team kneel on the ball from the third quarter on. I was standing outside the ESSO club drinking away my week and trying to forget my problems. Earlier I found out that my dad had leukemia. CLL to be exact. There is no cure. I needed to get away for awhile so my wife and I drove up Clemson to spend some time with my sister and her husband. We decided to go to the game even though they were playing Florida State and we knew the outcome. I had not been to a Tiger game in almost 7 years and I missed it. I missed the cold nip in the air. I missed the colors of the campus, the pagentry of gameday. I missed the fans of the other team carying on about how bad they were going to beat us. I missed the hospitality of the Clemson fans when walking around and seeing that you don't have a hot dog or a beer in your hand. They fix it quickly. I missed going over to watch the band play, I get chills evey time I hear Tiger Rag.
As game time got closer and we made our way to the stadium, I could not help but have this erie feeleing about something. There was a strangeness in the air, a chill runs up my spine. I looked up at the moon and remembered that there was supposed to be an eclipse that night. I just felt it. With everything that I had been through that week, I knew we were going to win.
It was my father who got me hooked on college football. I remember crawling into his lap during the Switzer years of Oklahoma and watching him react as they play another barnburner against Texas. I remember his passion, his love for the game. Now matter how our realitionship was, I knew we could always talk about the Sooners. His job moved us to Greenville in 1980, and we started watching the Tigers. I was hooked as I watched them beat Nebraska in '81. As we climbed higher and higher up the stadium I remember thinking *amn these are high. We won't be able to see anything. Boy was I wrong. Tackle after tackle. Run after Run. Pass after pass. Second after second. Quarter after quarter. I watched our Tigers play as one, as a team. And it was a thing of beauty. We as fans loved it. We were one. One Clemson. Solid orange. As the eclipse moved on, so did the night. In the end we all ended up in the field as one. It was a great end to an otherwise emotionaly draining week. That night, that moment as the west end zone goalpost came down and was carried out to the streets, I knew everything was going to be ok. I love my Tigers, and I love my Clemson family. I love that every Saturday afternoon from September to December I can get together with 83,000 family members for a reunion. I know we can't win every week. I hope we win a lot more than we lose. I know it is our right to question everthing that goes on. I know I do. I am just glad that I have a place to go to get away from it all. Thanks Tigers. See you Saturday.

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Tiger Memories (long)

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