I saw Clemson lose twice this week.......and I loved it

Feb 14, 2005, 9:50 AM

And I'll be honest. I loved every second of it.

Let me explain....

Tuesday night I fell into some tickets from a good friend of mine, and I was able to take a disadvantaged 15 year old to Littlejohn who had never been to a game before. Here is a kid who in the past 2 years has moved more times than I have in all my time on this planet. He lives in the same town as his mom and his dad, but currently lives with niether.

Can you imagine that?

So Tuesday after an 10 hour day at work, I drove an hour from his house to Littlejohn, parked, and walked to the game. The kid was so excited you would have thought it was The Final 4. When walking around Littlejohn, he had this reverent hush about him, like he was walking around The Sistine Chapel.

My Tiger Brethren, right then and there I wanted to hit my knees and ask God for forgiveness. You see, I have a tendency to be the worst loser in the history of sport. I get pi$$ed if I lose at cards, sports or anything. I get pi$$ed at Kelvin grant for dropping balls, I get pi$$Ed at Mike O'Cain for not running the ball in Durham, and I get pi$$ed at Olu for shanking jump shots.

But here this kid is, and he has seen 2 games in Death Valley his entire life, and now 1 game in Littlejohn. He was having the time of his life. We both cheered our freaking voices out. We saw a scrappy Clemson team fight for their postseason lives in the first half, and we saw the same Clemson team do what Freshman do in the second half. But to my friend, he didn't care, what mattered was he was there. He loved it.

And my attitude changed forever more. The whole way home he was talking about Moore's dunk, Hammonds defense, anything else. Listening to him, you would have thought we won. I had to smile. The kid flashed his ivory teeth upon leaving, and I had to smile back. Win or lose I am a Tiger, and now, so is he.

So Friday night, the future Mrs. Pole and I stuffed ourselves on ribs at Sardi's, woke up, went to the Miami game, cheered our fool heads off, left Littlejohn and ate cheeseburger's at Macs. My young friend would have killed to be there, and so I thanked The Good Lord for letting me be there, win or lose.
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Now, to you idiots that think Coach Purnell isn't 'the man' there is no hope for you. You are an idiot, and I wish you'd leave Tigernet forever, or until your attitude changes. If you can't see that the athleticism, talent, speed, intensity and everything else is improving, than like I said, You are hopelessly stupid. The disaster of a program that Larry Shyatt left OP can't be fixed with one recruiting class. He is building the correct way. If you can't see that, then give me your tickets, b/c I have a hundred kids that would kill to go. Win or lose.

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Screw Oil, burn Lungers

I'm in college now, but in high school and my first 2 years of college i was an umpire for youth baseball in Anderson. I loved it. I loved being on a baseball field and getting paid to watch baseball, but the kids were my favorite. Seeing how happy it made them was awesome. I remember one kid. He was in a 4-wheeler accidendt a couple years earlier but his doctors wanted him to play baseball just for the friendship and to get outdoors. He couldn't swing. He either walked or struckout, but everytime he came up to the plate he would turn around and smile at me or my umpiring partner. Well the last game of the season he finally swung and fouled the pitch off. If you only could have seen the smile on his and his mother's faces. I wanted to give him a big hug. Before the season, my partner and I had decided that would be our last season calling rec ball. Needless to say after that, it wasn't.

I saw Clemson lose twice this week.......and I loved it

Great Post!***

Nice............***

Some people don't realize the value sports can have . . .

Re: I saw Clemson lose twice this week.......and I loved it

Whoever voted this post down

appreciate it, but points are meaningless......

Just curious..., but how can you tell that someone voted

Re: Just curious..., but how can you tell that someone voted

IMO, we need fewer folk of this ilk!! I'm with you and OP!!***

Amen, brother.. would you be my daddy?***

Re: I saw Clemson lose twice this week.......and I loved it

Well said!***

Great post, you really put in perspective.......

Nothing like taking a kid to Clemson.

I take two kids 8 & 5 to just about every game..

We, IMO, cannot have too many Tigers with your superlative

Well said, I'm glad you got the chance to experience that!!!

Great post. I know what you mean.

Awesome!! We need more fans like you sir!*******

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