The torch has been passed...(waaaay too long)

Oct 9, 2004, 7:38 AM

...and if you think I mean in the ACC, you're mistaken. Though first I must congratulate the Hoos on a solid, masterful win. Shake the hand of the man that beats you...even though that hand is getting a bit chapped from getting extended so often this year.

But the torch I'm passing today doesn't light the field or the facilities. It lights the gloomy path marked 2004 Football. There's only one group who can keep that torch lit, and y'all that know me know full well who that it.

They don't wear pads.
They don't carry clipboards.
They don't pay big bucks to IPTAY, drive up to campus then drive home grumbling about how things have gone to hell since they were students.
Nope, I'm passing this torch to the students at Clemson now.

Why? Because y'all have never been in this situation before. Heck, it's a safe bet there are very few here who HAVE seen a four-game skid in Clemson football before...who have seen a solid month in the fall where the Tigers didn't beat somebody, anybody.

And I've seen enough, heard enough on here, where long-time "supporters" of Clemson football have decided they're pulling the plug on their support.The Tigers haven't lived up to their expectations. The Tigers have disappointed them, so they're withholding their affection.

Clemson's not winning, so turn your back on the sons of Dear Old Clemson that you promised your heart to every time you stand and sing the alma mater. Rip into the team in anonymous posts and ooze bile into the open wounds of this season. Hurt 'em all you can because they've damaged your ego. That'll show 'em.

All you can do is read these posts and feel terribly sorry for any children these folks will ever have.

I'm disappointed. There's no sin in saying so. I gotta imagine anyone not wearing feathers is disappointed, and wondering what on Earth can be done to fix things. And it's become abundandly clear things aren't going to get a heckuva lot better this year.

So, we're left with a perplexing question: what are we going to do with the rest of this season?

Back in 1975-76 we were faced with a similar question. We had a team folks expected great things from. A quick glance at the media guide will tell you things didn't go like they were supposed to. A large part of the fan base simply turned its back.

One group stood with the Tigers, even in that terrible slide (and heck, even that team didn't lose 4 in a row). That group was the student body. Faced with the option of giving up or growing up, we chose the latter. We evolved into a loud and rowdy cadre hwo's sould purpose at games was to make noise.

Maybe the team would win, maybe they'd lose. That wasn't the primary reason for hollering amd raising hell. We raised a ruckus because it seemed to spark the team, and bother the bad guys. Granted in the long season of 75, there weren't too many people joining in. It was more like little groups from Johnstone sort of finding their way.

In 76, there were no expectations on the field, so there was no sense of disappointment. But something had happened to the support from the students. Those little groups had grown. Sure there were (as there are now) people who didn't want to cheer until the team gave them something to cheer about (and I can promise there wasn't that much to cheer about those two years) So we cheered and yelled as a celebration of life, of being young and unencmbered by the worries and woes all those fat-cat IPTAYs around seemed to be surly addled with. It was fun, it was liberating, storming the Bastille without risking the guillotine, as it were.

And it was infectious. The team began to respond. Anyone who was there for 28-9 can tell you the fans had just as much claim to the victory as the team.

Most of you students were still about 10 years to the womb when all this took place. I don't expect you to know about it, and heck I don't really worry if you believe me or not. But ask your folks or their friends. Ask them about the bleak days when there really was nothing to cheer for, and ask why they cheered anyway.

Maybe it will help spark why we cheer for Clemson. It's not for the triumph on the field, but the triumph of the spirit. It's an affirmation of who we are, not who we beat.

There's sweetness in victory on the field, but a greater sweetness in victory of the spirit. That's why I'm such an annoying supporter of Clemson. That's the torch I bear. And it looks like it's about time for y'all to pick it up.

The Bastille still stands before us. You can either join in the storming or head home and lick your wounds. Join the revolution or get left behind.

Y'all have the opportunity. Us old folks are now tied up in mortgages and younguns and bosses. Y'all can still read D.H. Lawrence and act like it means something:

"If you make a revolution, make it for fun,
Don't do it because you hate people,
Do it just to spit in their eye.
Don't do it for the money,
Do it and be ###### to the money.
Do it because it would be fun to upset the apple-cart
And see which way the apples would go a-rolling.
Let's make a revolution for fun!"

The sadness of not joining in the revolution is evident in the bitter posts you see all over this board. Ask yourself if you really want that to be your future down the road, the next time the Tigers falter.

If not pick up, a torch and march to the light.

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As an IPTAY member of 34 years I am not withholding my affection from Clemson or the Players! I sat thru every game of the Hootie years. 2 & 9 with no hope of improvement was plenty tough then. Are we that low now? NO.
Football has changed since then. It is big business and no football coach has enjoyed the fruits of that change more than Coach Tommy Bowden!
He is the one who has used the turnovers this year as an excuse for our record. Turnovers are the fault of the players. So he has in fact blamed the players. I don't blame the players. I blame the head coach.
I did not expect a great season this year for the very reasons I did not support TB coming back. I knew we had fundamental problems on the line.
TB is quoted as saying that now that he has seen a game where the turnovers were even "We have a ways to go". Talk about understatement. IMHO anyone that did not see that after the Wake game should not be a head coach.
Clemson was not built on excuses on or off the field. It was built on performance. It is time for Tommy Bowden to quit with the excuses and perform.

The torch has been passed...(waaaay too long)

Thought the '75 team lost 5 in a row. (0-5 start?).***

Re: Thought the '75 team lost 5 in a row. (0-5 start?).***

Re: The torch has been passed...(waaaay too long)

Re: The torch has been passed...(waaaay too long)

excellent post rev***

As Long as I'm a student of Clemson and there is a Football

HOF Post

Perfection!***

I'm the proudest student there is...

Well said!

Re: The torch has been passed...(waaaay too long)--Thank you

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