Last Saturday Thomas and I got the opportunity to go to our first Clemson game in 2 seasons! Yep, you read that right - TWO seasons! As die-hard Clemson fans, we've both purchased season tickets each year since we graduated and have only missed a handful of home games, due to weddings or other important events. Other than those few games, seven of our Saturdays each fall were spent in Clemson watching our beloved Tigers run down the hill and put some "orange in the end zone". The boys, of course, changed our plans in that regard. As soon as we found out we were having triplets, we realized our attendance at each home game was short lived and didn't renew our season tickets for the 2013 season and weren't able to do it this year, either.
We've had opportunities to go to a few games before this weekend, but weren't able to go for one reason or another. But this past Saturday, all the stars aligned and we were offered tickets and a parking pass (thanks, Matt & Katie Money and to the Atkisons!) and were able to go! MaSha was generously willing to keep the boys for us, by herself, I might add, and we were pumped!
It felt good to be in Clemson on a home game day. The weather was beautiful and everywhere we looked we saw purple and orange. There was extra purple on Saturday in response to the "purple out". It did both of our souls some good to be in a place that we love so much. It's hard to have football season and game attendance as a regular part of your life for so many years and then to just quit going. We both had a little piece of our hearts where our orange blood wasn't pumping quite right. Please don't misinterpret what I'm saying. Having the boys is THE most important part of my life and they complete our family in so many ways. My heart is full to the point of being ready to explode when I'm around them, but a part of each of us missed our Tigers and Clemson football games.
In case you haven't been to Clemson on game day, I would highly recommend it. We weren't voted
The South's Best Tailgate by Southern Living for the last two years in a row for no reason! We tailgate in beautiful grass lots. The campus is just gorgeous in the fall. People are friendly and typically willing to make new friends and share their tailgate goods with strangers. People take their tailgates very seriously and many have fun music, tvs, grills, karaoke machines, etc - you name it! We have awesome bars, namely The Esso, complete with a live band to add to the essence of the Clemson tailgate. Then there's the game. We have a stadium that holds approximately 86,000 people and when Death Valley is rocking, the energy is palpable. Can you tell I love Clemson on game day?!?! I hope I've talked you in to attending a game if you haven't yet (and bless your heart). :)
Here's a run down of our day in Tiger Town!
We got there and pulled into Lot 1. In case you're not familiar, Lot 1 is THE prime parking spot. We felt pretty cool pulling in there. This was a bit of a strange sensation though because we used to have season tickets with friends of our, the Wilkes, and would plan all of our tailgates the week before. Normally we would pull in to our spots (not in Lot 1, mind you), and proceed to pull out the table, chairs, chicken, chips and dips, cookies, snack mix, sausage balls, coolers, etc. This time, Thomas and I stopped by Wendy's in Easley on the way, and pull into Lot 1 and stepped out of the car. We had no tailgate supplies and weren't sure what to do with ourselves! We called some friends, The Atwoods and Scott Peterson, whom we knew were there for the game, too. They came by to visit so we didn't feel quite so out of place!
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| The boys: Brent, Hayes, Thomas, Brady and Scott |
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Pretty girl! This is Andi Kate, Scott and Rebecca's oldest
daughter. This was the first time I had met her! |
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Catherine and me. Catherine was my KKG little sister while
we were in school. :) |
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| Thomas and me |
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Hayes, Brent and Catherine's baby, and his beer. JK!
He enjoyed playing with the (empty) bottle. |
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| Brady, Brent and Catherine's oldest son. What a cutie! |
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| Brent and Brady playing a little football |
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| Fall in Clemson....ahhhhhhhh! |
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| Tiger Fire Truck at a tailgate |
About 30 minutes before kick-off, it's time to head towards the stadium. You DO NOT want to miss running down the hill!
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| Everyone moves in mass towards Death Valley |
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This is the entrance at Howard's Rock
and the top of the hill. The buses carrying
the players park right here before the game,
the players get out and line up at the gate.
I didn't get a good picture, but people are
already lined up forming a tunnel for the
players to walk through before entering the
stadium. |
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| Tiger Band spelling "Tigers" |
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| Tiger Band forming the paw |
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It happened to be the Military Appreciation game and we
had a cool flyover with some vintage airplanes! |
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| Fly Over |
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| The game ball came in with skydivers! |
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| One skydiver had an American flag and one had a Clemson flag |
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| Parachuting in to the stadium |
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Can you see the buses lined up along the street
behind the stadium wall and screen?
The players are all lined up there at the game.
When the cannon fires, each player touches Howard's
Rock and runs down the hill as the entire stadium cheers. |
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This picture shows Daniel Rodriguez, # 83, on the screen.
He got to carry the American flag as he ran down this hill
this year, as he's done for the last several years on the
Military Appreciation game. Daniel is a veteran that served
in Iraq and Afghanistan. He's a purple heart and
bronze star medal recipient and we are
so very proud of him! Read more about him here! |
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Legend has it that a former coach of ours, Frank Howard
(for whom our field is named), told his players, "Give
me 110%, or keep your filthy hands off my rock!"
Howard's Rock was taken from Death Valley, CA to
our stadium, Memorial stadium (aka Death Valley)
in Clemson, SC. Tiger Band plays Tiger Rag, the balloons
are released each player runs down the hill.
This has been coined as
"The Most Exciting 25 Seconds in College Football". |
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| A sea of purple and red, white and blue balloons |
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This isn't a very good close-up, but someone special was
in the west end zone.... |
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It was one of our very favorites!!! CJ SPILLER!
He currently plays for the Buffalo Bills but is injured right now
with a broken collarbone. CJ is a fantastic ambassador for
Clemson University and our football program. He still comes
back to visit quite a bit! He loves his Clemson family. :) |
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| Thomas and me at halftime. |
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Tiger Band spelled out USA. This was after the halftime
show honoring all segments of the military. There was also
a 21 gun salute and a ceremony of putting a wreath on a
rifle with dog tags and boots of fallen soldiers. It was emotional
and I couldn't take any pictures at that moment. You could hear
a pin drop in the stadium - no lie. |
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More action from 10 rows up. We were RIGHT BEHIND
the Georgia State bench. It was awesome. |
It was such a fun day and we got our fill of Clemson football for this year. Don't worry, Tiger Town, we WILL be back next year. Maybe we'll make it to several games and there's always a chance we could work up the energy (and courage?!?!) to try to take the boys to a game next fall.
This weekend is a big game for the state of South Carolina. It's the Clemson/Carolina game and it's a big deal with big stakes. We've somehow managed to lose the last 5 games in a row...shameful!!!...but I'm hopeful we can pull it out this year. Wish us luck!!! GO TIGERS!
BTW, in honor of the upcoming game this Saturday, I feel I must include the picture that I snapped from an ESPN clip a few weeks ago. It's just so perfect.
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| I can't make this stuff up! This was really a segment on ESPN!!! |
