Well.....we weren't
planning on going...and I was a little on the fence about how we'd play against Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl...but then I got to thinking. Thomas and I haven't missed Clemson play in a National Championship in our lifetimes. That's a pretty cool streak. We went 1-1 in those 2 games, and both were amazing experiences and we didn't regret a single minute. Ahead of the Cotton Bowl, we decided that we don't want to let our tradition of being there in-person for all Clemson National Championship games go, so we requested tickets through IPTAY. Our fate was sealed when we beat down Notre Dame in the semi-finals. Was this a good, fiscally-responsible idea? No. Did we make it happen anyway? Yes.
The other part was that Thomas had a work meeting in San Jose, right near where the game was being played, for work that week anyway. Fate? Me thinks so. This was a legit meeting and had nothing to do with the game (supposedly...) so his airfare was covered through work. I've been traveling some over the last few years for work and I had enough airline points to get my ticket out to CA as well. So with flights covered, we felt a little bit better about the trip. Of course, we paid face value for our upper deck tickets, meanwhile, lower bowl, great seats were going for around $100. That hurt.
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We got these babies in the mail several weeks
after the game! |
To minimize the time away from the boys and minimize wallet discomfort, we took our chances and flew out the morning of the big game. I am not typically a big fan of the time zone changes, but for our purposes, it worked pretty well. We needed those extra 3 hours to make our plan work!
Clemson vs. Alabama part IV was happening and we were going to be there! Clash of the Titans once again in the College Football Playoffs. It never gets old (if you are a Clemson or Alabama fan).
We had a SUPER early flight about of Greenville, connected in Detroit, and landed in San Jose around 11 AM PST. Jan. 7, 2019
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Selfie in Detroit Airport
Plenty of other Tigers on our flight! |
We (quickly) got an Uber to our hotel - same hotel where our tribe was staying - changed clothes, then grabbed a ride to meet up with the Tribe for lunch before driving over the stadium.
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| Ready to go Tailgate! |
Rick had a parking pass near the stadium so we jumped in his ride and we were so happy to be with the Tribe at the Natty again. All was right in the world.
The Tribe had been in the San Francisco area for a few days and had done some sightseeing/player stalking and Corey managed to get that sign that she's holding that said, "Roll AWAY Tide". It came in handy!
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Supposedly this Clemson flag was on the
Golden Gate Bridge...I'm not sure, but I
love the picture anyway! |
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2019 National Championship!
Corey, Carole and me |
The weather was pretty nice. It was a little chilly but at least the sun was out! Over the weekend, when most Clemson fans traveled, the weather was really crummy and it rained a lot. That probably put a little damper on the sightseeing and fun. But Monday was altogether a pretty day! We tailgated at the car for a while and then around the parking lot before heading up to the stadium. We had been told over and over again by the media that this game wasn't a sell out. That there were going to be lots of empty seats. Based on the tickets sold, more than 60% of them were going to be Alabama fans. We were prepared to be the vast minority. That said, during tailgating time, we were seeing a lot of Clemson fans and very few Alabama fans. As Corey said, "they're like cockroaches. You don't see them until it gets dark and then they're everywhere." LOL
We did see quite a few people we knew while tailgating and then even more inside the stadium!
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| Thomas, me, Matt |
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| Taylor Newsome! |
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| Natty Time with my man |
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| Levi's Stadium |
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This is a picture with the Dwight Clark statue at the 49ers
Stadium. Dwight played at Clemson and then was famous for
"The Catch" from Joe Montana, against my Dallas Cowboys
in the 1981 NFC Championship, which sent the 49ers on
to win the Super Bowl that year.
The sweet lady that took this picture totally missed the
fact that we wanted the statue IN the picture. |
Back at home, Fifi, Jerry and MaSha were taking great care of the boys for us! They sent us this "All In" picture so that we'd have the boys there at the game with us.
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| GO TIGERS! |
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| In the stadium... GAME TIME! |
I was not feeling confident in this game. I was just there to have fun and keep the streak of being at the Natty when Clemson plays alive. I totally always buy in to everything that the announcers and analysts say about the game. This was supposedly Nick Saban's best team. The Alabama Dynasty would continue. Clemson was too young and inexperienced, apart from the D-Line. And although he had a great game in the Cotton Bowl, our QB was a true freshman, and would he be able to handle the pressure of this big game? And so on.....
Once again, very few people were giving us a chance. We thrive on that.
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| Thomas and me in the stadium |
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Matt and Katie Money just happened to have tickets
really close to ours! |
Y'all. This game. What can I say?!?! It felt like a dream. I kept looking at Thomas and asking if this was really happening and if it was real life. It was like the universe aligned in favor of Clemson. Everything was going right. Receivers were catching everything - literally everything. It felt like all the calls were going against Bama. Our defense had not one, but TWO interceptions, including a Pick 6. I mean....it was insanity. No one was expecting this, except maybe our team and our coaching staff. I was totally blown away.
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| #tribe |
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| We rolled the Tide away! |
After the game, we were going insane. We tried to do our usual escapades and get into the team hotel to celebrate there with our besties (the players). Unfortunately, several thousand other Clemson fans had the same idea and the hotel employees were checking room keys to be able to enter. We had to go to Plan B. Another hotel down the street (which was also not letting people in) had a parking lot party going on with heat lamps and a beer truck. We saw more friends that we knew there too. Our voices were gone, the temperature had dropped, but we didn't care. We wanted to celebrate this EPIC game and enjoy our time on the top.
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| Tribe after-party |
We eventually went back to our hotel and straight to the hotel bar to keep the party going. There were several other Clemson fans there and no one was ready to call it a night! At some point, the bar closed down and we were forced to go back to our rooms, but we went back as some really, really happy Tiger fans. At that point, Thomas and I had been up for over 24 hours, due to our super early flight from Greenville that morning. It was a looooooooong day.
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Oh yeah, and did you know the
Empire State Building
turned orange & purple in honor
of the Clemson Tigers,
2019 National Champions?
Beautiful. ;) |
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New logo for this year!
This logo was designed by my friend's older
brother that I've known since high school.
How cool is that?!?! |
The next day was a Tuesday. Thomas and I had a PTO day as his meeting wasn't until Wednesday and I had a flight out on Wednesday morning as well. We had the whole day on Tuesday to do whatever we wanted. So we went to Santana Row in San Jose, which is well-known for shopping and dining. We just wandered around, shopped a little, ate lunch and enjoyed a free day.
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| Santana Row on a rainy day |
Later that afternoon, we were seriously still so tired after the long day we had on Monday, we just went back to our hotel and napped before dinner. Naps are heaven.
We went to a casino near our hotel for dinner since it sounded like the best option out of what was close by. Spoiler alert - it was probably not the best option. Womp womp.
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But they did have this fun gameday
set-up! |
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| Dinner disappointment |
It was a fun day and we were also just eating up ESPN and all the online articles talking about the game. Ahhh....what a trip.
The next day, Thomas had his meeting and I flew home to see the boys. Looking back, although we were a bit on the fence about going, and then we were conflicted about whether we should be spending hard earned money on the trip and the game, in the end, we were so glad that we took the chance and did it. I would have been extremely disappointed had I not been there. It was truly so awesome! I don't know when/if we will have the opportunity to have a game like that again, so I'm thankful I was there to witness it.
Our future at Clemson, especially with our football program, is bright. As always, don't forget Dabo's famous saying, "The best is yet to come!"
