All-In [42197]
TigerPulse: 100%
Posts: 38274
Joined: 11/30/98
|
Ten years ago...
Sep 20, 2006, 11:00 AM
|
| View Original Thread |
|
Ten years ago, my best friend at the time and I traveled with my father to the Clemson-USC game at Death Valley. I had just turned 18. You probably remember the game. We lost, 34-31. Wide left. Not fun.
But the outcome of the game is irrelevant. Before the game, my friend and I stood outside of Death Valley near the large plates that display our bowl wins (west end zone). We stood there for quite some time and did nothing but make snide, rude, and instigating comments towards Gamecock fans walking to the gates. Maybe it's because there were two of us and we weren't the smallest fries, but it's a wonder we didn't get our butts kicked with some of the things we said. Without a question, most of the comments we made were without provocation.
Now, we didn't flip anyone off or cuss anyone out. We just let em hear why we thought Clemson was better... in not so gentlemanly fashion.
What's the key fact in what I've written so far? It's that I was 18 (my friend was 17). We were kids, still in high school. We were young, cocky, and full of #### and vinegar. We said some nasty things to people whom we would ordinarily address as "yes, sir" or "no, ma'am".
I'm not going to beat around the bush. We were immature and our actions were immature.
I've done the FSU middle finger chop. I did it a few times in college.
Since that day ten years ago, I've seen a lot of ugly fan behavior. Trips to Williams-Brice are a model in how not to behave like a human being. I remember the whiskey bottle thrown through my uncle's SUV window during halftime of 63-17. N.C. State fans love to slash tires and burn window flags. An FSU fan called a lady in our group a #####. I was pelted with a full can of beer at Maryland.
Now, of course, flipping the bird while mocking FSU's tomahawk chop is nowhere near as atrocious or violent as those incidents. But... a very big but... it's that kind of behavior that can, and likely will, lead to the awful incidents I've experienced in Columbia, Raleigh, College Park, and Tallahassee.
Classlessness can spread like a plague. A few people flip the bird. People think it's cute, so they start doing it, too. Everyone laughs, so someone decides to single out a group of opposing fans and harass them. More laughter. More approval. Then it's cute to toss a hotdog wrapper at them. Then a peanut. Then a drink...
I think of those incidents and of my behavior ten years ago, and it makes me think to a trip I took out to Texas in 2004. A trip where my friends and I were greeted with open arms, hospitality, graciousness, and courteousness regardless of the orange we wore. Among tens of thousands at Texas A&M, not one, and I mean not a single one, said anything rude, made any obnoxious gesture, or made any violent action towards us.
When I asked a student how they did it, he simply replied, "That's just how we've always been."
I like to think that Clemson, for the most part, has been like that, too. The stories I hear of pleasant experiences for opposing fans visiting Clemson greatly outweigh the bad ones.
But something's happening around town, folks. We've gotten better and the general public has noticed. Already, I'm seeing folks who weren't Clemson fans yesterday suddenly sporting new Clemson gear today. As we know with UGA, USC, UNC, and NC State, that local-yokel fairweather attraction only leads to trouble.
Now, I'm not saying you're not a true fan if you've expressed yourself in a less than gentlemanly or ladylike fashion. I consider myself a true fan and I've delved into that inappropriate behavior more than a few times.
But consider what I did ten years and how old I was. I was immature and I was acting that way. Consider that before joining in the same behavior.
"We're Clemson, we're better than that." We hear that a lot on this board. But are we practicing it? On game day, let's show the opposition that we are, indeed, better than them on the field and off of it.
Peace,
Cata
P.S. And yes, I'm glad this is the only thing we have to complain about this week.
|
|
50
