My report from Clemson (long)........

Oct 21, 2011, 10:46 AM

Yesterday was a cold, windy clear day in Clemson. There is that beautiful, fall, colored hue to the campus that makes you just want to walk around and take it all in.....you remember! It was a light coat day and one which seems to bring out the scents of a campus which really seems to come alive at this time of the year.
As I've previously related on this board, whenever I get to town early for a game, its my wife and my "tradition" to go down to practice and thank the team and wish them luck in the upcoming game. Sometimes we're lucky enough to have the grandchildren with us because you just can't start early enough teaching them all things Clemson. We've been doing this for as many years as I can remember and as you can see from my handle, its been a while since we graduated from CU.
Yesterday was a little different because unlike normal, there were a few people there with us. A few young couples with their children and some grandparents with their grandchildren. Usually we're there by ourselves. Its nice to see that the team's hard work and success is being recognized and rewarded. We took a couple of Nike signature balls along for the man cave and a Xmas present.
As practice ended, the first to leave is always the defense. The coaches lead the way and they sprint, as a team, from the practice field to the waiting trams. For some reason, they can't stop and talk or sign autographs. One of the reporters told me that's the way they've started doing it....I never remember that before. We all did clap, wished them the best and they side fived everyone of us as they passed by us standing next to the tombstones.
After ten minutes or so, the offense then slowly and staggered started to come out. The first out was Mike Bellamy and he was in a slow sprint separated from the others who were walking slowly. I want to say right off the bat that Mike Bellamy is THE nicest player that we talked to yesterday which says a lot because they were all great! Bellamy has a wonderful personality with a big smile and wants to engage in conversation, even after a long practice. We discussed the fact that we were from Florida also and he asked if it was warmer at home. You just have to meet this kid. Quite an engaging young man. You can't help but really like him. He seemed very upbeat, asking questions and taking meticulous time to slowly autograph our footballs so that "it would look nice". He told me as he left that he was going to try to"bring one home" for Florida Saturday".
Next by was Tajh. When we asked him if he'd sign our footballs he said "of course". He was a big personality like Bellamy. We could clearly see why he is in charge of the team. He asked us a lot of questions and he, like all of the others, were so very kind to all of the fans and the children. Later, as everyone had talked to us, Tajh came back to us, asked us if we got everyone because if we didn't, he'd get them for us. When we told him we were good, he thanked us for asking him and told us to have a great weekend like"we intend to do".
Then Andre came by and he was great. As the others were following behind him, he told them to get over here and autograph these footballs for the folks. He pulled over D.J., Peake, Bryant Charone, Dwayne and some others and thanks to Andre, we actually had a group of players waiting to sign. They were fooling around making fun of each others autograph and telling each other to do a good job so that the people had a nice looking signature ball. They were really funny and Andre was really nice for doing that.
Sammy and Dabo were the last out because we could see them getting interviewed. Sammy was really quiet but took the time, as did Dabo and all of the offensive players to sign every autograph and take pics with everyone. We discussed that we were from Florida and I told him that Bellamy said that he was going to bring one home for Florida Saturday and he said that he would make sure Bellamy did't o"one up him". I told him that I liked the sound of that! Before he left, I asked him if he had seen the Sammy shirts that had a helmet with the number 2 and dreads coming out the back. He looked surprised and said he'd have to check that out. My wife told him that she bought one yesterday but it was too cold to wear there. He laughed.
Finally, Dabo was kept late by the reporters and he kept apologizing to everyone that he had to run because he was trying to get to his son's game, yet he signed EVERY autograph and took a picture with each and every kid.....as he was apologizing. He came over to us and in a matter of minutes, he had asked us 20 questions about us and thank us profusely for coming out to see the guys and coming all the way up to Clemson for the games.....he was thanking us!
I ran into a friend of mine at practice, Keith Jennings, former CU and Bears tight end. He was there with one of his friends, former Tennessee and Bears teammate, Jeremy Lincoln. They told me that they spoke with Tony Steward and that he was a little down but they told him that it was not uncommon at all that someone who suffers an acl injury to one knee often suffers another to the other knee. They saw it a lot in the pros. They both thought he'd be fine.
Anyway, Clemson was really getting crowded yesterday evening as the fans seem to be getting in early and its getting little congested already today. Our experience with the team yesterday and Dabo made me want to post this to let you all know the quality and character of the individuals that are involved in our program. There is NO doubt that we have a certain individual that we look for to enter this program and we are not going to settle for less. I can't say enough about these guys, but especially, Dabo Swinney. Successful or not, this is one of the finer men that you will ever meet and watching him interact yesterday assured me that he exemplifies everything good about Clemson University.
The last thing I remember about yesterday was Dabo leaving in his pikup for his kids game, after having spent time with EVERYONE, still apologizing that he had to run!!!!!! Go Tigers!

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My report from Clemson (long)........

Re: My report from Clemson (long)........

I don't know how things have been in the past...

Re: I don't know how things have been in the past...

Celebration penalties....? Did I miss these?***

I didn't mean that we had been getting celebration penalties

Very nice report.

Re: Very nice report.

Amen and AMEN ! ! ! ! ! !***

Me Too!!!***

Re: My report from Clemson (long)........

Thanks for that.***

Dabo is special. And he wants and appreciates special people***

Re: My report from Clemson (long)........

There really is something special in them hills up there...***

Great report...I hope you told them ClemBert sez RUTS!***

Forgot to mention RUTS for you but........

paragraphsssssss***

Re: paragraphsssssss***

great story.***

I think you mean, indentionnnnnn and spaaaaaaaaaaaacing***

Since you two are being sorta rude, what's "indention?"***

Thank you. Good post!***

Thank you for sharing...proud of our team/coach***

Re: My report from Clemson (long)........

excellent post!

I'm bringing my Dabo Swinney autographed

Great report 72 Fla Tiger. Glad the team is ready to go!***

good stuff***

Bellamy: Re: My report from Clemson (long)........

Thank you 72 Fla. Tiger....great post!!****

Great post - thanks for sharing !***

Great post. Thanks so much for sharing!

Point for you, thanks for sharing!***

Re: My report from Clemson (long)........

Watching this team score a TD says it all

agree 100%...not that I care what they think but I wish the

Thanks for taking the time to write this. Wish I could have

Thank You....***

Really enjoyed that. Question: Are they available like

Good post....good folks.....both you and the team.***

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