That Swisher sounds like a hell of a guy. He helped out twice! He was probably class president, QB on the football team, and a smooth talker with the ladies as well.
Awesome tailgate experience for my son and I. I could not make it to either the FSU tailgate at all, or the GT tailgate in time, so, this was by far the most fun I've had at an SU tailgate since the seminal ones we had out of the back of Joyce's car by Hendrick's chapel during the Greggers years.
Super awesome tailgate. Johncuse and the Crusties, I mean wow, awesome job. Great location for a tailgate, and superb last minute planning on all the food, etc. I brought a megacrapton of sweets that I am now eating at home. So, I thank you for giving me this vehicle to eat garbage. The food was great. I put ketchup on my weiner. I forgot you just don't do that. So strange to see Tomcat without a ginger ale, literally all day long. Felt bad for the guy.
We even had access to a bathroom that was in someone's house. Convenient, but weird.
Clemson girls are hot, so it must be a huge distraction for our players, so kudos to them for staying somewhat focused on the game. They all look like Julia Roberts. Not bad.
As a HS sophomore, I got the privilege to play in the Dome in the playoffs. I'll never forget that feeling of walking out of the locker room onto the dome carpet, and looking up into the far corners (where I usually sit). Never thought then, that that would be the last time I would have that experience. One of the many highlights of the day was getting to go onto Clemson's field after the game. It was an awesome experience. Thousands of starry eyed fans re-enacting their heroes big moments, on the field, after the game. Can't imagine a better promotional tool.
Clemson is truly an unbelievable college football environment. I mean their ushers encouraged fans to stand. Piped in music was from 2014, not 1987. Nobody on the loudspeaker hawking taco Tuesday over the band. The IPTAY tailgate scene was epic. The only comparison I can make as to the sheer scale of it is UCFs tailgate scene on Memory Mall. The frats and sororities made these huge floats. One depicted Otto being fried on the barbie. My kid tried to save him.
Overall great experience. This program 'gets it'. Cuse should adopt what it can from schools like Clemson.
It was a long drive from Orlando, but for some reason quite easy. Not as grueling as the drive to Atlanta. XM radio for me, DVDs for the kid, nice weather and little traffic made it a smooth ride. On the way back, I drove through the night, taking a 2 hour catnap along the way, and made it home by 10 a.m. Nice to get home early, but my lower back is seriously killing me.
So great to 'renew old ties', meet some board regulars and meet some new folks. After many years of admiring Guinness's posts, nice to meet him and his son as well. As all these internet encounters go for me, the face and personality never matches the handle. I encourage anyone thinking of making that jump from virtual to reality to just do it. These things are fun. It's awkward the first 5 times, but sometime around the 6th time, depending on proximity to a Blood Moon, and your willingness to streak naked 'one last time', you will be accepted as one of the crowd, and perhaps even knighted. It's a fun ceremony. Met a guy named Ted McCabe at the tailgate. He said he played (something) with Jim Brown. Another poster confirmed that he was at the ED cotton bowl. You meet these kinds of people when you go to these kinds of things. And you also meet guys who are really exceptional at beer pong and making knowing wink-wink type jokes about 2/3 zones and bubble screens. It is a great time.