Lee Corso, how could you not believe....
On this Saturday when not only hundreds of thousands of Tiger faithful but also America's 5th and 8th ranked teams, ESPN's College Gameday, and a national prime time television audience converged at The Valley? On this Clemson day that started Southern sunny and hot, then turned silver gray with rain and lightning (Thunder and Lightning, maybe?) then just in time for kickoff became clear, a little less steamy than before, breezy and beautiful with could it be a pale orange sky? As an aside, I for one was most glad for the clouds and cooling showers, as I had begun to worry that my stick on brassiere was not going to remain....well "stuck on" in the sweltering August heat.
Lest I digress, on this day when historic Bowman Field, where soldiers once drilled and where Homecoming Floats have for 100 years since welcomed Clemson masses back, turned into a sea of Solid Orange? On this day when, decades overdue, Danny Ford joined the Clemson Ring of Honor? On this day when my middle sister, who bleeds just as orange as the other two of us but never, ever wears it showed up in her own orange ensemble....thank you, Janie, for making sure there was at least something orange in Di's wardrobe........Lee, how could you not believe?
There were moments I will admit that made me wonder if the football gods were actually smiling on Clemson....when, for instance, the stadium announcer brightly announced during Pre-Game festivities that sadly our stadium flag flew at half staff tonight because of a "polling malfunction." What? Surely not on this night.
Or when the...no pun intended.... 'cocky' Georgia fans strolled through with signs and decals reading....."They couldn't even protect the rock!" Even I will have to admit that one was pretty good.....
Or when the inebriated fan three rows back from Pop and Grandmommy's seats, seats on this auspicious day occupied by daughters and a granddaughter, became overly excited and fell four rows forward, taking down the gentleman behind us, my lovely and hopefully future Clemson coed niece, and two young men in front of us in a frightening version of vertical human dominoes, one after another, row after row, plunging frantically forward.
Or when a live ball bounced frighteningly loose in the Clemson end zone just waiting for a Bulldog to pounce. Or when a back named Herschel or Gershel or Gurly or something of the sort ran all over our defense. Or when the Dogs lined up for a tying field goal....
But somehow, even if Lee didn't know it, somehow even if he couldn't find it in himself to believe, on this day, a coach, a staff, a team, nearly 100,000 of Tiger Nation in the stadium and possibly that many more again in the 'parking lot party' crowded around tailgates and coolers and TV's did.
We knew. We believed. Today, tonight, could be special. And it was. The Tigers managed to do enough. Tonight the glow in Death Valley was dee-cidedly orange.... from the famed run down the hill into a Clemson crowd this day worked into a frenzy from the heat and the wait and the moment, until the final gun sounded, it was something special indeed.
Work to be done? Absolutely. A couple of breaks that clearly tonight went Clemson's way. Yes, indeed. But, on this day, at this moment in Tigertown, Lee Corso, how could you not believe?
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