The big game of the October 19th was down in my beloved Tigertown Clemson against my favorite team the Clemson Tigers and the Florida State Seminoles. The game was a massacre. Florida State totally, ripped my beloved Tigers to shreds. It wasn't cool at all. With that said, it was still one of the most fun days of my year. Why? because I freakin' love attending games in Clemson. Let me give ya a brief recap of the day for me.

As previously mentioned, the game was dubbed the biggest game of the week in college football. This meant tons of media fanfare and coverage. I couldn't think of a game with this high a magnitude played in Death Valley in recent years. Two undefeated top-ten teams playing and battling for conference supremacy. So even though this was an 8pm kickoff, I wanted to get there early in the morning to take part in the media fanfare. I got there at 9am and I was LATE. Tiger fans were there at 7am or earlier in some cases. All to root on our favorite team as well as attend the ESPN College Gameday coverage.

image credit Ant Pruitt for antpruitt.com

The ESPN Gameday experience was pretty dadgum cool. Lots of people out there in the chilly fall temperature. Then the rain began to drizzle in. I walked around the crowd a lil' to check out the signs our fans came up with to try to gain some cameo time on the television broadcast. I snapped some pics then grabbed my trusty towel and headed back to my vehicle to dry off and touch up the photos.

I didn't want to stay in my car too long as I wanted to see the actual game winners picked by the ESPN announcers. Of course I get back and the crowd grew. It was great. I had heard from my good friend Cindy that Bill Murray was going to be a guest picker. Where I was standing, It helps being over six feet tall. :) I had a great view of him and the stage. Even though I was photo bombed.

Before I Ieft at the conclusion of the TV show, I took in a few more sights of the fanfare. The signs and fans were pretty dadgum clever.

The military background and traditions of Clemson University have always intrigued me. I walked past this sculpture before I went to tailgate. Touching piece of art.

So I spent the rest of the day waiting on the 8pm game time. I was able to see a few friends that I haven't seen in a while as well as eat, and eat, and eat, and drink beer, and drink beer and drink beer. Then my brother (seminole fan) and I finally met up and walked into the stadium.

As I said to start this post. even though the game was a total nightmare, I have NO regrets being there and losing my voice as usual. Why? The atmosphere is so electric. There are quite a few pre game traditions I love. One that tends to get over looked is the announcement of game time featured here in this video I filmed. Hearing this announcement always takes me back to my childhood when I attended these games. Woooo!

And then there's the well-known tradition of the team running down the hill. The crowd is always amped up for games, but this time the crowd seemed to be even MORE amped up. I've heard it get loud in this stadium before, but this may have been the loudest I've ever heard it.

Anyway, I hope you all are able to take a trip down to small town Clemson, South Carolina and attend a Tigers football game. The atmosphere is unlike any other. Yeah i'm biased, but dadgumit it's true. Thanks for reading! Feel free to share this post with others. Just click the share buttons below.