Shaun's Tiger Town Tangents

Do your homework please

2012-01-17T09:59:00.000-08:00

Good people (of South Carolina especially), please take your responsibility seriously. I know you will differ with me on many views, but just do a little research. Please don't vote just based on who is the most handsome and/or who is the best speaker. More important than that is: a) What that person has done and b) What they say they will do (and how believable those promises are). Anyway, you know all that, but just please take the time to do some research.
Those of you who are regular readers, besides being wiser and thoroughly entertained, you have also heard my feelings on the debt. I can't see how any other issue can come close to the importance of 15.2 trillion dollars of debt and a budget that is 1.5 trillion over every year. Maybe abortion is more important (because the killing of fetuses is serious stuff), but all republican candidates pretty much agree on abortion.

Last year's budget was 49% over-budget (1.5 trill)

Here's a little breakdown of the candidates on this topic:

-Romney plans to cut 5% of non-military spending while increasing the size of our navy significantly (that isn't free). So, decrease 5% of a budget that is 49% over.

-Gingrich has no plan to cut anything. He did balance a budget four times as speaker, but that was when the economy was rolling and the govt. was quite to OOC (out of control) status

-Perry has no plan to really cut anything, but he would try to pass a balanced budget amendment, which is very good. But we need action now.

-Santorum actually does understand the importance of the deficit and wants to cut 5 trillion over the next 5 years. His cuts actually cut into things that he probably would never get done like Medicare, Medicaid, etc. Plus, he would blow all that savings on a war with Iran (more on that later).

-Paul would cut 1 trillion the first year. 4.1 trill over five years. He would probably struggle to make any of these cuts, as all candidates would. Which leads to the next biggest issue which is extremely inter-woven with the first.

Many republicans feel you cannot cut military/defense spending. They also claim it is "small potatoes" compared to other entitlements. Well, that may be true, but it is still 20-25% (depending on which bean counters you believe) of our huge bloated budget.

Even more importantly, it is the part of the budget that is most easily decreased or increased by a commander-in-chief. Most republican candidates will continue to bomb Iran and other Middle East targets until there is eventually a regional war over there. Can you cut money to defense/military and be safer? Yes. The last three generals of Centcom (commanders of the middle east region) have ALL advised against preemptive air strikes in Iran. The only reason the current general isn't openly against it as well is because he doesn't want to get fired by his war hawk commander-in-chief.

Since I don't believe much of what I hear from other people without verifying here is a link. It is not the only site reporting this.
http://www.larouchepac.com/node/20347

No one wants a nuclear Iran, but those generals and Ron Paul realize a preemptive strike and/or sanctions will be ineffective and only stir up a hornets nest. Even Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke to congress last fall and pleaded for the U.S. to stay out of it. He thanked us for the weapons and expertise, but he knows a war in Iran is awful for everyone in the Middle East. Anyway, I know the US has promised in the past to help and protect Israel. I also know there are some questionable biblical reasons to help Israel. But the best way to protect and help Israel is to mind our own business. A lesson we should have learned in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. A lesson we will continue to learn in a long terrible war in Iran. Please take your voting seriously. The other four Republican candidates want war. If you want war, then vote for them, but please do your homework. If you agree with these candidates after careful research then vote your conscience. Just please don't let our national media choose for you (they don't want any significant changes). Thank you.

A great video on foreign policy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8RAog2RnRc

2011 Clemson Best Moments

2012-01-13T21:55:00.000-08:00

I could complain about a lot of things, in particular every republican candidate besides Ron Paul, but in the new year let me try to stay positive.
Top off the field moments for 2011 Clemson football season

12. Deciding NOT to go to the Orange Bowl

11. Kevin Steele being fired. I think he is a good guy and a great defensive mind. But today’s Div. I athletes aren’t brain surgeons and need a simple, but effective defense. His defense was very good last year, but Daquan Bowers was the best player in college football. Unblockable. Any coordinator could have had that defense playing well. It should have been a top 5 defense in the country, especially against an ACC schedule. He would have survived, but Orange Bowl was just too embarrassing.

10. Dabo’s tirade about Clemson being better than the Cocks. Really didn’t think it was the thing to do at the time, but maybe it did help the boys distract themselves from how much they had sucked for nearly a month.

9. Getting CHEAP tickets from a nice Clemson alum to see the undefeated Tigers play at Georgia Tech. At the time a great moment. Little did we know four hours later I wish I would have watched the game in my own living room with plenty of Jamison available. Also, able to see a young man in Atlanta run by us and yell, “I got a motherf$#%ing plate!” Still not sure what that means, but very exciting.

8. After a great defeat of Auburn, playing the incomparable hit, Auburn sucks. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m6Sw26gUQo

7. After Auburn went up 21 to 7 early I announced, “We can leave now!” I was half kidding, but I did have to go to the bathroom to calm down. I was braced for Clemson to stink this year, but I can’t stand when my team’s defense is awful.

6. The wife and I going on like a seven game corn hole run at the UNC game tailgate.

5. The band playing Tiger Rag like 4 straight times before FSU came out for their last drive. It was a successful attempt to whip the crowd into a frenzy.

4. Getting hammered while doing drinking games during the first Va Tech huge win.

3. After the big sack Tiger Rag played and the band going silent during one of the loudest C-L-E-M-S-O-N. Reminder that when it is rocking Death Valley is as good a venue as any in the country.

2. Jumping around in joy with the wife after the Cat Man made a clutch field goal to beat Wake. That play hopefully ended a lot of the problems of never making the clutch play at Clemson. Oh, the crazy reaction was done in a side room at the house of my boss. We were there because I don’t get ESPNU at the apartment and he was watching Ohio State in the main room.

1. Being in Too Big To Fail Stadium when the Tigers clinched the overly elusive ACC Championship.

Clemson Vs. Univ. of South Florida (again)

2012-01-03T10:04:00.000-08:00

This was a couple of weeks ago, but still funny.

I had a great interaction with my friend who is a Univ. of South Florida alumni (kind of). Anyway, he at least attended a few classes there. USF will be hence forth mentioned as USelessF

USelessF friend: Did you know Spiller had his best game as a pro last week, but still fumbled?

Me: I watched him play yesterday. He is not bad if you give him holes. He will get cut from the Bills after next season and get picked up by a team with a good offense. They will use him as just a slot receiver and he will look good.

Useless F friend: He is a bust of monumental proportions.

Me: Why does Spiller’s failures make you so happy?

Useless F friend: Cause he went to Clemson and he sucks and he was drafted 9th overall

Me: Anytime you mention Clemson you need to refer to them as ACC Champion Clemson. I’m quite certain they’ve earned it. (editor’s note: Reference to Jack Nicholson’s great scene in A Few Good Men)

Useless F friend: Don’t they just hand that out to a new awful team each year: Wake, BC, Ga Tech, Marland.

Me: Yes. They do. Just like the Big Least. When is USF’s turn….2018? What a joke of a program. More talent within 150 miles of campus than any other school outside of Miami.

Useless F friend: You lost to that joke of a program less than a year ago (editor’s note: A point I had truly failed to remember. Suppression of a bad memory.) We have only had football since 1997.

Me: That was a blip on the radar. Don’t give me that ’97 crap. UConn started football in like ’01 and they are in CT and they have won the Big Least.

Useless F friend: Clemson was a blip on USFs radar and nothing more. UConn has had football since 1896…Leo (editor’s note: reference to my father’s propensity to make up statistics. I was in fact nearly right since they didn’t enter I-A football until 2000, which is when you actually noticed they had a program.)

Me: Well, they were I-AA till recently. Quit making excuses for your program. That is how mediocrity starts.

Useless F friend: Since ’97 we have won more games, been ranked higher and beat Clemson head to head. We’ve also had 578 less chokes.

Me: Are you counting all those marvelous I-AA wins. You can’t make me angry, because I can hardly hear you over the clanging of championship rings.

Useless F friend: ACC champs and no one can take that away from you except the NCAA when they investigate how a Choke school got Sammy Watkins

Me: Haha, that is exactly what someone else said. Nothing will take it away. If they take it from us I will claim the ’09 championship vacated by Georgia Tech.
Editor’s note : Clemson has more wins since Useless F joined the I-A ranks: 95 to 88. Not by much though for a program that is pretty new. They do play in a joke league with only 8 teams and play one tough out of conference and then four cupcakes. Clemson usually plays 8 conference games and S. Car and one other tough game leaving only two cupcakes. Useless F has been ranked higher, 2 versus 3 and does have a lot less chokes. They do have one less championship as well.

TEBOW!! even I am on board

2011-12-18T13:42:00.000-08:00

Why do a lot of people want to get mad that NFL fans are rooting for Tim Tebow? He went to the Univ. of Florida, so everything in me wants to dislike him. When he was in college, I figured he was your typical look at me pray while I get drunk and get it on with Gator hotties every weekend. It turns out, from all indications, he is a genuinely really good guy and lives out his faith. So, we decide to root for him instead of Sam Hurd (former Chicago Bear recently charged with major drug dealing). We root for him over a league filled with rapists, murderers, DUIers and women beaters. We root for him over the Patriots, a franchise famous for illegally filming other team’s practices. We root for him because he gets a lot of it done with sheer will versus a perfect throwing motion. We root for him because his teammates seem to play harder for him than that Kyle Orton guy. So, hate him if you want. I used to, but I just wanted to give you the reasons why most of us are pulling for him and why I converted. Good guys don’t have to finish last…but can they beat the Patriots?? Would anyone be surprised if this season ended with Tebow winning the Super Bowl, then ripping off his helmet after the game and then ascending to heaven? I kid, I kid.
Tangent 1: Wish I would have posted this earlier, because I had a pretty strong feeling the Packers would lose today for two reasons:
1. As soon as every pundit claims you have no chance of losing at all usually teams come out flat. Not to mention the Chiefs listened all week to people telling them they were bums.
2. The Packers spent all week answering questions about will they rest players when, not if, they clinch home field throughout on Sunday. Rodgers even replied, “No, we haven’t talked about that. We will find out soon though.” What he should have said is, “That is not even a concern for us. All we are thinking about is the Chiefs.” I know it is just words, but it reveals a mindset.

Fact or Fiction??

2011-12-14T06:53:00.000-08:00

I have a great book to recommend. Written by Stephen Coonts, The Disciple is an extremely exciting novel about espionage in Iran and the craziness of the Iranian leadership. I'll try not to ruin the book, but basically Ahmadinejad gets a bug up has butt to fire nukes at Israel. Pretty exciting stuff.

So it got me thinking about what is going on in Iran and the facts are crazier than fiction. Here is a link of the real world stuff going on in Iran:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15741989
To give you a quick synopsis: three Iranian scientists have been assassinated in the last year, someone dropped a major computer virus on the Iranian nuclear sites and a few weeks ago a blast at their biggest missile site killed 17.

Then we have the fact that the Iranians picked up twelve spies just before Thanksgiving and now they downed one of our spy drones. And we wonder why the people from this country hate us? Granted, other than the spy drone all of that could have been the highly effective (way more than the CIA) Israeli intelligence force the Mossad. So I guess the question is, we wonder why Iranians hate the “American devils and the evil Zionists?”

So, anyway here is one of my points. Until our drone got shot down, how was this so lightly reported? I'm done with American media. I'm not watching the propaganda and garbage and pointless arguing that is CNN, Fox News, CBS, etc. Finding all this stuff would have been nearly impossible on CNN, but the BBC website was easy. Anyway, enough complaining.

My other point is holy crap! We have now spent over ten years in the Middle East and it looks like America is a fart from spending another ten in Iran. This sucks. We can't afford another war financially and militarily and emotionally. Too many of our youth continue to get maimed and killed over there. So maybe all this covert stuff is better than going to war, but who knows? I just wanted show you that there are more interesting things to follow than Kim Kardashians butt. And that book is pretty interesting as well.

We are the champions

2011-12-06T08:32:00.000-08:00

Wow! Not even close. That was the best three and a half hours of being a Clemson fan. I loved when Greg Buckner dunked to beat mighty UNC in the ACC championship. I loved when Tyler Colvin hit a walk-off grand slam to send the Tigers to Omaha. I loved Clemson finally beating FSU in ’06 to end their terrible dominance over the Tigers. I loved the Catch II and pulling victory from defeat from the hated Gamecocks. But, nothing is close to the second half on Dec. 3rd, 2011.

I’ve always said, why can’t just one time everything come together for Clemson? Why can’t we have that one game where the O, D and special teams play well? One time you catch some breaks and just dominate an opponent in a huge game. Well, I got my wish in the biggest game this program has had in thirty years. What a time to rise up! In retrospect, we can all admit we were (hopefully were) a choke program. We didn’t want to admit we were snake bitten, but every time we had a chance for greatness, Clemson football fell on its face. Proof of this is in my reaction on Sammy’s huge TD catch to put the Tigers up 14 Saturday night. I didn’t cheer because I was too busy searching the field for the penalty flag. Too many times the huge play that would have made the difference have been foiled by a flag. Then Andre goes off the left side. I was sure it would get called back or reviewed. I didn’t cheer and then it finally hit me, this team may actually win a championship! A friend asked me, “What is wrong?” I replied, “It is just surreal!” She then said, “Who says surreal while wasted at a football game?” I guess this guy does.

It was surreal because I have been a Clemson fan since about 1986. I really became a huge fan in 1996 when I fell in love with the toughness of the Rick Barnes basketball teams and especially loved the clutch play of Greg Buckner. Greg was a 6’3 small forward always finding a way to out-tough and outsmart much bigger front line players. Anyway, his whole four years were fun, but still painful. They went to four tourneys and even a sweet sixteen, but every loss was brutal and usually due to poor FT shooting. His senior year they lost to Duke three times by a combined eight points.

Then when I started my freshman year at Clemson I went from huge fan to bleeding orange. Now the pain went to watching a football program always on the cusp of turning the corner. Charlie Whitehurst’s senior year is a glaring example. Four losses all year by a combined 14 points including two overtime defeats at home!!! How brutal!! So, forgive me if I was waiting for the other shoe to drop Saturday. Thankfully our players are too young and cocky to remember or care about these demons. That’s why I kept telling a buddy of mine who refers to CU not as Clemson Univ. but as Choke Univ. that it wasn’t the Univ. that was choking but Tommy Bowden, and to an extent, Oliver Purnell. Jack Leggett’s baseball teams are usually very clutch. And now, Dabo’s teams are starting to step up in big spots.

So, my point is, there is a reason why this was so shocking. It hasn’t happened for 30 years. Granted from ’92 to ’02 no one was stopping the train that was FSU football. But for the last eight years we watched the Noles plummet, and who stepped into that power vacuum? The unstoppable forces known as Maryland football, Wake football, Georgia Tech and BC football all added ACC or divisional crowns. Infuriating and embarrassing when you consider the recruiting classes, the facilities, the passion of the fan base, and the tradition of those programs. I always said during the Bowden era that I don’t expect to win the ACC every year. But, I do expect to win the Atlantic division every other year and win the ACC every four years. Maybe those are lofty goals, but unless FSU gets back on track, then is asking Clemson to beat out Wake, Maryland, NC St., FSU and BC every other year too much to ask? I sure as hell hope not. Right now, Dabo has reached my goals. I know that is all he is worried about; he has a sign in his office- Shaun’s goals: Div. every two, ACC crown every four. ACC Crown! How good is that to say?! Enjoy Tiger fans. They won’t come every year, but hopefully we won’t have to wait another 30.

JUCO KIDS!!! and Tiger stuff

2011-12-02T13:02:00.001-08:00

So, we were the GA JUCO game of the week. It was a phenomenal game. Click on the link below and at least watch go to the parts in the game listed under the description. They include a play with a back screen to their center who catches a lob and then throws a lob to the PF who just got a back screen. Double alley!! Are you kidding me? And that is only the second best play. Because some white kid takes off from nearly the FT line and dunks all over our PG!! Thankfully we won, so I can talk about these things nostalgically.

http://www.ihigh.com/georgiajucoreport/broadcast_191908.html?silverlight=1

As I told my buddy, "These JUCO kids are going to put me in an early grave!" With five minutes to go we led 58 to 54. We obviously are guarding pretty well, so if we just score another six points down the stretch we probably hold on. Other than a FT with 0.7 left, we go on to score only two more points and have as many turnovers as Romney and Gingrich have combined flip-flops. The last minute went like this.
US - Turnover
Them - Phenomenal white kid dunk and foul
US - No box out and they get O reb
Them - drive and foul - miss one of two
Us - Missed front end of one and one
Them - missed shot, off reb, missed shot
Us - Reb and turnover
Them - missed three in corner

Yes, they had three shots to take the lead and we had eight billion chances to seal the win. It was gut-wrenching.

As for Clemson........
Still not real thrilled about Saturday, but at least a little better than I felt on Sunday. Kids are resilient. They may bounce back. I feel like Va Tech will definitely score on the Tigers. Their QB is better and Wilson is a great RB. Clemson's defense has made average RBs look great so I don't even know a word for how good they can make Wilson. Will the offense move the ball like weeks 1-7 or weeks 8-12.
My heart says Clemson 31 Tech 27
My gut says Tech 27 Clemson 17

so I will split the difference and say Tech 27 Clemson 24

How about ol' Dabo spewing off out the mouth after a comment from Spurrier (which apparently wasn't even him, but was the USuC radio announcer). The initial comment was, "We ain't LSU or Alabama but we ain't Clemson either."
Dabo went off:

“He’s right. They aren’t Clemson. No three-game winning streak is going to change that,” he said. “It’s not the first they have won three in a row and it will not be the last time. It might be 50 more years but it will probably happen again. But I have gone out of my way to be complimentary to them and complimentary to coach Spurrier. I got a lot of respect for coach Spurrier, but I am going to defend my program . I’m going to defend my players and my coaches. I am going to defend Clemson University because I believe in it. I think he is exactly right - they are not Clemson and never will be. You are looking at the best era in the history of South Carolina football right now. They just had their second 10-win season. They won a championship in 1969 and the 2010 SEC East. And this rivalry – there is a lot of rivalries out there but this is more of a domination and that’s a fact. My kids’ grandkids won’t live long enough to see this really become a rivalry.”

“I have respect for their program, but South Carolina is not Clemson,” he said. “There are a lot of differences. This is a place that has won a national title, 17 conference championships and two division titles. Heck, we have won more bowl games than they have even been to. I think our program has 100 plus more wins than South Carolina. That is reality. This is the best era in 115 years of South Carolina football is right now and they have done a great job.”

“Coach Spurrier has been there for seven years, but after five years I think he had 35 wins and got a new contract and all that kind of stuff. After five years at Clemson, if I have only got 35 wins there is going to be a new coach here and you know what there should be because there is a different standard. He is exactly right – they ain’t Alabama, they ain’t LSU and they certainly are not Clemson. That is why Carolina is in Chapel Hill, USC is in California and the university in this state always has been and always will be Clemson. It’s right here in Clemson, SC. You can print that. Tweet that.”

Is Dabo really going to rail on USC having an awful tradition? You just helped them have the best three seasons in their history by taking it in the butt the last three years. That makes it even more embarrassing that a program that couldn’t find success with a gps system is now kicking your butt. It WAS a domination. Maybe it will stay that way in the future, but it sure doesn’t look like it.

Embarrassing and humiliating

2011-11-28T16:51:00.000-08:00

So I was at the NC St. game. That was embarrassing. The only thing that kept you from going into a maniacal rage was the rationalization that the Tigers were looking forward to the next two huge games versus SC and Va Tech. I hate rationalizing and should quit doing it. There is never an excuse to play that bad against a very average to below average opponent. Dabo says you only play 12 Saturdays a year and to not be ready for one is unacceptable. Well he is right and that is why it was an embarrassment in Raleigh.

The South Carolina game was humiliating. It was humiliating because one team played absolutely gutless. Outside of Jaron Brown's block I didn't see one physical play from Clemson all night. After starting the year with very few penalties and very few dropped passes, all the Tigers can do is hold, line up wrong and catch a ball like it is made of some icey butter mixture. Anyone who watches us play knows this so I am not breaking any ground here.

Here is my question?
What is worse: playing that bad against your rival or knowing even if you played better they are just better than you are? SCar has outrecruited, outdeveloped and outweightroomed the Tigers and the gap is widening, not closing. I hate to break it to all the Tiger fans, but all this crap about Clemson being young is bunch of flaming propaganda. They have a ton of freshmen coming up the ranks, but the starting 11 on offense are 4 seniors, 3 juniors, 2 sophs and Sammy. Not to mention those four seniors are on that O-line that got pushed around the last four weeks. Why the hell hasn't Clemson recruited good O-lineman since the Reagan administration?

The eleven defensive starters are 5 seniors, 4 juniors, 1 soph and Breeland (the lone young bright spot on the ENTIRE DEFENSE). Again, 3 seniors and a junior up front. The defense only has three true freshmen in their whole two-deep and the offense only has them at the skill positions. It is an excuse and a crock of crap that this team is inexperienced. The program is young, but the guys that are expected to line up and play have been at Clemson a long time, especially the ones you are expecting to get it done in the trenches. Every year there is an excuse. Yes, I thought we were a few years away, but they proved through the first eight weeks there is plenty of talent in Clemson if they would show up and hit people in the mouth.

All over the map

2011-11-18T08:28:00.000-08:00

Brilliant fed. govt. story of the week. The commission in charge of finding fraud and waste in Medicare and Medicaid has been found to have enormous amounts of fraud and waste. They have been falsly reporting stuff to cover hospitals they like and other devious stuff. So, now there will be a commission to check the commission. I kid about the last part, but it is pretty bad at the federal level.

Tangent 2 (Piggy backing off tangent 1)
I would like all the Democrats and/or independents reading this to think about this possibility. I probably won’t change your idea that you think the government should provide services that I think are better provided by a free and independent people. And I sure won’t tell you the Republicans are any better, because they are both awful options. But, regardless of your ideology, can we all at least agree the federal government is inept and borderline criminal in its usage of our tax dollars? Yes, the federal government is the only one who can fund a standing army and regulate trade and some other things. But, do they really need to be running billion dollar health care programs or No Child Left Behind in every school or funding mortgages for people who have no business trying to finance a house. Do they need to give aid to every country under the sun, which usually just props up corrupt governments instead of the money actually getting to the people who need it?

I guess what I am saying is, if you want to be a democrat, be one at the state level. Be one where at least the government program isn’t so enormous it has no chance of oversight. Be one where at least big business would have to lobby 50 different legislatures instead of one to get policies which further rip off the middle class. All this scandal about lobbying and buying votes is sad, but the real problem is that one house of legislature has the power to control so much of our lives. Almost every founding father feared this tyranny. They feared trading 1 tyrant a thousand miles away for many tyrants a few miles away (Yes I stole that line from Mel Gibson in The Patriot). The more you can spread out the power, the better for everyone. I think it is arrogance and pride that always comes before the fall (in this case the fall of the great idea that is America). I think the people in Washington don’t think people at the state level are smart enough to run their states. That, and they are just power hungry, and as long as their power goes unchecked they will continue to grab for more.

Tangent 3
Oh yeah, and Clemson has a big game this weekend:
Clemson 27 NC ST 24 Cold weather, injuries to Sammy and left tackle and a complete looking ahead to next week will keep this game close. But what do I know? I’ve only been right half the time.

Tangent 4
Did any of you see the end of the Boise State game? I used to think Bob Knight was a little off when he said you shouldn’t worry so much about what it takes to win, but more about avoiding the things that get you beat. I didn’t think you should focus on playing not to lose. But that isn’t what he is saying. You still play aggressive; you just focus on fixing the little things that will get you beat: turnovers, not rebounding and lack of focus. Same goes for football. Each team did so many things to get themselves beat down the stretch. Boise is up seven with two and a half minutes to play.

Boise huge mistake 1: Boise’s tailback fumbles. Inexcusable.

Boise huge mistake 2: Boise corner gets beat for a long touchdown on a double move.

Boise huge mistake 3: After TCU decides to go for two and the win (love the decision), the corner has every opportunity to easily knock the ball down. Instead he goes to cradle an interception and it goes right through his hands. He either wasn’t smart enough to understand time and score OR too selfish to care. Either way…HUGE MISTAKE.

TCU huge mistake 1: TCU kicker kicks the kickoff out of bounds. TCU QB with Mohawk and logo branded into his scalp is shown on the sideline mouthing the words, “You f&*%ing idiot!” I can’t make this stuff up.

TCU huge mistake 2: Corner gets beat deep and has to grab player for penalty. Penalty was better than getting beat, but still a free 15 yards with the clock stopped when all you have to do is keep people in front of you and in bounds.

Referee huge mistake 1: on 4th down, the TCU corner has his hands on the back of a receiver but is neither pushing nor holding AND the ball is ten yards over receiver’s head so…… obviously a pass interference. An awful call or as I like to call it, a Ron Cherry. So Boise is still alive.

Boise huge mistake 4: Playing for field goal with 30 seconds left on the 20 and one timeout and a Heisman candidate quarterback. I am not saying this in retrospect. At the time I thought it was stupid to leave it up to the kicker, because like my buddy so eloquently says, “COLLEGE KICKERS SUCK!”

Boise huge mistake 5: Not having a better kicker on the roster. Plus, only having three attempts all year. How does that happen? You would almost want to intentionally stall drives as a coach to get him more reps.
And the kicker pushes it right and Boise’s title hopes go up in flames because of a kicker in back to back years. They deserved to lose though since that penalty was such a Ron Cherry.

Just a wild finish. So exciting. Clemson just needs six or seven more crazy games like that and to win out and they could be playing LSU for the national title. It is like a one in a thousand shot including the ridiculous idea of Iowa St. beating Oklahoma State, but we will know a lot.

The game Clemson always finds a way to lose....no longer?

2011-11-15T20:18:00.000-08:00

That is a game Clemson always loses. They lose it because they:
A. Always lose a game they need to win the ACC (the atlantic dvision was already clinched before the ’09 win over Virginia)
B. Always lose a game when “things” start happening. Punt return…turnovers….bad defense
C. Always play tighter and tighter as things flow downhill
D. Always plays down to their opponent when heavily favored in a game they need

Clemson won this game because the biggest change in the Dabo era is a team that
doesn’t always find a way to lose. In fact they often find a way to win. Entering this season, Clemson only had nine comebacks from being down 14 or more. This year they have three. This is partly due to Dabo’s team not panicking, and partly due to Clemson having a bad defense and the best offense in the history of their program. In the Bowden era, it seemed like any game that got to 14 points ended as a huge blowout. The only exception I can think of is the ’99 Ga. Tech game when Joe Hamilton led the Jackets to 14-0 and 21-7 before Clemson came roaring back. Now, I have no illusions that Dabo is the new Saban or Les Miles, but it appears the program is much more resilient.

Clemson had so much more talent than Wake that they were able to overcome a game in which the Tigers gave up a punt return, three turnovers, and a quarterback who threw six passes directly into the hands of a Wake Forest defender. They also overcame injuries to their starting left tackle and the near immortal Sammy Watkins. They caught some breaks. Wake missed a field goal right after Clemson missed on 4th and inches. (I think that was the right call by Dabo. You expect to get a 4th and inches with a big QB and veteran O line. Even if it is on your own 30. Plus a quick score by Wake after that wouldn't be as devastating as a long drive would have been.) That field goal always goes in. But it didn’t. Then the Cat Man misses a chipey. We all knew that wasn’t going in. Somehow he gets a chance to redeem himself. And does. I’ve watched Clemson too long now. Over a decade. Did not expect that one to go in. Maybe in a few years we will start to expect things like this, but right now it is still a fun new experience.

Again, not sure how I feel about Steele. Love that he went to press coverage and more people in the box in the 2nd half, but still plenty of issues. On Wakes long TD run, the defense had only 2 defensive linemen and nobody else on the weak side of the formation. I like the aggression, but I don’t get why five of your front seven need to be on one side of the formation. Anyway, hard to blame the defense too much when Wake had a short field the whole day and one TD was special teams. This defense gives up a lot of long drives and you think, okay…be a bend, no break defense. But then they rarely hold the other team to a field goal. So they are a bend and break defense.

Anyway, hard to complain about 9-1. Getting a win in Raleigh means the best season in 20 years. Getting three more wins down the stretch means the best season since ’81.

College coaching debut

2011-11-10T07:28:00.001-08:00

Due to our head coach having family things to attend to, I was given the task of coaching our team. It was a great opportunity. I had some head coaching experience, but that was at the JV high school level. At that level, all I did was have two set plays and make sure the guys played hard and gave great effort on defense. That was good enough to go 30-1 over two years. I bring up that record just to bring attention to a very funny story. In my first year I was 14 or 15 and 0 and with only 19 games in the season and no post season. Of course, the goal was to finish undefeated. Every game I had worn my Clemson ring and every game had ended with a victory. The morning of this 15th or 16th game I could not find my ring. It had disappeared. I had to give up the search so I wasn’t late for school. I called my sister to continue the search and she could not find it.

We wound up losing our first game of the year. In an unrelated topic it was the only game I have ever coached with a female ref. Anyway, the ring was found the next day in my underwear drawer. Wore it for our last five or six wins and all the way through the next undefeated season. To review, coaching with the ring 30-0, without 0-1.

I, of course, wore the ring this weekend and sadly to say the ring is no longer undefeated. The ring actually took one on the chin the first night. Happily, this year’s team has taken my personality, due of course to recruiting and our focus in practice. Meaning we play very hard, we are fairly tough, and we get after people on defense. So we held a college basketball team to 63 points in a 40 minute game. Pathetically we still lost by 17. That is right. 46 points in a college basketball game. 17% from 3 and 55% from the FT line will usually mean defeat. At one point they went on an 8 to 0 run and since I hate using timeouts and want my team to play through tough times, especially early in the year, I had not called a timeout. Then another turnover happened and I was contemplating a timeout when I see a ref staring at me braced to call one. I’ve never seen a ref more sure a coach was about to call timeout. It was funny and sad at the same time. With that kind of peer pressure, I had to call one.

Maybe we played poorly because I had our team dressed in black since we were the first team listed on the schedule. The host coach says, “You are on the home bench.” I say, Huh?” Apparently on the sheet it said the home team was listed first. I say, “Who puts the home team first?” I’ve never heard of the home team first. Thankfully we didn’t leave the whites at the hotel room and changed real quick. I doubt this change in plans affected the team, but you always think about these things as a coach. If it did affect our team, they are way too mentally weak.
So we move on to the 2nd night. Walk into the gym and the team that beat us by 17 is now losing by 15. And the team beating them by 15 got beat by the team we are about to play by 40. If you do all that transitive math, we look like 72 point underdogs. Thankfully, our opponent does that same math in their heads and is completely not ready to play, because if they were, they are one of the best junior college teams in the southeast. In a game never separated by more than six points ends with a 65 to 63 loss. At one point I was warned by the refs and we then got three straight calls.

It was fun, but winning games at the college level is a good bit tougher than JV. Duh!! In JV, we just wore the other team down with our press and eventually shot layups off of turnovers. In college you have to make some jump shots. Which we did not do the first night and did do the second night. As usual most games come down to who hits shots.

Tangent 1
Oh yeah, there is a Clemson game this weekend. No need for a whole lot of analysis. Clemson has more speed and talent. They are at home and 16 point favorites. None of this matters if they turn the ball over or their defense continues to play undisciplined. That said, I think the Tigers spent the last two weeks pissed off and focused on improving and getting healthy. A healthy Andre Ellington means a better rusher, a hopefully non-fumbler, and much better blitz pick up. Not that I am ever close to right but here goes.
Clemson 41 Wake 23

Big game?? Hope not

2011-11-09T15:05:00.000-08:00

So Mickey Plyler had a blog about how this doesn’t feel like a big game. I couldn’t agree more. It doesn’t have that feel at all. There are many reasons. The disappointment of not being a national title contender anymore, as much of a pipe dream as that was. The opponent is not at all sexy. The opponent is average to good. The point spread is 16.

Here is why I can’t get fired up for this game any more than your average ACC game. Keep in mind I still get pretty fired up when we play Duke. Because if Clemson is to the point where we all hope it is and expect it to be, then you should destroy Wake on your home field. You shouldn’t let a lesser opponent hang around because your defense is undisciplined or your offense turns it over at will. Those things can happen, but they shouldn’t. Forgive me for not getting excited about a game Clemson should win by two or three touchdowns.

Of course a loss is still devastating and I will be watching every second, but that does not make this a “big game.” The things it can bring are big, but that doesn’t make this a big game. It doesn’t mean Clemson has to let a lesser opponent hang around just because Wake has a lot to play for. Screw Wake and what they have to play for. The better team should dominate. That said, it will be a painful game. If Clemson wins big you expected it, but if Wake hangs around every fan and sadly every player will get tighter and tighter. This team has been a second half team, but the first half of this game is huge.

Tangent 1
So now that the debate has been moved from anything that matters (such as a $15 trillion and growing debt) to a Clinton and Clarence Thomasesque charade. I don’t even really care much what happened, mainly because the truth will never be clear.

Here is the problem I have and no one seems to talk about it instead of the mindless he said, she said crap. The first day Cain claims to know nothing about this woman. Then the next day he remembers there was a “settlement/severance” and he can’t talk about it. Now, he is in full denial mode. So on the first day he was either lying or isn’t smart enough to remember being accused 15 years ago. So he is not smart or a liar or probably both.

More importantly this is the typical trick of Washington and the national media. Anything to not talk about the real changes that need to be made. Too many people remain rich in our crazy screwed up system, so anytime the story can be about something other than government waste and ineptitude they jump on it.

Tangent 2
What is up with pedophiles? How does a grown man have a sickness that involves him wanting to get with little boys? If genetic research does anything, I hope the pedophile gene is the first gene they can find and eliminate it or is it due to abuse and cyclical? Either way, it is gross.

Finally a high profile pedophile case not involving a catholic priest. Jerry Sandusky is almost as revered at State College as Joe Pa. He is the reason they dominated for much of Joe Pa’s reign. He is the reason Penn St. became Linebacker U. Joe Pa was probably stuck in a situation where he knew something was up, but also wanted to help a friend. So, he probably didn’t do as much as he should have and that is tragic for all those young boys. Should he be fired? Probably. He has done the right thing for like 60 years. Is one mistake over that long a career enough to be unceremoniously canned? I would have to say yes. Something this repulsive cannot be ignored. Joe Pa was in a position to put a stop to it. Maybe he was not aware to what degree things were happening, but I doubt it. We may never know. So sad to see a legend go out like this. Even sadder that innocent young boys are molested.

Another argument for legalizing drugs. Let’s clear out our prisons of all non-violent drug users and put pedophiles away forever. They have like a 3% rehabilitation rate, so I say lock them all up for life. Instead of now where a pot smoker can get a longer sentence than Sandusky will get. I'm not saying I am for drugs I just think the War on Drugs isn't doing anything to stop their use and is creating the dangerous and lucrative underground drug world. As Ron Paul put it and I am paraphrasing here: The federal government is obviously losing the war on drugs when they can't keep drugs out of federal prisons where there are armed guards everywhere.
That is pretty funny.

Finish strong

2011-11-07T17:11:00.000-08:00

To me the beauty of college football is in the regular season. When your team is undefeated you still have that small glimmer of hope. Many teams have started the year unranked and won the national title including the 1981 Clemson Tigers. College basketball, NBA and baseball don’t play games that matter all that much until the playoffs. Even in the NFL where games are crucial for seeding and home field are not do or die. Only one team has had an undefeated regular season since the 76 dolphins. Plus, going 14-2 usually will win you the conference and 12-4 will almost always win your division and put you in good shape for the playoffs. Or you could even go 9-7 like last year’s Packers and still win the Super Bowl.
Not in college football. You have to win every game to win it all (except the rare year a one loss team gets a shot). Every regular season game for an unbeaten team is a play-off game. So that makes the GA Tech game hurt even more. Twice now in 11 years the hated Jackets have put the kibash on an 8-0 year.
Eleven years ago it started a 1-4 finish. Hopefully the Tigers can right the ship and beat Wake. Then win in Charlotte to give the Tigers 10 wins for the first time in a long time. Here is hoping.

Tangent 1
I was just doing some internet surfing and stumbled on a story about the wonderful Iraq embassy. For a country we plan on not remaining in as an occupation force this is quite an embassy/fortress. 104 acres and its own water supply and electrical grid. Not to mention it is smack dab in the middle of Baghdad’s downtown. An eyesore and a point of contention for the Iraquis who actually want to rule themselves. It only coast 600 million dollars we can’t afford. Anyway, very interesting.

Tangent 2
Love that Kardishian couldn’t even make it three months in her marriage. I’m starting month seven and the real nightmare of marriage doesn’t start till month four. Just kidding.

ATLANTA!! WORST!!

2011-11-02T08:46:00.000-07:00

Not in mourning due to Clemson defeat, but just got busy due to basketball. First game is tonight. I am on the bus traveling through rural GA. Just passed Ogeechee Tech. Never heard of it. Thought I had heard of every college in GA. Anyway, the game Saturday was awful. I said before I love our offense being great, but it is frustrating having a below average defense. I don’t think Clemson has had a defense this average for the last five years. I don’t feel like looking it up, but it has been a little while since the defense was this mediocre. I wouldn’t fire Steele, but I would hire an “advisor” for the week of the Ga. Tech game and tell him to get some much needed rest that week. Last year they did a pretty good job of stopping the option, but the other three times he has faced it, Steele has led a defense that looked lost for most of the game. I am not a football coach, but it is rare you see 4 dbs in the game against an option attack. After the game, Steele spoke most about the big plays they gave up. I think that is the wrong approach against the option. You have to put 9 in the box and every now and then they will break through for a 30 or 40 yard gain. What kills you is giving up 4, 5, 3, 6, 5, 4. You can’t just sit back and play bend, no break. Because unlike a passing attack that can get a little stalled in the red zone or is due to turn it over if you make them throw the ball enough because of the lack of room to operate, an option attack doesn’t need space. It is just as effective on the 5 as it is at midfield. Anyway, Steele is partly to blame, but no scheme works when seven of your 11 defenders are laying on the turf after every play. Holy cut blocks! Every time they ran toss I could have been at tail back and gained at least five yards.

Not to make excuses, but I think that might have been an old fashioned shootout if Ellington plays. Probably would have had two less fumbles and his picking up of the blitz is much better than the freshies. As talented as this freshman class is it is always hard to play freshman. They always struggle with fumbles and make so many mistakes only coaches notice. Even the immaculate Sammy Watkins ran the wrong route that cost us a late TD. As a coach I will tell you sometimes the only good thing about Freshman is that they are Sophomores the next year. But, to win a lot of games in football you need to be deep.

As bad as the Tigers looked, they never did quit. The offense got it rolling, but was just derailed by a few drops and turnovers. The defense gave Clemson a chance with that interception, but did not give much resistance on the last drive.
And now onto the punt decision. Let me preface this with it would not have meant we won. In retrospect it actually worked out because the Jackets were dumb enough to put the ball in the air. All that said, it was a terrible decision. Yes 4th and 10 is a long way, but this is a vertical passing attack. I would put our chances of converting a 4th and 10 at 25 to 30%. That is a high enough percent to go for it at midfield with less than ten minutes to go in a game where you have NOT stopped the other team.

On a lighter note… Atlanta sucks for college football. No tailgating and fearing for your life most of the time. One young man ran by us and screamed, “OH YEAH!! I GOT A MOTHERF#$ING PLATE!!” We don’t know what that means but pretty bizarre. Later when negotiating with scalpers who wanted 100, I said how about 70. He turned with a lit cigarette in his gold filled mouth and said, “70 what…Dollars??” And then we walked away and stumbled later into 20 dollar tix. Had I known it was going to be that bad of game I wouldn’t have paid a dime. I like that the stadium is so old and historic, but it is a nightmare to get into from most gates and the worst part is there was no RELISH OR ONIONS for my hot dog. You pay 4 dollars for a hot dog, you expect to be graced with all the condiments a hot dog deserves. But the main reason I hate Atlanta is because Clemson has a 6 game losing streak there.
4 Tech games, Bama opener blow out and the Peach Bowl loss to Auburn.

Maybe next year the Tigers can end that streak by beating Auburn next year in the opener. More importantly the Tigers need to rest up and beat the crap out of Wake.

Tigers v. Jackets preview

2011-10-27T11:18:00.000-07:00

Today is exactly eleven years after Tampa native Gary Godsey threw a TD pass that landed 30 feet in front of me. It landed in the waiting hands of a Jacket WR with 8 seconds left and he barely got one foot down to give them the victory. Clemson was 8-0 then and has not been 8-0 until this year.

Someone commented, “Will Boyd look like crap early like Va. Tech and Maryland?” So I thought, but that is the only two road games. Surely he has looked good early in other road games. Then my friend stated, “Clemson has only played two road games and quit calling me Shirley.” This is a concern. This very young team is still not battle tested on the road. Granted at Georgia Tech is not a rough environment (at least not on the field, because the rest of Atlanta is one giant cesspool) and will probably be half full of Clemson fans, but it isn’t the friendly confines of Death Valley.

Both teams average over 40 points a game. Over anyone? I think I saw it was in the 60s. Wow. Still tempting when it is that high. Sounded to me from the little I watched of Ga Tech vs. Miami that Miami said screw reading and reacting, we are going to just fire our LBs and blow up the line. You would think that would force more stops while also giving up big plays, but it didn’t. It just forced more stops. I don’t think the Tigers will do this. I think we will see the same tentative, do I hit the QB or the RB stuttering from our Def. Ends and LBs. When in doubt hit the hell out of the QB. An option guy should get hit 20-25 times a game. That will wear on him and then he will start pitching every time. Hopefully I am wrong and Clemson will crush him, a lot. Actually I think I will count how many times he gets hit. If it is over 20 Clemson will win.

No clue on this one. I always hate the Ga Tech game. I feel like we have had more talent than them for the last two decades, but they usually play smarter and more disciplined.

Clemson 38 Tech 31

Tangent #1
The NCAA now will give $2000 to full scholarship athletes to pay for incidentals. These incidentals include laundry, going out to movies and the ever essential for the growing athlete: pot, beer and strippers. As I said before the really poor players already get a $5,500 govt. check from your hard earned tax dollars. That’s right. The Pell grant doesn’t care if you already have a full scholarship, they will still cut you a $5,500 check as long as your parents make less than 40 Gs! So now those kids will have $7,500 in walking around money. They will be one of the richest people on most college campuses. I know I never had $7,500 to spend.

Who actually benefits will be the ones from middle to low income households who do not qualify for the Pell grant. But these kids are getting a free education and for 18 years their parents had to pay to feed them, clothe them, etc.. Now all the kid really needs is like 50 bucks a month and you can’t come up with that. You have no tuition, no room, no board to pay for and you can’t come up with $50 a month. Please.

These kids walk around like the school owes them something just because they can catch a football or dunk a basketball. Yes, it probably stinks that the school and the NCAA is making a ton of money off of you, but that money gets spent on non-revenue sports at the school level and the lower Divisions at the NCAA level. I’m not going to pretend there isn’t waste and fraud in the NCAA, but that is not a reason to now pay players. They are already paid with the opportunity to earn a free degree. A degree studies show is worth on the average of a million dollars in earning potential over one’s lifetime.

Tangent #2
So I got some random email about some house bill called "Student Non-Discrimination Act," and if it gets passed the email claims:

"In fact, it will set them up to ram through their entire perverted vision for a homosexual America."

I guess they don't see the humor (or maybe they did) in using the term "ram through." Whether you agree with your classrooms being pro-gay or not is this really something that should or can be enforced at the federal level?

Heisman and Pres. Candidates - THE BOYD/PAUL TICKET

2011-10-26T15:12:00.000-07:00

So Tahj is now 4th in a lot of Heisman talk. If he keeps his numbers at this same pace and Clemson finds a way to go 13-0 then all he would need to have happen is Stanford to get beat once or twice, Bama get beat once and somehow hope either Boise loses or their QB slows down his sick pace. Basically what I am saying is all their numbers are so similar it will go to whomever leaves their team to an undefeated regular season.

The Tigers lead the nation in snaps. When I heard that one of Chad Morris' biggest goals was to have 80 snaps a game I thought that is not nearly as important as other stats. But, you can't have a lot of snaps without sustaining drives and you also need to actually run a "hurry-up" no-huddle offense. Since the departure of Rich Rodriguez the Tigers have always ran a no-huddle, but rarely a "hurry-up." Nothing was more frustrating over the last decade than watching the Clemson offense manage to get a little momentum (rare enough) going and rush to the line and then turn to the sideline while their lineman sit there wasting energy in a 3-point stance and then run an awful play. So now I understand the snap goal. Do you really think Chad is just this brilliant at halftime. Maybe he is a little, but more than that is these defenses are dead tired in the 2nd half. Research says the first thing to go for an athlete when fatigued is not speed or strength, but the brain. Defenses break down when they are tired, because they struggle to make the quick decisions needed. Thus the domination of the Tigers in the 2nd half.

What worries me is if Ga Tech can sustain drives then the Tigers will not wear down the Tech defense like they have other teams. This is the big game. If the Tigers can get to the bye week and lick their wounds they should be ready for the last three.

And time for a tangent:
Saw a great article about Dems registering as Rep. to vote for Ron Paul. They are a little pissed that Obama lied and said he would get troops out of Iraq immediately. And since Ron is the ONLY Republican candidate to pull them out of Iraq and Afghanistan and cut "Imperial" spending, he is the only choice in either party if you are anti-war.

Dr. Ron is finally saying he will not cut any money to "defense," but cut money to mantaining our empire. We will be safer if we weren't overextended. It's like basketball. If you run a full court press, you will create some turnovers (kill terrorists), but you will also give up some easy baskets (attacks on your soil). The best way to protect your basket is to get as many players in the paint or troops on your home soil. There are 10 terrorists from a country the US has a base in for every one who is from a country we are not in. There are whole books on this "blowback" principle. They don't hate us as much because of our "Western" ways, they hate us because we won't mind our own business.

Anyway, the blue republican aricle has some really good paragraphs http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robin-koerner/blue-republicans-an-idea-_b_897405.html

"As we were all having our "I'm right, you're wrong" Democratic and Republican arguments, the powers that be made themselves more powerful, and while we were arguing, we have lost most of the rights that we weren't arguing about because we took them for granted.

It is as if we have suddenly looked up from an argument at the kitchen table over which sofa we should buy for the living room, only to find out that the house has been foreclosed on and we're homeless. Sure, the issues we were arguing over were important -- but they were not the most important, nor are they now the most urgent.

As I have written elsewhere, America has been brought to its knees by a Left that has empowered the state and a Right that has subsidized big business."

Brilliant. That is why Ron Paul is actually a third party candidate. There is no difference between Obama and the other Republican knuckeheads. 9-9-9 only talks about a new way of collecting taxes, but doesn't talk about spending. Great, another beuracracy to collect your national sales tax and I'm sure every business in the country will be so on top of getting every dime to Washington. Changing the way you bring in revenue without talking about cuts is like a family in debt deciding they will change from Discover to Mastercard to pay for everything.

Everyone should quit worrying about can Ron Paul win. Someone told me all that matters is beating Obama. I used to think that, but all other of these candidates would change nothing. Any vote for them is a vote for future bankrupcy, endless war and possibley the end of the great experiment known as America. As I got older I started to really like the ideas Republicans said. That the government (especially at the federal level) is inneficient and unproductive and that people should be empowered and not enabled by the welfare state. But Republicans are in bed with big business and especially the military/govt/industrial complex. I now would never call myself a Republican. I am a conservative and until more people like Ron Paul are in the Republican party then I will stay away. I think Ron would love to run under another party, but he knows the better thing for our country is to try and push more people in his direction.

So there is very little difference between the two parties and if you are Democrat leaning, fine, stay that way. But for this one election see if you like what the old man stands for. He stands for everything Ben Franklin, GW and Thomas Jefferson does. There is a reason those men feared so much power in one place and tried to spread it around to the states. That reason is the mess we are in now.

The "Death" is back

2011-10-24T16:48:00.000-07:00

So for most of the last 20 years the home field of Clemson might have been referred to as "The Valley." Now it is starting to return to the glory days of the eighties when Clemson only lost about three home games in the whole decade and it was DEATH Valley. In the 90s three losses in a year was not impossible. Not only are the Tigers back to beating teams at home, Clemson is annihilating them. It might be too quick to change mindsets, but it is nice sitting in that stadium and not expecting the other shoe to drop. I kept saying to the person next to me that even though everyone is predicting (including me) a close game, shouldn't we just beat the crap out of this team. I had said something like 55 to 10 at the tailgate. Well, if the Clemson secondary would quit giving up those huge plays and if Spencer Benton was in there to crack skulls on the kick off it would have been 55 to 10. Dabo has changed the culture on the team in one short year and also with the fan base. Fans have grown to expect great half time adjustments or just that the fast paced offense will wear down the defense. Whatever it is, most of the 79,000 in attendance are believing and most importantly the 85 scholarship athletes are believing. "Honk, Honk! Either get on the Dabo band wagon or get out of the way, because I am driving it again!" For those wondering, I didn't just start driving the original wagon, but have up upgraded to a nicer model.

I love that we were recruiting a big time Off. Tackle from NC and decided to bring him down for the UNC game. His last four choices were UNC, NC St, USC and Clemson. Based on his other three choices I question if you even want a kid considering those waste lands, but I do love that Dabo and Jeff Scott said, "Okay, you are considering UNC. How 'bout you come down Oct. 22nd. We will get you some booze and women and you can watch us beat the ever loving crap out of UNC." Just kidding Dabo would never use booze and women to recruit. By the end of the game, the young man was coming to Clemson. There is something in those hills. If you can just get a kid on campus they can feel it. Of course there is a lot more in those hills when you have 59 on the scoreboard in the 3rd quarter!

A few questions to consider:
Does anyone else feel like buying ACC Championship tickets is the ultimate kiss of death?

Does anyone wonder why Terry Don hasn't already offered Chad a boat load of money to stay? (I hate to jump on that band wagon after only 8 games, but holy crap this offense has been scary good.)

Does Steele just watch the Miami/Ga Tech film on loop or does he take the Clemson plane down to South Beach and beg their DC for advice?

Is there any uglier color than Carolina Blue? (Remember that Chad Morris, when they offer you the head job here in two months. Stay at Clemson and help build something special or head to Chapel Hell and be Roy Williams little b$%ch?)

Is it my fault I forget sun screen when it is 30 degrees when you start tailgating?

Can you really not talk about Tahj Boyd for Heisman at this point? (We will see. I heard Ron Paul called Tahj to discuss the heart ache that comes from the media ignoring you when you are a deserving candidate.) Oops, did I just slip Ron Paul into this Blog.

How many times will I have to type Dabo on here before this Blog's spell check realizes it's not an accident I am typing the letters Dabo?

Any of the answers to these questions would be greatly appreciated on the comments below. These are very pressing matters folks!!

UNC Preview

2011-10-20T19:13:00.000-07:00

Our first full length stop clock exhibition was Wednesday. It went pretty well. As a junior college we did pretty well to hang around with a four year school. I love when refs come over and they are kind of too into the moment and a little adrenaline is going and they talk to our head coach and say things like, “What you got to do is know that when you say it, then we gotta roll with it. I hear you and that is the end of it. No need to harp on it cause we are gonna roll.” “Huh?” says our coach, “I wasn’t even yelling at you about anything.” Then later in the game another one says, “Coach that is enough.” Again coach says I wasn’t even talking to you. Reply: “It’s a package deal. Package deal.”

On the way up was even more interesting. I can’t stand modern rap, but I figured instead of eight black players in anguish as Toby Keith sings about patriotism it is better that only one white person is appalled by songs centered solely on drugs, murdering and quickies. The first song had a great line: “She so cool she gives ___ with her shades on.” I’ll let you fill in the blank and it wasn’t gifts if that was your first guess. Next song had the chorus, “I aint lookin for love, I just want a quickie. I don’t want no hickey, I just want a quickie.” Those are words to live by. I put something similar in my wedding vows. Not to be outdone by the wonderful wisdom of: “I’m out there gettin it, so of course I’m spendin it.” I wanted to reach through the radio and tell him to buy some silver! We mock rappers sometimes for their ridiculous expenditures, but right now with the inevitable crash of the dollar the smartest thing to do is probably to buy gold chains.

As for Clemson, last week was a crazy roller coaster ride. The Tiger defense is by no means good, even though Brian Griese kept saying, “Wow, Maryland is torching this very good Clemson defense.” What they are is opportunistic and have made enough plays to allow a great offense to win games. Yes, they were very good at Virginia Tech and for a half against Auburn, but I would say the defense is average to above average. That said, I expect them to hold UNC in the twenties. Maybe they won’t. Again, I’m not in the prediction business especially this season. Of course it could always be your trap game with Georgia Tech a week away. Who knows? Clemson could win by 40 or lose.

Plyler had a great blog on Wed. Every year, ESPN in an effort to self promote a college playoff they would make a ton of money off of, claims the world is caving in. This will be such an injustice to Clemson and Stanford if all 8 teams go undefeated. Plyler showed that in the last nine seasons 79 teams were undefeated after Week 7, yet only 23 went into the bowl games undefeated. And only Auburn went undefeated out of a BCS automatic qualifier conference and still denied a title shot. Did you know Boise has had an undefeated regular season four of the last seven years? I am surprised the entire state of Idaho hasn’t petitioned Congress to help them get a play off.

I wouldn’t mind the top four playing a quick playoff, but the thought of eight or 16 just doesn’t do it for me. How awesome is the Bama-LSU game going to be? How about the Okl.-OSU game? Neither of those games would matter nearly as much if eight got in. College football is the only sport left with a regular season that matters. Clemson probably doesn’t go undefeated, but every game on their 12/13 game schedule is a national championship semifinal game. Any loss and they are out. That is what makes it great. A college football playoff would be great, but what we have now is pretty darn good. I think four would be good because I hate the idea of an undefeated team being left out. Any one loss team has no beef because they should not have lost. Hopefully Clemson can eclipse mine and Vegas' season win total by only Week 8.

Clemson 34
UNC 23

Ronnie

2011-10-19T07:05:00.000-07:00

All right. So I will try and keep this short and not preach. Our debt is out of control. Anybody with a 5th grade math education and an internet hook-up can tell that. It is 14.7 trillion and going up 4 billion a day. No candidate for the Republican primary is talking about any real cuts except one, Ron Paul. Some talk about vauge cuts over the next ten years, but in ten years the dollar will be about as valuable as Stephen Garcia's draft stock. Some of the candidates even talk of a war with Iran. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have, most importantly, cost us over 6,000 soldier's lives and over 32,000 wounded. The cost financially is already at least 2.3 trillion and probably at least another trillion over the next 50 years caring for our wounded veterans. A war with Iran would cost at least as much in human lives and financially. Anyone who suggests that is a good plan of action is dilusional or in bed with defense contractors and probably both.

I know I sound like a hippie in the 60s but these wars aren't wars of defense. If some country showed up on our shores and attacked us I would be all for fighting them until the last one was dead. But, the fighting over there only creates more terrorists. Sept. 11th was awful and revenge was on everyone's mind. But every attacker but one was from Saudi Arabia, so we attack Iraq and Afghanistan? The reason they were from Saudi is because terrorists are ten times more likely to be from a country where the US has a military presence. They hate us over there! Does that justify Sept. 11th? No. But it tells you that after the attack people like Bin Laden were hoping we would attack and help his recruitment. We did and it has.

You may not agree with the fact that leaving the Middle East would actually make us safer. You may think they will always hate us no matter what we do (even though in the early part of this century the US was well respected in the region). But, look some stuff up for yourselves. Don't just let the media tell us it's the only way. Besides whether you agree with the war or not, we can't afford it. This is the best and only way to make quick spending cuts that would not hurt anyone and even save a few lives.

Today is a big day for Ron Paul. He is being ignored by the media, because he is the only person for real change and change scares the rich folks bank rolling TV channels. So today he is trying a grass roots movement to collect so much money he cannot be ignored. If you like/love Ron Paul (and truly feel he is the only hope for our struggling country) then please give him money. If you don't know anything about him go to his website: www.ronpaul2012.com. Search his name on you tube. Watch the Jon Stewart interview. It is hilarious. His views may seem shocking at first, because we have gone so far down the wrong road that correct principles seem foreign and crazy. His principles are the same as guys named Washington, Jefferson, Franklin and Madison. He isn't crazy. Crazy is this massive debt. But, please don't let me decide for you. Don't let the media decide for you. Don't let anyone convince you he can't win. Cain is rocketing up and he stands for nothing really. People are dying for an intelligent, principled leader who will do what is best for our country. Not what's best for his cronies, his pocket book or his political party.

Maryland review

2011-10-17T08:10:00.001-07:00

Again, Saturday showed why I don't spend much time predicting. I doubt anyone would have predicted 100 points would be put on the board. When Maryland plays Clemson in basketball there probably won't be that many points on the board. At halftime I still felt secure about the Tigers ability to come back. Then when the Tigers went down 38 to 24 late in the 3rd I didn't think we would stop them enough to make a come back. Wasn't too worried about the offense, but the D gave no inkling of getting a stop. But they made enough. Within nine minutes the Tigers went from down 11 with the ball on their own 30 to up 4. Then they added two more touchdowns in the next seven minutes. Pretty explosive bunch.

Somebody made a comment that Sammy had a great game when you forget about his kick return to the 30. I sure as heck didn't forget about that. With a team that looked totally unready to play and a defense playing awful AND a QB looking terrible I remember that kick return very well. If Tahj had to start that drive on his own 20 he may have continued to pee all over himself, but with the great field position he was able to loosen up a little and Clemson was able to score using mostly Ellington. The kick return was bigger than the one he housed in the second half. In the second half the Tigers probably score either way.

As much as Chad Morris seems to be a brilliant OC, it was still frustrating early on in the game. After the first drive of 10 rushes for 90 yards and only one pass for five yards, he starts the second drive with an ugly Boyd incompletion and a 22 yard run by Ellington. What would you do next? Three straight incompletions. Maryland's d line was awful. Run it down their throat. Next drive: 4 yard run followed by pick 6. I had no faith in Tahj at that point, but he came back and looked great in the second half.

Tigernet gives us these little tidbits:
*This was the second greatest comeback in Clemson history and just the second time in history that the Tigers have overcome an 18-point or more deficit. Clemson overcame a 28-0 deficit to defeat Virginia 29-28 in Charlottesville on Oct. 10, 1992.

*Clemson also overcame a 14-point deficit against Auburn. This 2011 team is the only team in Clemson history to overcome two deficits of 14 points or more in a season.

Very resillient bunch. Had to overcome early turnovers. The defense not showing up. Sadly, that effort against a better opponent would have ended in a butt whipping. Being a second half team is good, but you can't just play awful for a half. Hopefully, the Tigers put two halves together against UNC.

Sophomore slump and Maryland preview

2011-10-14T05:58:00.001-07:00

What is the deal with a Sophomore slump? It makes no sense. Usually a player makes his biggest jump in production from his freshman to his sophomore year. They adjust to the speed of the game, they get in the weight room and they have more familiarity with their coaches, teammates and the system. So freshman with average years can come back and be good to great their sophomore year. You might not see much improvement after the sophomore year, but there is a big jump after the freshman year. This is the reason the red-shirt is such an effective tool for mid-major basketball programs. They realize you get very little out of most true freshman, so they red-shirt almost all of them and then do damage in March with a ton of fourth year juniors or fifth year seniors.

But for some reason when a player has a great freshman year, there is a significant amount of players who take a dump on themselves their sophomore year.

Two examples of each case are the QBs at Clemson and Maryland. Holy crap, has Tahj Boyd improved from his freshman year (all be it a red-shirt freshman year). This, after a freshman year where even in his limited action he looked very inaccurate and confused. Plus, you would like to hope if he was this good last year in practice he would have unseated Kyle Parker (another soph slump guy).

Maryland had Freshman Danny O'Brien at QB last year and threw for over 200 yards per game and 22 TDs with eight picks. This year he is throwing for less than 150 yards per game, only four TDs and already has six interceptions through six games. He may not even get the start Sat. in favor of fellow Soph. C.J. Brown. Two programs going in totally different directions mainly because of the play of the QB.

Of course there is always more factors to consider. Is Tahj that much better or is it mostly due to Chad Morris' system? Would anybody look great throwing to NFL WR Sammy Watkins, NFL possibility Nuke Hopkins and NFL TE Dwayne Allen? Did he just work his butt off in the summer? Was he pretty good last year, but just didn't get a chance to settle in (I don't think this one is true)? Is there film on O'Brien now, so defenses know his tendencies? Is the new OC at Maryland much more a Napier and the old one more like a Morris? Did the fear of Ralph Friedgen eating him for a halftime snack help motivate O'Brien to greatness? These are all questions very difficult to answer.

What I do know is Maryland is a dangerous place. Playing at night will help. The crowd will be slightly louder, but that is much less of a fear than the Tigers sleep walking through a day game. I've been to Byrd, crowd noise will only be a factor on a few 3rd downs. Weather isn't too much of a factor. Low 60s but very windy. It is a misconception that wind effects a throwing team. Wind effects the crappier QB. A guy who throws a tight spiral is not effected very much by the wind (I should know, I was an Intramural Quarterback, haha). Look at Jim Kelly and Brett Favre. They were amazing in bad conditions because they threw tight spiral lasers. Hopefully Jim Kelly's son (heading to Clemson) will do the same. Anyway, Tigers will be in more of a fight than fans would like and hopefully Tahj isn't jumpy with his new hip injury. (BTW - he was not wearing a hip pad when he got injured! WTF - why weren't you wearing a hip pad? Apparently, all Dabo kept saying over and over was "Why the hell aren't you wearing a hip pad?") Tigers will hopefully prevail to move to 7 dash 0.

Clemson 30
Maryland 20

BC and other observations

2011-10-12T07:12:00.000-07:00

Finally got to watch the replay. Had a long day of scrimmages in Tallahassee for my basketball team on Saturday, so didn't see it live. They did well. Glad I didn't see Tahj's injury live. Would have been brutal. Looked like a textbook torn ACL injury and a guy who has already had one of those. Sammy looked like his typical disgusting self even though defenses are keeping him out of the end zone. He is due for pay dirt a couple of times against Maryland. Cole Stoudt looks more athletic than I thought he would be and is a servicable back-up, but to win the ACC he needs to stay a back-up. Sounds like Tahj will play so all is right in the Clemson football universe.

Andre did not get many holes on the inside, but that is BC's M.O. That inside LB Keuchly is sick nasty. He is probably the only guy on BC who will play on Sundays. His coach says he is like Urlacher. People don't realize Urlacher was so fast he played a lot of safety and LB in college. Even though he played at New Mexico, I saw him play live at UCF against the immortal Dante Culpepper. He was all over the field. I don't think Keuchly is Urlacher good, but he will play on Sundays.

Tig Willard and Andre Branch are starting to look like the playmakers the defense needs. Getting Anthony back healthy will help. Branch must talk crap to the refs, because they hate him. He barely touched the 250 lb Va Tech QB and got a flag and against BC he was already airborne when the QB threw and still was hit with a roughing the passer. That call was a joke. It was Clemson's first penalty leading to this exchange.

Me: Wow, we are well coached. Just really well coached.
Wife: Beep, Beep! (Implying I am again driving the Dabo band wagon)
Me: No, that is more an assessment of the offensive and defensive coordinators. (But, yes I am back driving the Dabo Doubledecker band wagon! Come on board, it's a fun ride.)

But, it is true. They look really well coached this season. When I am looking at football programs to see if they are well coached I think four things stand out.
1. Turnovers
2. Special Teams
3. Penalties
4. Are they prepared to play every Saturday regardless of oppenent or location

The first three Clemson has looked great.
The fourth one I would say Clemson is 5 for 6, with the team not looking ready to play against Wofford (at least defensively).

How fun is it to see Clemson's name pop up all the time nationally. Right now they are saying #7 in the BCS. Lot's of fun. Hopefully it continues.

Finally had an accurate prediction last Saturday. Yeah for me. I hate that you can just throttle BC up and down the field and the score never indicates that. But a win is a win is a win. Next up, Terps.

Clemson stuff and Junior College Randomness

2011-10-07T12:00:00.000-07:00

Alumni Giving
So, while I was getting a call from the alumni office at Georgia College (who does a great job of politely hounding me for money), I checked on Clemson's alumni giving rate. It is 25th in the nation at 28%. The school gets credit if you even donate $5, so if any alumni are reading this I recommend giving at least a little. If for nothing else because we are tied for 25th with GA Tech and who can stand GA Tech. I didn't give for the longest, because I didn't believe in Parker's Top 20 initiative, but I figure what the heck, he is going to be there a while whether I give or not. Plus, I gave half to scholarships and half to the West End Zone project. So you can indirectly give to athletics. I wonder if IPTAY giving counts for alumni giving?

Best stories lately from the junior college realm:
1. Was doing room checks looking for safety issues such as plastic lamps and toaster ovens and if I happen to notice more dangerous safety items such as hand guns then I would probably note that too. One of the rooms had a huge box of extra large magnum condoms. Right next to that and actually touching the box was the holy bible.

2. Another juxtaposition is our student body. Almost all our on campus students are black. Almost all our commuter students are white. Our on campus putzes can be seen throwing oranges into the swimming pool, while our commuters can be seen wearing T-shirts "Does my lip stick match my four wheeler?" Actually saw that shirt today.

Other Random thought
I love that Fox News is complaining about a few "green" companies the government gave loans to and then failed. Why is the issue that a few of these didn't work. The issue should be the federal government should not loan money to a company. How does the federal govt. who is $14.83 trillion dollars in debt lend money to anyone? That debt is incomprehensible. This is a little easier to wrap your head around, that debt is $180,037 per family. And it is growing a ton. The debt goes up ONE MILLION every 35 seconds. So when you watch a college basketball game, every time the shot clock goes off you know your country just went ONE MILLION more dollars in debt. Lovely. Check out this website for a quick look: http://www.usdebtclock.org/

Random thoughts and BC

2011-10-07T10:25:00.000-07:00

ESPN is so ridiculous. They have no backbone. So Hank Williams Jr said Obama and House Speaker John Boehner golfing is like Hitler and Netanyahu playing golf. Let's ignore the fact that Hitler died in 1945 and Netanyahu was born in 1949. I guess the fact that one is Jewish and the other wasn't too fond of Jewish folks is what he was going for. Of course everybody says he compares Obama to Hitler, because that makes for better news.

I love that Hank said it was a dumb statement and sorry it offended, but also said ESPN stomped on his first ammendment privaleges by pulling his song. He said: "I have made MY decision . . . Me, My Song, and All My Rowdy Friends are OUT OF HERE." ESPN had every right to pull him and Hank has every right to fire ESPN. He will probably get picked up by NBC next year for Sunday night football.

This is just like when ESPN fired Rush Limbaugh because he commented on the most overrated QB of the last 20 years, Donavon McNabb, ""Sorry to say this, I don't think he's been that good from the get-go," Limbaugh said. "I think what we've had here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. There is a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he didn't deserve. The defense carried this team."

At no point did Rush say anything that probably wasn't happening. Anyway, they let him go and they are so soft on anything. ESPN is just a 24 hour commercial for itself. Gameday doesn't go to the best game, they go to the best game on ABC/ESPN. Sports center focuses on sports they carry like the god awful WNBA.

One of the things ESPN does right is Dr. Lou. As much as most of us can't stand his Gamecockness (and once you have it, you can't get rid of it...it's like herpes), I still love his segment Dr. Lou. He was asked, "What is the biggest change from coaching today's players and the players of 40 years ago?" He is THAT old. He said, "The same change in all of society. Everybody now wants to scream about their rights and privileges, when 40 years ago we talked more about our duties and responsibilities." I coach and 9 times out of 10, if a kid gives up a bucket it is because A.his teammate didn't call out a screen B.someone else should have helped or C. someone was supposed to switch with him. Rarely does a kid say, "I'll just do better next time." I'm guilty of it too. I come up with five excuses in my head for why I didn't get something done. As I get older, I try to supress those thoughts and think about how I can just do better next time.

As for BC...
I can't stand that program. I can't stand they are 4-2 against Clemson since entering the ACC. They have no business in the ACC geographically or athletically and Clemson fails to prove that. Even with NFL QB Matt Ryan, at no time did BC have more talent than Clemson. They play smarter and possibly better coached. I was there last year in Chestnut Hill for the embarassing defeat that was the beginning of the end for the 2010 Tigers and for OC Billy Napier. At no point was the crowd a factor. This is also something frustrating for Tiger fans. The only very difficult venues to play in the whole ACC are Clemson, FSU and Va Tech. Maybe UVA, UNC and NC St can be somewhat tough when they are going good. I'll reserve judegement because I have not been there. Duke and Wake are the only other ACC stadiums I have not been to, but I know they are lame. Miami is not as tough you would think.

Anyway, as for Saturday Clemson should romp. Enough with the, "Do they have anything left in the tank?" Most of these kids are teenagers. Do you remember ever being tired when you were a teenager. It is Dabo's job to get these guys up for EVERY game, not just the big ones. That is where Tommy Bowden failed. He believed it was the player's job to motivate himself. This is true to a point, but a coach needs to express the importance of giving maximum effort regardless of opponent. I think Dabo is pretty good at that. He says it's only 12 Saturdays a year. If you can't get up 12 times in a year, something is wrong with you. As much as he will try though, the Tigers will have a little drop off. That said, a drop off still better mean the BC offense only scores at most 17 points. It is a high school offense.
(5-0) Clemson 34 (1-4) BC 17
I had us at 2-3 at this point and still going 7-5, so hopefully Clemson can go at least 5-2 down the stretch.

4th Quarter

2011-10-06T07:14:00.000-07:00

14:14 to go. I swear if Clemson even gets a field goal her they win. Come on boys.

13:36 Get Sammy the ball!!! Daddy wants another shot

13:19 Nice drive. Three and out. Gosh dang it. End this!!!

12:24 Said Beamer ball for the first time, but then said it again 5 seconds later. That is two shots at once. Another awful call. Very clean block called illegal.

11:35 This game is no where near over.

10:55 Who is #12? Great play! Oh, yeah is the true freshman.

10:12 Kick the field goal Beamer. You are not getting a 4th and 4.

9:36 YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

8:40 Just run the football and punt it

8:15 CLEMSON, quit snapping the damn ball with 20 on the play clock

7:15 “When does the clock really become Va Tech enemy?” Ummmmm 5 minutes ago!

6:05 YEEEEESSSSS!!! Holy crap this is fun!! TD for Bellamy puts Tigers up 23-3

And no more notes for the last six minutes. Why?!?! Because I was hammered (totaled 7 shots over the course of the 2nd-4th quarters) and calling every Clemson fan I know. Needless to say, I was feeling pretty good. Shouting into the phone on every play. What a great win for the Tigers. Largest margin of victory over a ranked opponent on the road. Most importantly 2-0 in the ACC and FSU is 0-1. I liked that the defense did not let a bad quarterback beat them. They came up and stuffed the run for the most part and forced a bad QB to make a play.

Today's victory brought to you by Jamison. It's PAWsitively delicious.

This is of course the most fun I've had following Clemson since 2000. Of course that year Clemson was 8-0 going into the Ga Tech game and it all came crashing down. Not to jump ahead, because Maryland and UNC are not gimmees, but Clemson could possibly go into Atlanta with both teams 8-0 and both ranked in the top 10. It kills me to root for the Rambling Wreck, but both teams at 8-0 would be great for exposure and for the whole ACC. Here's hoping.

While searching for a Jamison picture I spotted this one, couldn't get it any bigger, but visit the link. I think that's me, but I don't remember wearing that hoodie.
http://compare.ebay.com/like/320556769937?var=lv<yp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar

2011-10-05T10:00:00.000-07:00

HALFTIME Just showed the pail right before the third quarter. That’s a shot. Still no BEAMER BALL reference. Has he not earned the respect of ESPN. He is only down 7 with a QB who probably wouldn’t start at Byrnes HS.

13:44 Va Tech RB Wilson scares the crap out of me. He is a more powerful CJ Spiller.

13:10 Great open field tackle by Tig Willard. Second of that series. I love that kid!!

12:55 Seven yard punt by the punter. Ummmm. Opposite of Beamer Ball.

12:32 We are about to break this Sh%$ wide open.

10:42 And we just did. Big throw to D. Allen. 17-3 TIGERS!!!! HELL YEAH!!! ANOTHER SHOT!!! MIGHT GET UGLY UP IN HERE!!
Announcer: “Tahj Gibson’s 13th TD” Who the F is Tahj Gibson?

10:42 I LOVE THE COFFIN CORNER KICKOFFS!! Very close to being out of bounds and their ball at the 40 though..

10:36 Good, get pass happy Va Tech. you win if you give the ball to Wilson. Logan sucks a ton.

9:42 Another blown call. No interference. FIRE RON CHERRY!! I CAN”T STAND HIM. HIS CREW CALLS EVERYTHING!! HE IS AWFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

8:55 Just announced Breeland will not return. Shocker. He got knocked more silly than Lady Gaga costume.

8:01 TACKLE!!!! WR screen on 2nd and 20 and could have been tackled for only a two yard gain, yet a Hokie gained 15.

7:44 3rd and 1! Yeah!!! That’s right!!! PUNT THE BALL!!!! Apparantly Mike O’Cain is like Mike Spense and doesn’t want his best players in there on the most important plays. Little known fact. Mike O’Cain has a scalding hot daughter. She worked at Monterays when he was Clemson’s OC. Ignore the fact she was 17 at the time.

6:20 Score on this drive and the game is over.

5:31 Of course you don’t get a first down. Called J and here was my quote when Sammy didn’t get the 3rd and 3, “Get it, come un F%$%, D%$# it, what the hell, Get thD%$# first down!!” He got off the phone soon after.

5:05 MEEKS!! Big pass break up. Defense was realing.

4:11 ANDRE BRANCH!! PLAY OF THE GAME. It’s over now. Tigers are going to drive here to put it away!!
Watching bama f up a td play. My quote, “You are a joke of human being. You are an embarrassing a%$hole!”

3:19 Clemson drives here and scores they win. Uhhhhh. 1st down loss of 6!! D$%% it! Anyone notice how much more I curse with some booze in me.

0:44 Wilson almost had a 2 and 25, but gained 15!! I am so scared of him. Sick athlete.

0:00 One more quarter. Up 14. Don’t F this up. This is your time TIGERS!! Lot of explanation points when I booze too.

COME ON!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOLD ON!!!! DON’T PLAY NOT TO LOSE!! (Editor’s note: I would change this double negative, but it’s funny).

2nd Quarter

2011-10-04T09:46:00.000-07:00

13:21 Can anyone catch a FREAKING FOOTBALL. That would be our fourth drop. Boyd is putting a lot of tough throws on the money. Somebody make a play!!

11:16 IT’S ABOUT TO BE 3RD AND TEN AND THEY CALL ANDRE BRANCH FOR A GENTLE SHOVE ON THE QB OUT OF BOUNDS. I LUCKILY THREW A BLANKET. IT WAS THE FIRST THING I COULD FIND. THIS IS THE WORST CREW IN THE COUNTRY!

10:44 That was disappointing. On 3rd and 16 three Tigers waited at the first down marker to hit the QB. I know he is big, but you have to attack.

9:344 Big stop for the D. Va Tech special teams is down. Perfect punt to down on the one and the guy runs into the endzone with it. Thus the lack of Beamer ball comments. Changing rules: Half shot on every Sammy catch and/or Clemson score. GO SAMMY!!

9:02 Couldn’t find hat. Remembered I threw it during personal foul tirade. Found it under coffee table. Life is good. Need my lucky shirt and hat on at all times.

8:24 Bad pick!! Don’t throw at the all-american!!

7:25 D is stuffing the run. That is huge. (That’s what she said).
Beamer says I can keep doing this after all these years because, “We recruit great kids.” Really Frank. Vick runs a dog fighting ring. Deangolo Hall just complained his head coach was to blame for calling a blitz even though his ass was the one that got roasted on a game winning play.
If Va Tech gives the ball to Wilson every play they probably win. Put 9 in the box!!

4:44 Good timeout by Tigers. 3rd and goal at the 2. I think you have to sell out on the run and hope they don’t pass. If they do pass they aint very good at it. What will they do…..uh they will jump. Now 3rd and 7. Probably pass, but draw scares me.

4:35 FG attempt for Va Tech. Watch fake!! BEAMER BALL!! If I say it do I get to drink? It’s good. No fake. And Sammy with no catches in the second quarter? I can’t get my drink on!!

4:00Boyd rattled after pick. Two straight awful throws. 3rd and 10

3:44 Ellington finally catches a ball and picks up a huge 3rd down. Biggest block in the back not called.

3:04 Watkins not nearly as dominate when there are great athletes on the other side of the ball. He is still very good. It is only a matter time.
Half shot for me!!! Huge 3rd and 8 catch for Sammy!!

1:48 HALF SHOT!! TD!! ANDRE!! RUN IT DOWN THERE THROATS TIGERS!!!
Not that anyone cares, but clicked over and the Tampa Bay Rays lead 1-0 early. Great night thus far.
Is there any better jingle than “NAPPA KNOW HOW! NNNNNAPPA KNOW HOW!” I don’t think so.
And you do care about this! Gamecocks lose!! To the same team Clemson shellacked at home.
Please cover this kick!! They do and get a three and out.

1:11 Tahj still a little jumpy. Not on the money right now. Missed Nuke on a big gainer.Go deep here on 3rd and 1! Wuss. Took the Qb keeper.

0:30 Another Clemson ad. Oh my God!! They keep getting worse. I thought Raw Raw Research was the worst ever, but now Clemson is one spirit and say “Bring It On”. Really. We quoted a cheerleading movie.

At half up 7. I’ll take that. Our QB and our protection will improve. Their QB is just bad. Clemson has been a pretty good 2nd half team and I think it will be okay.
Enough with the Freaking first time ever we would beat a ranked teams for the 3rd straight week like we are pathetic for not doing it. Note to ESPN, no ACC team has ever done it. Very few teams have probably ever done it.

VA TECH!!!

2011-10-03T10:08:00.000-07:00

What a great picture!! We know your agony #20, but now it is your turn.

Decided to do a running commentary of the game Saturday. Holy crap what a win! Now the defense is showing signs of life.

Earlier today: Was scanning the TV for the early games and found Air Force v. Navy. Then came to channel 4. They have Jason Aldean (very good country artist) singing one of his best songs, but the changed the words like Monday Night Football to fit the game. Was getting pretty excited, little bit of goose bumps and then…. Wake Forest versus Boston College…. Oh yeah!! Wow that is a great game.

Pre game notes - I am going to take a shot every time the announcers say “Beamer Ball” or show Bud Foster’s stupid lunch pail.

Hate when we wear all white on the road. Looks like we are wearing long johns.

14:56 Oh, my god RON CHERRY!! He might be the worst official in the nation. Sidebar: At the Clemson/FSU game in '09 Ron made an awful holding call or as I like to just call it a Cherry. As soon as he did it, I yelled, "Ron Cherry, you co@#sucker!" Not proud of it and my buddy leaned over and said, "you can't say co$%sucker in this section." Kids everywhere, but I just can't stand him as an official.
PUBLIC ENEMY #1

Ron is off to his usual start. Easily could have called running into the punter, but called the personal foul. First down Clemson.

13:00 1st Great start. Back to back three and outs. Three dropped passes. That’s more than the whole season thus far. Clemson is handling the cold weather just great.

12:35 1st Va Tech just going to spread the field and RUN!!
10:12 1st Temperature drops below 50 and nobody can catch!! Unbelievable. Pick for Clemson on a dropped slant that my sisters would have caught.

8:43 1st Great coverage on a punt. Watching Va Tech return a punt gives me the same feeling when I am up on a tall building. Total and utter fear!

6:14 Huge play. Clemson forces a fumble and returns it to the 3. But wait, a flag. Hold on Andre Branch. On the replay it shows Andre just deck someone and lay on top of him. Oh, Ron Cherry!! NO big deal, just a 56 yard penalty.

5:30 Ron Cherry on my screen again. He is getting more air time than Talhj Boyd. That is not a good thing.
Ellington’s second drop. Can’t throw to him anymore.

5:26 Holy crap! A faked bubble screen that is perfectly thrown. That will help the screen game later.

4:28 Sammy with another BIG TIME catch!! It’s nice having an NFL receiver as a freshman.

2:12 Cat Man made a FG!! You couldn’t have slipped one of Sammy Watkins dread locks between the ball and the upright. Looked way right off his foot. 7 would have been nice but points are always good. Gotta stack the box and make the Va Tech QB beat you.

1:50 Holy huge hit on the kickoff. Too bad the Clemson guy Breeland took all of the impact. He is concussed and will not return I would bet.

:50 1st Big three and out. D is flying around. Va Tech surprisingly has a terrible punter and only nets 30. And a good TE drag for a 1st down. End of the quarter. Dominated by the Tigers, yet only 3 to 0. No references to Beamer ball. Taking a shot anyway!

2nd Quarter tomorrow, 3rd Wed, and 4th Thurs.
Just to forewarn, the writing deteriates as Clemson improves!!

Something in these hills

2011-09-30T09:22:00.000-07:00

So, instead of talking about what to expect in Blacksburg, because I don’t know, I wanted to go another direction. Instead of talking about the keys (as ALWAYS they will be turnovers and special teams), I want to talk about the greatness of Clemson as a place.

Joe Sherman does a better job than me:
“There is something in these hills that brings together and binds together and holds together men and women of all persuasions, of all heights, sizes, weights, and cultural backgrounds - something that cuts across every difference, spans every gap, penetrates every wall - something that makes a man or a woman stand taller, feel better and say with a high pride to all within earshot, "I went to Clemson."
There is something in these hills that you and I can't define and others can't understand. A wave of warmth always surges through me when "outsiders" say, "I don't know what it is about you Clemson people, but your undying love for Clemson is admired by everyone I know."

There's something in these hills and I suspect that's what it is - the ability of an institution through the unending dedication and greatness of its people - its administration, its faculty, its staff, its students and alumni - to impart to all it touches a respect, an admiration, an affection that stands firm in disquieting times when things around it give impressions of coming unglued.
Yes, there's something in these hills where the Blue Ridge yawns its greatness.”
That’s only half the poem and if you went to Clemson and haven’t read the whole thing in a while, I highly recommend.

The point is I was wandering around on Friday and the campus was its usual gorgeous self, the weather was amazing and I wanted to grab each student walking by and shake them and make them understand, “Never take this for granted!! This is the greatest four to eight years of your life!! You will never have this much free time again!! You will never have this little responsibility!! You will hopefully never be this poor again, but who cares!!”

This from a person who loves his job and loves his new wife (at least for now) and can’t complain about anything (other than the sad state of our federal govt.). All that said, my years at Clemson were AWESOME!! I lived with three of my best friends and a kegerator. It doesn’t get much better than that.

A few recent stories as well to show the awesomeness of the place. I got my diploma reframed after it took a tumble off the shelf. They quoted me 60 to do the etched glass again. I get there and she sees the picture is scratched up. Get’s me a new picture. Has to do more matting to make it fit and then charges me $50. I got more stuff and it was less than the quote.

Friends of ours were sold fake tickets by a scalper (obviously not a Clemson local) and the athletic department was nice enough to give them free tickets.
Speaking of free tickets, Clemson gave free tickets to anyone from FL that year hurricanes kept destroying that state, so my parents got four free tickets.
Got a burger, fries and a pint of yuengling for $5 at TDs. It’s as if this town is stuck in the 70s with its prices.

Last April, I was rolling through Clemson and had some time to kill, so I marched up to Dabo’s office and asked him if, as a fellow coach, I could ask him some questions about running a program and recruiting. He took 15 minutes of his day to sit down with me and answer some questions. That is pretty awesome.

It is a wonderful place. It puts me in a good mood just being there. I have nothing but fond memories of my time there, except for the heart wrenching football defeats and the entire Larry W. Shyatt era I had to endure. I made a ton of lifelong friends and memories. If you’ve never been, I highly recommend a trip. If you have been, I highly recommend you get up there for a game this year, because there is something in those hills. Hopefully an ACC Championship is added to those hills this year too.

Oh yeah, and:
Va Tech 30 Clemson 27

But what the hell do I know? Usually the optimist that is wrong, now I am the other
way and loving it!!
Also, enough with all the scary defensive stats from Va. Tech. Their d is probably pretty good, but it won't be top 5 at the end of the year. If it was a great d, they would be #1 in every stat, because no big boy school has played an easier schedule than Va Tech. No one.

What a fall so far?

2011-09-29T07:20:00.001-07:00

So the Rays make the playoffs in thrilling fashion. My fantasy team "The Fighting Ron Pauls" is 2nd out of 12 teams. My Bengals bet (1-2)is looking okay needing them to lose at least 10. And most importantly (well, the bet is pretty important) is the fact that Clemson is 4-0 and not your normal playing of patsies 4-0.

The Rays are such a clutch franchise. Always seem to come up with the big hit when they need to. How wonderful was it to watch the great defensive outfielder and former Ray Carl Crawford fall on his face instead of throwing out the winning run for the Red Sox. This to cap off a pathetic year in which his On Base Percentage was only .289 and hit only 11 HRs and only 18 stolen bases. He can run like the wind and only stole 18 bases? Scott Van Pelt opposite Stuart Scott's ridiculous bow tie said "Tonight is why sports are better than anything else...always."

All these great games and I was already going to think up a list of greatest Clemson games since the turn of the century. Here's the thing though. I'm going to list them in their greatness at that moment. Not looking back, but their greatness when they happened. Of course, sadly, in retrospect none of these wins were very big, but many of them were exciting when they happened. This list was harder to compile than I thought. Not because there are that many wins, but because there are so many factors, exciting finish, beating ranked opponent or big rival, could lead to ACC title (never does!). Anyway here goes:

Honorable Mention
2001 at NC St. 45-37 Woodrow Dantzler probably played the greatest game a QB can play. Look up his stats. It's gross.

2003 Peach Bowl Tenn 27-14 Domination of a SEC opponent

2005 Texas A@M 25-24 Great game to start year. Kicker actually made kicks, 6 of them!!

2007 at So. Car. 23-21 Last second drive and kick for the win.

Drum roll please.....
10. 2011 #21 Auburn 38-24 They may be average this year, but they were national champs last year and they were up 21-7.

9. 2003 at So. Car. 63-17 Always nice to beat your rival this bad in their building.

8. 2003 #8 FSU 26-10 Finally beat FSU after a decade of them dominating the ACC. Was good to get that monkey off the back.

7. 2009 FSU 40-24. Helped to eventually clinch first Atlantic Division crown. In retrospect FSU was awful that year, but who cares. McDaniel destroyed Ponder's shoulder after picking off a ball and pointing right at him. It was great. Sorry about your shoulder though Christian.

6. 2001 at #9 GT 47-44 OT Woodrow was awesome. JJ McKelvey had like 23 catches. Best decision ever to drive to this one. The big wins are always a little sweeter on the road.

5. 2006 #13 GT 31-7 Clemson was #12 and Gameday was in Clemson. The building was rocking. Did not remember this, but the game was only 7-0 at half. I sure remember this being a butt kicking from the start.

4. 2011 # 11 FSU 35-30 Maybe this one will not be as big when we look back, but they are always way more exciting when you are still undefeated. There is always that what if this is finally our year to do something special? Plus the whole last 5 minutes were exciting and surreal.

3. 2000 #14 NC St 34-27 Beat a very good Phillip Rivers led Wolfpack team to go 6-0 and move to #4 in the nation. Felt like Tommy Bowden had something going, but wahhwahh.

2. 2009 at #10 Miami 40-37 OT Felt like this game could get the program over the hump. Great win over good opponent and exciting finish.

1. 2000 So. Car. 16-14 It was cold as crap. It was one of the few where Clemson didn't clutch defeat from the jaws of victory. Clemson did the opposite. The Catch II- Rod Gardner with a subtle push off and a huge catch to set up game winning FG. I was on the hill so it all happened right in front of me.
I ABOUT TOOK A DUMP ON THE HILL WHEN THIS HAPPENED!! Of course I didn't think our kicker would make the FG either!!
Note:
I have been at all of the top ten games, but one. Maybe being there skews my list a good bit? The only one I missed was for a wedding! One of the best weddings I've ever been to and we did watch the whole 2nd half on a white curtain (game was projected on to it). I spent the rest of the night yelling "Dabo has turned the corner!" and singing "Daaabo, Daabo Swinney" to the tune of the Top Gun theme played by the DJ. I also rapped Young MC Bust a Move. It was a great night.

FSU v. Clemson observations

2011-09-27T07:35:00.001-07:00

What a phenomenal experience in Death Valley. A very loud and passionate stadium. I've been to most ACC venues and I would say there isn't one better than Death Valley. Va Tech and FSU are the only ones even close and Death Valley is louder and has Howard's Rock.

As for the game, if Tahj Boyd continues to play at this level he will have to be talked about for Heisman consideration. If Sammy Watkins continues to play at this level he will have to be talked about for Heisman consideration. Holy crap are those guys playing well. I think Tahj will drop off a little because it is so hard for a QB to play this well every week, but Sammy is what he is. A tall, fast beast with sickly good hands. I am not exaggerating when I say he could line up on Sundays right now and be the 3rd receiver on most if not all NFL teams.

The best part of the game was the last five minutes. The stadium was going nuts/freaking out. When we got the first big stop the band played Tiger Rag and since the jerk in the red shirt that takes care of media timeouts refused to leave the field the band played the C-L-E-M-S-O-N part of Tiger Rag 5 straight times. Never heard them do that and each time it was so loud as we were trying to will the team to a win. Then later at the end of Tiger Rag the band quit playing while the crowd did C-L-E-M-S-O-N Acapulco (this is what spell check gave me when I tried to spell acapello??). That was awesome. Then Clemson clinched it with the sack and the Valley was louder than I have ever heard it and they played "We will Rock You" just like they did two years ago when Clemson beat FSU.

Some of my favorite moments were when my sister kept yelling, "Kill the Lolly Pop!" in reference to the 170 lb QB who looks like a sucker with his pencil body and large helmet. I enjoyed the family of three in front of us give us evil looks every time we screamed in there ears on big plays. Probably the only three in the building not cheering. Should have been removed by security.

I really feel this defense has a chance to be okay. What I don't get is why expectations were so high on defense? Did people not realize how disgustingly good DaQuan Bowers was? He was a human blitz. You only sent four and he put pressure on the QB every play. I guess fans felt with our LBs being so bad this year, better LB play would offset Bowers. Well it hasn't yet, but it is a very young defense. I felt like they stiffened up for the most part, but just got hit with big plays. Every deep ball Cole Trickle (was that his name or is that the guy from Days of Thunder) threw was EXACTLY on the money. If a QB puts a deep ball dead on stride there isn't much you can do especially if he was rolling out- see Ben Rothlisburger. Need more pressure on the QB and I think the D will be serviceable enough to go with this above average to great offense.

Special teams is still a concern as the Cat Man blew a kick WAY wide and they returned a kickoff a long way, only called back by a hold that was behind the play. This scares the crap out of me as we are about to play Beamer Ball, which is latin for we will dominate your ass on special teams.

A win is a win. A win at Va Tech would put an Atlantic Division crown as a very attainable goal. Right now the Tigers could easily go 6-2 (barring any major injuries, read Andre, Tahj, or Sammy) in the league which means the Noles would have to fall apart against one opponent in their extremely easy schedule. It may happen.

I love that Dabo is the toast of the town on the Internet. One bad showing this Saturday and they will be calling for his head again. I can't say too much, but I don't change game to game, maybe season to season. I loved the guy after '09 and thought he had turned the corner. I wasn't just on the band wagon, I was driving it. After '10 he looked like an idiot, mainly for thinking Billy Napier was ready to be an OC. But he had the balls to fire him and looks like that move saved his job. I jumped off the band wagon, but was willing to give him one more year. Now, I am too timid to get back on that bumpy wagon!! He says all the right things and can recruit like hell, but let's just see how this year turns out before we anoint or crucify him.

Clemson V. FSU

2011-09-23T14:03:00.000-07:00

So, everybody is drinking the kool-aid. Since we beat a very average Auburn team we should dominate FSU. Well, I hope that is true, but it will not be easy. FSU looks to have a very good defense, but is very questionable at QB, both in terms of health and talent. It'll be a fun one. Clemson is better than I thought at this point. Mainly because the freshman have had a bigger impact than most freshman do and because the QB has not looked like a Soph with no game experience. But Auburn put no pressure on him and he will see a lot Saturday.

I am not going to do keys to winning or talk endlessly about stats, mainly because the keys are always the same. Win the turnover battle and play good special teams. Also, stats are useless this early because 2 of the 3 games were against SW Nobody St.

It could be one of the biggest games of the Dabo era or it could not matter, see every game in '10. Should be the loudest place that the FSU QBs have ever played in. I spent the whole game my freshman year yelling obscenities at the FSU band and I plan on doing that again tomorrow. First time in a long time I will be sitting near them. Hopefully the war chant is only played 97 times, because that means they are losing.

I can't get away from the feeling Clemson will struggle to win a close game. Really hope I am wrong. Maybe it won't be a close game. Did like that Chad Morris kept his foot on the gas pedal in the 4th quarter last week. It's risky, but so is punting to a great offense only up 14. If it is close at halftime I like Clemson, but still have to go with:
FSU 27 Clemson 24
Should be a great one that could decide the vaunted ACC Atlantic Division.

Tangents

2011-09-21T12:26:00.000-07:00

All right. It's called tangents for a reason. I figured I would count how many unrelated topics I would talk about.

1. Conference super sizing is possibly going to be great for football and bad for every other sport. We might get some conference championship games with two undefeated teams. It'll almost be like two seperate conference champions meeting. For every other sport it will be brutal. Football is low travel,high revenue. Every other sport is comparitively high travel, low revenue. Let's go to big fooball only leagues and keep smaller leagues for everything else. Too late for this to happen, but it would have been nice.

2. Watching Real Sports last night and they mentioned that almost all bowls are non-profits. They claim to be charities even though the CEO of the Outback, Sugar and Fiesta all make over $600,000. To coordinate a one-day event. Glad our wedding coordinator was a little cheaper than that.

3. Bryant Gumbell can't shut up about the need to pay players. They are getting a free education. The average college grad makes a million more over his/her life than a high school graduate. But, they can't afford a movie or laundry. Shut the hell up. Any kid whose parents make less than 45,000 gets 5,500 a year and if they make a little more than that the kid still gets a percentage of the 5,500. Plus, they get enough clothing and shoes to last them a lifetime. What about the kid in the engineering dept. working on million dollar research? He doesn't get a check. Why? Because that's how it works in America. You are a pee on for a while in the hopes that one day you will be doing the peeing.

4. My theory about NFL QBs was excellent. I got 13 out of 15 right, throwing out the Eagles game because Vick got hurt and they would have won with him in there. Better QB wins with evenly matched teams.

5. I saw a headline, "WHO IS TO BLAME" for the Sea World worker being killed. Why does someone always have to be to blame. Can't it just be that the worker knew she was getting in a pool with a Killer Whale. Not a Friendly Whale or a Somewhat Fiesty Whale. A KILLER WHALE. It's right there in the title. Get a clue.

6. How bout the Red Sox callapse? The Rays are only one back in the loss column and are beating the Yankees as I type this. James Shields is the best pitcher no one knows about.

7. Heard Urban Meyer was real critical of losing recruiting battles to Clemson. I would be too since UF was winning national titles while Clemson was winning Music City Bowls, but Charlie Strong finally said, "Coach, you ever been to Clemson? It's pretty nice." Then on Saturday doing the game he recipricated the fact that yes Clemson is indeed nice. Nice won't win the ACC though.

8. Nice to see the Tigers ranked again. Meanwhile, it could easily back to the cellar with back to back games against FSU and Va Tech. All the Auburn win really did was get a tougher start time at Va Tech- 6pm. Not really. I'm very happy with the respect we gained, but again all is lost if Clemson gets obliterated in the next two weeks.

Big win for Dabo

2011-09-20T10:47:00.000-07:00

So Dabo went crazy on the field after the game. The video of that is now on the front page of espn.com. You would go crazy too if you just threw a lot of cold water on a very hot seat. He feels like Obama would feel if this economy actually quit crapping along. So I figured I would rank Dabo's big wins. He only has six of them so it wasn't hard.

at Miami '09
Huge win on the road in overtime helping to catupult the Tigers to the ACC Championship game. Jacoby Ford caught a walk-off pass in overtime to win it. Most of the readers of this blog were trapped at a wedding, but the bride and groom were nice enough to show the game at the reception. I kept yelling, "Dabo has turned the corner!" I was wrong on that one as 2010 was an awful year.

FSU '09
The McDaniel destroys Christian Ponder's shoulder game. The stadium was rocking after Clemson sealed the win with that interception. They played We Will Rock You on the loudspeaker and it felt like an 80,000 person party in the stands.

Virginia '09
Boring game. Not very good opponent. They could only move the ball in the Wildcat. What made this noteworthy was this is the game that clinched the Atlantic Division crown. This is the game a Bowden team would have found a way to lose.

S. Carolina '08
After righting the ship a little in his first year, he needed to beat his rival to get the interim tag removed. Always a big win when you beat your rival.

Auburn '11
Good statement game. We may not be great this year, but after that game you have to think Clemson won't be awful. Didn't quit or panic after going down 21-7.

Kentucky '09 Nothing major, but winning a bowl game against the SEC is always good. Good to come back after the brutal loss to GT in Tampa in the ACC Championship.

So, 6 big wins in about three seasons. Glaring is the fact that not a one of them was in the putrid 2010 season. Hopefully he can add FSU to the list this weekend. That one might even vault up to #1 if he can get it.

What a weekend

2011-09-19T06:23:00.000-07:00

So, the Clemson Tigers started as bad as you can start on Saturday. Give up a TD, 3 an out, TD, but somehow got the ship righted to come back. They even made plays with a lead, when the entire building was waiting for the other shoe to drop and for Auburn to do their usual miracle finish thing. The Valley was pretty wound up for a noon game. I am now going to start drinking the Chad Morris kool-aid. As an offensive coordinator he is like a boxer. He takes a few series and he throws some jabs, just perusing. Then he sizes you up and by the second half he is throwing hay makers. We used to complain about the Bowden era lack of 2nd half adjustments. Through three games it appears Morris and Steele are figuring things out at halftime.

Let's start with the obvious. Sammy Watkins is a difference maker. Barring injury or something crazy, he will leave Clemson the most accomplished offensive player in our history. Yes, he will have a better career than Raymond Priester and CJ Spiller. He is just so explosive and will hopefully have a good OC for three years.

Hopefully Tahj Boyd plays close to as lights out as he did on Saturday. There was only one ball he threw where it wasn't right where he wanted to put it. His accuracy was the concern coming in and it appears that will not be the case.
Maybe a "Hymen candidate"? Friend of mine said hymen this weekend when she really meant Heisman, we think.

To beat a much better defense like FSU we need a healthy and effective Andre Ellington. The youngins who backed him up looked good, but he needs to be the man. I think Morris' offense with all the misdirection and fakes will negate some of FSU's speed. It will be interesting. It's just funny, because last year I guarantee Stoops watched our film and said okay lets stop the Hopkins kid and we're good, since Ellington was hurt. He did get burned a little for thinking that, because Jaime Harper did have the one great game of his career last year in Tally. But this year he is watching film and thinking, okay we gotta stop #2, 5, 6, 23 and 83. There is speed and play makers all over the field.

Some great quotes from the Tigers. This defense is really struggling at assignment football early in the games. Any misdirection or play fakes is destroying them. At least Andre Branch is saying the right things, let's see if it gets fixed next Saturday. “We just had to settle down [after the first half] and do our jobs. We all knew about Auburn and their trickery- trying to make plays. All we had to do was settle down and do our jobs.”

And I love Sammy Watkins quote, "I want to thank our coaches for giving me a chance to play. They’ve been so supportive. I felt great. I wasn’t really thinking about records, I was just focusing on beating Auburn. I kept thinking ‘We have to beat them.’ I wasn’t thinking about touchdowns, I wasn’t thinking about yards. I was just thinking “we have to beat Auburn.” Seems to be a humble young man, but Sammy I guarantee you that Dabo is thanking YOU every game for probably helping him save his job.

And I saved the best quote for last. "I think we showed a lot today. They shot their load earlier. We just had to sit back, read the play, and get the keys right.” Yes, he referenced ejaculating and they still printed it. AWESOME!!

Yes, Auburn is probably a 4-4 SEC team, but Clemson took them to the woodshed. They dominated the line of scrimmage in the second half and looked to have just as many athletes out there as an SEC school. Plus, the offense executed like a big time football team should.

So, what a weekend! Not to mention I have a significant amount of money on the Bengals losing at least 10 games and they lost a thriller in mile high. Plus my fantasy team, The Fighting Ron Pauls, are probably going to win as long as Cadillac Williams doesn't fumble 3 times tonight. Wish I could get excited about the Tampa Bay Bucs winning, but I just hate the cheap as hell owners too much to care. But the Tampa Bay Rays did take 3 of 4 from the Red Sox and are only 2 back!!

Hopefully next weekend is just as good.

Tigers vs. Tigers Preview

2011-09-15T10:32:00.000-07:00

I won't give you many stats, because at this point in the season they don't mean a whole lot. Clemson played a I-AA team who ran the ball 95% of the time, so of course their rushing defense stats look awful. Maybe it is bad, maybe it isn't? We'll see as the year goes on. As for Auburn, they lost every statistical category the first two Saturdays and are 2-0. Thus the reason I am not a big stat guy. Just win baby!

With that said, this is such an interesting game. Both these teams are so inexperienced. Auburn only brings back three starters on O and three starters on D. Auburn now has a 17 game winning streak, so I think they are coming in with the feeling we can and will do whatever it takes to win. On the opposite side of the ball is a program going on at least 13 years of rarely winning close games. I think if Clemson wins it will be a ten to twenty point win. I am not predicting that but it is possible with how bad Auburn's defense has looked the first two weeks. It would be great for Clemson to get a close game win and get the ever growing Gorilla of their back.

I feel like it didn't always used to be this way, but right now QB is everything. They have always been very important, but it seems right now with the complexity increasing and the speed of the game always getting faster the QB's ability to run the team is so crucial. I did awful in my NFL picks last week and this week I just picked the team with the better QB. It's gotten to the point where it doesn't matter where the game is played or who is hurt or who is coaching, the team with the better QB is going to win 90% of the time. Sooooo, my point is welcome to the Tahj Boyd era. Those first two games were nice warmups and maybe Troy has a better d than Auburn? We can hope, but it is time for big boy football. He has looked very good on some throws, but against Wofford threw three balls an SEC defense will most likely pick off. He also looks at his first receiver and then tucks and runs, which will get him hit A LOT on Saturday. He is only a Soph so I understand he is still learning, but it will be a big test.

Special teams will also be a factor as it is always in evenly matched games. Not been a good start for Clemson in that regard and a team like Auburn who gets out played and still wins is a dangerous team on special teams.

Next 10 games will define Clemson for a long time. Win 7-10 of them and you bring in another top 10 recruiting class and maybe Dabo is the guy. Win 3-6 of them and you are looking for a new head coach and lose all the recruiting momentum. With 10-12 wins overall maybe the SEC comes calling? Who knows?

Auburn 34 Clemson 31, but of course I hope otherwise.

Random

2011-09-13T06:32:00.000-07:00

-If the Tigers best players were all to cut the 5 pounds of dreads on the top of their head they would be at least .1 faster in their 40 time and even more lethal.

-I was hoping the Cocks were going to go into Athens and lay an egg like they always do as soon as expectations get high. Well, they didn't. They have a ton of play makers on both sides of the ball. If they can handle Auburn at home in a few weeks, they could go into Starkville 6-0 and like #5 in the nation. Yikes.

-Remember Troy's QB Corey Robinson. The guy is a great quarterback and only a Soph. Well, Troy is the only D-I to offer him. He had 91 TDs his senior year in KY. I know he probably was playing a bunch of tiny schools, but 91 TDs is 91 TDs. We get caught up in projecting a kid and don't just look at his production. I as a recruiter am guilty of that, but try to fight it.

-If you want a laugh go to . You may remember Tribble was a fourth string quarterback at Clemson and he was on the TV show Sweet Home Alabama. Please take time to read his resume where he puts "ping pong" and "can drive automatic and manual" under special skills. Under achievements he lists his brilliant spring game performances: Completed 12-18 passes for 122 yards in the three spring scrimmages in 2007.

ACC Observations
-Another bad weekend. BC gets slaughtered by UCF 30-3. Remember that when the Eagles come to Clemson on Oct. 8. If they stay within two touchdowns any of you reading this who are there should storm the field and demand Dabo's resignation from him immediately.
-UNC squeaks by Rutgers at home and Virginia goes on the road to beat Indiana. Neither impressive, but it's a start.
-Duke stomped by Stanford. Not at all suprising.
-Va. Tech and Clemson both play squeakers to much lesser opponents.
-Writer's picked NC St. to finish 3rd in Atlantic division, but the loss of their QB and injuries have made it look like it will be a long year in Raleigh. Wake handled them at home.
-Huge weekend for the ACC. Four teams host ranked out of conference opponents and all four are winnable, and of course losable (is that a word?). Clemson hosts Auburn, FSU hosts Okl., Miami hosts Ohio St and Maryland hosts WV. Amazingly Vegas has all four as favorites right now. That is funny, because I would be happen with a split in those four, of course very happy if Clemson is the victor in one.

Clemson v. Wofford observations

2011-09-12T05:09:00.000-07:00

Positives
-Tahj Boyd looks very good throwing a deep ball. He is also a little more athletic than we were told. Not blazing fast, but is a load.
-Sammy Watkins IS SPECIAL. He is at full speed on his second step and cuts at full speed.
-Ellington almost looks back. Don't know if he had the wrong cleats, but if he would have stayed up on a couple cuts he would have had an amazing day.
-Andre Branch is stepping up on defense.
-Quandon Christian is a LB who actually makes a lot of plays.
-O Line is opening up running lanes and is usually okay if defense only sends four
-Martavis Bryant is fast, very fast
-Chad Morris seems to have no desire to share the ball. 90% of play calls are for Ellington, Watkins, Bryant or Brown.

Negatives
-The whole freaking game. Closest I-AA game in the 25 Clemson has ever played
-Clemson defense cannot play assignment football. Every big play was because someone was trying to do someone else's job. Triple option- Tackles and Mid LB take dive, defensive ends hit QB every play and OLB and corners take pitch man. With the safeties helping to clean up all over the field. This worries me if the youngins on D will figure that out by GT game.
-The O-line cannot pick up a blitz to save its life. This is also magnified by the fact the backfield is empty so often, leavaing no one to pick up a blitzer.
-I thought Tahj either looked great on some throws or very shaky on others. He threw 3 balls that would have been picked by a better secondary and one would have been housed if caught. More inaccurate than week one and a ton of bubble screen completions to pad his stats. The bubble screen will not beat the next three opponents.
-Dabo finally ran his first fake. Pretty sure it is his first, please comment if you remember him ever faking a punt/kick. Well, I would be happy for him, but it was the WORST TIME EVER. Late in the game against a slow plodding option attack he had a chance to go up 11 with a chip shot FG. I really like the guy and hope he survives cause he recruits as well as anyone, but he scares me sometimes.

The Funny
-Same two announcers for the broadcast the first two weeks. Both games the play by play guy said, "no better atmosphere for college football." at least five times. He also called Dabo, DAYbo the first time and then was reminded by someone that his name is not DAYbo. DAYbo would be ridiculous. Dabo is an awesome name to be respected.
-Warrick Dunn, yes that Warrick Dunn, as the color man said, "This triple option really gives the offense a lot of options." Wow, Warrick, that's probably why they don't call it the Lack of Options offense.

Military Appreciation Day

2011-09-09T08:15:00.000-07:00

So it will be Sept. 10th, 2011 on Saturday. Ten years since my classmates and I were hanging out at 1201 Berkeley Place. Having the time of our lives, except of course Sept. 11th, 2001 was not a good day. Not shockingly, my "where were you" story is a little funny. It was a Tuesday I think and only my second day at my co-op. My first experience with a full-time job not cutting chickens. So at 9am on the second day everyone in the machine shop I was working in shuts down their machines and starts grouping around the radio. Then one guy brings in his little 9 inch TV he has in his truck. I'm like, "What? We shut down the plant every time anything news worthy happens." So, I am continuing to work or at least look like I am working since it is my second day. Then I hear from a co-worker that a plane hit the towers. I don't know if I was naive or just not thinking, but my first instinct was it had to be an accident. At that point I hadn't been to NYC in a while, so I figured those towers were so big and with the three airports nearby planes were buzzing near the towers all the time. Anyway, not a good day. I also hate to admit that I sat in line for gas that night. I was pretty sure the whole "gas will be impossible to get soon" was a crock, but I figured why chance it.

I just remember being so angry. Part of it was an arrogance of how dare they mess with the US and part was just the anger you should have when faced with pure evil. I've been to ground zero twice, but nothing compared to when I took the subway in from Jersey and just saw this giant crater of earth open up in front of me. That was way more powerful than seeing it from the edges. It was neat to see the country come together after that day. The saddest part is even after Giuliana and Bush Jr. said they would make sure the skyline was made whole, ten years later only one 52 story building has been built. Others are on the way, but it only took 3 years to build the first set of twin towers!! Politically fighting and lack of backbone to get something done are the main culprits.
Sorry, couldn't find one without PROOF written on it. Deal with it.

Anyway, back to more uplifting stuff. I hate missing Military Appreciation Day at Clemson. Clemson was a military school until 1955, so there is a strong military tradition in those hills. The band's playing of each service's song and the F-14 flyovers are the best part. As for the game, I don't see this one being remotely close. There are some I-AA programs that would scare me, but Wofford isn't one of them. The fact we have seen Ga Tech's triple option three times over the last two years will help. Now that we have speed at the skill positions, we should more easily put away lesser opponents. Good news that safety Rashard Hall could play, but they will probably hold him out until Auburn unless we are in a dog fight. The O-line needs to step up and of course Tahj Boyd needs to keep improving and learning with every snap. Clemson 48, Wofford 17.

By the way, the 10 day forecast for all those heading to the Auburn game has a Saturday high of 78. How awesome would that be? I've never been to a September Clemson game that wasn't boiling heat.

Stay in ACC vs. go to SEC

2011-09-08T08:19:00.000-07:00

If you are Virginia Tech, FSU, Ga Tech or Clemson your small window of opportunity is closing. UNC and Miami probably blew it with all their scandals. As a Clemson fan it makes you frustrated we have had 20 years of "upper mediocrity." If Clemson football was where it could be, like in the 80s with perrenial ten win seasons than the SEC would be beating down the ADs door to join their conference. As it is they might have interest. If I were the SEC I would take FSU first, then Clemson, then Va Tech, then Georgia Tech. Only putting Clemson ahead because I think once Beamer leaves Va Tech will become a decent but not great program. Of course the real gems for football would be Oklahoma, Ok. St. and/or Texas.

But, the real question is should those schools want to leave?
Advantages of staying in the ACC:
Better chance of winning a conference championship.
Better chance of going undefeated in a season.
More geographical rivals, which is not a huge advantage. We would trade Ga Tech and the NC schools for renewing the rivalry with GA and adding Tennessee and Florida.
Much better basketball.

Advantages of leaving for the SEC:
5 million reasons per year, just on the TV deal alone, not to mention which home schedule sells more tickets? This years conference slate of BC, Wake, UNC and FSU OR SC, Florida, Tennessee, Georgia every other year, with a Alabama, LSU, Auburn and Arkansas sprinkled in most years. Ummmm. Tough call.

Much better bowl affiliations.

Improved recruiting in football.

A one loss season could still easily put you in the national championship game.

If you are able to win the SEC, you are so battle tested you are probably going to win the national championship game (See last 5 in a row)

No longer dealing with an ACC conference whose commissioner used to work for UNC.

My answer:
I say you have to push to get into the SEC if you can. I do think that means you will win a lot less conference championships, but Clemson isn't winning any right now. Would you rather be a middle of the road unranked ACC team or a middle of the road #22 ranked SEC team. With the extra money and exposure in the ACC Clemson should be able to compete. The end all dream is a national championship. We did it once in the ACC, but recent history shows your odds are MUCH better winning it if you are in the SEC. But, with our administration thinking that big time football and big time academics cannot happen on the same campus we are probably staying put. I guess they don't notice how good of a school Florida is both academically and athletically.

ACC Observations

2011-09-07T09:32:00.001-07:00

Wow, this league is awful. Take out Virginia Tech and there isn't a single consistently good program in the Atlantic Crap Conference. I am not even sold on the FSU resurgence yet, while I still think they win their division but not the league.

Let's review.
BC gets beat at home by Northwestern and their back-up quarterback, Wake can't beat a terrible Syracuse team and Duke loses to the Richmond Spiders. I know the ACC would never hang its hat on Duke football, but it seemed Cutcliffe had Duke to the point where they could at least beat a I-AA opponent (and yes its I-AA). I don't know what the hell FBS or BS or BSF stands for and I don't care. I would call Richmond winning, but they beat Duke in '09. Didn't play them last year, so that is a two game winning streak!! Unbelievable. In the last 2+ years a I-AA team has beaten a BCS conf. I-A team only 8 times and 4 of those were ACC defeats.

Now, to the more positive observations. I think Va. Tech goes 8-1 in the ACC, with their eighth win in the title game. The Hokie defense is better than last years. The only reason I am giving them one loss is because their young QB will botch up one game.

On Va. Tech's side of the league you have UNC and Miami in shambles due to their cheating and Duke is just plain terrible. Virginia is only mediocre, so that only leaves Ga Tech to compete for the division. Tech does not have the horses for that race.

On the other side, as much as I can't stand BC even being in the league, they are a pain in the butt. They have very little talent, but they play so disciplined and have an All-American caliber middle linebacker who makes plays all over the field. Wake isn't very good and Clemson is a huge wild card. NC State will be interesting, but they are so injury plagued this year it will be hard to compete for a division title. That leaves FSU and the suprising Maryland Terrapins. Maryland's QB was rookie of the year last year, so they should be okay, but probably not enough to beat FSU.

The ACC needs a good next few weeks in out of conference to restore a tiny bit of faith in its ability to play football at a big boy level.

Clemson v. Troy Observations

2011-09-06T08:05:00.000-07:00

Observation for the Day
Was headed to the dumpster and offered to take a students very small bag of trash for him. He said, "I'm heading that way anyway, let me take yours." Awesome example of Kharma in action

Clemson Observations
This is sadly coming from someone who did not watch the game, so I will stick to things I can comment on. Like how does a kicker go 3 for 3 from beyond 45 yards and miss an extra point. But, the Cat Man is 9 of his last 10 going back to last year.

Dabo said they didn't panic at halftime. The way they played in the second half it sure looked like they didn't panic. But, you know there had to be a moment when he was by himself when he thought, "Sh*#, if this team of a*#holes, doesn't wake the hell up, I'm gonna be back selling houses in the middle of a recession!!" I wouldn't say I panicked, but it wasn't the most fun halftime of my life.

Dabo also progressed past relaying signals. In the last few years, he could be seen waving his arms and making weird gestures, while at the same time mouthing the play to the point where my father could predict our play by watching Dabo. Leo would say he just mouthed, "strong right jet sweep." And sure enough we would line up strong right and run a jet sweep. Okay, it wasn't that bad, but Leo could predict Napier's plays with 90% accuracy just based on formation. Hopefully the new OC Chad Morris could mix it up enough to fool a high school coach who only watches every other Clemson game, and only every other drive due to sporadic napping.

Lets not panic too much cause Troy hung with us. They would probably beat BC, Wake, Duke and maybe Virginia on a nuetral field.

Kickoff specialist Spencer Benton added another two tackles for his career. This is not a good thing, you would rather a kicker never make a tackle, but he is making them at the 27 and 31, respectively. That is awesome! He is just starting his junior year and already has the most tackles by any kicker in Clemson history.

While I still feel 2011 is a rough one, with the chance to at least be decent, 2012 could be really good. Of the 70 guys that played on Saturday, 24 are freshman (12 true and 12 red-shirt), including future all-american?? Sammy Watkins with 8 catches and (this is a quote from the Clemson SID office) "scored his first career touchdown on his first career reception on his first career drive in his first career game." Watkins scored 26 seconds into his career, which might be a record that is never broken. It isn't the quickest into a season a Tiger has scored, since Spiller took the opening kickoff in '09 to the house.

Speaking with some other fans, it should be a solid defense, but it might lack the studs of the last few years who were counted on to make big plays. Rashard Hall isn't as talent as the stars Clemson has had on defense, but he seems to always be around the football. Maybe he can be that guy? The key is will one of the defensive lineman require a double team. Really great defenses are ones who can really pressure the quarterback while only rushing four. Don't know if this team is going to be able to do that.

Dabo said they didn't panic at halftime. The way they played in the second half it sure looked like they didn't panic. But, you know there had to be a moment when he was by himself when he thought, "Sh*#, if this team of a*#holes, doesn't wake the hell up, I'm gonna be back selling houses in the middle of a recession!!" I wouldn't say I panicked, but it wasn't the most fun halftime of my life.

Dabo also progressed past relaying signals. In the last few years, he could be seen waving his arms and making weird gestures, while at the same time mouthing the play to the point where my father could predict our play by watching Dabo. Leo would say he just mouthed, "strong right jet sweep." And sure enough we would line up strong right and run a jet sweep. Okay, it wasn't that bad, but Leo could predict Napier's plays with 90% accuracy just based on formation. Hopefully the new OC Chad Morris could mix it up enough to fool a high school coach who only watches every other Clemson game, and only every other drive due to sporadic napping.

Went back to a more classic looking uniform pants. Like them much better than the new age Nike crap. Wish Nike would think enough of us to make something as hideous as the power rangers uniforms they made for Georgia or the overly sleek Boise look OR the amazing things the Maryland boys wore last night. From the left they looked like the Steelers on crack and from the right they looked like they were on a crusade. WE MUST ATTACK THE HOLY LAND!! GOD WILLS IT!!
I guess it is like the crusades. A group of guys fighting evil, in this case the evil is the University of Miami.

ACC PREVIEW 2011

2011-09-01T11:28:00.000-07:00

Okay, even though I am a terrible blogger and blog about once every six months I am keeping up the tradition. Year three of the ACC preview. In year one, I was one game off of Clemson’s record and correctly predicted an Atlantic Division crown. Last year I was a whopping 3 games off and falsely predicted another Atlantic Division crown. I thought having Kyle Parker back was a huge blessing, but in retrospect all he thought about was not getting hit so as to protect his body for his multi-million dollar baseball career. He had a great three quarters against Auburn until he had his sternum nearly separated from his body and was never the same. Hard to blame him, but painful to watch. Also, once Andre Ellington went down, there was as many playmakers on that offense as there are competent politicians in D.C. WR Nuke Hopkins being the only one. Last year I had the Atlantic Division race all fudged up, but did go six for six on predicting the coastal. Not that it’s hard. Virginia Tech is the only team in the league with a proven head coach who doesn’t get busted for cheating every other year.

CLEMSON PREVIEW –
DEFENSE - All spring while I should have worried about wedding preparations I was instead fretting Clemson could have its first consecutive losing season since 1976! The loss of a DOMINANT defensive player like Da’Quan Bowers (spelled his name right without a google search, except for the apostrophe) is irreplaceable. Lot of good players from the secondary now playing on Sundays, but a lot of good ones remain. Depth isn’t as good this year, but if this unit can stay healthy it has a chance to be almost as good as last year’s defense. Lost in the sh#@iness of our offense was the fact our defense was 1st in the ACC (11th nationally) in scoring defense and 3rd in yards per game (23rd nationally). Doesn’t sound like a 6-7 team does it? Well, being 86th in the nation in takeaways meant our offense rarely had the short field they needed to even have a chance to score. This was surprising with our great pass rush and excellent secondary. That said, the only thing keeping last year’s defense from being a top five dominant unit was the awful linebacker play. Due to the dominance of the defensive lineman, no linebacker had to deal with a block all season and still couldn’t make plays. The only reason I have improved my outlook is it seems our recruiting class isn’t just great on paper, but a few of these LBs are ready to play immediately. If this unit can just stay almost as good as last year’s the Tigers would be looking at a winning season.

OFFENSE –I think Andre Ellington is special. Like, really special. If he gets enough touches, I think he could even crack 1500 all purpose yards. The offensive line should be pretty good and Dwayne Allen at TE is a future NFL player. Hopkins at WR is proven and should have a solid Soph. season. Can Sammy Watkins live up to all the hype at the other receiver spot? And the huge wildcard, what will red-shirt Sophomore Tajh Boyd look like at QB? Will Chad Morris (only one season removed from high school coaching) and his high paced no-huddle offense make a difference in year one. It did at Tulsa, but Tulsa didn’t play Auburn, FSU and Virginia Tech.

SPECIAL TEAMS – Other than the actual kicker, our return and coverage units have been great the last few years. I hope the loss of Andre Powell (who apparently was worthless otherwise, but seemed to keep our special teams in order) will not mean we will go back to the days of letting Virginia Tech and FSU run back at least one kick each time we play them. Not even going to discuss the kicker Cat Man as he could be great or terrible, who freaking knows with kickers.

OVERALL
So, sadly I am going with 7-5, losing to Auburn, FSU, Virginia Tech, Maryland and tragically South Carolina for the third straight year. The South Carolina loss alone will keep Dabo on the hot seat one more year. Hope I am wrong, but there are just too many question marks. I think this program has a chance to be really, really good in 2012 and even an 8-4 and 9-3 2011 would really keep the recruiting momentum going. All this being said, like any other year if the Tigers stay healthy and finally catch or make a few breaks 10-2 is not inconceivable. It’s college football. The national championship team started the year unranked coming off a 6-5 season and played Wofford. I am NOT predicting a national title, but I am just saying anything is possible and long overdue in Tiger Town.

Atlantic
1. FSU
2. Maryland
3. Clemson
4. NC ST
5. BC
6. Wake

Coastal
1. Virginia Tech
2. Georgia Tech
3. Miami
4. Virginia
5. North Carolina
6. Duke

Contact Debacle

2010-12-16T09:26:00.000-08:00

Now with the Ireland trip done, I would like to add the funniest and best stories I’ve had in coaching. Again, this is more so I have a record of all the ridiculous things that happen, but if you read them you will probably be entertained. I figured I’d go reverse chronological order, since the most recent ones are freshest in my mind.

Sat. Dec 11, 2010
After a full day of watching pretty good high school basketball games my eyes are tired and it is time to take out the contacts. I’ve recently changed to the type of cleaner that requires the little cylindrical container and the potent solution. What makes it potent is that once your contacts are immersed they are unwearable for four hours. This seems like superfluous information, but just wait. So, I take my contacts out and put them in the container. I then grab my glasses case and open it to find no glasses. I think I would have noticed this walking into the gym, but I was on my stupid cell phone. Somehow I did not notice the difference in weight or the lack of any rattle from within the case. Now I am presented with the dilemma of it being 9:15 at night, two hours away from home and unwearable contacts for the next four hours. At this point I figure I will use water to clean the contacts and hope they will not burn my eyes like a hot poker from a fire. I now have to traverse from the hospitality room to the restroom. For those who do not know I am a 7.0 contact strength. These means I cannot make out a face from more than 10 inches. Thankfully I am at a gym where I know no one so I don’t have to have that awkward, “Hi Coach Haggerty,” while I think who the heck is talking to me. So I rinse and clean and rinse and clean and put a contact in my left eye. All good for maybe one second and then it feels as if someone lit a charcoal fire in my face. I feel like the poor girl from Amazing Race who took a watermelon to the face. I highly recommend viewing that.

With Plan A an unmistakable disaster I go out to the car (in 30 degree weather) to see if the glasses are hiding in there, even though I know they are not. On the way out I bump into a coach who claims he works out all the best players in Atlanta and lucky enough for me one of them came walking up. He was player of the year in a great region last year. So I shake his hand and blindly stare at him thinking this kid could have three eyes and a Mohawk two feet tall and I will never know. I depart and there is a small set of steps I don’t even see and almost tumble to my death. Glasses are not in the car, so now I wait another 45 minutes and thankfully the soaking of the contacts makes them wearable. But they are blurry and I need to peal them off my eye and kind of rub them around the side of my eye to build up the natural contact solution – tears. Luckily the girls game took so long I missed none of the game I came to see. I also learned a lesson in coaching (other than always be sure you have your glasses). I learned never to schedule an opponent you will have later for a scrimmage. Miller Grove beat Columbia by 40 in a scrimmage just three weeks ago. So Miller Grove came in thinking what a joke and Columbia came in determined to not get embarrassed. Well, Columbia wins by four. And thankfully I was able to watch it happen and even more importantly drive two hours home.

Thoughts on my travels

2010-12-13T07:44:00.000-08:00

Now more than a year removed from my extravaganza of a trip I am still so thankful I was able to do it. How many people are afforded the opportunity to spend a full five weeks in a foreign country. I guess plenty of our servicemen do, but at least the Irish never shot at me.

I used to hear pro athletes at their retirement press conferences remark, “I owe so much to basketball and want to help give back.” I always thought what the heck are they talking about. Basketball is a game. How can you owe it something. Well this trip helped me understand. If not for basketball I wouldn’t have had the chance to visit a new and exciting place and at the same time make money. Basketball also helped me to travel in a manner way better than most tourists. I stayed with families, befriended Irish people and really learned about the culture. Not that it’s very different from here, but it is different. The biggest difference is that you feel so safe over there. There aren’t bad neighborhoods or trailer parks or even guns. There are some slightly run down areas, but at no point do you ever feel in danger.

Another difference is how nothing gets done in the mornings. I do feel that here we are too preoccupied with the early morning. It’s not healthy to be up at 5am when the sun doesn’t come up until 7am. Over there, they take it to the other extreme and cities are ghost towns until 10am. Another thing is the Irish term Fáilte. It means more than just welcome. It means welcome to the point that you feel totally comfortable and at ease. The Irish are perhaps the most hospitable people on earth. It took me a while to realize this though. Here is something I wrote when I first got there that I did not put on the blog.

I just feel so out of place. I miss America. No matter where I go in America, I feel at home. Here, it feels very different. I feel out of place, because I am out of place. I dress differently, I speak differently and I live differently. That shouldn’t keep me from enjoying myself, but it does make me uncomfortable most of the time.

I didn’t include it in the blog because by the end of the trip it was a ridiculous thought. Yes, I was out of place, my accent, clothes and haircut all made me different. But no one thought ill of me for it. I never even got the feel that I was being judged for being an “outsider” once I was over the initial worries of being in a new place. In the end it was a great experience. It was liberating to go a month without a cell phone. It was great to roam around a country without anything but bus fare and a rain jacket. It was thrilling to climb the same mountain as St. Patrick and to drink myself silly in Pubs. It was fantastic for my whole family to come over and to see where my ancestors lived many centuries ago. It was great to fall in love with another culture and at the same time love your own even more. I couldn’t live without college football and college basketball. I couldn’t live without hanging out at the pool in the summer or celebrating the fourth of July. So I loved my trip for what I learned and the experiences I will remember for all my life.

1st Full Day BACK IN THE USA

2010-12-08T16:10:00.000-08:00

12:30 am VEGAS, BABY, VEGAS!!

I meet J and we have the following interaction
Me: You're not really wearing that are you?
J: Wearing what?
Me: The man purse. You actually gonna wear that or are you just screwin with me?
J: It's where I keep all my things. I get a lot of compliments on this. Plus it's not a purse, it's called a satchel. Indiana Jones wears one.
Me: So does Joy Behar.

Anyway, here is the reason we are here. I may have forgotten to mention that during my trip Jason has been wearing me down via email about how much of a sure bet the Bucs under for season total of wins will be. It is sitting at 7 and that means they need to win at least 7 games to push (you don’t lose) and actually go 8-8 for us to lose the bet. Since last season, which ended with a four game losing streak implosion, here is what has happened:
1. Highly successful Super Bowl winning coach Jon Gruden fired and replaced by a thirty year old with zero experience
2. Arguably the best defensive coordinator of last decade Monte Kiffin leaves to coach at Univ. of Tennessee with his son.
3. GM Bruce Allen fired and replaced by a thirty year old with zero experience (see a trend)
4. Future Hall of famer Derrick Brooks and quiet leader Warrick Dunn are released
5. Decent veteran starting QB Jeff Garcia fired, to be replaced by Byron Leftwich and a cast of other bad QBs including rookie Josh Freeman who couldn’t even win in college
6. Solid players Cato June, Joey Galloway and Ike Hilliard also released
7. Schedule is brutal including just about every division winner from the year before.

With all of this in mind I have agreed to bet $5000. WOW!! I know, I would never do something like that if we weren’t positive on winning. So from NYC I am flying to Vegas to make the bet. I ING’d a check to J and he has way to much on his person.

1:00 am J decides to gamble. Me, I am willing to gamble $5000 on the Bucs, but nothing at the tables. Besides, my high roller friend keeps the drinks coming so why risk it. J goes up early!!

2:00 am J is up. We are having a great time. We are the tables next to the Pussy Cat Dolls, so life is good.

3:00 am J is now on a downward spiral which ends with a comped meal. Gotta love Vegas. Thank you sir for losing hundreds of your hard earned dollars, but please allow us to give you a “free” meal. In J’s defense his ridiculously nice hotel rooms have been comped since like ‘06.

4:00 am Luckily I slept the entire flight, because it is LATE at night and am now sitting opposite of J scarfing down more food than I have ever seen him eat. He had a lot of red bull and vodkas and has been up since 6am east coast time. So between his meal and his dessert, he passes out at the table. So I quietly eat his entire banana split. It was so unbelievably good.

1:00 pm After sleeping in forever, we now bounce from casino to casino to find the best deal for our bet. Plus we have to split up our bets since most casinos won’t let you bet more than $2000 on one wager. I think they figure you might know something if you are willing to gamble that much. They are correct.

4:00 pm Now on a plane back to Tampa. My tour of the homeland is complete. It was amazing.

Day 36 (7th day of Haggerty Clan)

2010-12-07T02:14:00.000-08:00

7:00 am Getting up early for the plane flight. The Haggertys, other than myself, are flying out of Shannon. I then have to drive all the way to Dublin (2 hours). But the idea of driving and navigating in Dublin scares the crap out of me. I don’t like driving in these small towns on these tiny roads, so know we are talking small roads in a busy city. I drop off the Haggertys and Kelly Haggerty cannot, I repeat CANNOT, find the plane tickets. We search everywhere. The girls even start blaming the men, who are adamant that they of course were never put in charge of something so important. We search every bag except for Kelly’s since she is CERTAIN it is not in there. Eventually we do search her bag and the tickets are right there. Tragedy averted and I head on to Dublin.
8:00 am I now embark for Dublin. It is interesting driving on the Irish version of Interstates. They are still mostly just two lane roads, but you can drive really fast. I don’t of course.
10:00 am I get into Dublin and remember the semifinals of the Gaelic football championship are taking place at the famous Croke Park stadium. So there are cars and people everywhere. I do a little driving around Dublin just to get a feel for it since I have plenty of time before my flight. It looks like a pretty neat town. I’ve heard it is extremely international, but looked very Irish since the only ones out were the ones heading to the Gaelic game.
11:00 am I now head to the airport. There is so much construction, it takes forever to get to the rental place. Then the rental guy informs me it will cost me a ton to give the car back with an empty tank. So I decide to use my trusty paper map to find the gas station. Well the paper map doesn’t account for ANY of the construction. It literally takes me an hour to go the half mile to get gas. I took EXACTLY FIVE laps around the airport and on all five laps I was within a hundred feet of the gas station, but either blocked by construction or a one way road.
12:00 pm So now I went from being way early to cutting it very close, especially since the shuttle guy takes forever to get us to the airport. To take the edge off and since I never check a bag I decide to finish off the remaining Jameson we have. I take some leftover coke and pour about four shots worth of Jameson in.
12:45 pm Sipping on my “coke” and watching the Dublin vs. Kerry Gaelic game. Dublin gets thrashed from the start much to the chagrin of most of the viewers at the Dublin Airport. It was 21-3 at half. And it is harder to make up points in Gaelic than it is in football so this is a pretty insurmountable lead.
1:45 pm I decide to buy some duty free Jameson, because well, I don’t need to explain myself, I just wanted some and it was cheap. Now I turn in my remaining 80 euros for approximately $5 American. All right, I got a little bit better rate than that, but not much.
2:45 pm IRISH TIME Thanks to my “Coke” my ride home was really, really uneventful. I slept like a baby.
5:15 NYC TIME BACK IN THE USA!!!
9:00 pm NYC time. Getting on plane for Vegas, Baby Vegas.
11:55 pm VEGAS TIME. Yes I am now on my 9th time zone of the day. Since it’s almost midnight, I’ll continue the Vegas part of the trip tomorrow, including why I am in Vegas!!

Day 35 (6th Day of Haggerty Clan)

2010-12-01T10:07:00.000-08:00

9:00 am Today we have decided to drive the Ring of Kerry. It is a long drive around County Kerry. It normally is an amazing trip, but sadly our weather was not spectacular. We didn’t have quite the visibility you would like, but bad visibility in Ireland is still prettier than most places on earth. It’s funny, but you are told to do it counter-clockwise, so that you avoid following behind slow tour buses. That is good advice, but it does mean that every 15 minutes you are dodging buses coming at you, since like I mentioned roads can barely hold two cars, let alone a bus and a car.
1:00 pm Since we needed to use the facilities and we wanted to see a real Irish golf course, we decided to pull off and find a bathroom in the club house. We perused the prices and it wasn’t cheap. If it wasn’t so cold and rainy it probably would have been worth it, but I didn’t feel like spending my hard earned Euros to walk in the wetness.
6:00 pm We decided to get a bite at a nice pub. We get to watch the semifinal Gaelic Football match between Kerry and Cork. Kerry is always dominant at Gaelic for some reason. Their dominance continues as they make it to the finals.
8:00 pm Drive back to the room. Not a lot of funny stuff happened today since we were mostly driving and due to the weather it wasn’t near as pretty as some things we had already seen, but it was amazing. So sad that the trip is coming to an end but I also am ready to get home.

Day 34 Day 5 of Haggerty Clan

2010-11-29T13:57:00.000-08:00

9:00 am Pack up our lovely mobile home. We drive two hours south to the town of Limerick. I guess this is where the rhyme, “I once knew a man from Nantucket came from.” But like I said earlier, it is now known as Stab City. It has had a massive crime rash of eight stabbing deaths in the last three years. Yes eight stabbings would be a bad weekend for Atlanta, but it’s all relative.
11:00 am On the way to Limerick, we stop at the Bunratty Castle. Bunratty was a neat little place. It tried to show you the feudal lifestyle, including cottages and farms and gardens and water wheels. We learned how there are no more wolves in Ireland, because the sheep dogs all wore these armor plates around their throats and eventually killed them all (since now they were battle ready invincible dogs). I guess it is humans way of assisting natural selection.
We were also involved in a manhunt for a lost young boy, believe his name was Leopold, but I can’t confirm that. Either way, his mom was quite disheveled looking for lost boy, while the rest of her party seemed to not even care.
We were able to tour the actual castle and sit in an actual throne. We contemplated sixty euros a night for a true Irish dinner including Irish dancing and whiskey. They were sold out, but not sure if we would have done it anyway.
4:00 The hotel was tiny but serviceable. The key to the room was almost bigger than the room itself.
8:00 pm After a quick jaunt into Limerick for church and a meal at Irelands version of Chic-fa-la, we decide to get some Jamison’s and just hang out in the hotel room. Kate is pretty excited by her chance to legally buy the booze. We play cards and enjoy the evening.

Day 33 (4th Day of Haggerty Clan)

2010-11-21T18:43:00.000-08:00

10:00 am Actually so far we have been blessed with great weather (despite the first 15 min at the Cliffs of Mohr). But on this particular Friday morning it is your typical Ireland overcast and drizzle. So we decide to hit the “Museum of Country Living” which is within an hour of the mobile home.
11:00 am Sometimes the best parts of a trip are unplanned. We just notice on the map that we are going right by Ballintubber Abbey. We don’t know what this is, but it is a landmark, so we pull off the road. The very nice “curators?” show us a short video on the history of the abbey. It is known as the “abbey that will not die”. The British and their anti-Catholic policies tried to put it to an end and so did weather. For a few hundred years it even went without a roof. There are pictures of people kneeling as snow falls around them. And we get too lazy to go to an air-conditioned building. There was going to be a wedding there that day, so that was pretty cool. Apparently there is a route that is like 40 miles to walk from this abbey to croagh Patrick. After a long debate we decide against the hike and set out to drive to croagh Patrick. We have lovely weather for this part of the trip

12:30 Before Crough Patrick and due to the hideous weather, we hit the Museum of Country Living. It was actually pretty neat. Many people in Ireland burn peat which is hacked out of the bogs (think mud from swamp). They do this because back in the day the goofy Irish thought it a good idea to cut down all the trees without reseeding anywhere. Hey, they were cold and not real worried about the future. So now they use peat logs since there are no wood logs to use. Other weird stuff is the old tradition of wearing these straw masks to “crash” weddings. Sometimes they would even steal the bride. I love the movie wedding crashers, so I found this to be pretty funny.
The Gymnastics Team of Clare-Galway

2:00 We are running quickly out of Euros. We keep trying to find places that give a good deal, but each place we go to wants to rip us off more than the last. We finally suck it up and just take it on the chin. Every dollar is like half a euro. What can you do? After getting some Euros we buy some tea in a nice café in Westport. It’s a town that is a little charming, but I don’t like it that much. It has a ton of traffic and not all that much worth seeing. But we do walk around and of course look at another church.
We are a little thirsty

4:00 pm We then go to Croagh Patrick. We weren’t sure how far we would go and you always run the risk of major weather coming down on you in an instant. We only go up a fourth of the way, but even then you get some pretty views. We then go to a little open air chapel at the bottom. After having a loud conversation with my sister the other sister points out a large sign that says, “NO TALKING.” I guess they prefer if people stay quiet in their beautiful serene chapel that looks out over the mountain.
5:00 pm After the trip up the mountain, I decided we should take a shortcut through a neighborhood. It was great idea until the exit to this neighborhood involved an interesting exit. This exit involved a pretty good view to the left, but a giant rock wall was to the right. No big deal, all the cars in Ireland are small and it’s a little country road so no one is going faster than 30 mph or so. So, we look left and creep out. Out of nowhere a car comes from our left so we can’t stay there and make sure the right lane is clear. So we gun it, but there is a GIANT TOUR BUS barreling down the highway. Kate screams for her life since she is on the side of the car braced for impact. It’s one of those tour buses where the whole front is a giant window. So there is one row next to the driver that has a great view out the front. This seat has one white haired woman who literally has her mouth wide open and arms in the air. I couldn’t hear her, but it definitely looked like she was screaming pretty loudly, “OH SH@%!!. So the bus slams on brakes, we gun it and survive. That ladies face was priceless.

It's a workout. Cold enough for a jacket but then you get HOT!!

This is the area I ignored "The please be quiet sign"

7:00 pm We drive out to the Achyll islands. Holy crap! The view from this area is incredible. It’s as nice a view as the Cliffs of Mohr, but you can just drive up near the edge. If you had more guts than me you could even walk to the edge. Or if you had as much guts as the sheep you would just jump off the edge. They are insane. They just hop off the cliffs and as best as we can tell live to tell about it. We didn’t see any balls of wool floating in the ocean, so it does appear they are just really good at bouncing around jagged and steep rocky terrain. We had a thought of joining them, but the wind alone was enough to make you feel like you would be blown off the edge. We opened the door one time down wind and it was no exaggeration really close to blowing off. Shutting it took all of the strong of my father and me. So then we notice that half the sheep have red paint and half have blue paint. They even seem to travel by color. At one point exactly 11 of the blues squared up against 11 of the reds. I believe the blues were in eye formation with trips left. The reds matched up with a 3-4 and were looking to blitz the inexperienced blue lamb QB.

No Dad did not gain that much weight on the trip, it is THAT windy

Here are some stragglers from the Blue Team

9:00 pm We are starving. If you are astutely paying attention to the times, we only had light tea and snacks a long while ago. So we stop at a town and the first two pubs we stop at don’t serve food this late. So we go into town a little more and there is a cover band playing out of the back of a U-Haul size truck. I am still amazed at how things work over there. Everybody knows everyone, so kids are just running around while their parents drink themselves silly. The band played a ton of good songs and they played a great version of Kings of Leon “Use Somebody.” That band is huge in Europe right now!! So we ate burgers and fries and enjoyed live music. Another amazing day in Ireland.
Nothing beats a live band out of the side of a tractor trailer

Day 32 (Day 3 of Haggerty Clan)

2010-11-17T13:58:00.000-08:00

10:00 am No rush to get out of bed. Jet lag setting in for the other Haggertys. So after a slow morning of scones and toast, we drive into Galway.

THE GALWAY CATHEDRAL
11:00 am We take a peek at the Galway Cathedral. Its architecture is amazing, but different because it is one of the more modern cathedrals, built in 1960. They were having mass, so it felt weird to tour around the outside walls, but there were dozens of others also making a mockery of the religious service, so we joined in. I love how the church has an opening right above the altar that seems to go up forever (seemingly to heaven I guess). I did not realize until after we left that you can walk around the upper area. I felt cheated. Now I have a reason to come back.
11:45 am I show the parents the apartment I stayed in while working the Galway camp. It’s a 3rd floor flat and I was also going to see if I could find my lost u-shaped travel pillow. Upon leaving my father is somehow behind us all and screams, “Shaun, turn this light out or not?” Forgetting to tell him to not be incredibly loud, this scares “Joe’s (my boss at that camp) Mom” who lives on the second floor. This will be important later.
12:00 We then went to the town of Claudaugh, famous for boats named after the town and for the Claudaugh ring. You wear the ring with the heart out if you are available and towards you if taken, or the other way around, I don’t know. It gives you a good opening line either way. “Is that the available claudach direction? Oh, good, can I buy you a Guiness?” It is a quaint fishing town that now thrives on what all of Ireland now thrives on. Clueless Americans spending there money on everything and anything.
Aran Island from a distance

Kate showing the stress of being a Pack Mule

1:00 pm Due to poor time estimates and poor conversion of km to miles, we are now way behind schedule to catch the last ferry to the Aran Islands. Again my fault, I thought we could do 100 km in an hour no problem. Well Kelly “Danica” Haggerty does pull it off at one point reaching 120 km/hr, which is only 77 mph, but imagine doing 77 on a 2 lane country road. Plenty of double yellow line passing was done as well.
THEY LOVE THEIR ROCKS ON THIS ISLAND

WHY IS THERE A SIGN WARNING YOU OF ONCOMING HOCKEY PLAYERS?

MARY HAS A HECK OF A COLD SORE OR THERE IS A SNAIL STUCK TO HER

1:58 pm Cutting it way too close, I am dropped off to buy the tickets and hold the ferry. I buy the tickets and like most things Irish, the boat has no interest in leaving on time. My family doesn’t know this and I see them sprinting down the pier, including Kate carrying 3 backpacks worth of food and jackets. We affectionately call her “Mule” the remainder of the trip.
2:20 pm Due to fear of boats and utter exhaustion Kate is in near tears on the ferry ride, while Leo takes the chance to take one of his trademark instantaneous naps.

2:40 pm Like I did before, we rent bikes. It’s the best way to get around the island on your self-guided tour. We go to the lighthouse, which is the highest point and take in a great view of the rest of the island, the Atlantic and the Irish coast in the distance. Then I make another poor leadership decision and send us straight down a steep winding sometimes grass trail to the Seal Cove. This gives us the utter exhileration of seeing ONE seal, but then forces us to constantly climb uphill to the fort at the other end of the island.
Here is our ONE SEAL!!

4:50 pm Fortunately the ride back is “mostly” downhill. Nothing better than biking downhill.
5:10 pm As a reward for our full body workout, we get ice cream at the SuperMax, which you may remember is the McDougals of Ireland.
5:30 pm The return ferry trip is less stressful as we are tired, but not as frazzled.
10:00 pm Our lovely mobile home renters tell us that there is an urgent call for me and I need to phone Terry Kennedy immediately. Terry informs me that I should not go back to Galway the rest of the trip. “Joe’s Mom” has phoned the police for breaking and entering. He says, “They take breaking and entering seriously here.” Well, maybe you shouldn’t have the shop keeper who holds the key give it out to anyone who asks. Luckily I look like 40-50 percent of the Irishman in Galway, so even a large manhunt would prove unsuccessful. Regardless, thankfully we have no plans to return to Galway, even though a trip to prison would help to get the full flavor of the culture.

End of Day 1 of Haggerty Clan

2010-11-14T19:07:00.000-08:00

SORRY, Left this out a few days ago.

5:00 Drove along the west coast of Ireland. Such beatufil country which as most islands have, a lot of coastline. We then drove all the way up to our place in Ballinrobe.

9:00 pm Here is where the day gets dicey. I swear that I put the number to our 5 star cabin in a notebook. Tragically I can’t find the number but the website does give us directions. These directions include vague references to farm houses and dirt roads and need less to say were not helpful in getting us to our final destination. So we then stop at Mac’s, which is just like McDougles in “Coming to America”, which means it has golden archs instead of arches and is red and yellow. Asking their top notch staff if they know where the local trailer park is located also does not help. So then papa Haggerty gets the ever so bright idea to ask the pizza delivery place. They know where it is and have a delivery near there so we set out to follow the pizza delivery boy. Well he flies our of the lot and our 4 cylinder filled with 5 people Ford Focus cannot remotely keep up. Luckily we somehow catch him after 2 stoplights. He then leads us into the darkest dirt roads and to the wrong set of trailers. Now we get desperate and use Kates “magic” phone to look up my email which I remember has the number. Only thing is we need some internet to mooch off of. So we park as close to a hotel as we can and success.

11:30 pm Make a phone call to Mrs. Mary of the Ballintrope Trailers at quite a late hour. She of course is very nice and lets us into our double wide. After unpacking and killing at least 11 spiders it hits me I might have saved the phone number in my cell phone. And there it is, the last two hours of ridiculousness could have been averted. Thus ends the first day of the Haggerty clan going international. You see why it has not been done yet and may never be tried again.

12:00 pm Luckily midnight in Ireland is not all that late, so our gracious hosts are awake and help us settle end.

Day 31 (Day 2 of Haggerty Clan)

2010-11-11T04:31:00.000-08:00

8:00 am As penance for my horrible hotel accomodations and organizing, I decide to get groceries. Turkey is 12 euros per pound. What?? I guess there aren’t very many Turkeys in Ireland. Ham sandwhiches it is.
10:00 am Pack lunches and set outout to drive a very scenic route in Connemera. This is a very rustic area of Ireland. It is of course very green and very filled with sheep. The sheep have right of way and know it. They have no desire to get off the road and honking has no effect.

12:00 pm We bump into Ashford Castle and I remember TK (my host) has a friend who works there. This isn’t a touristy castle, but more of a high, high price hotel. We are of course grossly underdressed and under cultured, but TK’s friend Robert still shows us around and sets up a lovely tea and crumpets snack for us.

The grounds are phenomanol including a Falconry area. How cool is getting a falcon to obey your command. We kinda listened in to a falconry class but did not spend the hundreds of euros the full class would require. It would be neat, but I don’t think that’s a skill most people would care about on a resume. “So Mr. Haggerty, I see you have a degree in falconry. That’s exactly what we are looking for here at Smith, Bartles and Weinstein.”

2:30 pm We toured the interesting little town of Cong. Apparantly a John Wayne movie called “The Walking Man” was filmed there.

3:30 pm More beautiful mountains, lakes and sheep. If only wool were as valuable as diamonds, Ireland would be the richest nation on earth.
4”30 pm We drive past Kylemore Abbey. It was built so that some rich guy could impress his wife. Tragically and ironically he died before it was complete. Now it is a boarding school for filthy rich young girls. There was a gothic church where we found out that gargoyles are supposed to represent the ever present danger of the devil even when you are at church.

5:30 pm Dipped our toes in the Atlantic after a stop in a quaint little beach town. Now the beach isn’t what we are accustomed to. It was a quarter mile long, nobody on it and cold as crap. But it does have sand and water, which I guess all beaches have in common.

7:00 pm It is Galway races week in Galway, so finding a place to eat in that town is very difficult. We eat at Monroe’s pub and I again have the delicious traditional Irish stew. The kids sat together and the parents at a separate table, since the wait for five could be all night.
9:00 Have a few Guiness at a pub with some Irish music and call it a night. The drive home is super scary since the speed limits are 60 mph on roads skinnier than the width of two ford f-250s. Just an amazing day of seeing the beauty Ireland has.

Day 30 (Day 1 of Haggerty Clan)

2010-11-09T18:43:00.000-08:00

7:00 am I am totally thrilled that my family will finally be here to enjoy the birthplace of half of our heritage. After their long plane flight and my 3 hour bus ride (which due to Kelly’s great flight attendant hook-up and the high cost of everything here cost about the same) we will meet at the Cliffs of Mohr. The cliffs made the first cut of 50 places for the “New Seven Wonders of the World.” Even though the cliffs have been here since roughly the Ice age, there must be some reason for the need of a revote.

9:30 am It is cool, windy and rainy. My family’s first experience of Ireland is one of sideways rain and gale force winds. Better to not have a flawed first impression. The cliffs are amazing, but they don’t let you get that close to the edge. Don’t think they will make the 7 wonders, but they are worth seeing.

Luckily I snagged some hooded jackets they were throwing out in Clare-Galway, since the Haggerty clan did not heed my warnings to dress warmly and dress for rain. So now the three girls have matching white jackets and appear to be the Clare-Galway cheerleading team, since they are obviously too short to play basketball.

11:00 am Head down the highway to see the Burren, an interesting geographical area where grass grows out of rock.
11:02 am Dad is asleep in back seat.
11:05 am Kate is asleep.

11:15 See a few more of the old castles and cemetaries and then stop to see some interesting parts of the Burren. Very serious in that it seems grass grows right of this rock.
11:45 am After going down a road that is supposed to be a shortcut and show us the most famous part of the Burren, it appears there is no way this road could be what we are looking for. I mean it is barely wide enough for one car, how can this be a main tourist thoroughfare. So we pull off at a house to turn around and possibly ask directions. And the house ends up being a holistic center with these hippies sitting around some rock and meditating intensely, if intensely is the right word for being really into your meditating. Luckily a loose hippie who isn’t yet meditating informs us that the road will indeed take us where we want to go. I thought hippies were an American thing, but it appears they are an international craze.

11:50 am Dad and Kate are again asleep
12:05 pm The burren is very neat especially the limestone mountains that look like smaller and smaller pancakes stacked on one another. Pancakes sans syrup of course which is always disappointing.

1:00 pm Dinner at a diner just above a turlough. A turlough is a disappearing lake. How does it disappear you ask? Well a leprechaun drinks it up. Actually, because the bottom is limestone the rain water literally slips between the cracks and pops back up in nearby springs. But in the winter months when the water table is higher the rainwater has no where to go. So like the Canadiens that visit Florida, the lakes disappear ever y summer to return again the next winter. Some are actually tidal and will disappear and reappear twice a day.
1:30 pm We all have a hot toddy, the famous hot whiskey drink with lemon juice. It is good! After lunch we see the huge Dolem. They think this was a religious thing for the ancient pagan Celtic people. How the heck do they get that giant rock up there? No one knows. And to compare I pick up a rock the size of a shoe box and it is easily 50 pounds. These were either really strong people or they were helped by the same aliens who helped build the pyramids and Stonehedge.

Day 29

2010-11-08T10:00:00.000-08:00

Day 29 9:00 am With not much else left to do in Ballina, TK suggests I head down to Knock, Ireland. I’ve never heard of the place, but he tells me it is the setting of a religious “miracle.”
Here’s the gist of Knock:
The Story of Knock began on the 21st August 1879 when Our Lady, St. Joseph and St. John the Evangelist appeared at the south gable of Knock Parish Church. The apparition was witnessed by fifteen people, young and old. From this miraculous Apparition Knock has grown to the status of an internationally recognised Marian Shrine.
The personal pilgrimage of Pope John Paul II in 1979, commemorating the centenary of the apparition, inspired an even greater devotion to the Shrine and endorsed the indelible seal of Vatican approval. Mother Teresa of Calcutta visited the Shrine in June of 1993. One and a half million pilgrims visit the Shrine annually.

If that sounds like what you would see on the Knock website, then you would be correct.

Anyway, I had nothing else to do and it looked interesting. All it cost me was bus fare. Once there it was kind of cool. All the stories of every witness were so accurate and similar that the Catholic Church gives it “miracle” status. Another interesting thing is all the stories of Knock holy water curing all kinds of people. Of course I believe this proves the power of the mind and why we need placebos, but still interesting. But, I still grabbed a bottle. In a funny related story. This bottle remained in the Haggerty rental car until it was apparently drank by my Father. So if his next colonoscopy comes clean we know why.

Here is a depiction of what everybody said they saw

Here's an areal view of the whole grounds.

11:00 pm Having trouble going to sleep since I am excited about the oncoming Haggerty clan. Should be a great and wonderful week.

Reek Sunday CONTINUED

2010-11-05T12:04:00.000-07:00

DAY 28 and Reek Sunday
Here is the mountain as you drive up on it

12:40 pm So now I am at the base of the mountain. I’m a little curious as to what I’ve got myself into, so I slip into the visitor center to catch some info. Well, there are people everywhere. They are all cold, wet, flithy and exhausted. I figure, ha, I’m in pretty good shape. This can’t be that hard, after all it is just walking. Anyway, most people are using the hot showers in the locker rooms or drinking hot chocolate. Yes, hot chocolate in July. It’s a different universe.
So now to begin the climb. The sign at the base says to allow at least two hours, usually more like between two and three. I figure with my raw athleticism I will do it in an hour and a half. The first thirty minutes go fairly uneventfully. I have the adrenaline that comes with the excitement of a new experience. The trail is just a collection of large rocks. It’s still fairly dry so it is an easy walk without a ton of inclination. You can see the trail stretch ahead and doesn’t look all that far up, but looks are very deceiving. The sun was out and it was enough of a work out to shed the jacket. But within thirty minutes gale force winds forces me to rejacket.

There is 'ol St. Pat (legend has it spent 40 days on this rock)

1:10 pm At the thirty minute mark the climb starts to be a little steeper. There aren’t that many people heading up, but there are a ton coming down. I mean like a constant line of people two or three abreast. It’s amazing how many people think this is a good idea. I’d say about one out of every two hundred is doing it barefoot. One guy was in dress slacks and no shoes and easily 65 years old.
As I get a little higher I feel winds I have never felt before. They literally move you. I am leaning forward just to stay upright. This adds a certain level of intrigue to the event since at any time a few feet to your side is a steep fall to a most painful rocky death. Now a bit of rain. As Forrest Gump says, “It was sideways, stinging rain.”

1:35 After about an hour I’m almost trying to walk backwards, because the view of the ocean from this mountain is amazing. One of the best views I’ve seen in a country full of breathtaking scenery. The bright green land hitting the blue ocean dotted with other small islands of more bright green land. Also, now a helicopter is landing to help evacuate an injured climber. It’s funny to see the hair on the sheep get blown by the chopper as they stare in confusion at this random intruder.
2:00 pm At the hour and a half mark I am realizing my athletic limitations. It will take at least the two hours as they claim. Now the ascent begins to be brutally steep. Each step is tiresome. I find it better if I burst up the mountain for like a minute and then rest for a minute.
2:25 pm At the two hour mark, it is so beautiful. I am only 100 yards away, but 100 yards straight up. This last part is slippery soft rock that seems like limestone. This is a bizarre part of the climp. Imagine climping on loose gravel, but each piece of gravel is like the size of a softball. It’s hard to describe but each step is an accension and a slip back down at the same time. As you can imagine it is slow going. I’m very impressed that many senior citizens can make this part of the trek.

2:30 pm Finally, I get to the top. WORTH IT! TOTALLY WORTH IT!! The skies have cleared and I am looking at one of the most breathtaking views. You have the ocean on one side and now we are along a ridgeline overlooking some other mountains and green farmland. I use the facilities and enjoy the view for another two or three minutes and it vanishes behind the quick moving fog. You can’t see ten feet in front of your face. They have a mass every thirty minutes and I made it for the last one of the day. The priest gets to say mass inside a small glass enclosure, but us poor souls stand in the rain. After mass, I then notice a monument marking where they think St. Patrick slept on his concrete bed. Hope he had a rain coat. I have packed two pb and js and two waters and some carrots and some chips. I am starving and need some rejuvenation before I had down. You haven’t lived until you eat PB and J from a mile up.
3:00 pm Going down, the first 100 yards were a ton of fun. It was wet, steep and a ton of fun. The rocks were so loose and slick it was a lot like skiing and most of you know how good I am at that. The descent was long and exhausting. I’ve never climbed a mountain before and now I know why. The desent is just as tiring as the ascent, because you are constantly trying to keep yourself from involuntarily running down the mountain. At many points I am so tired I want to just fall over. But I make it to the bottom. Now as weird as it sounds the adventure begins.
4:30 pm I can’t find a cab to get back to Westport. Luckily, I find a woman and her mom who pick me and take me into town. So now I’m at the bus stop. I am starting to panic, because I didn’t notice that the only day there isn’t a 5:00 bus to where I want to go is Sunday. I’m joined at the bus stop by some gross teens repulsively making out. When I ask them, “Do you know when the next bus rolls through?” They reply in a very impatient and angry voice, “FRENCH!”. That’s all he says. You’d think he would learn the term, “Me no English”, but I guess just saying FRENCH! is easier. So, now I have a true adventure, since I have to ride to Castlebar to then take a LATE bus home.
6:00 pm In castlebar, I realize the next bus to Ballina won’t be until 11 pm. So with five hours to kill, I eat and drink at a pub and one of the bartenders has a friend who works for Jetblue (the continuing sponser of this trip). Keep in mind I am filthy. My shoes, pants are covered in mud. I spend twenty minutes in the bathroom trying to at least be somewhat presentable. In there I have a long chat with a local. Very weird since A. it started in the bathroom B. I look ridiculous and C. He had had enough whiskey to kill most non Irish folk. It is funny how everyone who sees that I climbed the Reek assumes I flew all the way over to Ireland just to do it. While it was a great experience, I don’t think it would be enough to warrent me crossing the pond.
8:00 pm At another pub I meet my first version of Irish ditzes. These girls were hilarious. They were both veteranarians and one convinced me at one time they had actually put braces on a hamster. The other one actually claimed to have slept with Hugh Heffner. I immediately kept my distance as I didn’t want her Herpes jumping onto me.
11:00 pm Finally I made it the bus stop and was in my warm house and finally showered by 12:30. What a day.

ENGAGEMENT

2010-11-02T16:15:00.001-07:00

PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE http://www.weddingwire.com/shaunandchristie for hotel info, venue info and GREAT music.

Since some of you want to know the details and not all of you had the chance to hear my story telling ability, here it goes. On Saturday September 4th, 2010 Christie experienced her first day of college football tailgating (that is the real date worth remembering). She was a very impressive 3-1 in corn hole including throwing three straight in the hole on the first three throws of her tailgating career. Christie experienced her first “running down the hill” and I believe she said, “Oh my God, that’s the most exciting thing I’ve ever experienced.” That might not be a direct quote, but I could sense that feeling in her facial expression.
The day after the Clemson Tigers took care of business in Death Valley, Christie and I went to church. I had my wallet in my front pocket and figured the ring would be well hidden behind my George Costanza sized wallet. On the ride there Christie put her hand on my knee and I snatched it to hold her hand and keep her away. She alleges this was not a giveaway that something was amiss. I came up with the BS line that my throat hurt from the game and didn’t feel like talking as much as normal. My lack of conversational motivation was actually due to my severe nerves. At church I played a constant game of keep her hand away from my pocket to the point where I could barely focus on the service. Finally, I decided after mass to move the ring box from my front pocket to an extra pocket lower on my cargo shorts. With all my focus on this, Jon and Julie pointed out when we got to the car that I really needed to XYZ. I did indeed need to examine my zipper, as it was Wide Open.
NOW TO THE BOTANICAL GARDENS

Then we took a nice trip to the Botanical Gardens. We saw coy, turtles, a waterfall and a cute old couple who were nice enough to take our picture. After seeing my Clemson shirt, the lady asked, “Did we win?” After I answered in the affirmative, she said in a high pitch and funny octogenarian voice, “OH YEAH!”

NOW TO THE "USUALLY" SECLUDED DIKES OVERLOOKING LAKE HARTWELL
We then traveled to a place I thought was very secluded right along the picturesque Lake Hartwell. It was secluded usually when I went out there as a student, but I guess I never went out there on Labor Day weekend. So, we end up walking three to four hundred yards longer than I wanted to and had to duck into the woods (picking up a few thorns along the way) to find a little privacy. Risking the loss of my man card (and unknown to most of you) I have a small amount of skill as an amateur poet. To keep myself from being a bumbling mess, I used poetry as my script. I read the first half, and she read the second half which ended with these lines:
Now is the time and here is the place
To do something I hope puts a smile on your face.
Because I have a question you see,
And then all I had to do was get on one knee and say, “would you make me so happy and marry me.”
HERE IS THE RING
Then I slipped the ring on her finger. It got very stuck on the knuckle and thankfully fit on. We then traversed the thorny non-path back to the dike. We had a few kindly folks snap a few pictures and headed back to the lake house. On the road I lost track of my speed and Officer Greer is now our first weeding invitee. He did reduce the ticket, but was not overly compassionate; informing me “I still need to control my emotions.” Well, he better bring a pretty good gift to make up for his heartless ticket. Anyway, even with that, it was a pretty phenomenal weekend.
AND HERE ARE THE COOKIES LINDSAY WAS NICE ENOUGH TO MAKE

2010-10-10T13:47:00.000-07:00

DAY 28 and Reek Sunday
So now I am at the base of the mountain. I’m a little curious as to what I’ve got myself into, so I slip into the visitor center to catch some info. Well, there are people everywhere. They are all cold, wet, flithy and exhausted. I figure, ha, I’m in pretty good shape. This can’t be that hard, after all it is just walking. So most people are using the hot showers in the locker rooms or drinking hot chocolate. Yes, hot chocolate in July. It’s a different universe.
So now to begin the climb. The sign at the base says to allow at least two hours, usually between two and three. I figure with my raw athleticism I will do it in an hour and a half. The first thirty minutes go fairly uneventfully. I have the adrenaline that comes with the excitement of a new experience. The trail is just a collection of large rocks. It’s still fairly dry so it is an easy walk without a ton of inclination. You can see the trail stretch ahead and doesn’t look all that far up, but looks are very deceiving. The sun was out and it was enough workout to shed the jacket. But within thirty minutes gale force winds caused me to rejacket.
At the thirty minute mark the climb starts to be a little steaper. There aren’t that many people heading up, but there are a ton coming down. I mean like a constant line of people two or three abreast. It’s amazing how many people think this is a good idea. I’d say about one out of every two hundred is doing it barefoot. One guy was in dress slacks and no shoes and easily 65 years old.
As I get a little higher I feel winds I have never felt before. The literally move you. I am leaning forward just to stay upright. This adds a certain level of intrigue to the event since at any time a few feet to your side is a steep fall to a most painful rocky death. Now a bit of rain. As Forrest Gump says, “It was sideways, stinging rain.”
After about an hour I’m almost trying to walk backwards, because the view of the ocean from this mountain is amazing. One of the best views I’ve seen in a country full of breathtaking scenery. The bright green land hitting the blue ocean dotted with other small islands of more bright green land. Also, now a helicopter is landing to help evacuate an injured climber. It’s funny to see the hair on the sheep get blown by the chopper as they stare in confusion at this random intruder.
At the hour and a half mark I am realizing my athletic limitations. It will take at least the two hours as they claim. Now the ascent begins to be brutally steep. Each step is tiresome. I find it better if I burst up the mountain for like a minute and then rest for a minute.
At the two hour mark, it is so beautiful. I am only 100 yards away, but 100 yards straight up. This last part is slippery soft rock that seems like limestone. This is a bizarre part of the climp. Imagine climping on loose gravel, but each piece of gravel is like the size of a softball. It’s hard to describe but each step is an accension and a slip back down at the same time. As you can imagine it is slow going. I’m very impressed that many senior citizens can make the trek.
2:30 pm Finally, I get to the top. WORTH IT! TOTALLY WORTH IT!! The skies have cleard and I am looking at one of the most breathtaking views. You have the ocean on one side and now we are along a ridgeline overlooking some other mountains and green farmland. I use the facilities and enjoy the view for another two or three minutes and it vanishes behind the quick moving fog. You can’t see ten feet in front of your face. They have a mass every thirty minutes and I made it for the last one of the day. The priest gets to say mass inside a small glass enclosure, but us poor souls stand in the rain. I then notice a monument marking where they think St. Patrick slept on his concrete bed. Hope he had a rain coat.

3:00 pm Going down, the first 100 yards were a ton of fun. It was wet, steep and a ton of fun. The rocks were so loose and slick it was a lot like skiing and most of you know how good I am at that. The descent was long and exhausting. I’ve never climbed a mountain before and now I know why. The desent is just as tiring as the ascent, because you are constantly trying to keep yourself from trying to run down the mountain. At many points I am so tired I want to just fall over. But I make it to the bottom. Now as weird as it sounds the adventure begins.
4:30 pm I can’t find a cab to get back to Westport. Luckily, I find a woman and her mom who pick me and and take me into town. So now I’m at the bus stop. I am starting to panic, because I didn’t notice that the only day there isn’t a 5:00 bus to where I want to go is Sunday. I’m joined at the bus stop by some gros teens repulsively making out. When I ask them, “Do you know when the next bus rolls through?” They reply in a very impatient and angry voice, “FRENCH”. That’s all he says. You’d think he would learn the term, “Me no English”, but I guess just saying French is easier. So, know I have an adventure, since I have to ride to Castlebar to then take a LATE bus home.
6:00 pm In castlebar, I realize the next bus to Ballina won’t be until 11 pm. So with five hours to kill, I eat and drink at a pub and one of the bartenders has a friend wheo works for Jetblue. Keep in mind I am filthy. My shoes, pants are covered in mud. I spend twenty minutes in the bathroom trying to at least be somewhat presentable. It is funny how everyone who sees that I climbed the Reek assumes I flew all the way over to Ireland just to do it. While it was a great experience I don’t think it would be enough for me to cross the pond.
8:00 pm At another pub I meet my first version of Irish ditzes. These girls were hilarious. They were both veteranarians and one convinced me at one time they had actually put braces on a hamster. The other one actually claimed to have slept with Hugh Heffner. I immediately kept my distance as I didn’t want her Herpes jumping onto me.
11:00 pm Finally I made it the bus stop and was in my warm house and finally showered by 12:30. What a day.

Annual ACC PREVIEW

2010-09-02T12:24:00.000-07:00

After last year's prediction of 9-3 and going to the ACC Championship game being pretty close, I am going to try again. Being the Clemson homer and quite the optimist when it comes to Tiger Football I am again predicting 9-3. Am I sure that will be good enough to get to the ACC Championship game, maybe. So, I'll make a prediction and say YES!!
I hope this can finally be the year we run the table at home. There are the 4 duds of N. Texas, PC, Mary and NC St, but also coming to the Valley are Miami, GT and SC. Both the ACC teams will probably be ranked and SC is pretty good, but it is about time Death Valley becomes the type of venue it was in the 80's. Plus, it appears the talent level is moving back to the 80's level.
So, the prediction is again 9-3. I think this team surprises people, because the Tigers lost a lot of skill position players, but return almost all of their OL and DL. Not to mention, another year in Coach Steele's aggressive defensive system should help the Tigers play faster on defense. I think this Defense (if it can stay healthy) has a chance to be top 2 or 3 in the league and maybe top 20 nationally.
On offense, Spiller will be missed and almost as much, so will Jacoby Ford and Michael Palmer, since between those three they probably caught 90% of all passes last year.
Of course this prediction is predicated on Kyle Parker staying healthy. We'll see, but I would be shocked if the November game in Tallahassee doesn't decide who goes to Charlotte. I do think we could lose that and still go, but FSU's schedule is pretty easy. Like always, as painful as it is, Tiger fans need to root for Miami in the Canes-Seminoles annual battle to see which set of punks and criminals can win.

I think the Atlantic is:
1. Clemson
2. FSU
3. Wake
4. NC St
5. Mary
6. BC

And the Coastal:
1. VT
2. Miami
3. GT
4. NC
5. Duke
6. UVA

DAY 27 AND REEK SUNDAY

2009-10-05T16:46:00.000-07:00

Saturday is so unexciting that these are my only notes for the whole day:
Jog planning for croag Patrick
Confession
Grocery store – slim pickings
Euro store-leprechaun hat- but didn’t buy it…yet
Watched Pete Newell video – He is a great coach who is an expert on post play. He was so ancient in the video he made Al Davis look vibrant.

REEK SUNDAY
8:00 am It was refreshing to wake up to an empty house. I'm very weird like that. I love having friends and family close by and this trip I've occasionally felt the need for both, but then I am often recharged by being alone.

9:00 am Walked to cathedral for 9:00 mass, but mass is at 9:30. Can't go AND make the bus to Westport. I've planned on catching the 10:15 to Westport and then a quick taxi to Croag Patrick. I'm on the way now so all I know about this mountain is that tons of people climb it. It's like a pilgrimage and some even do it bare foot. I consider myself to have a decent pain tolerance, but I am an absolute panzy when it comes to being bare foot. I would rather endure 5 Clemson last second losses than climb this thing bare foot.

11:15 Arrived in Westport. Nice little town and very busy because it is Reek Sunday. The locals call Croag Patrick the Reek and the last Sunday in July is the biggest day to climb it. According to the sign I read this tradition has gone on for 1500 years. As for Westport, I stop by the visitor center to get a map. I then walk around to see a couple of monuments and of course a cathedral. Once you've seen one Irish cathedral you've seen 'em all. This isn't true. They do all share extremely similar external architecture, but inside they vary greatly. I return to the visitor center because they said they would be kind enough to call a cab for me. Instead of calling a company and getting a random person, she calls and says, "Hey Martin, can you pick this lad up?"

12:00 Martin is a lovely man and tells me some good non-touristy places to visit when the fam gets hers. He also informs me the weather forecast for TODAY is awful!

12:30 So I get near the base of the mountain and of course there are two pubs swarming with post climb revelers or just lazy good for nothings laughing at us for climbing 762 feet...or is it meters. At the base I read it is believed St. Patrick himself spent 40 days and 40 nights on a rock bed atop the mountain. Its also alleged he drove the snakes out of Ireland, but science has since proven Ireland never had any reptiles. So it is thought he drove out the "symbolic" snakes, i.e. devils and demons, since the devil was a serpent in the Garden of Eden.
Some other interesting facts about St. Patrick. His dying wish was that all Irish and Americans would commemorate his birthday by laying face down in the gutter in a pool of their own vomit. Not really, but he was in fact born BRITISH. After his father's estate was raided he was taken to Ireland and sold into slavery as a shepherd. He was a Godless lad and then after six years in bondage he had a huge conversion and escaped to England. Got some ministry training and returned to Ireland, drove out "snakes," used the shamrock to represent the trinity (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) and spread Christianity across a land of pagans.
At the time the Celtic people were being duped by Druid priests who were all about blood sacrifices. So Pattty said, "Listen here. My guy Jesus did all the sacrificing you'll ever need." He was highly effective as Ireland is now 99.99% Christian.

So now you know the back story and I will continue my odyssey tomorrow.

DAY 25 and DAY 26

2009-09-29T17:50:00.000-07:00

DAY 25 – Thursday July 23, 2009
11:00 am I look creapy for getting a picture of the camper who looks like my cousin Bridget.

3:00 pm After camp we take a trip to Sligo to pick up some paper work? Whatever. I am just literally along for the ride.

6:00 pm Thought I was going to be able to stay at a coach’s flat in Cork, but it didn’t work out. Got a place in limerick for cheap. It’s cheap because it is a single bed. But it’s at least 100 euro cheaper than any other room.

6:30 pm Got a rental car for cheap. Yipee!!

7:00 pm Planned whole trip of when the Haggertys are here. We’ll let you just be surprised by the itinerary.

8:00 pm Went for jog. Saw the girl from the crazy euro “club” night. She was OBVIOUSLY trying not to see me, so I didn’t go out of my way to bump into her.

Day 26
3:00 pm Camp awards – There is now an annual Mr. Florida award that I of course give to the girl that looks like my cousin. What? Am I supposed to base it on basketball ability?

3:30 pm Called a kid a terd in front of another kid. They thought it was hilarious. Apparently that is not a common term of endearment over here.
My buddy Flo does this hilarious worm dance at every camp. He is a large man, so seeing him do the worm is pretty funny. Plus the camp made me do some Irish dancing. Needless to say that was comical.

5:00 pm Went for a jog and was denied by charity worker. He asked for money, heard my accent and said oh sorry, we need someone with an Irish bank account.

11:00 pm Finally heard some REAL traditional irish music. It was really, really good. Just five people sitting in a booth playing some unusual instruments and taking requests. I wanted to request my favorite, “Galway to Graceland, but withheld.

DAY 24

2009-09-24T17:55:00.000-07:00

9:30 am On the way to camp, TK plays a funny and telling song with the words, “The british need to get the hell out of here.”

10:00 am Instead of hearing Sonny and Cher’s “I got you babe”, my groundhog’s day consists of hearing kids count from one to ten while stretching. Not complaining, I love camp and basketball. We all know this. I added it up this summer. I’ve worked camp in FL, GA, SC, NC, NJ, MI, MN, PA, NE and now Ireland. But it is getting a little redundant. Only two more days and I will be done and on to the full on vacation.

11:00 am I’ve already bumped into a camper in Sligo who looked just like Kate Haggerty, one in Galway looked like me and now Foxford has a kid that looks just like my cousin. It is kind of freaky. We all have a twin out there somewhere.

4:30 pm Another jog. Went to a place called St. Patrick’s well. Apparantly, this is the spot whereSt. Patrick baptized people in Ballina. There was a monument for those who fought for the independence of Ireland. Also, there is a big alter looking table on the other side of a small creek. Also, there are the stations of the cross on mosaics along a wall. I guess they do masses there occasionally, but the priest has to have a little bridge made to get over the creek.

6:30 pm I showed TK the leprachauns in Alabama you tube clip. Trust me, it is definitely worth three minutes of your time to watch this. TK stated and I quote, “Only in America.” I responded with, “Only in Alabama.”

IF YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN THIS WATCH IT!!! NOTHING IS FUNNIER!
IF YOU HAVE ALREADY SEEN THIS WATCH IT!!! NOTHING IS FUNNIER!

7:00 pm Steak tonight. These people are too good to me.

DAY 22 and 23

2009-09-23T17:57:00.000-07:00

10:00 am Camp begins. In the states camps have official looking tables that collect money and take down names. Here each kid turns in his money and then at the end of the day we ask each one if they have paid. Total honor system.
11:30 am Camp here is funny. The camp director will walk up to me and tell me I have the next hour and a half. Luckily the Haggerty family business is camps and I have drills to kill time out the wazoo.

5:00 pm After camp, took a jog around Ballina. It has a neat new pedestrian bridge and I went inside the cathedral. Very pretty. The town is right on one of the best Salmon Rivers in the world. Old men are waist deep in extremely cold water to get themselves one and only one (by law) salmon.

7:00 pm At dinner TK tells the funniest story. They have two cats now. About four years ago they saw one of their cats dead on the road. They scooped him into a box and buried him in the back yard. Then two days later the same cat came traipsing into the yard all muddy from his adventures. The daughter was only 13 and thought the cat had come back from the dead and crawled out of the dirt. But apparently they buried some other person’s cat.

9:00 pm Real Madrid trains in Ireland to get out of the heat. They just played a local Irish soccer team in a warm up match. The Irish team consists of part-time players and a total payroll of 25,000 a week versus 2.5 million a week for Real Madrid. This game is the equivalent of the LA Lakers playing a local men’s league team. In typical soccer fashion it was scoreless until three minutes left when Real Madrid broke the dreams of the collection of elevator mechanics and school teachers (actual careers of players).

DAY 23 10:00 am Camp begins. It’s like Groundhog Day for me at this point. Of the 23 days of this journey on 17 of them I have led the camp in stretch at exactly 10:15 am. Never 10 am due to Irish time.

11:45 am One of the wee campers grabbed a rebound and instead of moving up court, she takes the ball out of bounds. We figured she must have thought the ball went in, but when she did it again five minutes later, we realized there is an obvious rules interpretation problem with the young girl.

5:00 pm Arrive home from camp

5:02 pm Sit in recliner. Those that know me well know exactly where this is going.

5:03 pm Pull up bar on recliner.

5:04 pm Pull down hood on jacket to shade eyes from sunlight.

7:00 pm Wake up from greatest nap of all time.

7:30 pm Excellent meal of chicken curry and rice. NO PATATOES!! I am in withdrawal.

8:30 pm Cell phone plans are different here. Rather than monthly plans, you buy “credit” or a certain amount of minutes. Needless to say minutes are more expensive and more precious. Just saw ad here about cell phones with two people getting locked in a walk-in freezer. Spoofing on how precious the minutes are the guy refuses to call for help because he knows the next shift will be in there in four hours. So this reminds me of an actual story involving a freezer. A Clemson buddy of mine had to do community service for underage drinking. He was helping out a church by stocking their walk-in freezer. After being in there 20 minutes, they forgot about him and locked the freezer. He was stuck in there 2 hours wearing shorts and a t-shirt. They were polite enough to credit him for 8 hours worth of community service.

10:00 pm Jimmy’s pub is my new favorite pub in Ireland. Again, not that I am any connoisseur, but most in Ballina will tell you and I agree that this pint of Guinness is a 9.5. Plus, it is only 3 euro when everyone else charges at least 4. Obviously, I made sure to buy my round here before we moved to more upscale joints. Top it off with the fact that the owner/barkeep looks and sounds just like Peter’s dad in the Family Guy. He was wearing a tie behind the bar. I thought that was an extremely classy touch.

10:30 pm TK tells a hilarious story about a hole in the wall pub where his mom now lives. He tried to order a hot whiskey, which apparently involves heating up the glass and adding lemon and some other stuff to make an amazing liquor concoction. But when he ordered she said come back when the band is done. He said, “Huh.” She explained they couldn’t do it while the band was playing. If she turned on the burner to heat the glass, they would blow a fuse. She says, “Love, just come back at intermission.” Then he has to pee later and can’t find a toilet. He asks the same pretty lady and she points out the door to an outhouse 50 feet out in a field. He says, “Really? There’s nothing else, it’s pouring down rain?” Plus its five degrees Celsius. She replies, “Oh love, just stay along the walls of those buildings and you’ll be fine.” TK does say even with all that it is his favorite pub in Ireland. Great music, beautiful girls, fun people and an outhouse. I think Toby Keith talks about an outhouse in the last verse of “I love this Bar.”

11:00 pm We went next door to hear some really, really good jazz. I try to get into jazz, but I find it so boring on CD or on the radio. But live jazz is usually excellent. This was no exception. We then walked home, stopping for the two I am with to pee into the river, right in front of a “river guard.” His job is to ensure no one illegally fishes at night or urinates into the river, but lucky for us he was playing away on his lap top.

DAY 21

2009-09-22T17:39:00.000-07:00

9:00 pm Finally made it to church on a Sunday. As advertised, the mass is only 30 minutes long. On Sunday there is a sermon, but only music at communion. Per swine flu regulations, we also do not shake hands as a sign of peace. We just look at each other and wave two fingers in the air.

11:00 am Some more pickup. I had to say something I don’t think you would ever say in the States and I hope never to say again. “Somebody guard the guy in the capris! He’s killing us!” The other team had a 6’10” Bosnian and a 6’11” Lithuanian. I’m not exaggerating. Needless to say we did not win.

1:00 pm We start walking home. We are 10 miles from our temporary home. My buddy Flo assures me that someone will pick us up. Again we are about 50 years back in time. Sure enough, only one minute down the road someone who knew Flo took us the 10 minutes back to Claregalway.

4:00 pm Huge Gaelic football rivalry in one of the four provincial finals. County Mayo vs. County Galway. Galway is known as the Tribesman, but Mayo has no mascot. I suggested they should be the Naise. Get it, Mayo Naise. They could get a guy to dress up like a big bottle of Hellmans. They could use cheers like, “Let’s spread it ON!!”

The game was fantastic. Mayo dominated throughout and had a 7 point lead with three minutes to go. This is a sizable lead since a ball in the goal is worth 3 and a ball over the goal and between the uprights is only worth one. So Galway scores four quick points and force a crucial turnover with 30 seconds left and of course fire a Hail Mary pass which is caught and put in the goal for the tie. Mayo comes back with a great kick for a point in the last 10 seconds.

6:00 pm Two hour bus ride to Ballina.

8:00 pm In an interesting quirk of fate, for the second time this week I ate the same exact meal twice in one day. Pot roast, corn, carrots and of course mashed potatoes. Both excellent, but funny. Maybe there is a set meal for each day of the week in this country.

10:00 pm Out to the pub for a pint. Very good Guinness and the cover band was excellent. The speakers here have super duper bass. When you are within 20 feet of the speakers you can feel the bass reverberate through your body. My wingman Flo disappeared and I navigate the twenty minute walk home, never sure of the route until the moment I see the doorway.

2:30 am I guess wired from the live band, I watch some awful British version of Grey’s Anatomy. After, I got important news, such as the Pope broke his wrist.

DAY 20

2009-09-21T18:02:00.000-07:00

9:00 am Nothing in Ireland is ever planned. People here live by the seat of their pants. They must firmly believe life is what happens while you are busy planning. So I too wake up this morning without a clue how I will fill the day.

11:00 am It is finally decided the Spaniards want to go into Galway. I go with, hoping to catch a tour to Connemara, an area just north of Galway with beautiful landscape. Once at the visitor center we are informed the last bus left at 10:45. So, now what. Luckily the kind tourist lady informs us the last bus to the Aran Island ferry leaves in 10 minutes. This turns out to be one of the biggest best breaks of my trip. The bus ride out was spectacular. You drive along the coast and see an old school links golf course. Then, half way there the terrain turns to something peculiar and rarely found anywhere in the world. It is a world of rocks, except there is grass growing on and around these rocks. This proves that even if you planted grass seed on your car in Ireland, by the next day your car would be green.

12:00 pm The 40 minute ferry ride is filled with interactions with my first real Americans. They are from Illinois and, not surprisingly, 3 of the 4 are teachers. Who else can have a decently paying career so that you can afford and have the time to gallivant all over the world.

1:00 pm On the island you can either walk, “hire” a bike or “hire” a car. Since I love biking and love having the freedom to have a self guided tour and love only spending five euro, the bike was a no brainer. The bike was a solid 10-speed and I headed out on the ancient Irish speaking island. It’s about 10 miles long by two miles wide. Cycling along the coast was geourgous, with the blue Atlantic and the small mountains of the other Aran islands in the background. Then I went up the mountain a piece. All of a sudden I am walking around terrain I have never experienced. Slabs and slabs of rock, with of course grass in between them. Back on the bike and I pedaled ferociously to reach the highest point on the island, where the locals wisely placed a light house and signal tower.
After the tower, I headed down a path to an ancient monument. The last 100 feet have to be done on feet. I turn the corner and two massive horses are just eating grass on my path. After the horse bucked and made me think it was ready to attack, they both ran off quickly. The monument was neat, a stone igloo. Don’t know if you are supposed to go in it and it is creepy to think there is no mortar holding the rocks, but I went in thinking, “if its held for 4000 years I think it will hold another two minutes.”

Then some ancient churches and the really breathtaking Celtic fort. Some poor German broke his ankle on the way up, probably Karma for that jerk I met in Cork- see Day 13. At the top you are surrounded by these incredible stone walls and looking down steep cliffs into the Atlantic Ocean. It’s like the Pacific Coast Highway meets Robin Hood. It is incredible that they built these forts. I picked up a stone on the island that was one foot by one foot and it weighed easily 80 pounds. So these other stones that are sometimes three feet by three feet has to weigh at least 720 pounds. Met a girl from Slovenia at the top and she asked, “You know where it is?” I replied with a description of where Slovakia exists and she went on to inform me it is not Slovakia.

After the fort I saw hundreds of dolphins swimming right off the coast. It is like today is a charmed day. On the ride back to the ferry it is a totally different experience, because now the haze has cleared and the view is even more spectacular.
Right before reaching the ferry I witnessed a man driving his car with his hand out the window. Connected to that hand out the window is a horse. He is leading a horse down the road in his Renault whatever. Just the amazing juxtaposition of ancient and modern.

5:30 pm Made the ferry by two minutes. Chatted with three more Americans (Clevelanders) on the bus ride home, of course one was a teacher.

7:00 pm Once in Galway, killed time waiting for my ride by watching a really good magic show and other random street theatre. Had some dinner and a glass of wine and slept well.

DAY 19

2009-09-03T19:50:00.001-07:00

10:00 am Camp goes well again. My boy Ian decides he will peg a ball from half court right off a kids bum. I had to yell at him and give him push-ups, but I was impressed by the sheer audacity and accuracy of his effort.

12:00 pm The Spanish coach became so fed up with the campers that he asked through his interpreter, “Are the Irish just not as smart as the British?” Apparently, he had worked a camp in the UK recently with a little quicker learning curve. He also fired a water bottle at one idiot camper that was running around like “headless chickens.”

4:00 pm After camp the Spaniards planted a tree in remembrance of their weekend. Don’t know if this is a Spanish tradition or what. We then made plans to go to the Cliffs of Mohr.

6:00 pm After waiting a while for the ride to the cliffs, we ring the driver and apparently my desire to go was lost in translation. Me gusta cliffs of mohr or vamos a cliffs of mohr is what I should have said.

7:00 pm So instead of seeing one of the top 28 wonders of the world, I spend the next few hours playing around and talking to the crazy local kids. We discuss how kids in Ireland don’t have school dances. This leads to the later realization that a favorite Irish pastime is BS. They do go to dances, but they love to pull your leg. They think the way I say things is hilarious and I can’t stop saying y’all which sends them into tumultuous laughter each time. One girl was being made fun of because in school one time she started to say, “in WW III the” Everyone laughed except for one kid who after ten seconds, said “Continue.”

9:00 pm Then we take a bike ride to the local historical sites. A 12th century monastery and castle is surrounded by a large cemetery. The gravestones in this country are so elaborate. Below the gravestone, the whole area is usually decorated with a bed of rocks and momentos. They take their dying seriously here.

11:00 pm Off to trivia at the country club. The winner of the 2009 US Open, Clemson alum Lucas Glover, was my big contribution to the evening. Knowing that it is Eldrick Tiger Woods, Clinton came from Arkansas, Schwarzenegger is the Governator of CA and that Geronimo was an Apache were all helpful. I got all of the American ones, but as you can see, they were pretty easy if you are from the US.

DAY 17 and 18

2009-09-02T19:54:00.000-07:00

The day after the day
Feel awful. Lost day.
Did see a documentary on Lions. After hours of not killing buffaloes they finally kill a sickly calf. Then some hyenas come and scare off the lions and eat their dinner. King of the jungle my butt.

Day 18
9:30 am Finally made it to a mass over here. True to the rumors, the weekday mass is only 20 minutes. The priest gives no sermon and wastes no time. They say the Lord’s prayer in Irish. Also, In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is said in Irish and at present is the only thing I can say in Irish: An anima aher, agus un vic, agus un spirit naive. The kids enjoyed teaching me as I probably sounded like Sammy Sosa trying to deny he did steroids in English.

4:00 pm After camp I go over to the camp coordinators mini-mansion. After playing some pool I eat a small meal of chicken, peas, carrots and roasted potatoes. Roasted potatoes are amazing. More on this later.

6:00 pm Back at my hosts I eat the exact same meal of chicken, peas, carrots and roasted potatoes. Very ironic.

9:00 pm Having a few pints at the local pub, I almost start a fight when I jokingly say that one Mom’s roasted potatoes are better than the other Mom’s. Then a dad and I somehow got on politics and I was on my best behavior, since he was a good bit more left than your average American. I might even throw the word socialist around, but that might be a bit strong. Also, at this point I am wondering if Obama and the Congress has brought us totally to Socialism. Alrighty then, let’s go back to the light-hearted blog.

11:30 pm I could head into Galway, but with it being so late and a little gun shy still I decide to just go home and call it a night. The crew that goes out ends up being 30 minutes late the next day, so I feel pretty good about my decision.

ALL IN FOR DABO AND DAY 16

2009-09-01T18:03:00.000-07:00

HERE IS HAPPY PRAISE GOD JOB EXTENSION DABO

Here are all the possible senarios. I predict the one in bold. How bout you??

12-0 Dabo signs 8 year extension and takes on Barker's duties as well

11-1 Dabo signs 6 year extension and is named mayor of Clemson

10-2 ACCCG appearance- Dabo signs 4 year extension and gets to stay at my sweet new house

9-3 ACCCG appearance- Dabo keeps job and recruiting kicks into high gear.
9-3 No ACCCG but beat USC - I'm pissed but high powered IPTAY folks happy
9-3 No ACCCG and lose to USC - Still a good year, cannot complain.
HERE IS CALL TOMMY BOWDEN TO LEARN HOW TO PROPERLY SIT ON THE HOT SEAT DABO

8-4 ACCCG appearance but lose to USC and TCU- Dabo wins the ones he heeds to!!! I see this as a possibility

8-4 No ACCCG but beat USC - Still a good year. Recruiting will be fine and the future will be bright.
8-4 No ACCCG and lose to USC - Mediocre year. One thing Bowden could do was beat the chickens.

7-5 Beat USC - Mediocre year. Still give it time. This means we lost to GT, BC, FSU, GT and TCU
7-5 Lose to USC - Now we are starting to get into a bad year.

6-6 Beat USC - Coaching search will start
6-6 Lose to USC - Coaching search escalated

5-7 This would mean we went 3-7 against real opponents. Not acceptable. I think Dabo would be fired at the end of the year

4-8 I think Dabo would be fired by Thanksgiving
HERE IS MRS. DABO AND CHILD FEARING FOR LIFE OF HUSBAND AND DAD

3-9 Killed by Iptay mob

2-10 Begins selling real estate again by October

1-11 Clemson faithful tie him to balloons during the Hill by week 5

0-12 Dabo sleeps with the fishes of Lake Hartwell

Here is the behind the scene Dabo - pretty neat. I want him to well so badly.
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.hisradio.com/myimages/dabo_swinney.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.hisradio.com/dabo-swinney-with-rob-kristin.php&usg=__ORZ7Wj_U9cVkZwglesyPK0eBrNw=&h=661&w=340&sz=45&hl=en&start=1&tbnid=IzhudoBh24oXpM:&tbnh=138&tbnw=71&prev=/images%3Fq%3Ddabo%2Bswinney%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX

7 pm The Spanish coach gives a lecture. It’s pretty neat since he is one of the winningest coaches in Spain and right now the Spanish league is the next best league after the NBA. For quality of play it is probably better than the NBA. I can’t believe I am saying that, but it could be true.

11 am I get dropped in Galway with a girl named Hannah who lives in Galway. She is meeting her American friend and her boyfriend. Plus our old pal Flo and his cousin will join us for this night of craziness. We start at a pub called The Quay, I think. They had traditional Irish music. I thought it was pretty good, but heard it is crap compared to the really good stuff.

12 am Long story short, many pints flowed and had a great time. I tried to keep myself out of trouble by getting away from the endless rounds. Apparently, the American girl is either loaded or knows a bartender because every time I came back there was a pint and the now banned from my body “Baby Guinness” shot. During my touring of the pub, I bumped into groups from Australia, Germany and Dublin. All really fun groups. The Aussies were tired of the weather and ready for their next stop in Greece. At some point there was a pair of girls talking to our group who I would have placed at 21 or 22. They giggled to the point it was obvious they were younger and did admit to being 17 and 18 respectively. As a high school teacher, I thought I was decent at the age guessing game, but I was way off. I think this is due to the fact that I am used to everyone in a bar being at least 21. That is definitely not the case here. I do very much enjoy not being carded…ever.

1 am The long cab ride causes the biggest reversal of fortune. Getting too old for this, but I am too much of a wuss to turn down something that is bought for me, so I could not turn down the shots. I end up at Hannah’s house with the whole lot of us crashing there. At some point, I wondered off to get some fresh air and they were worried about me. But my just good enough sense of direction got me back to the house.

DAY 14 and 15

2009-08-31T19:35:00.000-07:00

9:00 am With sleeping through a 7 am watch alarm and camp at 10, I again miss church. Ouch. But, again a full Irish breakfast awaits us. Also, in the middle of the night, a camper from Sligo staying with us attacks Terry. The kid is a known sleep walker and has Terry by the arms on top of him screaming, “Get ‘em out of here!”

10:00 am Another uneventful day of camp. We beat the kids only 7-4 this day because they play slight amounts of defense.

4:00 pm We give out awards, including player most likely to kick instead of shoot a basketball. There are many candidates for this one.

4:15 pm Now the three hour drive to Claregalway, which is suburb of Limerick, just kidding, Galway.

7;30 pm Our host family is amazing. They have three daughters and a son ranging from 14 to 19. The whole town is back 50 years. Everyone knows everyone, nobody owns a bike lock and kids just come and go from house to house. It’s like the Irish Pleasantvlle. After a great dinner we enjoy some surprisingly adequate warm Coronas. Don’t know if I mentioned this, but ice is as rare as warm weather in this country. Everything except the pints comes luke warm so you better get used to it.

11:00 pm I lug my 40 pound bag up another flight of stairs and prepare to sleep in my 5th bed of the trip. Over night I have weird dream Billy Donovan. I was asking him about his tournament against Creighton and Norfolk State. Huh?

DAY 15
9 am The Irish love their breakfast. Again a huge breakfast of soda bread, bacon, tea, toast and cereal. And since Sligo I have had my precious orange juice every morning.

10 am Camp has ridiculously low turnout. The guy running it has 200 kids in his club and yet he has only 22 kids in attendance. This is even sadder when you factor in that they have brought in a great Spanish professional coach, his interpreter, TK (who has won national league titles), Flo and the incomparable Shaun Haggerty. The reason for this lack of ballers is the economic troubles, a very popular vacation weekend and the poor scheduling of trying to go against the Gaelic football camp. Please see the blog on sports in Ireland, but if you don’t want to read it, just realize that Gaelic is the PRIMARY sport here. Everyone is queer for it.
Lunch is again a spectacular array of sliced meats and various baked goods. They have also cleverly called certain cookies “digestables” to trick you into thinking you need them after every meal. I need them not for digestion, but because they are “gorgeous.”

This weeks “that kid” is Ian. Every camp has “that kid.” Usually there is only one. “That kid” needs a ton of attention, isn’t very good at basketball and makes it their life’s goal to do the opposite of what the coach asks. Most times “that kid” is not evil, just aggravating. Ian fits that mold. Our Spanish coach is loud and boisterous but his interpreter is fairly soft spoken, so it takes extra effort to listen to him. Ian has found it is not worth the extra effort and stares off into space whenever any coach is talking. This would be customary if he was 8, but he is actually 14. More on him later.

5 pm After winding down from camp, Flo and I play two of the local kids in a two on two lowered hoop battle. We take it easy for the most part, but Flo, who has Khalid El Amin’s build, decides he is going to drive in and dunk right on this poor kids head. He almost tears down the hoop and knocks the kid down and begins playfully talking “mad smack.” Later he dunks again, but the kid isn’t too pleased with it and while he dunks he cross body blocks him into the pole. Flo hits the pole, spins and ends up landing on the basket support.

7 pm After this we are going to go play Rounders. I am very curious to play it, but Sinead is not home. Sinead’s house is the Rounder’s house. My curiosity stems from the fact that Rounders and Cricket combine to form the basis for baseball.

9 pm After another great dinner, we go into town for my massive suitcase. It was so large it couldn’t make the trip to Cork. After that little errand, we head down to a local pub for a couple pints. Flo is famous for his ability to finish a pint of Guinness in under eight seconds. It’s pretty amazing. For those non Guinness drinkers, it might be the thickest beer in the world. I told him “I can’t even chug water that fast if I wanted to.” He said, “Neither can I. Why would you want to?” Touche. Touche.

DAY 13

2009-08-27T18:38:00.000-07:00

830 am I could not get my window closed and it was unbelievably noisy outside until 3 am. In typical Irish fashion, you could hear a pin drop now that it was morning. I wake up to an amazing Irish breakfast cooked by one of the hosting coaches. Again, what hospitality!

10:00 am The camp is actually out in the country past Blarney, yes that Blarney. The kids there are concerned I will think their accent sounds country. I told them I don’t even know what an Irish country accent sounds like. One of the campers announces he is David Beckam’s son, except he obviously has some African ancestry. We come to learn he is David Beckom’s son, the not quite famous Irish league basketball player from the University of Colorado.

1:00 pm Lunch is a spectacular home cooked chicken curry. These people know how to treat coaches. Another glass of excellent Irish tea and I am ready to deal with rug rats until 6:00. Two other coaches and myself destroy the three best campers, by using the highly complex and extremely effective pass and cut to the rim for a wide open layup offense.

8:00 pm After another ham and turkey dinner I decide to go on my patented city exploration run. Cork is very pretty, hilly and right on the Lee River. There are many old and neat churches, pubs and schools. The river basically splits the town in half so there are a ton of small bridges to connect the city. All the churches were locked this late but I hope to see a few with the family. Ran by the Beamish brewery, which is a beer very similar to Guinness (some say better), only brewed in Cork. During run I also pass a pub with this joke painted on its window:
A pirate walks into a pub with a wheel sticking out his bum. Someone asks do you know there is wheel sticking out your bum. He replies (much funnier if you here my amazing pirate voice), “Aaargh, and its been driving me nuts all day.” Now that’s humor in any country.

10:00 pm After a quick shower it is now time to hit the pubs of Cork. Sadly we take a wrong turn and end up in the only 1 mile stretch of Ireland lacking a pub. We finally hit a place with a terrible cover band that claims they are out of Beamish. I’m tempted to tell them to send someone over to the brewery that is less than 300 yards away, but I think better of it. So one pint and we are out.

11:00 pm I say I don’t want an upscale looking place, just a local hole in the wall. Be careful what you wish for. We end up in a Biker bar. I’m the only one in there not wearing black and the guy with me is the only one in there who IS black. Needless to say we are both uncomfortable. But they have great Beamish and a pretty good hard rock band. Some songs they scream too much, but for the most part good music.

12:00 pm The next pub has some German guy see my hoodie and tell me it must be rough rooting for a team that loses all the big games. He took off before I could tell him it must be tough rooting for a country that loses all the big ones too, like WWI and WWII. After dancing to an MJ tribute and passing someone with a boom box blaring MJ and dressed in full on 80s garb, we call it a night. Pubs are fun here because you can just randomly start talking to people. No one is standoffish, so it makes for good craek.

DAY 12

2009-08-23T16:47:00.000-07:00

11:00 am Jog through town. Realizing this is a great way to tour a city. Especially when the thought of driving on these narrow, signless streets scares the crap out of me. I also find I am not worrying so much about being out of place. Probably because I was told to tuck the strings of my hoodie in, because no one here has the strings. Not as concerned with seeing all the sights, but just taking in the places. Transitioning ever so slightly from a tourist to a traveler.
Went in the most beautiful church I have ever been inside. The Galway Cathedral is not the most ornate, but it is incredible. Right over the alter it rises way up and gives it that “heavenly” feel. There is not that much stained glass, but what it has is spectacular. It’s stone walls are fairly bare, giving it a very classical feel.

Also, went inside the church St. Partrick’s collegiate from last night’s creepy adventure. It dates back to the 1300’s. Not nearly as breath taking but impressive for its age.

Ran down to Salt Hill, which is on the coast of Galway Bay. Even the stones on the shores have bright green something growing on them. Saw another church with a wedding about to happen. Later, around 5 what I assume to be that same wedding party scared the crap out of me by honking from their Rols Royce. Of course, with the narrow streets I was 2 feet from the car. Anyway, Salt Hill is just a nice stretch of rocky coast with an old light house.

1:00 pm Dave and I hit up lunch. Had some of his excellent Salmon while he tried my new favorite… LAMB. Bahhh!!

2:00 pm Asked a camera store about my camera and he informed me I am much better off just buying a new one and the requisite camera bag!

3:00 pm TK’s initial pickup time for the trip down to Cork of 3 or 4 has now been changed to 6. Irish time is great. Can’t complain, at least I’m not on a bus again.

4:00 pm Dave had to run and now I am locked in again. I turned in my spare key since my departure is imminent, but you need a key to even get out of our flat. This was not a problem when Dave left the door unlocked, but apparently Grannie downstairs is out and about. Luckily he left his phone with me so I can communicate with my ride, so the Kiwi coach from next door got the spare key and let me in. Irish doors are pissing me off.

4:15 pm With a couple of hours, probably more with the Irish, to kill I decide to hit the Galway museum. Nice place with a piece on JFK’s visit in June of ‘63. Apparantly all 8 of his great-grandparents were from Ireland. He is much beloved over here, as is Clinton, but for different reasons. Great view of the city and bay from the third floor. Many swans can be seen, which legend has it the souls of the departed return in the swans. Not making that up. Stopped by the famed Lynche’s window, where allegedly the mayor of Galway hung his son for killing a Spanish traveler. Also, Lynch’s castle is one of the oldest castles in the country and is now a bank. Again, not making that up.

7:00 pm Get picked up and now a lovely little three hour drive on the skinny Irish highways. Nice weather until we are an hour and a half out and then it pours for most of the rest of the trip.

10:00 pm We get there too late for the older men to want to go out to a pub. The fridge was graciously stocked with ham, turkey, tomatoes and a bunch of ice cream snacks. Cork is awesome. Every part of Ireland has a different accent. The Cork one is very sing songy. I found I can understand it with lots of effort and concentration. The problem is I will listen to a long joke or funny story and understand all of it, until at the very end, the teller will begin to giggle and I will miss the punchline. So after a minute of my fake laughter we do it all over again.

DAY 11

2009-08-23T16:42:00.000-07:00

10:00 am Hilarious day of camp. One camper (much funnier if you read this with an Irish accent) “Are we winning?” I reply, “You are up 8-2.” He replies, “Are we winning?” I reply, “You are up 8-2.” His response is “Are we winning?” Before replying, “You are up 8-2,” and entering into a time warp, I realize that apparently “up” as leading is not in this ten year old’s vernacular.
I reprimand a young boy because he threw the ball at another kid as hard as he could. After telling him he has to sit out the drill, he says he is sorry and then whispers quietly, “Are you going to tell Dave?” Even funnier, the kid hit with the ball is out of breath and when we go over to check on him, (again, much funnier if you read this with an Irish accent) “I got hit in the peanuts.”

6:00 pm What a night. This was the Ireland I expected. People singing old Irish drinking tunes and nearly starting fights. The people here are really funny. Everyone is great at telling stories and almost all are pretty laid back (except for the mean drunks that are very prevalent)
Evening started with me and and Big Dave having a few (turned into 4) pints at a local bar. After a few hours of this we realized we had neglected dinner. So he ran out to get “take away.” Comes back with a tiny sliver of pizza. So starving and now cold I offer to go back to the apartment and get him some more cash, cigarette filters (most people here save money by rolling their own cigarettes) and myself a jacket. Stupidly thinking we were only going out for a few pints, I wore shorts and a polo. But by 9 pm it turned into a Florida winter night. It couldn't have been warmer than 60 F. And they honestly complain that it is too hot this time of year. Most pubs close at midnight which can be annoying but as Big Dave says, “keeps you out of trouble.” He is correct as those with us were dying to buy round after round of Guinness.

DAY 10

2009-08-23T16:32:00.000-07:00

MAKE A COMMENT MY FAITHFUL READERS!! ANYTHING YOU WANT!! LET ME KNOW YOU EXIST!! THE OLD CHRIS WOULD DO IT!!

9:00 am Big Dave got a fumanchu shave and all the kids called him Master Chief Sheeshu from some Panda movie.

12:30 pm 5 Euro…. 5 Euro foot long. SUBWAY…again.
4:30 pm Came home. Used my buddies internet to check up on the world and check out the mobile home, that’s right mobile home, we might be staying in when my family get’s here.

6:00 pm Lamb shish kabob with salad and guess what food- FRIES!! Best meal I have had thus far. The lamb was AMAZING! Highly recommend the lamb here. I dare you to come here for more than three days and get a meal without potatoes. I double dare you.

7:30 pm Play pick-up basketball. A few things make it different. They don’t ever check the ball and on a foul they take the ball out underneath the basket. But they do take pride in nice passing and rarely dribble too much, so it makes for okay basketball. Sadly, I am the quickest guy out there and get a ton of steals. Obviously, the Irish are not the most athletic people. Also, when someone makes a ridiculous pass and it inevitably gets intercepted, the teammates of the bad passer will say, “oh, unlucky.” Unlucky my foot.

9:00 pm Have a great chat over some Guinness with my fellow coach from New Zealand and his brother-in-law, also a Kiwi. They tell me they just visited Bulgaria and it is beautiful, safe and ridiculously cheap. Apparently, since the mafia runs everything people are so scared of them they don’t break any laws. Store owners just leave there stuff out all night.
Also, these two both believe since the US is in debt at 65% of its GDP that the currency is about to collapse within 6 months. They ask me if people in the states are aware of the dangers and ridiculous concept of the Federal Reserve, and I politely inform him that No, to us it is more important who wins American Idol or the Super Bowl. Following the collapse of the currency, something called the Amero will be the currency for all of the America’s and Europe. I assure them that if this were to come about it would not be a seamless transition and while I love America, I am getting out if the dollar crashes.

12:00 am Pub closes at midnight and we walk back to our flats. Then it hits me that I am again not tired and wouldn’t mind processing a little of the Guinness before I hit the hay. So I walk, alone, to the city center. There, I find an old church right off of main street. Its gate is still open and I end up in a 16th century cemetery. Now, I often wonder if I make these ludicrous decisions just to be able to later tell the story. Who knows? So now the same girls from the other night are hawking their various pubs, so I go to one that is playing American style rock. Along the way a very creepy man in a bright blue plastic looking leisure suit is seemingly following me. I talk to some other people selling their clubs and let him pass. So I go to this bar thinking I’ll listen to two or three songs and call it a night….well…. the band plays Mr. Jones, an awesome version of the theme from cheers and a rock version of What a Wonderful World. Followed by ACDC Highway to Hell and a couple U2 songs. It was great until I saw my buddy in the plastic suit. So I go to the front of the bar to listen to one last song and head out. Half way through the song, plastic man is right across the room. Now, I’m a little weirded out. So I go to the bathroom and now upon leaving plastic man is talking to friends or just fellow members of a creespster fraternity. So I leave unnoticed and look back over my shoulder 14 times to ensure no blue plastic suit. I then get one block off on my walk home and see my first police car (the Guardia as they are called). Seeing a police car is not a good sign about the neighborhood I am in, but luckily one left and I again recognize my surroundings. Ireland is like Charleston, one block separates good neighborhoods from bad ones, but let’s be honest, their bad neighborhoods are not very bad at all.

Irish Sports and Day 9

2009-08-19T17:14:00.000-07:00

This is Croke Park in Dublin-seats 80,000 for big Gaelic football or hurling games or U2 concerts

Sports of Ireland
Part of the issue with the struggles of Irish basketball is the fact that is about 5 on the list of sports in that country. Some of these sports are very interesting and since the country is actually sports crazy I figured a brief description of the uniquely Irish sports is appropriate.

Gaelic Football
Like here in the states, FOOTBALL IS KING. Theirs is Gaelic football. It is a mix of soccer and rugby and I actually loved watching it. It is 15 on 15 with one goalie per team played on a field a little larger than a soccer pitch. There are American football-like uprights and a goal below the cross bar. If you put the ball in the goal you get three points and if you kick or punch the ball over the cross bar and between the uprights you get one point. You can run with the ball, but after four steps you either have to pass, bounce it or kick it to yourself. You can’t bounce it to yourself twice in a row, so the guys who can kick it to themselves without losing speed are very valuable. Watching me try to do this was quite comical. I have very good eye-hand coordination, but repulsive foot-eye coordination. When you pass, it has to be like a volleyball serve, punching the ball to a teammate. Grabbing and tackling are illegal, but you can use your shoulder to level a guy. Players in this league aren’t paid even though the big games have 80,000 fans paying at least 30 euro. Someone is getting rich. All 32 counties (even the 6 N. Ireland counties) have a team and they are now in the semis for the All-Ireland Championship. The best game I saw involved County Mayo and County Galway. Matches are two 35 minute halves and most end about 19 to 17 so a seven point lead is pretty secure. Not Mayo’s seven point lead. With only three minutes left, Galway scored four straight points, got a steal with 30 seconds left, kicked a hail mary, caught it and scored a goal to tie it. Sadly for them Mayo came right back with a goal during injury time.

Hurling
Hurling was my favorite. It is like hockey mixed with baseball played on a huge Gaelic football sized pitch. Again 15 on 15 with the same goal and uprights. Three for a goal and one for “over the bar.” Each player has a sliotar, which they use to whack a really hard ball at over 100 mph from one end to the other. You can only run with the ball by balancing it on your weapon/sliotar. They hold their sliotar opposite of how we hold a baseball bat. This brought much laughter when I played a little. But then I vowed I could hit it farther with my “backwards” grip than anyone else there. AND I DID. Ignore the fact they were all 12 or younger. I did America proud.

Interestingly, these first two are a part of the Gaelic Athletic Association. This has surprisingly important political and historical implications. The GAA was formed in 1884 when the strong push for Irish independence was brewing. These games were seen as a way to promote the Gaelic culture and stick their thumbs at the English games of soccer and cricket. Thank God, cause those games suck. Anyway, to this day, football and hurling are the very Irish and Catholic games, while the protestants in N. Ireland stick to soccer.
Rugby
The ancestor to American football. I like it for the most part, I just hate how often play slows down for scrums. Also, the throw in where the guy is hoisted high in the air has to be the most dangerous play (outside of Mike Vick’s backyard) in sports. It’s like a cheerleader pyramid in the middle of a football play. Plus a lot of players get this revolting looking cauliflower ear. It is appropriately named, since your ear ceases to look like an ear and now looks like a mutant piece of…well…cauliflower.

Soccer
Just as repulsively boring in Europe as it is over here. Sorry.
Golf
Somehow the natives find four hours of tolerable weather to get a round in.
Basketball
I do like the European pass first attitude, but not enough people play here for the level of play to be great.

DAY 9
9:00 am I don’t really know what jet lag is, but maybe it is never really getting a great night’s rest. Now I’m not exhausted or anything, but I keep giving myself a good 8 hours to sleep, but I keep waking up early and not really going back to bed. My body clock is more screwed up than Favre playing for the Vikings. So I lack full energy, but I’ll make it.

12:30 pm Thank God I love sandwiches, specifically Subway sandwiches, because I have had a sandwich everyday I’ve been on this beautiful island. Each camp gives you one for lunch and both days in Ballina I had one. Not complaining, just very thankful I am the type of person who can have oatmeal for breakfast for 8 straight months.

4:30 pm Left camp and toured the really old convent. There are headstones from the 1200’s. Joe, the driver and manager of the camp is an expert on the area, since he sings for the local parish. Again, he is hilarious and loves to tell Joe Foxworthy’s “You might be a hillbilly” jokes (didn't have the heart to correct him). “Oh those country and western Americans are so funny."

5:00 pm Now, instead of not being able to lock the door, I can’t even get out now. It ends up being you have to hold one latch while you pull another. So I spend an hour and half updating my blog entries. All is not lost. So far my only downfall in this county are doors, showers and “baby Guinessi” or is the plural of Guiness just Guiness. I’ll ask tonight.

7:00 pm We eat…. Traditional Irish…. Burritos. With of course taco fries, meaning fries with taco sauce doused on them. Fries come with EVERYTHING in this country. You know they are really good and fresh potatoes because they are not salty or greasy and they still taste excellent. Of course I am a connoisseur of all things potato. And do not fear they have Heinz 57!!!

Day 7 and 8

2009-08-18T19:02:00.000-07:00

The cathedral in Ballina - I didn't get to see it till later

Ballina's River of Moy is known as possibly the best salmon fishing in the world

10:00 AM OHHH! What a headache

11:00 AM OHHH! What a headache

12:00 PM OHHH! What a headache

Hopefully today will be my least fun day in the Emerald Isle. I am paying for the great fun of the previous evening. After breakfast I lay about and watch some Gaelic football and hurling. Both extremely fun games. I'll explain those games in a future blog.
I even slept through mass, which for those that know me is extremely rare. Oops. It’s a very nice cathedral so I would have liked making that for the aethstetic as well as the spiritual.

3:00 PM Spent an hour driving around the pretty country with TK. His hospitality was incredible. Wouldn’t let me pay for anything and had breakfast and lunch served before I even got to the kitchen.

8:00 PM Stomach STILL a bit queezy but made it through some more Chinese. They love it here.

NEXT DAY
6:30 AM Getting up early to make a 7:15 bus or "coach" ride down to Galway. From asking around, Haggerty is a Galway name, so maybe I’ll bump into some kin folk.

9:20 AM Joe, who is running the camp, picks me up at the coach station. He is hilarious. He talks at 100 mph, I mean 150 km/hr. Great guy and excellent tour guide. Tells me they had the plans to build Trinity College in Dublin, Queens College in N. Ireland and whatever school is in Galway. After building it, they realized they accidentally built the N. Ireland Queens College in Galway.

10:00 AM Realizing that Irish kids aren’t any better than American kids. It’s more a socio-economic thing. This camp is for disadvantaged kids and is very cheap. The kids don’t listen well at all and some of them are just plain turds. But there are enough good ones to still make it a fun camp. Plus, they are very young. One session is 7-10 year olds with a few 5 and 6 year olds scattered in. That is just baby sitting using a basketball instead of Barney movies.

1:00 PM At the second session for 11-13 year olds I meet Mini-me. He looks just like I looked at 12- freckles, red hair, blue eyes and usually smiling. Except his smile doesn’t consist of a gap you can fit a nickel through (true, I tried it) and lacks the aviator spectacles I rocked back in 1993. Ironically enough his name is Sean Kelly. With a brother named Patrick. So weird. He even acts like me – you know suave, debanaur, all the female campers love him and the male campers want to be him. But seriously he does kind of have my goofy demeanor.

4:00 PM Quitting time and we head home. My new roomie, Dave from New Foundland, Canada says he’s gotta stop off somewhere and will be home in a few. I come to realize he “goes dark” frequently and it is to… Meet up with hot babes?…nope, just smoke dubies. Thankfully I give off the no dubies vibe, so I don’t have to turn down offers to toke it up. Anyway, while he is rollin a fattie, I knock out for an incredible one hour nap.

6:00 PM Chicken philly at a local café is excellent and of course the fries, I’m sorry “chips,” are excellent. Right as we are about to get a pint we get a call to go shoot hoops at the local college. This leads to us breaking into the college and hoping the “caretaker” does not come around.

9:00 PM Harassed by a girl with bright pink hair trying to get us to save the Africans, who die not most often from AIDS or warfare or sheer boredom in the desert, but dehydration. Apparantly my 12 Euros a month can make a well for an entire village. Not buying it. Me and Dave (the canuck) both agree we like to give our money locally. I agree with the great comedian Sam Kinneson, “Why are there all these infomercials for these African people starving. I want to go over there and say, ‘What is this? It’s fecking sand, you know what it will be in a thousand years. Still fecking sand. MOVE TO WHERE THE FOOD IS!”

10:00 PM Late night bball workout. My roomie is trying to remain a pro, so we work on our aging skills.

9:30 PM Big pint of Guiness and even better pint of water. The bartender himself rights their Guiness at an 8. I appreciate his honesty. I’d say he is spot on.

11:00 PM Every attractive girl in Galway is out trying to offer us free cover to various clubs. You know me and free so I’m thinking let’s go to the flat and change and take advantage, but big 6’8 Dave is having nothing of it. So we have to let all these pretty ladies down easy.

DAY 6

2009-08-16T08:58:00.000-07:00

Castle in Ballina, Ireland

The River Moy in Ballina with their lovely cathedral

9:00 am Woke up and wanted to perhaps go for a jog, but after running probably 10 miles total in the last two days I decided to take it easy.
Sidebar - At many points during the day was somewhat saddened I would not be grilling out and celebrating the birth of our great nation. Hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July. Even though we stuck it to the British, who the Irish hate for good reason, they do not celebrate our Independence Day.

10:00 am No more cereal. Getting very used to missing meals here.

12:00 am Terry Kennedy shows up to take me to his place. He is the one who arranged this trip. He is known as TK so we will do the same in the interest of saving typing time. He asks me if I have had lunch and I emphatically say no. He is also hungry but in typical Irish fashion we still sit around and BS for two hours before leaving.

2:00 pm Ride over to Ballina is nice and TK tells a great story about the fighting in N. Ireland. I thought the fighting there ended in the late 80’s. Stupid American. They signed a peace deal in 2002. And there are still occasional flair ups. For those who care, the fighting is between loyalists who want to remain under British rule and the Irish Republican Army (IRA) who want N. Ireland’s 8 counties to join the other 32 as one Irish nation. Anyway, TK was playing a game in Belfast in the early 80s and before the game they were seeing the sights and walking through a neighborhood. Suddenly all three of them had guns pulled on them by the police. Neighbors had phoned them in as suspicious characters. Luckily they were just told to go back to their hotel rooms and stay there.

3:00 pm Finally lunch at a nice diner that seats a grand total of 12 peoples. It is right on what they call a beach. The water never gets above 60 degrees, but apparently there is very good surfing on the NW coast of Ireland.

4:00 pm TK shows me the many sights of Ballina. They have a quaint little castle, the best salmon fishing river in the world and a beautiful cathedral. They also have 20-30 pubs even though the town is about the size of Seneca, SC. This seems not that abnormal since each pub appears to be very small. But, most of these pubs with there small street front extend forever in depth. They also have at least 3 stories, each one differing in the type of music. More on this later with even an appearance by OOC.

7:30 pm TK’s family is lovely. The mother and daughter are warm and funny people and make me feel welcome. Even there loud but small dog is not a problem on my allergies. Thank god they keep their two cats outside. After a great meal of fresh cod, corn and guess… potatoes, we head out to the pub.
Sidebar – You know those nights where you start drinking at a pretty good pace with one group. Then you get caught up with another group who is way behind you. Yet your too much of a prideful man to say sorry, I can’t keep up this “torrid” pace. So you go toe to toe with the new group. Never ends well. Ever happen to you? Why do I ask? No reason.

9:00 TK turns me on to a Dutch beer Carlsberg. Good stuff. Very smooth and apparently decently strong. After 4 pints at 3 different I am feeling pretty good.

11:30 Meet up with TK’s wife and her younger friends. Don’t remember their names, what they do for a living, but there was 4 of them and they were hilarious and fun…and they got to meet OOC. For those that don’t know (and if you don’t I wonder why you are reading this blog) OOC stands for Out Of Control. He is my alter ego who looms large after a heavy night of drinking. I am not proud of his accomplishments, but just to give you an idea, they include and are not limited to shooting a firework of Joe’s jugular, going “Nascar” with a champagne bottle in Tiger Town Tavern the night before my graduation and a whole lot of stomping on the dance floor at weddings. He has never been to Ireland but he is looming.

12:00 am So at midnight TK and his wife decide they’re calling it a night, but I should stay out with the girls. Sounds great, but they are just starting to booze and begin ordering beers and a round of “Baby Guinness.” Who knows what they are, but they awaken the beast. So now we are going to the club. Normally very opposed, but when in Rome. Plus I’d like to at least see what goes on at a European night club. Well, very similar to an American one except almost everyone dances, including of course OOC. In America it seems those with rhythm dance and those who don’t stay off the dance floor. Well, in Ireland, no one has rhythm so everyone dances, surprisingly in a manner very familiar to OOC. I told you guys I am more Irish than I ever realized. At one point OOC broke into an Irish river dance. Not really, but I had a ton of fun.

2:30 Spent 30 min waiting on a cab and OOC met TK’s daughter. That made for amusement the next day. All in all, a successful Irish pub crawl. The next day would be a very different story.

DAY 5

2009-08-16T08:35:00.000-07:00

8:30 am Camp ends with no real excitement. We spend one whole hour towards the end passing out t-shirts and taking a group photograph that will end up in the local papers. Apparently a basketball camp is big news in Ireland. I tell the campers my new quote that has stuck with me lately and I have been using at all the camps- “If you think you can, you are correct. If you think you can’t, you are still correct.” Love it. One camper’s dad said he loved it as well. As for the campers I’d say 25% were listening. Of that group probable 30% grasped it. All in all, the average Irish kid seems a little sharper and much better at listening than your average American kid. They seem to respect their elders a little better as well.

4:00 PM After camp, one of the Sligoneans drives me around for a quick tour of the area. This includes beautiful views of the countryside. Steep green hills overlooking clear blue loughs (lakes). Also, there is a place called Holy Well that apparently our boy Yeats used as inspiration to do his poetry thing. As my tour guide eloquently added, “Not sure why the hell it is holy though.” I later learned that it is called that because that is the place in town where Christians were first baptized.

5:00 PM Following this driving tour and with my new found knowledge on how to lock a door, I took another longer jog around town. Tried to make it to this Holy Well to take some pictures with my cell phone (my new backup camera), but it ended up being too far. Funny enough, four people asked me for directions on this run. See, I told you I look very Irish, but I had to inform them I have no clue where anything is in this town.

7:00 PM Joined my host for his Gaelic football practice, oops I mean training. At one point it got cold and rainy so I hid in his car to finish up his book I borrowed about Allen Iverson. In my non-jogging spare time over the last 3 days I managed to finish the 240 page biography. Iverson is a fascinating enigma. Always close to trouble, but seemingly by most accounts a pretty decent person. Good husband and dad and supports 31 jobless deadbeats from his hometown, who probably STILL collect welfare at the same time. I wonder how many people could make it out of the magnetic pull of the ghetto. He is again my favorite NBA player. Call me crazy, but I love how hard he plays.

9:00 PM After training we try to get Chinese. Yes, Chinese in Ireland. Apparently it is very good, but also very different to what we are accustomed to in the states. The place is somehow closed at 9 on a Friday because the owner is a “humpy” lady, Irish for lazy. Worked out great because we went out to Strand Hill for another Chinese place that was half the price and of course connected to a pub. So, we had to have a pint of Guinness while we waited. It was worth the 15 minute drive out there for the incredible view and sunset. This was my first chance to see the Atlantic from the East side. Weird to think that there is nothing between Me and my homeland but that body of water. Also crazy to think how millions of immigrants crossed that body of water on shabby vessels with nothing but sail power to get there. Color wise, It was very close to a Clemson caliber sunset and with the added mountains and ocean I would have to give it a 9 out of 10.

10:00 PM The Chinese is very different and I find it pretty good. I have the least sophisticated palette of anyone I know so you should probably decide for yourself. Couple of MGDs and we call it a night. Wild and crazy Friday night in Sligo, Ireland.
View from Sligo Highway

Pictures of the beautiful Holy Well

Statue of the Sligo Man W.B. Yeats - it's even funnier looking in person

The abondoned 12th cetury Abbey of Sligo

DAY 4

2009-08-13T07:43:00.000-07:00

8:30 AM Craving orange juice. Not to complain, but just trying to understand how someone who runs a grocery store has nothing (save beer) in their refrigerator. Not kidding. Only thing in there is beer, a LOT of beer. Good old Miller Genuine Draft. Due to Bi-Lo having MGD on super sale in 1999, that was the drink of choice as a freshman at Clemson.

10:00 AM 2nd day of camp. Nothing real eventful. One passionate camper shows the Irish temper when he screams at me as the ref, made even funnier since at age 11 he somehow had this deep baritone of a 40 year old.
4:30 PM After camp, I decide to explore through town. I jog a couple of miles and stumble upon a 13th century abbey, the Yeats (born in Sligo) museum, a memorial of the “Great Hunger” (Potato famine) and their beautiful cathedral. Probably the overall prettiest building I have been in so far this trip. Made it home by 6:30 so that I could eat dinner with the roommate before the soccer game he was going to.

8:30 PM Apparently he went straight to the soccer game from work. I can’t leave because I don’t know how to lock the stupid door. Come to learn you have to hold the door handle all the way up while locking.

9:00 PM Host is home and we are now heading out to a pub. It’s rugby appreciation night or some nonsense, but the most important thing is that the pub is grilling and giving away free burgers and chicken wings. WHAT A BREAK!! Guinness differs a lot even amongst pubs within Ireland, as this pint is not nearly as good as my first one. They have a competition between three girls to see who can pour the best glass of Guinness, which takes a lot of patience and skill (tons of head with Guinness). Winner received tickets to Springsteen. Listen to a lot of MJ (they love him and are saddened by his death over here) and call it a night. So glad I got to eat and the freeness of the food is as I say…AWESOME!!

11:00 pm Some girl is embarrassingly inebriated and leans into to whisper something in my ear, “I’m 17 today, shhhh.” Nice.

Here is some Yeats for you poetry fans. It is kinda creepy how they move his lips Conan O'Brien skit style.

Here is 3 really good and short poems as well:

"When you are old"

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

"He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven"

Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silverlight,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

An Irish Airman Forsees His Death

I know that I shall meet my fate
Somewhere among the clouds above;
Those that I fight I do not hate,
Those that I guard I do not love;
My county is Kiltartan Cross,
My countrymen Kiltartan's poor,
No likely end could bring them loss
Or leave them happier than before.
Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,
Nor public men, nor cheering crowds,
A lonely impulse of delight
Drove to this tumult in the clouds;
I balanced all, brought all to mind,
The years to come seemed waste of breath,
A waste of breath the years behind
In balance with this life, this death.

Seperated by a common language & DAY 3

2009-08-12T17:55:00.000-07:00

Since I will spatter my blog with Irish sayings, I figured a glossary of terms was in order. Gaelic is actually the first and official language, but it is only spoken in small pockets of the country. Everyone learns it in school, but in most areas it is not spoken at home and then of course the students lose it. So here are the subtle changes in language which are fun and sometimes comical.

That was good “craek.” Pronounced like crack, but with a way different meaning. It means that was good fun.

He’s a good “craeker.” Again way different meaning than here.

“Cheers.” Not used before drinking as much as it is used as a salutation.

"Oh Feck" classy way of f-bombing

That TV show was pure "Shite" Classy way of saying the s word

That is a “lovely” chap.

Come on “lads.” Lads are of course young boys.

There is a basketball “match” tomorrow.

Meet me at the rugby “pitch.” Field

Let’s eat “take away.”

That area of town is a little “dodgey.” we would say ghetto

The camp ends at “half 4.” 4:30

We’re going to the “cinema” to see a “film.” With film pronounced filim.

Where’s your “toilet?”

We are going on “holiday.”

Give your friend a “ring” on your “mobile.”

Don’t miss your basketball “training.”

I’m “grand.” This means happy, content.

That food was “gorgeous.” You can guess what that means, but I told them we reserve gorgeous for people or scenery.

My old and somewhat broken glasses are a wee bit “wonkey.” screwed-up

“Mind” my purse. That means watch it.

9:00 AM 1st Irish shower is an adventure. Close readers of this blog will realize this is my first shower since Tampa on DAY 1. Bathroom is small and when I ask my host for a towel, he realizes he has no clean ones. Needless to say he is single. Why I didn't pack a towel is beyond me. Apparently you have to push an immersion button and wait fifteen minutes to get hot water. There is no curtain, just a folding glass door that I cannot figure out. This leads to half of all shower water now on floor, with again no towel to clean up. Hopefully tomorrow will bring more bathroom success.

10:00 AM Camp starts at half 10. Half 10 is 10 in IST (Irish Standard Time). Half the coaches weren't even there till 9:55. Camp is great. Kids work hard and appear to listen better than their American counterparts. Other than when I say y'all (nasty habit) they can understand what I am saying. I love basketball. In any country or language the fundamentals and passion needed for success are the same.

4:00 PM After camp...Jet Lag. I knock out for two hours. I was hoping I could rise above this thing called jet lag, but that nap was the best part of my trip so far.

6:30 PM After nap, I go to my new roommates practice for his under 14 basketball team. He lets me show him a lot of drills and they seemed to have fun experiencing an American type workout.

8:30 PM First pub meal and more importantly first Guinness. There is much truth to the rumor that it is much better over here. None of that strong and bitter after taste, just Irish goodness. Then we pick up two Irish lassies and head home.

10:30 PM Who can guess the false statement in the above entry? So my host and I go to see his buddy Mel (alone). Mel owns a B&B (very prevalent on the Emerald Isle) and collects beautiful and pricey furniture. He is also the only guy in Ireland who doesn't drink. We have an amazing "chat" about life, love and the pursuit of happiness, which he feels socialists (including Obama-be real he's a socialist) ruin that pursuit of happiness. Interestingly, not all Europeans are socialist leaning.

"ONE TRILLION DOLLARS FOR SOCIALIZED MEDICINE IS AWESOME!!"

DAY 2

2009-08-11T14:25:00.000-07:00

We're pretty sure the Haggertys used to be Hegartys

7:00 am International Traveler Mistake #2 – Never urinate on low end of urine wall. For those not familiar with European urinals, you basically urinate on a wall and the urine flows to one side and out. Just like in battle, men, secure the high ground. If not, the stench of your urine mixing with everyone else’s urine is not pleasant.

8:00 am Shannon airport is very rinky-dink and takes a while to get bags. Met a band of blue grass singers from Louisiana. May see them perform if path’s cross. Bus to Limerick City is interesting. We are on the skinniest roads I have ever seen. At some points both sides have shrubbery running right to the edge of the road and up to the top of the bus.

9:00 am HISTORY ALERT - Limerick City lies on the River Shannon and was the Viking stronghold in Ireland in the 8th and 9th century. Also, the city, King John’s castle in particular, was the last holdout for the Jacobiites (sided with Catholic King James-Irish and French forces) verses the Protestant Williamites (sided with William and Mary -that William and Mary) in the late 17th century. After their defeat, almost all the Irish and French forces went back to France. The French army contained Irish troops, known as Wild Geese, until Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo in 1815. That is why some French wines have Irish names. Saw the legendary treaty stone, where it is claimed the peace treaty for this war was signed. Also, some very neat churches including the oldest building in Ireland still being used for its original purpose, a church of Ireland cathedral.

Allegedly treaty to end the War of the Kings signed on this stone-Catholics lose

Here is King John's Castle - The last bastion of hope for the loser Catholics

12:30 Now for an Irish breakfast. Couldn't’t find anywhere to eat besides McD’s and BK, but I refused to have either one as my first meal in Ireland. Bacon, sausage, fried tomato and mushrooms, poached egg, scones, toast and some hash brown type thingee (IRISH POTATOES!). It was enough to feed two, maybe three people (I did finish it). The lady looked at me like I had three heads when I said I wanted sweet tea. I actually enjoyed my piping hot tea, but only because it was a balmy 60 degrees and rainy. It was my first hot drink since thera-flu in 2002. I like my ladies hot, but my drinks cold. While on the subject, road signs are as rare as khaki shorts here (basically all I packed), but if a “parking deck” is coming up 7 signs will notify you of its existence. Also, my lack of trendiness makes me stick out more than cousin Vinny in Alabama. “yeah, I blend!”

2:00 International Traveler Mistake #3- Unable to get used to habit of looking right before crossing the street. This could be the most detrimental of all the traveler mistakes.

2:30 Took wrong turn to bus depot and ended up in what appeared to be the slum of Limerick City, but not as easy to tell as the states. Still, strong signs- drunk people in the afternoon, people hanging out on porches and a shady exchange of money by two men on the corner. Would have walked more briskly but I was lugging the largest suitcase known to man. Would later find out that Limerick City is known as Stab City for its rash of gang violence.

3:30 International Traveler Mistake #4- Unable to use pay phone. Nice lady at the bus depot calls my ride for me and now it will be a five hour bus tour of the Emerald Isle. Within one mile of the cities you are back to sheep, horses and cows grazing.

4:30 Northface black and blue. Pretend I just smacked you in the arm twice. Silly Americans and their conformist clothing. I later realize they were probably Irish, as the jackets are very popular here. It’s like a sorority meeting in 2000 here, everyone has their northface jacket.

9:30 What I thought would be five hours turned into a six hour bus ride, after which the guy I'm supposed to meet, whom I've never met, appears to NOT be at the station. Surely, the this Indian looking guy next to me with a suitcase can't be him, but after 15 minutes of waiting I ask him, "Surely you aren't here to pick up a Shaun?" He says, "No and quit calling me Shirley." Finally my ride shows up. I learn the Irish are notoriously late, so my father and I can claim a genetic dispensation. I meet my host who is a nice guy firing F bombs like he's a part of a verbal shock and awe and I am some poor Iraqi village. Apparently the F word is just a regular old adjective here and the even have feck when the what a watered down F bomb. But enough about F bombs. We watch some soccer news, I have my first beer in Ireland. It was ....drum roll...a...wait for it...Miller Genuine Draft. We call it a night and I go to sleep in my single bed with puppy dog sheets.

City street in Limerick

First Irish sign I've seen - I wonder what a "Pompy Wody" is

DAY 1

2009-08-10T19:17:00.000-07:00

11:20 am – Waiting at airport. Worst feeling. With my severe propensity to forget everything, I am very concerned I am forgetting an essential item. This worry is about uncalled for, since the only essential items are the big 3 – ID, passport and ticket vouchers. I have checked that I have all of those 7 times. I now know what it is like to have terrets. Also, I am standby for this whole trip and this Tampa to NYC flight is a pretty full. Kelly said to bring candy to the gate agents, but there wasn’t any at the casa. Was going to offer a fresh cucumber from the Haggerty garden, but was overruled that this was both sketchy and ridiculous.

1:05 pm – Made it on the flight. This blog is sponsored by Jet Blue, so here is my quick testimonial. You get 40 TV channels, the greatest snack ever (Doritos Munchy Mix) and amazingly nice and competent flight attendants, including one Kelly Haggerty. Just watched terrible movie about a reporter named Veronica Gueran. Based on a true story, she was a reporter in Dublin murdered by Irish gang lords for uncovering a bunch of Irish drug dealers. All the Irish girls in the movie were pretty, so that means all the girls in Ireland are pretty, right? For the record, Las Vegas is a great show. According to Jason, I watched the last episode of season 5, which is a movie unto itself, absolutely phenomanal.

2:15 pm Bags start to come down carousel

2:30 pm All bags are gone from carousel.

2:35 pm In a near panic, I even leave airport to investigate bags of fellow passengers waiting at curb.

2:40 pm Still no bag at carousel

2:42 pm BAG ARRIVES – Its absence would have put a huge damper on my ability to then catch a flight to Ireland.

3:00 pm Conduct phone interview with Gulf High School in New Port Richey, FL. They have a boy’s varsity coaching position, but not a teaching position. Probably a big waste of time. I am fairly certain they will hire an unqualified woman for the job.

4:00 pm Rookie International Traveler Mistake #1 – Did not sign passport.

4:30 pm Eating PBJ for dinner – Total cost of trip so far – ZERO EUROS.

5:40 pm First interaction with a new culture on the trip. Some Arabian family (not ashamed to admit I prayed they were not on my flight) was of course flagged for a security check. After her full cavity search I saw her sign her passport (ROOKIE!!!) and she signed it RIGHT TO LEFT! What the heck. You hear that’s how they do things, but it’s still weird to see. Also, giant pooh bear would not fit through x-ray machine until it was vicously stuffed through.

6:00 pm Boarding flight for Shannon. The flight attendants outfits are awesome. They are bright green and made of the material your grandma always wears. Seats in plane are all bright green.

8:00 pm E.S.T / 1 am Irish time Set clock ahead to trick myself into being tired. Not effective, but did finally sleep for last three or four hours of flight. The airplane has XM stations and I fall asleep listening to a station called High Kings. I learn later this is the name of a famous group of trobeduers. The song that I especially remember and heard five times before, during and after nodding off is called “Galway to Graceland.” It is about a woman who leaves her husband to go meet Elvis. She even is removed from the cemetery and arrested when her now deceased “King” is dead. The line that sticks in my head the whole trip is: “She went from Galway to Graceland to be with the king.” The song is so awesome it please listen to it on the below link. A great pub song is first and the Galway song is at the three minute mark.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kuaf6vMhGbo

Summer of International Shaun

2009-08-09T11:10:00.000-07:00

Hope you will enjoy the simple musings of a simple man. Since I love telling stories, often embellished (but it’s funnier that way) this blog will usually just entail the wild and wacky life that is me.

To start though I will do a day by day account of the Irish adventure of July 2009. It will include many pictures of the beautiful island and some brilliant insight into the Irish culture. Please forgive me, but just like any conversation involving myself, the topics change quickly and severely, thus the title of the blog Tiger Town TANGENTS. A segue is merely a moped like thing and nothing more to me. Hope you can handle it.

Most pictures will be of churches...

or castles...

or the beautiful countryside

When I first found I would be able to take this trip I was uber excited. I would talk to people and about a minute into the conversation, I would say, “Yeah, that’s great. Guess where I am going this summer?” I have never been out of the country except for a day in Nassau and a day on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. So, I am quite the rookie as I travel globally. Because of this, as the day drew closer those feelings of excitement were slowly replaced with some trepidation. I usually don’t worry about too much, but I had a feeling of something going terribly wrong. Like losing my passport and being denied entrance back into the country. This still may happen, but hopefully not and definitely not worth worrying about.

As most of you know, I have seen much of this great nation and have often said there is so much to see here before you go off and spend tons of money seeing the rest of the world. But, except for San Diego, Hawaii, Alaska and skiing in the Rockies (I guess that still is a long list), I’ve done most of what I want to do in the states. Plus, it will be very interesting and exciting to experience a new culture. And as anyone who has ever looked at me can attest I have a lot of Irish blood in me. I have many of the Irish traits: a love of potatoes, a love of booze, a love of the fiddle, a fiery temper, the love of good story telling and the love of leprechauns.

I spent some time trying to formulate a family tree, with not too much success. My family is pretty sure, like millions of other Irish immigrants, both the Haggertys and the Brennans came over during the famine in 1848ish. After that, the tree is missing a few branches until I pick up my grandparent’s grandparents. Not a big window there, but enough to ruin any genealogy research.
Anyway, I am excited to see the culture. I have the feeling these are really my kind of people. From what I have gathered and the few Irish folk I have met, they seem to be a fun people who just like to hang out, tell stories and of course drink. Hopefully they are as friendly and hospitable as their reputation.