By: Bunny Scott
When Gary asked me to do a story for his site…I asked what would he think would be good. His reply was what I had thought about. 2020 Football and how did I feel about what was happening.
I would be wrong to say I am not upset. It hurts. It’s provoking. It is unreal.
Back in April when ticket money was due and the message went out we could opt for three payments, I started getting a little nervous. Then the final donation date was moved to June 30. I really started worrying. Surely this virus was not going to stop football!
Nothing has ever put a halt to playing a game in my lifetime, except when JFK was killed and then 9/11. But a whole season….that would be impossible. Well, I was wrong.
I had already had a funk when the BKB team was canceled at the ACC tournament. I sat in disbelief as I watched the players and coaches so upset. I have not hurt for a team like I did that day for our basketball team. I was stunned. Then baseball ended. So I was prepared….or so I thought.
This past week when I applied to redshirt my tickets, as soon as I filled out the form and submitted…I cried. I cried for our players, our coaches, Clemson, all the other schools and knowing life has so changed my routine of August in getting ready for football season. Not only mine but countless other Clemson families that this was a way of life for us from August to January. The tailgating get-togethers, the Tiger Walk, the Band, the running down the hill….all the traditions families have done for years. This was to be my 50th year and I am sad.
The biggest blow was the canceling of the Clemson-Carolina game….that really hurt. It won’t seem the same come Thanksgiving. We won’t have the back and forth at the table, the excitement of getting up that Sat morning for a game we live for, the tailgate of everything chicken, the yells, the chants, and the year of bragging.
Fifty years is a long time to be planning tailgates, hotel reservations, travel plans, sights to go see when on away trips…..and to have it stopped so abruptly has been devastating, to say the least.
Things always change over time in various ways. Remember when the World Series was canceled due to players’ strike? I was put out then and baseball has never been the same as far as the pros go. But I still loved my Tigers, baseball team. Every now and then I will think of the baseball teams we had and some of the glory years.
The memories are great, but the tears come a few times during the day when something will trigger a memory. Now I worry about if they play is it on tv or radio….or will we have to watch by live streaming…so much up in the air….so many changes and the hurt that just won’t go away. All we can do is wait and see. But I can still raise a toast and say ‘Go Tigers”. That will never change.
