CATHARSIS: The 2019 Season and Clemson vs. LSU

Is it forward of me to say that I really love this game? By that I mean unequivocally, unconditionally, and without restraint love this beautifully violent game that is American college football. If you’re not a fan then go away. Or, even better, stick around. I might just change your mind.

I played football in high school. Chances are that many of you played sports at the high school or collegiate level. It’s a thoroughly awesome right of passage in America. Sports often bring out the best we have to offer in the spirit of honest competition. It’s not a perfect system by any means, but it’s pretty damn sweet. The old expression is “Team work makes the dream work”. We laugh at that in the workplace, but it’s 100% true. Nowhere is that more evident than in sports.

I’m not talking about the pros, where everyone makes more money than God and egos are the size of John Holmes’ impressive penis. I’m talking about the field of play where kids (i.e. ages 18-22) still believe their coaches are demigods and that the system works. This is the age where men are being made, and coaches like Dabo Swinney and Ed Orgeron are the architects of that. The day and age of the Woody Hayes dictator is gone, now is the day and age of the motivational father.

By God, I love this game.

Plain and simple, LSU was the (capital letters necessary) Team of Destiny this year. We folks in Clemson, South Carolina should know- we had Deshaun Watson in 2016 and The Second Coming a.k.a. Trevor Lawrence in 2018. We’re now 3 of 5 in National Championship games, and I’ll take that record any day of the week.

When I was growing up, the very idea of a National Championship was a pipe dream. Sure, we had the 1981 team, and that was a fantastic season that laid the groundwork for a program legacy. Still, 7-5 or 8-4 (and occasionally 9-3) was the best we could expect. We suffered through the end of the Danny Ford era. Then we got Tommy West and Ken Hatfield. Tommy Bowden changed the culture a bit, and along came Dabo Swinney.

At Clemson, we’ve built a culture of building quality men first and football players second. I love that. I’m not a Christian, per se, but the way Dabo is grooming young men for the real world and life after football is second to none. I see a lot of similarities in the LSU program. Ed Orgeron seems to be a damn good man who loves his school and his kids.

And at the end of the day, isn’t that what it’s really all about?

In this season, LSU beat a staggering number of Top 10 football teams. Clemson dominated “inferior” competition and held serve on their way to defending THEIR TITLE. As the G.O.A.T., Ric Flair, famously said: “To be the man, you’ve gotta beat the man!” LSU beat The Man. Plain and simple. There are no excuses. There are no gripes. A game doesn’t come down to one or two calls (despite what some fans may think). It’s a full 60 minutes.

Joe Burrow (Burreaux) is an absolute nightmare for opposing defenses. He’d better go 1st in the NFL Draft in April. He deserves it. I love his story. I don’t even hate his cockiness. I get it. Deshaun Watson had the same confidence/cockiness/story, and we ate that shit up. This is real talk, kids. I know plenty of Clemson fans who are hating on him right now, but I’m not. Period. He’s the real deal. Get out there and make that money, sir.

Make no mistake, this is a congratulations of the highest order. LSU Tiger fans deserve this moment in the sun. Moments like these are few and far between and should be cherished. It’s actually pretty cool to see this program back where it should be after nearly a decade of underachieving behind the Evil Empire that is (was?) Alabama.

But…but…make no mistake about it as well…we aren’t going anywhere. This monster has been built piece by piece with heart and intent. We know what we have in Tigertown. If you’ve ever had the privilege of going to “The Golden Corner” of South Carolina, then you know that it’s a special place- the people, the country, the school, the tradition. In Clemson, we say “There’s something in these hills.” The sincerity is second to none. We’ll kick your ass and invite you in for a glass of sweet tea. We’ll treat you like family but show no mercy when the whistle blows. There’s nowhere else in America where you can be treated so well while getting everything we have.

And isn’t that what it’s all about, really? Isn’t that the college football experience in a nutshell? We do it with a distinctly Southern flavor and style, but that’s why I love this game so much- the pageantry, the rivalries, the hostility and the hospitality in the same breath, the sheer competition. It’s the most beautiful thing on Earth.

Congratulations, LSU. You truly deserve it. I cannot express how sincerely I mean that. I’m so fucking happy for all my LSU friends. I live in North Texas, and I know quite a few Bayou Bengals who are celebrating at work and at play. I love y’all, and I hope you don’t get so drunk that you regret it (speaking from experience). I’ll be having some whisky just for you fine folks!

Keep that title nice and shiny for us, won’t you? Trevor has one more year, and he’s just learned an awful lot by having finally lost. We have the #1 recruiting class in the country. There is more to be learned in failure than in success; more to be learned by falling on your face than gracefully dancing across the floor. You won’t find a team anywhere that does more with their lessons learned than we do in Clemson. We eat adversity for breakfast and shit out pure defiance.

See you next year. You know you’re as excited at the prospect as I am…

GO TIGERS!!