Go Tigers

No, not those Tigers. The other Tigers. No, not the LSU Tigers either. The OTHER (non-SEC) Tigers. Yeah, the Clemson Tigers! Last Sunday, while enjoying an after-church meal at a local Meat-&-Three (Stax Original restaurant) with some friends of ours I was asked if Bailey and I would care to join my friend, Ryan, and his two year old son, Coleman, at the final Clemson home football game of the season. I haven't actually been to a college football game since before Bailey was born and she and Coleman are good buddies from school so it seemed like a no-brainer at the time. As the week wore on I slowly began to grasp the magnitude of what I had taken on. Seriously!?! I'm going to take my two year old daughter to a big time college football game...BY MYSELF...WITH NO HELP FROM MEL...OR MY MOM!?!

Luckily (and not surprisingly b/c Bailey is such a good kid) we both survived and had a wonderful time with the exception of a short run-in with a Clemson cop who apparently needed to validate himself by harrassing me b/c I was using a backpack as a diaper bag instead of a diaper bag as a diaper bag (supposedly, backpacks can conceal terrorist bombs but diaper bags are safe). Oh yeah, and the dual F-15 flyover 250 ft off the ground because it was military appreciation day nearly caused Bailey to crawl out of her skin and shred mine with her fingernails in the process.

DISCLAIMER: When Bailey is old enough to understand, we will explain to her why the SEC is far superior to all other conferences in the country.

Here we are the morning of the game practicing our "Go Tigers" cheer and proper shaker technique and etiquette. It turns out that the biggest difference I noticed between the Clemson game and Auburn games (I was told to look for differences since the two schools are so similar) was that hardly anyone at Clemson used these shakers during the game. At Auburn (and Alabama, for that matter) games, you can barely see the people in the stands when all the shakers are going.

Bailey and Coleman enjoying a pre-game tailgate lunch of pigs-in-the-blanket, cheetohs, and some Bojangles fried chicken strips and biscuits...YUMMY!!!

After lunch it was time to toss the old pigskin around. Hey, don't knock Coleman's throwing technique. Phillip Rivers has a jacked up throwing motion and we all know where it got him. Coleman may be onto something here!

Coleman cheesing it up for the camera.

Here we are at our seats inside the stadium. It took Bailey a few minutes to get used to the sights and sounds of the game and everything associated with it. The blue lollipop definitely helped. At some point late in the first quarter she spotted the Clemson mascot walking around behind the end zone and made it her sole purpose in life to spot him and point him out every few minutes thereafter.

Watchin' the Tiger Band perform as the sun sets behind the stadium.

By the time we made it home that night Bailey was pooped. I actually got carry her in the house, asleep on my shoulder, after a special day of fun with just the too of us (something I've always looked forward to doing). Great memories!!!