Kind of had a paradigm shift/realization hit me this morning. If college football is destined to become pro/semi pro ball, than Clemson is my pro team. I have no NFL team that remotely stirs the kind of passion inside of me that Clemson and Clemson football does. I was born and raised in Greenville.
I am a Falcon fan as they were the closest team to Greenville growing up and went to Atlanta when I went to pro sporting events. But the Falcons do not and will never stir the emotion and passion inside of me that Clemson does. They win great, they lose; no big deal. I realize that at the age of 50 there is no way I will ever have an NFL team that I feel the way about like I do Clemson. The only way it could ever possibly happen is if Greenville were to get a team, which they never will.
Greenville is in my blood like Clemson is in my blood and my pride and love for my hometown is the only thing that comes close to my pride and love in all things Clemson related. Will I probably always mourn the way college football has been for my entire life and is no longer, yeah probably it's been engrained in me for five decades. But I just don't have it in me to not care or for my care to decrease.
Therefore, Clemson will be my pro team. I will follow the organization like die hard NFL fans follow their teams. Live and die by the off season and the way the organization handles free agency, the draft, trades, etc. I will hope and pray that the organization is well run and is doing everything they can to put the best team on the field come fall and then pull like hell for them every Saturday for better or worse. Is it different, yep for sure? Will it take a ton of getting used to for an old guy that is set in his ways, yep? But Clemson is in my blood, and nothing else ever will be from a football standpoint; so Go Tigers today and everyday!!!