22 November 2007

CLARIFICATIONS AND OBSERVATIONS... AND RHYMING

First of all, I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving. I'll spare you the Tigernettish jokes about saving the chicken for Saturday.

Recently we've been getting more pageviews and inquiries from Clemson fans and other bloggers. One of the questions we are often asked is "What are you guys all about? Are you guys pulling for Danny to come back and coach at Clemson?" I thought I'd take a minute and clarify our position on this matter. The name of our blog, Danny Ford Is God, is meant as tongue-in-cheek. We wanted something that would immediately provoke a reaction from Clemson fans and detractors alike. It is, in part, playing off of the deification of Danny Ford displayed by so many old timers when talking about Clemson football. It's a condemnation and celebration of the Danny mythos. We love Danny Ford and have the utmost appreciation for what he did for Clemson (the good, that is, we like to forget about the probation). We also recognize his time has past. In no way do we want him to come back and coach Clemson. Another blog formed this year, Tommy Bowden Is God, which seems to be a response to this site from a pro-Tommy perspective. The thing is, we're not anti-Tommy. The name of our site isn't serious, we don't laud Danny each week as they play up Bowden's efforts. We're just a Clemson sports blog that tries (and sometimes fails) to add a little humor to the equation, not to take anything away from TBIG, they do a good job. As for Coach Ford, we wouldn't mind him being individually recognized in the Ring of Honor, but likely that'll never happen since a compromise was made and his name was added below the 1981 team in the ROH.

Next, there's been a lot of talk on Tigernet about how "true fans" (no such thing) don't criticize their head coach. Bullshit. While many people consider it the duty of a fan to support his or her coach, are we not ultimately fans of Clemson? Clemson is bigger than Tommy Bowden. I am a Clemson alumnus, my allegiance is to the University, not to any one man be he president or head coach. My allegiance to Tommy is tenuous and reliant upon his success at the university. I am not obligated to support him win or lose, just as I would not be expected to continue to support morally or financially a president or professor who fails to do perform to an expected level. I am not calling for him to be fired, that's not up to me and we're not going to get into that. Personally, no ACC championship in 9 years is pitiful, but we'll see how the rest of the season goes and what our administration decides to do, which is likely nothing. Winning the 2003 Peach Bowl is Bowden's crowning achievement in 9 years. Is this acceptable to you? Take it to the comments section.

Lastly, we got this photo from Jessica, one of our readers, of her rivalry week decorations.

Awesome.