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Boston College Vs. Clemson
BOSTON COLLEGE WILL MAKE YOU VERY VERY MAD
By Tyson "Tevin" Campbell D7tailgate.com Staff Reporter Chestnut Hill, MA - I’m officially banned from Clemson Football games for the foreseeable future. Over the last 5 years I’ve been on hand for a stinkfest at Byrd Stadium in 2001 (where my flag was burned and fried chicken was thrown in my general direction….I know – I just can’t let it go), a program debilitating 30-0 shutout at the hands of Georgia at home, an uneventful 27-6 laydown in College Station, a 3OT coach-burning loss to Miami at home, and last Saturday’s mind-numbing 2OT loss to BC in Chestnut Hill. If it wasn’t for the 2005 Terps (a game they *should* have lost) I’d be 0-6 over that span. So that’s it. No more whiney articles about Clemson football games because this last trip broke my spirit. But I’m way ahead of myself – it was a long weekend - let me back up. First of all Boston College is not an ACC school. No matter what the press tells you – it just won’t ever fit in. It’s like the one “extra” guy that gets invited to a bachelor party (ACC Conference) because he knows one of the other guys who’s going (Virginia Tech/Miami) but they kind of lost touch over the years and he’s not from around the area (the southeast), talks different, has a different background (Catholic School), and has different interests. We all know how it ends – everyone talks to him once just to be polite (1st away game trip) and then you find out that he has nothing good to offer (horrible tailgating laws) and everyone stops talking to him for the rest of the night. Then he just sits in dark corner of the bar (New England) and complains about everything and wants to leave. Well this is the EXACT same thing. Shouldn’t Commissioner Swofford step in here? I mean fans of the ACC are spending big-time money and getting screwed like receiving a degree from University of Maryland in Horticulture. Anyway, let’s move on. Friday A bit of advice, if you want to meet people who work in NYC for a weekend trip to Boston – meet them in Boston. Believe me. By meeting in NYC, I turned a 6 ˝ hour car trip into a 9 ˝ hour car/subway/car disaster with horrendous traffic from start to finish. All that was missing was a plane and John Candy’s hand stuffed between my butt-cheeks for the worst one-way trip ever. Thank God for Christopher Bixler. While we were toiling away on the Mass Pike, Bix was scouting out Tia’s on the Waterfront for the Clemson Alumni Party. So a quick check-in and a change of clothes and we were heading to rip beers with fellow Tiger fans. Some additional things you should know about Bix:
· Did you know that he’s the Associate Producer of Dancing With The Stars? · Did you know that while he works in L.A. he took time out of his busy schedule during the week of his show’s premier to travel to Boston and drink at Tia’s? · Did you know that he’s Bi-Coastal? · Did you know that while he’s the Associate Producer he doesn’t know the names of the contestants on his show?
Well neither did he. It was all part of an elaborate web of lies that my brother-in-law was telling this group of young ladies and they were pretty much buying it. Some other things that they bought were: I met my wife at Ice Capades, I played football for both Penn State and Clemson, and my “brother-in-law” wasn’t married to my sister. Needless to say these ladies didn’t go to Harvard. So after that good clean fun we decided to visit 3 more bars (each worse than the one before it) until we found ourselves at a vodka bar in the basement of another crappier bar listening to and watching people dance to techno music. ….it was time to call it a night. The final count: 15 Bottles of Bud Lite $30 Dollars on Cover Charges $110 Dollars on Booze $15 Dollars on Late Night McDonald’s 1 Checkered College Football Career 1 Associate Producer of Popular Television Show 0 Brother-in-laws 0 Female’s from Harvard Good time all around. The EL topped out at 4 but we should have stayed at Tia’s.
Saturday Let’s just be clear about one thing here – Boston College SUCKS for tailgating. Really really sucks. No other way to put it. Here’s what you need to know. There’s no parking available close to the stadium. If you d7tailgaters have dreams in your head about driving up to within comfortable walking distance of Alumni Stadium and popping the trunk and enjoying an morning/afternoon of J’s famous sausage sandwiches and raucous seven game flip-cup battles – forget it. Be glad that Clemson played them first and Super Bix got a taste of what it’s like because it would have been a disastrous turn of events if you came unprepared.
So the morning started off with a “T” ride from downtown Boston heading toward the BC campus (30 minutes). We stopped off at Cleveland Circle to pick up some booze to bring to the tailgate that we were invited to. We then walked from there to the BC stadium lugging a bottle of Grey Goose and a case of BL bottles (another 30 minutes). We arrive there approximately at 12 o’clock to find a campus pretty much devoid of spirit and energy except for the giant inflatable Wheaties box with Flutie on the front. Disturbing to say the least and even more disturbing is an assembling police presence as if the Terps just beat Duke in the Final Four and they were giving away Molotov Cocktails in College Park. It wasn’t the best of feelings. Then we learn that not only are the tailgating fields closed until 1 p.m. – you can’t walk alcohol into said fields. WHAAA??? It’s a 3:30 kick-off and we’re limited to 2 ˝ hours of tailgating time, plus we have to show up empty handed having wasted 50 bucks on booze we can’t use?!?? Needless to say the E.L. was at a solid zero and our shared detest for all things Boston College was growing exponentially. Although, once inside the tailgating fields we were treated to some very generous BC tailgaters – free beer, taco dip, and life changing “Chinese Sausage” (I will never be the same) were plentiful and time was of the essence. An attempt to get Bixler to join me in a BL shot-gun was unsuccessful and the BC tailgaters were threatening me to take my Clemson shirt off if I was going to drink anymore of their beer (seems fair) – so it was time to go find another tailgate we were invited to on the other side of the stadium. E.L. a solid 2 and rising. Saturday Night Now when you’re at a road game – the most dreaded time for rival fan interaction is the walk to the stadium for the game. A couple of beers, game time excitement, and they are ready to drop F-bombs on an old lady if she’s wearing a Clemson shirt. But not to worry at BC – they didn’t seem to care. Not sure if it was the fact that there were thousands of Clemson fans there (it was the most requested away game in Clemson history) or if they just don’t care about Non-Catholics but there were no problems from BC fans. In fact a lot of them commented on how great Clemson fans treated them last year when they made the trip to S.C. Not sure if they’ll react the same to the red, white, black, and gold. E.L. 3.1 and gaining momentum. Let’s not get into the details here but if you didn’t see the game Clemson lost in double overtime on a blocked extra-point attempt. Yeah, you read that right – kill me. Other comments on this BC football experience: small but effective stadium – about 50,000 seats, enclosed all around (Bix and I were in the top part of the upper deck and still had great seats); Clemson came strong to the game, had multiple cheering sections, and got a couple stadium wide Clemson cheers going (it was like being a Yankee fan at Camden Yards…..except the O’s win); during Clemson possessions the BC band plays this creepy drum beat (I found out that it’s the music from The Omen) - it’s pumped through the Stadium and very effective in making opposing 6 foot 8, 315 pound fans extremely nervous; and the fact that Tommy Bowden didn’t give the BC defense a steady diet of James Davis when they had 1st and goal from the 2 yard line during the first overtime is beyond comprehension (there I said it). I have to say one thing here – if it wasn’t for Super Bix my weekend would have been awful. Not only was he Associate Producer of Dancing With The Stars last weekend he was also one of the biggest Clemson fans in the Stadium. He was loud, didn’t care about the old battle axe who sat behind us and kept asking us to sit down, on every defensive third down he was stomping on the metal flooring trying to generate some noise, and when Clemson had a great play he genuinely celebrated and took the “Wevodau Fair Hill Races Treatment” without complaint. He said it was because he resented BC’s poor attitude toward tailgating but I think deep down he has a soft spot for the Tigers. He had an all around MVP performance throughout the weekend and has a great grasp on the City of Boston for logistics purposes.
And you will love this - after the game is over…you only have 1 hour to continue tailgating. ONE HOUR. And when they shut-down tailgating – they shut it down military style complete with loud speakers on tops of police cruisers and multiple bike cops riding from group to group asking you to drop all alcohol (and they won’t leave until you have done so). They were some mounted police and a fire-hose away from a Marti Gas type shut-down. So Saturday night was spent at a local bar in Newton, Mass for my Good Will Hunting moment. Not much to celebrate and we had to watch two “real” college football teams play (Ohio State and Texas). E.L. through the floor. The final count of the day was: 18 Bud/Miller Products $40 Dollars in the hole 3 Pounds of Chinese Sausage eaten
0 BL shotguns 1 Crushing Clemson loss 15 ger Depressed Clemson fans 1 Horrible start to the Clemson Football season (again) It was a still a good road trip despite BC trying to ruin it with their stupid restrictions on all-around fun and their stupid effective ground attack. Hopefully, young Bix will do his homework and plan out some pre-game activities for you. If he performs like he did this past weekend – I’m confident he will. I will offer you this warning - Maryland tailgating fans beware: Boston College is NOT an ACC school and will make you very very mad. |