The first time I remember hearing the Boo Birds at Clemson was during the Ken Hatfield years. I remember thinking as an early 20-something, “this is new.”
As a kid, I was taken aback not because I disagreed with it, but rather it was something I’d simply never experienced. I’d heard it on the telly with other teams, whether college or NFL or baseball or whatever, so it wasn’t like it was totally foreign to me. I’d simply never heard it at Clemson.
This past Saturday as Clemson headed into the locker room trailing Troy 13-16 at halftime, the Big Black Flock took flight once again and let the team have it.
Maybe it had an effect, maybe it didn’t, but you bet your ass it was heard by the coaches. Clemson then went on to rip off a whopping 30 points (which included four touchdowns, not shitloads of field goals this time mind you) in the second half to seal a 43-19 win.
Talk about a tale of two halves. Another bipolar Clemson team? If history’s any indicator, yep.
Then game’s end comes and we’re treated to the usual coaching interviews, blah blah blah, but in this case it was reported that defensive coordinator Kevin Steele, offensive coordinator Chad Morris and offensive line coach Robbie Caldwell had some colorful opinions on the booing. Needless to say, they didn’t like it and that is putting it nicely.
Head coach Dabo Swinney, on the other hand, opted to take his usual bullshit moral highroad and said that he didn’t need the fans’ input to tell him Clemson sucked in the first half.
Oh Dabo, you elitist you. But don’t worry, coach, that’s just that crazy five-percent crowd. Must’ve been a loud five-percent because their boos accounted for 95 percent of the sound in the stadium as your team trotted into the locker room.
It's been written in the Clemson beat media that the booing was aimed at taking a knee in the last seconds of the half. Please, it was aimed at the entire team for their so-called performance of the entire half, not just one play. Look at it this way; do you think the Birds would have taken flight if Clemson still took the knee yet was up, say, 27-16? I’ll let you think on that one.
Here’s a fact of big-time sports: there’s absolutely nothing wrong in booing. Nothing at all. It absolutely does not damage the psyche of the players unless they’re dumpling soft and can’t...oh wait... Anyway, does not damage the players’ psyche which is the argument held by many of the Tigers’ fanbase’s leading enablers.
Could it be possible that the fans are tired of getting fed recruiting hype preseason after preseason and, come gameday, the reality is nowhere close? Nope, not a bit.
I’m not saying the typical flimsy reason for it being okay is because everyone does it. Rather, a fanbase who isn’t afraid to boo a shitty product is one sign of a maturing fanbase. Why? Because they now have standards, and high ones at that. But that’s only one sign. Intelligence is another and Clemson’s fanbase still lacks in that category.
I love it when a coach goes to this school or that and says, “The fans are great! They’re very passionate, the best in the nation and we wouldn’t have it any other way!” Then they get pissed when these same passionate fans boo them when they shit out a pathetic team. Well, guess what, genius? A fanbase that boos is...here it comes...indicative of a passionate one. It’s impossible to have a passionate fanbase who won’t boo when you fuck up. What do you want, one that will pat you on the head, tell you everything will be okay and Jesus is in control and put a gold star by your name on the chalkboard?
Obviously we’re not talking about fans like that of many pro teams who go there only to bitch and throw stuff. I’m talking about fans who release the Flock from the birdcage when it’s warranted.
And you bet your ass going into the locker room with a halftime deficit to a Sun Belt team warrants it. And you’re a nadless shithead if you think it doesn’t.
If Caldwell, Steele, Morris and Swinney take issue with booing, they best not go to the NFL (assuming they even have a shot in their ass to begin with). At least not to Philly or Oakland. Because if they think Clemson fans are asspains wait'll they get a load of certain NFL fans. What's more, wait’ll they get a load of the NFL players they’ll be coaching.
If Swinney’s going to make the players tougher, perhaps he and his staff should set a better example. Pissing and moaning over bitchy fans, who ironically are paying for their bloated paychecks, won’t do anything but turn them against you. Pissing back is a losing venture at other places.
Maybe he should say something like what I said above, “we have very passionate fans and booing comes with the territory. It happens with all passionate fanbases.”
See how easy that was?
The Hatfield era was when Clemson’s fanbase sprouted its first pube. Unfortunately they’re still at peach-fuzz level two decades later and haven’t fully grown into a zero-tolerance, no-bullshit group. After all, this is the same nutless bunch that allowed Bowden to hang around and hang around for almost a decade only to give Terry Don Phillips the opportunity to hire a total downgrade, then fans give this downgrade two years to get it over the hump at which point he hands Clemson its first losing season in 12 years and second straight loss to South Carolina only to give him another two-year pass like the eunuchs they are.
But at least booing was a start.
Thank god booing is something fans continue to do when the team fucks up. And in this era of Clemson football where the average fan clearly is resented and viewed as a necessary evil by the athletic department and university, that’s a good thing.
