Kelley is a Clemson fan. That's actually a weak statement. She's a Clemson graduate. Twice. Both of her parents are Clemson graduates. Her sister is a Clemson graduate. Twice. Lots of her family members are Clemson graduates. Her grandfather on her mother's side was a vice president of Clemson in the 70's and into the 80's.
Kelley has never known life apart from being a Clemson fan. Her choice was sort of pre-determined.
I'm a Georgia fan, as is well documented on my blog ( http://kevininsc.blogspot.com/2012/11/so-youre-telling-me-theres-chance.html ). I didn't follow the same path Kelley followed. I wasn't influenced by my parents and family, but by my surroundings at a very impressionable age. My family moved to northeast Georgia in February 1981, to a place about 45 minutes above Athens, two months after Georgia won the 1980 National Championship. What's a 7 year old who loves sports and has no prior allegiance to any team to do?
My office at work has lots of Georgia stuff on the walls, bookshelves, etc. People have given me most of this stuff. I'm often asked, "Did you go to Georgia?" I tell them I didn't, but I grew up there in the 1980's. We left the state in 1988 after my 9th grade year, and I finished high school in South Carolina. Aside from having no desire to go pay out-of-state tuition, I knew by age 19 that God was calling me to full-time Christian ministry. Somehow, people STILL discount me as a Georgia fan because I didn't graduate from Georgia. First of all, if that scenario were true, college football as we know it wouldn't exist. Do you really think those 80,000, 90,000, and 100,000 seat stadiums (especially around the South) are full of COLLEGE GRADUATES? If you've been to a single game, you can wholeheartedly say, "HECK NO!" Second of all, I've earned a Bachelors, a Masters, and a Doctorate, none of which were available at UGA. My calling was more important in making my college decision than who was my favorite team.
So, I'm a Georgia fan. Kelley is a Clemson fan. Who is the biggest fan? I think she'd agree - me. I take it more seriously, more personally. I SUFFER more with losses - not on purpose. That's just how it is. Kelley's sister is closer to being the kind of fan I am. I admit, we're both idiots. Watch us watch a game and you'll see for yourself. I feel like I'm running sprints the whole time I watch - unless it's a blowout. Kelley asked me that if I could control the outcome of the SEC Championship Game last year, how much of our savings would I give for a Georgia win. I didn't hesitate and said a number that's basically all of it. It would've been money well-spent, in my opinion!
Georgia and Clemson played every year when I was a kid, as they'd done for decades. (Georgia won a close one in 1980 and won the National Championship. Clemson won by 10 in 1981 and won the National Championship. Tie in 1983. Georgia won on a 60-yard Kevin Butler fg as time expired in 1984. Look - it was actually 60.5 yards.
The yearly games ended after the 1987 season, and if you weren't alive back then, you don't really understand the rivalry. Back then, Georgia's biggest rival was Clemson. Not Georgia Tech, not Florida, because they rarely lost to either of them. Clemson's biggest rival was Georgia. Not South Carolina. They didn't lose to South Carolina often. Ask most older Clemson fans what team they hated most through the 80's and they'll say Georgia. Most older Georgia fans will say Clemson. And I married a Clemson girl. I married INTO a Clemson family. That's college football blasphemy where I was raised!
They've only played 6 times since 1987. (If you care to know, Clemson won in 1990 (I was there). Georgia won in 1991, 1994, 1995 (I was there), 2002, and 2003 (I was there). They play again this year and next - 2013, 2014. This year's game is at Clemson on August 31, 2013 - my 40th birthday. I told Kelley when the game was scheduled that I don't want to go. I'll be one Georgia fan in a crowd of Clemson fans - including Kelley's family. And I either get to leave happy with everyone else around me, most-importantly my wife, unhappy, or I leave unhappy and everyone else around me happy.
Kelley, and mostly her sister, Kristi, kept trying to convince me to go, and I kept saying no, giving the above reasons. I finally said, "I'll go but here's the condition: Kate has to wear Georgia stuff." Kate will be 2 by then and she LOVES sports. Like me, sports in general are her favorite TV show. Kelley agreed to my condition, but with the added condition that Kate must wear an orange bow in her hair and a Tiger Paw on her face. I agreed.
So if Kelley's dad can get us tickets, it looks like I'll be spending my 40th birthday in a most unfriendly place. Hopefully there will at least be some cake and ice cream. I'm thinking about a big Oval G cake with red and black icing.
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