Friday February 19, 2010
Friday E-Mail Bag
Friday E-Mail Bag
Each Friday I publish your comments and answer your questions. To submit a comment or questions please e-mail me at mickeyplyler@hotmail.com.
Mickey,
I saw where Oliver is recruiting that guard out of Cali do you know anything about him and is he a pure shooter?
JC
JC,
His name is Kendall Williams and he is from Rancho Cucamonga, CA. He committed to UCLA a couple of years ago but threw a temper tantrum at an AAU game that UCLA’s coach Ben Howland was attending and the Bruins withdrew their scholarship offer. Some felt they wanted out anyway as they think they can get better players than Williams. I have not seen him play but I hear he is a combo guard but was being recruited by UCLA as a point guard. He will visit this weekend.
Mickey,
It was recently reported that two former-3-star football recruits, Tarik Rollins (RS frosh LB) and Byron Clear (RS soph DE) will leave Clemson to pursue other opportunities, including perhaps more playing time. I wish them all the best, and I mean no disrespect to them, but is that a net positive for the team (in that it freed up more scholarships from guys who weren't likely to get playing time in the next few years) or net negative (in that the team lost some solid talent)? Seems like LB & DE are positions that could use some depth.
-RazzMaTazz
RazzMaTazz,
Neither Rollins or Clear would have been counted on this year. Rollins never really recovered from his knee surgery. Clear is not as athletic as other defensive ends on scholarship. I don’t think either were on track to ever be on the two-deep.
Mickey,
Thank you for remembering Dr Edwards. I first met Dr Edwards at the freshman picnic on the lawn of the president's house in '74 and was taken with his personality and love for Clemson; school, programs,
students, etc. He made time to be available. In fact, in October '78, we were planning to trick or treat and decided to trick or treat the Mansion without considering who would answer the door. Lo and behold, Dr Edwards answered and we had a grand old time and he led us in a raucous rendition of "1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, C, L, E, M, S, O, N" (w/o the
woo-hoo).
Thanks for the memories!
Dave
Dave,
Thanks for the e-mail. There will never be another one that will ever give as much as this man did for Clemson. Like so many, we have great memories of this Clemson legend.
Mickey,
Clemson would not go to the sec.
1 they have been in the acc for so long
2 we see how powerful South Carolina has been since leaving the acc
3 we don't need to be a slave for the money
4 for the next 4 yrs and prob later than that as long as we play a sec team in a bowl game we will be playing 40% of South Carolinas schedule. But keep in mind usc plays vandy and KU every year. So they play 8 sec teams, normally 5 of which are middle to upper tier. So for the foreseeable future we should be playing 3 middle to upper tier sec teams a year.
Roger
Roger,
I have read a bunch of accounts of how this conference realignment can affect all of these schools across the country. However, I just can’t see the scenario where Clemson would be invited to the SEC. First, I don’t see anyone leaving the money of the SEC. Also, I think Miami or Florida State would be a bigger draw for the SEC. I doubt any of this ever really happens.
Mickey,
On the few occasions when I go to a Lady Tigers' basketball game, I often wonder how the crowd can be made larger.
Why doesn't Clemson (and many other schools) do as is done at the high school level; i.e., play the women's game preceding the men's game?
The women's game can follow the men's game when the men's game is an early start.
I know that I would attend many more Lady Tiger basketball games if the men's and women's games were played one following the other.
Red
Red,
A few years ago the women used to draw OK and the thought was that they did not want to take away from the gate. Now that is not the issue. I think the ACC schedule has something to do with it this time of year. I don’t know of any other conference school that still plays double-headers. I think the women’s coaches want their game to stand on its own. Clemson’s women’s basketball is broken.
Mickey,
At the end of the day, its about winning the game... nothing else really matters. But since you brought up the topic of promotions, I've migrated to a few specific thoughts regarding football at Clemson. We do a lot of things very well, but if I was in charge...
1) Bury Zombie Nation. Years 1 and 2 it was great, now every sports venue in the world blares it. Let's move on. Please forward to all responsible.
2) Whomever was at the controls got lucky and dropped "We Will Rock You" at the absolutely perfect moment during the FSU game. Those moments created an "instant classic" in the minds of those in attendance. Retire the use of this classic song now and preserve the perfection.
3) What's wrong the wave? Isn't that one of those "so bad that it's good" things? Besides, if you're under the age of 21, you've probably never seen a really good wave. It can be a thing of beauty.
4) Like someone else has commented, if you're the playing "The Tiger," take a note from the pros at Disney and leave your head on in public for crying out loud... kids are around.
5) Food options: small improvements here but we're still light years behind other places, including the pickin's at Billy Brice. C'mon Clemson, break-out some BBQ and turkey legs... and where's the famous Clemson Blu Cheese and ice cream???
6) Eventually we need to pony up for a new bigger replay screen. Technology way up, prices down.
7) Because game times vary, Clemson must do a better job of publicizing various activities leading up to each game. Whether its the pep rally, Tiger Walk, or anything else, they should publish the exact times (via web) the week prior to every game.
TMM
TMM,
Winning matters but apparently other things do too. Thanks for your input. I hope we will see scoreboard updates as technology improves as well. One thing I would like to see is a running total of team stats. At Florida and Florida State they have a board that has each team’s first downs, rushing yards, passing yards and total offense. Also I would like to see a part of the score board that had running scores of other games. In basketball, I don’t understand why they show video during the game action. I would rather see stats during the live action and replays during the timeouts. Also I would love to know how many time outs each team has but the board does not have it up.
Mickey,
I heard you talking about how poor Clemson student attendance has been at Little John. Something you may not be aware of: there are over 7,000 graduate students at Clemson, many of whom would love to attend games. We have to pay almost face value for tickets. No one ever mentions this point. Why?
Graduate students are notoriously poor. More so than undergrads but the undergrads get free tickets. Start talking about how Clemson doesn't want to fill those seats or at least doesn't try. Don't blame all of us. Over 7k of us are purposefully excluded.
Cheers,
Paul
Paul,
I think the policy towards grad students was implemented when there was a bigger demand with the undergrads. Obviously the student body has changed at Clemson. I see no problem with trying to get grad students more involved
Mickey:
I know that I'm a little late for your "Friday E-mail Bag", but I wanted to share my thoughts on this "Student Involvement" controversy. Maybe I can make it into next Friday's?
Let me start off by saying that I am currently a second-semester freshman at Clemson, and there is not much that I love more than going to Clemson athletic events. If some conflict in scheduling ever arises, I do my best to work around it so that I can support our teams. I went to all the home football games this season, I've attended most of the basketball games, and I plan to take in as many baseball games as I can. I even attended a few Women's Volleyball games early in the first semester.
From what I've gathered, continued, strong student involvement in athletic events will not happen until the academic and athletic departments of Clemson can co-exist. I'll explain what I mean by this with an example that recently affected me: this previous Wednesday, the same day as the home basketball game against Florida State, I had a major math exam. Guess what time the exam was scheduled? 6:45pm, 15 minutes before tip-off. The exam lasted well into the second half of play. I know that all classes of MthSc101 took this exam at this time, and I am fairly certain that there were many other math classes also taking exams during that same time slot. Yesterday (Thursday, Feb. 11), there was a major physics exam. Many students had to miss the game to cram for that. My point is, there are lots of students who would love to attend games, but can't because of academic dates and/or commitments. The University should help schedule academic events around those of athletic events, or vice-versa. At the very least, they need to not schedule such exams on the same day at the same time of a major athletic event.
While I believe that this will help some, the fact remains that not everyone cares enough about the Clemson Athletic traditions. Countless students around me in Death Valley would leave at halftime (sometimes at the end of the 1st quarter) because they got their "social fix". I would hope that there are enough die-hard fans to max out the student capacity at Littlejohn, but the conflicts I've listed above and others often prevent us from going. It is sad to say, but I think that giveaways and major TV coverage/major games are the only ways to get other students in to basketball games. I don't believe that Clemson (let alone any school that doesn't have the lucrative ESPN contract that the SEC has) can afford to do that for every game. I'm open to any suggestions on how we event-going students can help convince our fellow classmates and friends to go to more games.
Sorry for the length of this email, but I just wanted to get my thoughts out. I really enjoy reading your blog, and look forward to many more.
Thanks for your time.
--
Justin
Justin,
Thanks for taking time to e-mail. It is obvious that not every student is apathetic. This mass testing on weeknights is a new deal. I know it happens but I am not sure when that happened or what can be done about it. My guess is that is here to stay. It is also obvious to me that the makeup of the student body has also changed. I am not sure that will change anytime soon either. I am getting closer to relegating myself to think that most of these issues are here to stay. I hope I am wrong. I wish I had answers to magically change many of your classmates priorities but I am afraid that ship has sailed. Hope I am wrong. I do thank you for writing and leave you with this advice—The enrollment is over 15,000 and we only need 2,000 to show up at a home basketball games. I guess those that are passionate about school spirit are now in the minority so they key is to get those that are to show up every game and become more passionate.
The Brad Hughes All-State Insurance Agency
Prayer List
We have started a prayer list on the blog. Here are the guidelines:
*If you are offended by prayer or prayer lists then I apologize in advance. The blog is free and the prayer list will be on the bottom of the page so you don’t have to read it.
*If you would like to add someone to the list please e-mail me at mickeyplyler@hotmail.com
*If you want the reason for the prayer to be added to the name please specify in your e-mails.
*Please let me know when it is appropriate to take the person off of the prayer list
Those who need our prayers include:
Finn Brookover, Larry in Naples, FL, RTG-Pawsitive Tiger, Mary-Louise Pawlowski (John's daughter), Jo Ann Bachman, Frank Taylor, Kenneth Bryant, Pruitt Martin, Got igers and his family, David Rowland, Leonard, Gillespie and his family, Jim S, Christine Hepfer, Daniel Rosborough, Amy Murphey, Jack Huffman, Nancy Winkler, Dr. Nancy Strom Morgan, John Reeve, Eileen Woodrum, Ethel Southard, Vinnie Brock, Kaitlyn L, Eric Boessneck, John Bowers, Jimmy Ness, Susan Miller, Joyce Harley, Steve Proveaux, John Petrey, Chalmers Carr, Drayton Melton, Jeffrey Greene, the Hutto family, Sherl Drawdy, Caleb Kennedy, Bob Pollock, Teresa O'Connor, Matt Jacobs, Mike Kingsmore,Perrin Seigler, Carole White Begley, Candee Massee, Lindsey Jordan, Sam Catoe, Tyler Felch, Steve Cato, the Nicolopulos family, Cason Palmer, Candace Fallaw, Scott Jackson, "the Jacksonville, FL guys", Kim Sims, the Coyle familty.
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