why i am not just a football fan

i am not a football fan.  i don't gloat over my team's record.  nor do i bash my team when they lose a game. 

when i think of a fan, i think of a mechanism that oscillates air.  one second you are hot, the next you are cool.  much like the football fans i have encountered through social media, they oscillate between deep devotion and utter disgust for their team of choice.

it leaves me searching for the reasons why i am not a football fan.

you see, the team that i pull for means way more to me than just the score of a game.

i love Clemson.  all things Clemson.

bowman field and the way the slightest bit of warm sunshine draws a crowd.  tillman and the welcoming smile thomas green clemson offers as you pass him by.  the carillon gardens and the peace the park benches offer between classes.  cemetery hill and all the history that lies in those hallowed grounds.  the amphitheater and cool splashes in the fountain that stretches behind. 

i love all things orange and purple.

not just during football season. 

for these colors are just an outward expression of the inner pride that is buried deep in my soul for a institution that helped mold me into who i am today. 

every single time the team runs down the hill, i get choked up.  emotions swell and tears spill over my eyes.  not because of a football team.  but because of the love for all the traditions and memories the campus holds. 

when my team wins, i am ecstatic.  not in a 'rub-it-in-your-face' kind of way, but in a 'those-boys-practiced-hard-and-it-paid-off' kind of way. 

when my team loses, and lose they will because a team can not win every game for eternity, i am disappointed.  not by my team or the coach that leads these men day in and day out.  i am disappointed by the fans and their negativity.  and i am disappointed by fans from opposing teams who speak ugly things. 

at the end of the day, football is just a game.

my love and admiration for clemson runs much deeper than the score from the game of the week.