(Bruce Young is THI's photographer, social director, bureaucrat, available bachelor, Man of Many Talents, and resident Tar Heels fan)
​HOW SWEET IT IS!!!
I don't even know where to start. THI's trip to Tallahassee was one of the most enjoyable Carolina and professional experiences I can remember ever having. Not only did I go to Tallahassee with THI's Editor and Grand Poobah, Andrew Jones, but Brett Friedlander, columnist for the North State Journal, a.k.a Captain Stubing of the Love Boat, because of Hawaiian Shirt he wore coming home, came along for the ride! And what a ride it was.
Not only did we see more little towns in South Carolina and Georgia than we ever could have imagined or wanted to, we decided to go to a High School Football Game in Valdosta, GA, Friday night that had in excess of 10,000 people in attendance; it was an unbelievable site. Other than going to high school games in Hampton, VA, when Allen Iverson was playing football at Bethel High School, I had never seen anything like this! Going to games and events like this is why we endure 10 to 15 hour car rides with each other. We do things off the cuff and most, if not all things we do, end up adding so much to each trip! This stop along the road to Tallahassee was absolutely NO EXCEPTION!
We ride along for the most part with me listening to these two grizzled veterans telling stories about their ACC experiences in their combined 50+ years in the business! If you ask them, they will tell you that I talk more than I listen, but I have stories to tell as a fan and I do ask a lot of questions. Both of their total recall of certain games and events from the past blow my mind. As a Tar Heel Fan, you can only imagine how much fun I have on these trips!
I've learned more about how to conduct myself in a media type setting, around players, hall of fame coaches and at some of the most beautiful sports arenas in the country from these two men! Their passion for writing about sports and their willingness to share with others is truly what makes both of them the best in the business and it's an honor and pleasure to call them both my friend!
The tradition of Florida State Football speaks for itself. Watching Chief Osceola and Renegade come out to midfield with a burning spear and planting it into the turf is something we've all seen before, but it's really cool to see it in person. Another tradition is one I knew nothing about until after the game, when we were walking to our car. We came upon something called "The Florida State Football Sod Cemetery". Of course the grizzled Vet's knew what it was and enlightened me.
This is a place where FSU commemorates their greatest victories away from home. At any road games where FSU is the underdog or games played at the University of Florida and all ACC Championship and Bowl games, the victorious team captains return with a piece of the opponent's turf or grass to be buried in the Sod Cemetery inside the gates of the practice field. Then a ceramic marker is placed on the ground where the sod is buried, noting the score, date and opponent! On game day, they put ribbons around any marker where they've beaten the team they're playing, home and away, on that particular day. On this day, there were Carolina Blue and white ribbons on 3 of the markers! At first I didn't care for it very much and you may not, but after I learned what it was for, this too was pretty cool to see.
Teams with long and rich football traditions like Florida State make victories like Saturday afternoon even sweeter! And the manner in which Carolina won the game, with 2 seconds left on a Nick Weiler 54 yard field goal, created an environment that make college football Saturday's so great! When you take the "thrill of victory" from approximately 77,000 Seminole fans with 2 seconds left and replace it with "the agony of defeat" at the buzzer, you can only imagine how quiet it got. Well maybe except for the small contingent of Tar Heel Fans in Doak Campbell Stadium that partied loud and hard.
The players were as excited as I've seen them in the past 40 years. Hugging and high fiving each other was the order of the day and seeing Big Naz Jones picking up Ryan Switzer like a rag doll to celebrate, are moments I'll never forget. Standing under the goal post and watching Weiler's kick clear the bar, is a vision that I wish all of you could have experienced.
I am so blessed and honored to do this for THI. Walking to the car, I made sure I thanked the man responsible for giving me this unbelievable opportunity to do something that I don't consider work at all, Andrew Jones. Don't tell Andrew, but I would probably do this for nothing. GO HEELS!!!!!
