MAP OF IPTAY LOTS ON GOOGLE EARTH

The map omits the secret parking lot under the stadium where I park. Didn't know about that one? Yeah, 'cause you can't afford it. Only Triple Platinum IPTAY members allowed. It's just me and the dude that founded Hooters.

Eddie Venter, friend of DFIG, posted this great overlay for Google Earth showing all IPTAY parking lots around Death Valley. Here's a direct link to the KML file. It's nice to see Google Earth finally obtained some higher resolution shots of Clemson, it used to look like a puddle of split pea soup but now I can see all the places where Willy Mac and I used to go drinking, and that one place where he ripped the gutter off of that building, you know the one I'm talking about. Thanks to Eddie for this one.

SOME THOUGHTS ON THE VT REACTION

Hokies in our hearts.

Today we are all Hokies.

If you’ve been on the internet since the chilling and deplorable massacre in Blacksburg you’ve no doubt seen people use these slogans hundreds of times. There are logos out there for virtually every school which incorporate the VT logo and a black ribbon. All of these gestures mean well and they are probably heartfelt, but there’s something about them that makes me really think, and I felt like I would share my thoughts on the matter. These are kind of my raw thoughts, so forgive me if it's a little "stream of consciousness."

First of all how insane was it that NBC and other news outlets have been playing Cho Seung-Hui's video non-stop? NBC has it all over the place, yet Imus is too inappropriate for air. It goes to show you just how messed up this country is when news networks are airing these videos in their entirety yet bleeping out when Cho says "fuck" -- like that's the inappropriate thing about the goddamned videos.

Now back to my thoughts on people's reactions to the event. The reactions to the tragedy I’m speaking of here are not those of the Virginia Tech “family,” that being those related to the victims, VT students, staff, alumni, and the surviving victims themselves. Their grief is real, it’s palpable and the media is feeding off of it with reckless abandon. This event has hit them in ways I cannot begin to imagine.

I’m speaking of the average messageboard poster, a type of person with which we are all familiar. To the majority of people, the Virginia Tech killings have been reduced to a bumper sticker. I’ve seen more internet posts mostly consisting of “Hokies in our hearts” with little real commentary or insight about the tragedy. This has become a “Support Our Troops” sort of thing. It’s become just something people say because they think they’re supposed to without giving real support, without opening themselves up to the facts and events behind the catch phrase. People ignore the realities of the VT massacre the same way they ignore the war. What this saying has essentially become is a buffer for real discourse about the event. Now I don’t expect some expertly nuanced debate about psychiatric treatment in America and the rights of professors to demand treatment for students they feel are in need of it or about gun control, though even political posturing is a more honest reaction to the event than just ignoring them and slapping a sticker on your truck.

I promise you this guy has no less than 4 ribbon stickers on his tailgate.

The point I’m getting at is people need to forget about the slogans, think about the shooting, don’t just fucking copy-paste a gif image or some slogan. Think of the victims and their families. Think of what drove the shooter to this dire end. Read the more insightful media coverage out there, not the sick sensationalist shit on Nancy Grace or Fox News. If the only reaction you have to the event is to act like a sheep and spit out the same thing you’ve seen posted a million times then just shut the hell up. You bring nothing to the table and don’t feel like you have to inject yourself into the tragedy. You don’t have to post anything at all about the events of this week. The entire country feels for these victims and their families, don’t trivialize it with some cliché.

A poster brought up the point that in October, when the Tigers take on the Hokies at Death Valley, they expect the entire crowd to cheer for VT when they take the field. Several posters expressed the same feeling, while one or two disagreed and were belittled. I’m with the naysayers. By October, the media will have long since moved on, and with it goes the short attention span of today’s media consumers. ESPN will do a piece on the Hokies’ first game and then will forget about it. God forbid new tragedies occur, but surely something will have pushed this event far out of the way in everyone’s mind but the VT family, on whose lives this tragedy has rendered an indelible scar.

Yes, come October many people may stand up and cheer for the Hokies, but only if they have a jumbotron to tell them to.

Discuss this at The Rant.

THURSDAY NEWS

Football:

WestZone project may resume in 08.

This phase will move all football operations currently held in the Jervey and McFadden buildings into the WestZone, as well as add a small zoo containing various breeds of tigers, a BBQ smoke pit, a world-class spa, and a holodeck. Oh, and a room full of strippers. Funny that the headline of the Greenville News article says the project could begin in 08, yet mentions that it is vastly more likely to begin in 09.

IPTAY sells out.

IPTAY has kicked long-time donors in the balls, as expected, and changed their season ticket policy to give better seats to those who give more, as opposed to the previous policy that awarded those who had continuously donated to the organization. While I understand the move and can respect it from a purely financial standpoint, Clemson has made plenty of moves lately that have been less than fan friendly (raising ticket prices, stricter parking regulations for games, keeping Bowden) and I can only hope we have a great season this year or all this shit might backfire.

Cullen Harper separates from the pack.

Harper was 15-24 with 3 TDs in the Orange & Purple game in leading the Orange team to a 35-16 victory over the Purple squad. This performance finally created some distance in what was a tight race for starting QB. Harper had the best numbers throughout the spring practice season, according to Tigernet.

Rendrick Taylor injured again.

This time it is much less severe than his broken wrist of 2005 or broken arm of last year. He tore ligaments in one of his fingers early in the Orange & Purple game and will undergo a six week rehab for the injury.

Second-team Sapp.

The heir apparent to Gaines Adams has hit some snags in the offseason and has been demoted to second string for the time being with rising senior Kwam Williams taking the first-string spot. The State article mentions that both have had moments of excellence in the offseason but Kwam has the edge for now.

Basketball:

Tyler to transfer

AJ Tyler, who averaged just 5.1 minutes a game in 30 games last season, is unhappy with his place on the Tiger basketball team. "I went into it expecting to be here for four years, but I realized this wasn't going to be the situation I thought it'd be," Tyler was quoted in the Charleston P&C as saying. He is expected to transfer to either Central Florida or South Florida.

CONDOLENCES

No jokes today, just seriously disheartening news from our ACC brother-in-arms. Virginia Tech has suffered a huge loss today at the hands of a lone gunman, who killed about 31 people on two separate shooting sprees. Virginia Tech big wigs have closed the campus for the time being, according to their homepage. We're not big on the prayer request thing, you know, but just keep the families and such in your thoughts. God be with VT right now.

ATTENTION

The Orange and White... er... Purple game is tomorrow and neither Willy Mac (severe illness) nor I will be able to attend. We need one of our readers to report on the game for us. If you will be attending the game and will be sober enough to remember what occurred, please email chili at dannyfordisgod.com and let me know ASAP, and send your take on the scrimmage sometime this weekend so we can have some coverage.

Thanks,

Chili

WEDNESDAY RANDOMNESS

You just know there's some Allman Brothers playing in the background.

Paw painting is one of Clemson's most well-known traditions and has been going on strong since 1971. I'll write a little more about it later, but for now here are two photos, one from the early-mid 80s and one from 2005, of members of Sigma Phi Epsilon painting the famous Tiger Paws on Clemson's roads and highways.

(I should also mention that the photo below is just a small fraction of current membership, I think SigEp is running about 70-80 strong about now, about 120 or so in membership in the above photo)

Probably O.A.R. this time around.

AT LEAST WE STILL HAVE SOME OF OUR DIGNITY

People from West Virginia being illiterate? Shocker.