Here is some advice to my colleagues who don’t cover the Clemson football program on a daily basis. Don’t ask Dabo Swinney any questions that involves the word “Clemsoning.”
ESPN reporter David Hale found out the hard way.
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Swinney lit into Hale about the question following No. 6 Clemson’s 43-24 victory over Georgia Tech on Saturday.
Hale was basically asking Swinney how the team used the word as a rallying cry after coming off an emotional win over Notre Dame last week. Asking was it unfair the word is even used, and how does his team approach it differently?
Swinney’s response…
“I think it is ridiculous that you even ask me that question … that you even say the word. I mean I’m serious. I’m sick of it,” Swinney said. “I don’t even know why the media uses the dadgum word. How about some of these other teams that lose to unranked opponents all the time. That is our 33rd (straight) win versus unranked opponents. We have not lost to anybody unranked since 2011, and I have to come to a press conference in 2015 and get asked that.
“That is all media bull crap. I will tell you how they feel about it. They don’t like it. It is a lack of respect. It is not doing your homework and paying attention to what reality is. I should not be asked that question, period!
“That’s how we feel about it. This football team right here has earned respect. They have not given us anything. Not one ounce of anything. They have earned everything they got. When I have to turn on the TV and people bring up that word, and they try to casually bring the word up like you do, but it is still the word. It should not even be in the conversation. That’s how they feel about it, and that is how I feel about it.”
Swinney continued by saying he got upset Saturday morning when someone used that term on television. Clemson last lost to an unranked opponent on November 19, 2011 when it lost at NC State.
“That is the same thing today. The rhetoric on TV today. The same ole bull crap. People need to get some more adjectives. This football team has shown up. What else do they have to do? We have beaten Ohio State. We beat Notre Dame, LSU, Oklahoma, Georgia and Auburn. We have beaten 33 unranked opponents in a row. We are 7-3 vs. top 10 teams. People need to quit talking about that. It is like people are trying to push their own agenda out there. I can’t believe I have to come in here with a 5-0 football team that just had a great win and be (asked) about Clemsoning. I should not be even having this conversation.”
Hale then followed up his question with another question or comment about it, and it allowed Swinney to continue his rant.
“If we lose this week, it is not because of Clemsoning. It’s because we just got beat. We are human. We are just human. Good God Almighty, man! Look all over the country,” Swinney said. “We got teams all over the country getting beat. We are a football team that has earned everything they got. Again, to answer your question, they don’t like that. It is the lack of respect for what these guys have done. This program does not take a backseat to anybody. We are not better than anybody. We could lose to Boston College. That is the biggest game of the year.
“They are dang capable of beating us. They had a great chance to beat us last year. We were fortunate enough to win that game, but we won it. If they beat us, it is not because we had some bad, whatever, it is because they beat us. That is football. It’s like everybody is sitting around waiting on us to lose a game so they can say, ‘Oh, there they go again.’ That is bull crap. Next question.”