From the moment I became sentient, I was a South Carolina Gamecock fan. Every Saturday, I dressed in my Gamecock jersey and donned a garnet and black baseball cap as I watched South Carolina football.
One of my earliest football memories came during the 2013 Outback Bowl between South Carolina and Michigan. After being outraged over a terrible first-down call, I watched Jadeveon Clowney light up Michigan’s running back. In what felt like slow motion, the running back’s helmet hit the turf alongside the football. By the time Clowney scooped up the fumble, I was certain I’d be a fan for life.
That slowly began to change when I entered sixth grade and began exploring potential career paths. Believing I would pursue a career in mechanical engineering, I began to look at Clemson as a potential college destination.
While I was beginning to convince myself to turn away from the Gamecocks to become a Tiger, I knew one person who would struggle with the news: my mom. Even though she’s a diehard Gamecock fan, it took almost no convincing for her to support my decision.
One day after school, I brought up to my mom that I thought Clemson would be the school for me. Almost immediately, my mom’s closet was filled with Tiger shirts and merchandise. The garnet and black suddenly bled into orange and purple.
While I was considering Clemson for my education, my heart was still with South Carolina. Every Saturday, I was still rooting for the Gamecocks, especially when they took on the Tigers.
The tide slowly turned as Clemson won the National Championship in 2019. When the Tigers put on their championship parade, my mom and I made sure to make the trip from Spartanburg to see it. For the first time, I began to pull for Clemson football.
Through each week of football season, I’d find myself rooting for the Gamecocks and the Tigers. Still, when they played each other, I was a South Carolina fan through and through.
In my senior year of high school, though, something changed. I realized that I no longer wanted to pursue engineering and instead began evaluating other options. One of those options was journalism.
I applied to several schools, many of which were out of state. While I thought I wanted to leave South Carolina, a part of me was too attached to do so.
That left the decision, fittingly, down to two schools: Clemson and South Carolina.
Clemson was the first of the two that I toured, and I was immediately in love. The campus was beautiful, and it was close enough to home to not be too far away but far enough to have an excuse to not go home every weekend.
But there was one issue — Clemson didn’t have a journalism school.
As I went on my tour of South Carolina, it had the advantage. The journalism school was state of the art, and it had everything I could have possibly asked for.
The campus, though, was less than desirable to me. Sitting in the heart of the state’s capital, the school has nowhere near the level of scenery and nature that Clemson’s campus does.
As I left Columbia, I had a difficult decision to make. After much deliberation with myself and people within my inner circle, I knew what the correct decision would be.
On April 11, 2023, I officially enrolled in Clemson University. It is a decision that I would make a thousand times over, and I haven’t looked back since.
While I’m now a Tiger for life, I do not hold the same hate for South Carolina that a lot of my friends and fellow students do. That said, even while a small part of me is still with the Gamecocks, it’ll be nothing but “Go Tigers!” this Saturday.
