Hand gestures are nothing new to collegiate fan bases. Across the country millions of college sports fans, especially football fans, will show their allegiance to their team with a simple hand motion. University of Florida has their “gator chomp,” the University of Texas has their “Hook’em Horns” and Texas State has a “heart of Texas” hand sign.  

Clemson University does not have a hand gesture– and hasn’t since its establishment. However, fans and students at game days have started forming a tiger paw with their hands, dubbed “paws up.” Yet, this new fad has not been taken too well by most Clemson fans.  

Students have not been shy about sharing their opinions about this attempted trend. A user on the popular social media app YikYak posted “[things] went from bad to worse as soon as ‘paws up’ emerged.” Another one read, “whoever started ‘paws up,’ I blame you and only you for this mess” in reference to the football team’s performance on Saturday. Freshman Mason Zuckerman said that the hand gesture “just doesn’t fit. It makes no sense and is kinda awkward.”   

The Greenville News also covered the new tiger paws, quoting a fan who called the gesture “arthritic.” Many other adjectives have been used throughout the student body to describe the gesture, including “ugly”, “pointless” and “dumb.”  

If the technicalities came into discussion, the hand gesture would not even be a tiger paw. Clemson’s paw has four pads surrounding the main pad of the paw. The hand gesture uses all five fingers, giving an impression of a bear claw. 

It is not like Clemson does not already have its own signatures. Singing the Alma Mater, chanting the Tiger Rag and shouting the Cadence Count are all unique to Clemson. While it can be fun to do a hand gesture in pictures and videos, there’s a reason Clemson has not had one already. 

Clemson will host their second home game on Oct. 2,  since the infamous hand gesture emerged.