Note: Tunnel Vision is JDew's (Clemson basketball's in-game promotion host) blog about the 2009-10 basketball season, which will be updated following most home games. The blog is for entertainment purposes only. The views expressed in the blog do not necessarily represent the views of the Clemson University Athletic Department.
1/23/10 - Duke @ Clemson
It's GameDAY at Littlejohn!!! 
This is JDew's View: Tunnel Vision. The best non-seat in the house.
We all "caught the spirit" early before the game against the Duke Blue Devils when ESPN College GameDay rocked the 'John. All of us went live on TV (Hi Mom!!!) at 11am on Saturday when Rece, Jay, Hubert and Digger were in town. I'm not sure how everyone could keep up the screaming we all had to do for such a long time. I made my way through the mayhem and into the seats for a couple of pics, 
and found one little guy that didn't seem to be phased by the noise. Seven-week old Eli was catching his winks with no problem during GameDay. That baby knew how to relax during a TV appearance.
JDew experienced his first ever sighting of President Barker inside of the Tiger suit during the show. I was just minding my own business when out of nowhere up on the scorers' table, President Barker whipped off the Tiger's head and fist-pumped some Tiger pride into all 5000 cheering fans. It was a great moment I got to experience up close.
It's GameTIME in Littlejohn!!!
By the time 9pm rolled around, JDew for one, was already pooped. It had been a long day with the early morning broadcast, and then the pregame GAMEDAY show as well. My spirits were lifted though, when I saw the student section all decked out and 
dressed for the rumble with Duke. Naturally, I got a pic of one group for Tunnel Vision. As you can see, it's kinda hard to fit everyone in the pic just right when they're spelling something out. This pic is the best I could do after several attempts, and I still missed the "S" in Tigers. I promise you, the "S" guy is right next to the "R" guy. And for the girl next to the "S" guy...well, I have no idea what she had painted on her. Maybe it was the "!."
Colin and Dillon were my two Mallstars of the game. The pair were about 12 years old, and they were ready to party. They flaunted being the chosen ones by taunting the two grown men in the seats in front of them. I captured the moment when Dillon 
flashed his new Clemson Flag in one of the older guy's faces, because the guy was a Duke fan. JDew thinks that's the kind of boldness and team spirit needed from Tiger Nation all across South Carolina.
During halftime there was a special weather report because of Lightning in the area. Lightning himself, CJ Spiller, caught up with me in the tunnel just before halftime. After we watched a two-minute highlight reel of his best moves from this last season, CJ was presented a 
plaque from the undergraduate student body president Abby Daniel. CJ then thanked everyone for his gift and wished the Tigers luck in the second half of the game.
There was no luck needed for the Tiger to accomplish his second half mission. He just needed finesse, patience, and some roses to get what he wanted. The Tiger donned a tuxedo t-shirt and a sign and went on the prowl to find ESPN sideline reporter, Erin Andrews. With some help from JDew, we found Erin at the scorers' table after several minutes. The first request was turned down by Erin because she was busy. But, the Tiger wasn't going to take no for an answer. He beefed up his game, wore Erin down, and got the coveted pic with his Valentine during the next time out.
I met two student athletes on the women's soccer team and asked them how they thought the score would turn out. Maddy and Tatum were in the student section cheering their hearts out when I cornered them and popped the question. No, no, no, JDew didn't propose, I asked them about the outcome of the game. Tatum said that Duke would finish with 46 points. She was a little off in the end, but, none of us will ever forget the beating that we gave Duke last year.
1/13/10 - North Carolina @ Clemson
Can you hear anything? I can't. My ears are still ringing from the screams and cheers of the Tiger faithful during our wallop of the Tar Heels.
This is JDew's View: Tunnel Vision. The best non-seat in the house.
It started with long lines of students chanting the cadence call outside of the 'John before the game...It continued with a 6-0 run to start the game...and, as everyone in the house experienced, it just couldn't be stopped by North Carolina. Our Tigers rocked the house as we took down the #12 Tar Heels with great shooting and even greater passion.
The guys in the video room had a lot of work to do during the game, as the instant replay reels were flashed up on the JumboTron over and over and over all night long. Chad "The Man of the Hour" Lampman is at the helm of the video crew, and he directs every basketball show. Will was busy on the replay deck, and Matt was switching between the cameras while they frantically tried to keep up with the craziest and loudest fan reactions to our greatest plays and dunks.
Have I mentioned that there was mayhem in the place!? By the time the score was 24 to 10, right after Trevor Booker's breakaway and subsequent two-handed monster jam, I couldn't even see over the standing fans while I walked around on the concourse. Fortunately, I did make it down one of the stairways where I found Rod, the Mallstar of the Game, and gave him a great gift for a massage in the Anderson Mall. Rod definitely will need to - at least - relax the muscles in his throat after all that yelling.
The halftime show was a sight to remember. First, the Rally Cats took the court with a sweet old school hip-hop routine. The dancers took us back to the early 90's with some MC Hammer, and had us Dippin' with Freak Nasty's "Da Dip." Right before their routine, I spoke with a few of them, and Molly told me that the Clemson spirit runs so deep in her family's veins that her two cats at home are named Rally and Banks McFadden! I almost can't explain what happened next. Quick Change took the floor and well...you had to have seen it to believe it. They danced, changed clothes, changed clothes faster, changed hair and then wore a basketball jersey...Who knows, folks. I was on the court with them and believe you me, JDew was confused. They were great!
Before the game, the USMC sponsored the Chin Up Challenge between "us" and "them." Clemson reps and UNC reps went head-to-head and bicep-to-bicep in a competition of chin-ups for the guys and flexed arm hangs for the ladies. In a preview of what was gonna happen later, it wasn't even a fair fight. Clemson did 236 chin-ups to UNC's 15. The Clemson women tallied over 300 flexed arm seconds as well.
The atmosphere was crazy all night long. And as you know, I love dress up. So many students were dressed to kill...UNC, that is. C-L-E-M-S-O-N and T-I-G-E-R-S were spelled on so many groups' chests, I couldnt take pics of them all. One group found some crazy masks on Ebay, and they added to their paints by wearing the furry headpieces in the student section.
After the game, as the students stormed the court, JDew almost got trampled. When I thought I was safe enough, I snapped a pic of Demontez Stitt being hoisted up on shoulders in celebration. After that, I ran for my life...smiling all the way home.
12/13/09 - College of Charleston & Western Carolina @ Clemson
It's been a while since I've been with you guys, I apologize. The Tigers have gone 4-0 since, with three of those wins at home since my last post. Here's the rundown of what I have seen and heard.
This is JDew's View: Tunnel Vision. The best non-seat in the house.
The first gift was from the game against the College of Charleston where Jerai Grant gave the Tiger family a gift of a two-handed jam to start the game. JDew can't really dunk, so I went around the 'John and asked folks what they were giving and receiving over the holidays. Everyone has a special story when it comes to this time of year, and I was grateful - and sometimes confused - about what folks told me they would be up to. First, let's start with Tyler, my mic man. Tyler studies mechanical engineering and was planning to give his mother a trip to Maine so he could go skiing with her. Drew is always down in the tunnel keeping the peace. He runs EPI, and you know him and his crew to be in their purple shirts all around the 'John helping us find our seats and keeping us off of the court when we want to strangle the referees for a crazy blocking call against the Tigers or something. Drew and his wife are expecting to adopt a child, their first, over the holidays. Congrats to them and their new baby girl!!! I met Elaine, who is the director of the Academic Success Center and a Freshman Seminar professor. Elaine became the coveted Mallstar of the Game, and told me that she planned to buy some gifts for an underpriviledged child for Christmas with her prize. JDew thought this was a great, great plan.
During halftime, we all were present (get it, "present"...hey folks, I'm trying to make this about Christmas, ok) to see the VertFreak Dunk team bring some high-flying finesse to Clemson. During their show, I spoke with Brett and he helped me emcee a lil bit. Brett was given a gift of a ticket to the game by his girlfriend, but, he hadn't thought of any gifts for her...Yikes, you had better get on that Brett. He did say though, that he had bought his mother a flat screen TV with all the money he had been making from working in electrical engineering in Atlanta since he had gotten his degree at Clemson in '08. Allison is a marketing assistant and helps the show run smoothly from behind the scenes and basketball games. She was planning to present her fiance Jacob with a lifetime hunting license in his home state of Georgia. That present was a little weird to me, but, I know Jacob will enjoy it.
The game against Western Carolina on the 22nd was full of giving too, mostly to all the little Tiger fans in the building. At halftime, Santa Claus himself showed up and passed out candy for millions of little people in the building, and no I don't mean elves. But, the real story of the game wasn't Santa Claus, the well-known jolly ol' fellow from the North Pole. The story was JDew meeting Santa Paws, the first cousin of Santa Claus. I must say, before this game, where the Tigers won 79-57, I was totally unaware that St. Nick had any family at all, and I definitely didn't know that his first cousin lived in Clemson! Santa Paws also took his place on the court during halftime, and met many little smiling mouths with lollipops, chocolate and candy. After the game, both fellas had to leave to get back to work as they had a lot to do before Christmas Eve night.
Both the Tiger and the Tiger Cub pawsed (get it, "paw"sed, like paused...only uh, better...maybe) for a pic with JDew. When I asked them what they wanted this year I really couldn't understand what they were saying, I'll admit it. There was alot of pantomiming and growling. But, now, I feel as if I can take the liberty to say that more than anything, our mascots wanted a big win at the bowl game. Well, we got what we all wanted in Nashville. Taking down Kentucky in the Music City Bowl was a great post-Christmas gift for the football team and Tiger nation.
As for JDew, I spent my Christmas in Spain. Feliz Navidad.
12/13/09 - Furman @ Clemson
This is JDew's View: Tunnel Vision. The best non-seat in the house.
There are 12 days until Christmas, and the Tigers gave to me:
12 - Cheerleaders
Win or lose, the cheerleaders always have smiles on their faces. I caught up with them for a pic during halftime of the game. Clemson has some of the greatest cheerleaders in the country. They do a great job. I think they may be the only people in Littlejohn who can consistently top my enthusiasm. But, JDew does give them a run for their pom poms.
11 - Mrs. Clanton
Happy Birthday to Mrs. Clanton!!! It's always somebody's birthday during a Tiger basketball game. Two games in a row, I found someone celebrating a birthday. I think Mrs. Clanton was trying to slip one past me by saying that she was turning 11. But, hey, I'm no fool. I wasn't going to make her pull out her driver's license for validation.
10 - Players on the Court
The Tigers battled it out on the court with our Upstate rivals from Furman. Ten men are on the court at all times. Well, during a game like the one against Furman, it often seems like there are more than 10 guys on the floor. I think Trevor and Devin Booker equal two guys each. Trevor had a season-high 25 points, and Devin had his career best (so far...ahem) 11 points. Tigers win. 82-53.
9 - Rally Cats
It was really easy to see that the Rally Cats had the Christmas spirit. During the game, you may have heard some caroling coming from their area. When a Furman Paladin went to the free throw line, the Rally Cats did some good ol' fashioned distracting by singing "Jingle Bells." The girls would speed through the song as the opposing player calmed themself for the shot, and, by the time the ball was released, the Rally Cats were "laughing all the way" with loud and annoying "HA HA HA's!"
8 - Wins
As the Tigers improve to a record of eight wins, we are positioned very well for ACC play. I know, I know...we have two losses ten games into the season, but, all other ranked ACC teams have at least one loss at this point, as well. We got 'em exactly where we want 'em.
7 - The Bench Mob
At any point in the game, a basketball team always has seven players on the bench. Our team is no different, and these guys play a very important role in the game. Not only are they ready to go in at a split-second notice from our fearless leader, Coach O.P., these guys support the men on the floor at all times. When Demontez Stitt had that big one-handed jam from the baseline, all of these guys were on their feet showing Stitt love.
6 - Color Guard
I'm sending a shout out to the Daniel High School Air Force Jr. ROTC for presenting our colors. There are many volunteers who help us out with colors throughout our season. The kids from Daniel are the few, the proud....uh, wait. Sorry, I think I was headed toward the slogan for another branch.
5 - Postcards
Our annual Military Appreciation game always brings the Clemson family together. I had five postcards to fill out and send to Clemson military personnel serving overseas. I really do support all of our family and friends in harm's way, fighting terror and protecting our freedom here in the states.
4 - Brandon March and Family
Our halftime honoree was an Iraqi Freedom war veteran, Clemson student and Purple Heart recipient. Brandon March, his wife and unborn child and parents all were able to join us and be honored. In 2007, while on active duty in war, Brandon's convoy and vehicle was hit by an IED. He suffered multiple wounds and burns for his country, which earned him his medal. Upon his graduation from school, Brandon plans to continue serving with the Army.
3 - Students Ready for Christmas Break
Now, here is a shot of some students ready to see Santa! Wait, I take that back. I asked these three; Nate, Abby and Tiffany, what they wanted for Christmas. They couldn't tell me! They just mumbled and made other non-sensical sounds. Maybe since 
Nate is headed to study in Italy next semester, and Abby is going to the bowl game in Tennessee, those two have their wishes coming true. JDew doesn't have an excuse for Tiffany though. Oh well.
2 - Papa John's Pizza
It's an official timeout tradition for JDew to pass out two Papa John's pizzas during the game. It's also a tradition for you to laugh as I show off my moves to "Apache'" slash "Jump On It," and move my hips like Shakira. You know you love it, just admit it. No one can resist cracking a smile when I look deep into your eyes via Jumbotron and shake what my mama gave me.
1 - Michael Steadings
Our National Anthem was performed by Michael Steadings. Beautifully performed, I might add. Michael is a Clemson student who serves as a C/Lt Col in the Air Force ROTC program and is a senior industrial engineering major.
12/6/09 - South Carolina @ Clemson (Men) and Charleston Southern @ Clemson (Women)
Two opponents down this Sunday in Tigertown!
This is JDew's View: Tunnel Vision. The best non-seat in the house.
If you missed the double-header in Littlejohn this past Sunday, you missed Tiger basketball at it's finest. In the first of two games, the men took down the cross-state rival Gamecocks, and in round two, the ladies stomped Charleston Southern.
TakeNote, Clemson's women's a cappella group, sang the National Anthem for us before the men's game. I got a pic with one of the girls in the group, Cadie, as she walked off the court.
A few of the guys in the student section were playing dress-up: my favorite. I stopped in on this guy in all orange and he introduced himself as Mike, the Masked Man. At the opposite end of Littlejohn, I found a set of twins sporting the purple and orange suit. The guys told me they found the suits online after seeing them on a TV show. It's always sunny in Clemson, SC. Although none of these cats could reveal their true identity to me, they did allow one picture for Tunnel Vision. I also snagged a party pic with these three guys celebrating Matthew's 9th birthday. I didn't have time to wrap anything, but, I was able to hook the birthday boy up with a sweet O.P.P. t-shirt for his collection.
During halftime I took the court with contestants for a round of musical chairs. During the men's game I used college students, and during the women's halftime I used a squad of junior high-age girls. The latter group was quite a bit better at dribbling the ball, I'd say. But, that's probably only because the Clemson students haven't been practicing their skills too much lately with the impending doom of final exams. This particular version of musical chairs required dribbling a ball around center court and once the music stopped, the contestants bolted for either basket, had to make one shot, and high-tail it back to center court to sit in an open chair.
But, wait! There's more! In the second halftime challenge of the afternoon I brought out one contestant for the Coke Zero Blindfold Challenge. I picked out one guy to volunteer to be blindfolded, be spun around in circles, and then search out Coke product posters on the floor of the court, all in an effort to find the one that said "You Won." During the men's game Wesley found three of the six Coke product posters and the first one he touched was the big winner. His Coke Zero prize package had a sweet looking Nikon Coolpix camera with it. During the women's game, Colton found all six posters! In addition to the prize package, Colton took home five Coke Zero fridge packs. I think the fellas decided all the crawling around and being dizzy was worth it after they took off the blindfolds and saw their cool prizes.
Late in the men's game I stopped by the seats of my friends Ashley and Rick. I noticed they were wearing the...ahem, wrong colors. I'm not sure what they were thinking. The Tigers have now 
taken down the Gamecocks for six straight years! You would think that folks would to start to see a pattern. Maybe those two were just chilly and their USC stuff had long sleeves? Who knows. After that, I caught two Lady Tigers before their game against Charleston Southern. Sthefany Thomas and Kirstyn Wright were sitting with Kirstyn's dad. I asked Kirstyn if she could package the keys to a Lady Tiger victory against the Lady Bucs into three things for me. She said, "...defense, keeping them off the line, and us getting the ball to our big men...or women." Well, whoever they got the ball to, it worked! Charleston Southern was sent home from a Clemson clinic, 104-52.
What a great day. I'll be back next Sunday with a full report of the game as we battle it out with the Furman Paladins from Greenville.
12/2/09 - Illinois @ Clemson
It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. We lost a tough one to the Illini, but the way to cope with a nail-biter like that is 
easy: give away a lot of shirts! Two hundred and six to be exact, one for every achy and shaky bone in your body during the last few minutes of the game.
This is JDew's View: Tunnel Vision. The best non-seat in the house.
Although we didn't get to chat it up too much, I was able to get a pic with Cameron Marion before the game. Cameron is a great country slash pop artist from North Carolina and her new song on iTunes, 
"Save Us" is worth a listen or two. She sung a great tribute to our country with her National Anthem.
I caught President and Mrs. Barker before they took their seats. I think Mrs. Barker was snooping around trying to get my Papa John's pizza before I could give it away. Hey now, if anyone wants the pizza, they're gonna have to get up and go crazy just like everyone else!
Over 40 first-year engineering students came down and hung out with me in the tunnel to show off their sweet t-shirt launching devices throughout the game. Some of those bad boys they built were pretty intense. They were built from PVC pipe, wood, garage door springs, rubber bands and even Spam! Ok, well not Spam. But, you get the point. I asked some of the guys from one of the teams about their purple
cannon. The four guys in the group told me they could launch a shirt pretty accurately about 100 feet. Another group with a slingshot-style launcher said they marked a shirt at 125 feet when they tested it. So, naturally, I asked them how they built it. One of the girls on the team, Laura, started to explain their mechanism with a bunch of big words and engineering terms that I didn't understand. I had to slow her down and tell her that the scientific part of my brain didn't quite develop. Kinda embarrassing. Special thanks to Alicia in the tunnel who got the students coordinated all night long. It takes a lot of work to move that many folks on and off the court on a night like that, especially when some of the t-shirt launchers were dangerous enough to nearly decapitate younger fans as orange cotton bullets whizzed by at mach speeds.
JDew with the Clemson engineering students and their t-shirt-launching devices...
Students who play "dress up" at the games are my favorite. I'll let you know that if you want to make it on the blog, dress to impress. Mitchell had it going on from head to toe. He was an easy choice for the Mallstar of the game, because when you dress like he did you can't possibly be embarrassed to cheer like you've lost your mind. I'm pretty sure he made it on TV several times doing his Tiger chants and dances.
Back by popular demand for the halftime show was the Air Elite Dunk Team from the ATL. These guys know how to fly! We already saw them once this year at Rock the 'John, but, I'm glad they could come back and bring new tricks to show off in the sky. Before they came to the court, I cornered them in the tunnel and asked them some questions about how I could be like them when I grew up. Unfortunately, they couldn't give me any of their secrets. After they looked me up and down, I was told to use the mic as best as I could and stick to 
what I knew. Maybe I'll just have to.
I have avoided talking about the game up until this point because it was an intense emotional journey for me. When you're JDew, you gotta be strong at all times, you know. But, I'll try. Oooh Ok, I know, I'll talk about the good parts. I'm torn between two plays as my "Play of the Game" choice. The first choice was late in the second half when Bryan Narcisse snagged an offensive rebound with a nice put-back to put us up by one point with just over three minutes remaining. The other play was our next basket. Tanner Smith's 3-pointer with just under two minutes to go that gave us a two-point cushion at 74-72 took us all to our feet. I think I have to give Tanner the love on this one and give him JDew's "Play of the Game," because my man B-Nice got a lot of love on ESPN last week with his, not just one, but two, top ten highlights against Texas A&M.
My favorite thing to see folks do, in efforts to get my attention, is to hold a small child right out in my face. This act by a t-shirt craving fan always puzzles me. I normally start to hand over the t-shirt (a mere taped-up orange ball worth its weight in gold at this particular moment). But, then I (usually) do some thinking. I realize that the shirt is 18 sizes too large for the baby in my face. I also notice that the baby is currently wearing a perfectly good shirt already. Next, I am distracted by an alumnus and long-time IPTAY member who, I notice, out of the corner of my eye, has his mother-in-law over his head and is trying to dangle her in my face as well. I faintly here him yelling that she has never been to any type of sporting event ever, that she traveled from somewhere in the far east to get here, and that the doctors say she doesn't have much longer. Somehow, my t-shirt is going to save her, I guess. Of course, I know he is joking. I can easily tell that she isn't from any foreign land at all, but rather from Seneca. Because I can't choose between the baby and the mother-in-law, I throw the t-shirt to a band member near the student section and run away quickly before I get mobbed. And you thought being JDew was easy.
It was much easier to pick a Mallstar of the Game. Nick was being so loud, I thought he might actually wake Cocky up from the dead. As a reward for having the strongest vocal chords in Littlejohn, Nick, enjoy your $50 gift card to the Anderson or Haywood Malls.
Halftime: "JDew Says." This game was really fun. You would think that college students could follow directions during a simple game of "JDew Says." My friend Holly was randomly picked out to play the game, and we took a pre-game pic in the tunnel. Then I put on my game face and told her she wouldn't win the contest. She didn't believe me. She should have. Once the final girl and guy were brought to center court to square-off, things got serious. The two were so intense they both closed their eyes in order to concentrate. I knew I couldn't fool them after that, and I declared them both 
winners.
Late in the game, Terry Don Phillips, our athletic director, was hanging around in the tunnel. He had concluded that I was doing a great job keeping the energy up in Littlejohn every time I stepped onto the court. I, however, conclude that since he is so good at making sure the Tigers win so much, it is he that is making things easy for me. I have the best job in the house.
Basketball's back. Rock the 'John was one thing, the exhibition game was another. But, the pregame fist bump before Game 1 from Coach Purnell in the tunnel solidified that the Tigers are back in town.
Right before the game I met Taylor, a sick Rally Cat. I mean, normally, she isn't sick. In fact, she said that she hadn't been seriously sick since the 6th grade. It was her first real Tiger basketball game and she was super excited. So excited, that Taylor, the sick Rally Cat told me that we were gonna double the Blue Hose's score. Yo Taylor, I'm really happy for you...and I'm gonna let you finish...but I'm not so sure about that, yet. I was willing to bet we were all gonna go home with free Taco Bell tacos (at least 82 points) but, JDew was still hatin' after Terrence Oglesby went pro after last year, thinking that we couldn't score enough to double up on Prez.
Jennings and Johnson are both sick wit' it! After Noel Johnson dropped 3 straight treys in the first couple o' minutes, I wasn't just a believer in doubling the score. I was thinking shoe deals, an HBO film, and some remix with T-Pain.
Special thanks to Patrick Collard and collardphoto.com for the banner photo.
