Energizing the Eagles: Win One For Welles

Eagles, this is it. The Super Bowl. Not the real Super Bowl — they would never let us into that. But it’s our Super Bowl.

#5 Clemson is coming to town with zero losses on their record and a National Championship on their mind. But to get there, they have to go through us. And for the past 12 years, this is how they’ve faced that challenge:

Actually in that analogy the walls would be made of styrofoam not concrete, but you get the idea. This team is better than us. A LOT better than us. We play ‘em 10 times, they might win 9. (Let’s be real - they’d win 10, maybe even 11 somehow).

But not this game.

This game we run with them. We play with them. And we shut them down because WE CAN. (We can’t).

Tonight, (tomorrow night), we end Clemson’s title hopes.

Now you may be wondering after all my years of rooting for a consistently disappointing football program, how can I still stand by them? How can I still go into an impossible game against a vastly superior team with that same sense of blind, unshakeable hope that I had as a young boy? It’s because for better or worse, (it’s worse), I love this school and I love this team. I wake up every day and I piss maroon and gold. Some of you might say that means I have blood in my urine. And to those people I say that the kidney biopsy was inconclusive but my urologist is worried.

But look, I’m not as naive as I once was. It’s been weeks since I’ve been lured into a stranger’s van with the promise of candy. I know BC, in all likelihood, will never be a top-tier team. But there is something we can be. Something twisted and beautiful that we’ve been in the past, and have every chance to be again.

A spoiler.

We can be the team that ruins things for good teams. The team that catches a Top 10 opponent on an off-day and takes advantage. The team that ends championship hopes. See to us, losing to Clemson is nothing. It’s expected. To Clemson fans, this is everything. They’re undefeated. They have every chance of making the Playoff and even competing for a title. But if they lose to lowly Boston College, all of that is gone in an instant.

We’re essentially a high school kid that wasn’t invited to a party, so he calls the cops on the party and ruins it for everyone. He still didn’t get to go to the party, but neither did anyone else.

And aside from the prospect of being the ultimate spoiler and getting to storm the field appropriately for once, BC has a couple huge things going their way in this game:

1. Clemson struggles with us for some reason
   
   Yeah for whatever reason, we always seem to give them fits. They beat the everliving shit out of us occasionally, but the last two times we’ve faced them we’ve lost by 6 points, and probably should have won at least one of those.
   

2. The universe has to be against Dabo by now
   
   The powers that be have to be sick of this guy right? He does his whole “I’m a Christian” song and dance, literally tries to act holier than thou, but then will just cuss out some 19-year old kid who didn’t get the laces all the way around on a kick. The guy screams phony and the other shoe has to drop on him eventually. Like even the devil has to be thinking about reneging on the deal I assume Dabo made with him. Also, one of my roommates is a South Carolina grad and they take Clemson hate to another level, so we’ll have that extra gust of anger to push us over the edge.
   

3. It’s the Red Bandana Game
   
   This is the most important reason. BC is doing their annual Red Bandana game this week to honor Welles Crowther, a BC alum who saved as many as 20 people on 9/11, all of whom identified him only as “the man in the red bandana.” Welles died as a result of his heroism, but tales of his bravery get told and re-told every year to a national audience. Here’s Welles’ story if you haven’t seen it before. Please watch this before you read on.

So yeah all jokes aside, this game means something. We’re honoring a BC alum who paid the ultimate price to save others. Football is inconsequential in the grand scheme of life, but winning this one on a day honoring Welles would be special.

So with all that being said, here’s what I need from you Eagles:

I need you to be ready. I need you to be in line at Brighton Campus at 3:30 PM tomorrow, red bandana around your head, ready to rock ‘n’ roll.

I need you to be prepared for the tailgate to end all tailgates. To drink and eat more than you thought you were capable of. To push your organs to their very limits and then push them some more.

And this is the tough one: I need you to go into the game.

I know it sucks sometimes, but it’s Clemson. It’s the Red Bandana game. If they start getting blown out, you can leave. But until that happens, I need you on your feet, screaming your drunk head off, and putting the fear of God into Dabo Swinney and his Tigers.

It won’t be easy. Clemson is a juggernaut. But we can beat them. And tomorrow night, with the eyes of the nation upon us, we’re going to end the Clemson Tigers’ reign of terror.

Tailgate starts at 3:30, kickoff is at 7:30.

I’ll close with the words of Jeff Smith, former BC QB and WR, and current New York Jet:

Let’s turn the boys the fuck up and get it going. HUGE week. Let’s win one for Welles.