A Random Q & A With Tbone and the Gman

Tbone and Gman have taken a bit of a break from the blog lately. And by “bit of a break” I mean I found them on the back of a milk carton earlier this week. After contacting the authorities and tracking them down, I thought it would be a good idea to try to get them back in football/blog mode with the season just around the corner. So I asked them a few questions to get the wheels turning, and below are their responses. Feel free to add your answers in the comments below.

Clemson fans say we don’t remember anything prior to 2009. Is that true? Why would they think that?

Gman: Not true. I remember everything. Frankly it’s just a lot more fun to remember good years instead of bad or average years. The truth is that they want to make themselves feel better about recent history (5 straight losses) by relishing ancient history. Sorry CTU fans, but your attempts to bring us down aren’t working. As Janet Jackson said: What have you done for me lately?

Tbone: What else can they say? When your team loses by double digits for five straight years, you have to come up with something. The best way to respond to this line of argument is either (depending on the spirit of the conversation)  A) Yep, y’all and everyone else used to own us, but boy, how things have changed! or B) Man, seems like the only thing they teach at Clemson anymore is Ancient History.

Will Sidney Rhodes start at CB vs. TAMU?

Gman: No. Brison Williams & Rico McWilliams will start with Sidney and Jamari Smith as backups.

Tbone: No, but I wouldn’t be surprise if he got significant snaps. I expect Brison Williams will man one spot, and Al Harris Jr. sounds like the leader on the other side.

How many freshmen will be starting on defense by game 7?

Gman: One, being one of the three freshmen corners.

Tbone: Two. The aforementioned Harris, Jr., and Bryson Allen-Williams.

More TD’s this year – Shaq Roland or Pharoh?

Gman: Shaq. He’s gonna bust out.

Tbone: Roland. Looking at the last few games of 2013, he really started to take off. I think Pharoh is gonna get his, but Shaq can be a traveling circus show out there,

If Spurrier decided to try to make the Senior PGA Tour after this season, who would be our next head coach and why?

Gman: Shawn Elliott. He’s got the “it” factor. Will keep the staff together. GA elevates to offensive coordinator and Whammy gets over not being selected and becomes the best DC in the business.

Tbone: I like the idea of Shawn Elliott, with Mangus and Whammy in tow. Elliott presents like a head coach, and he’s got strong South Carolina ties. He’s proven to be a good recruiter, and an excellent motivator. His unit this year may be the best (on paper) we’ve had since the days of Jim Carlen. But if we can’t keep the band together, then I want that young cat from Ball State (Pete Lembo).

What is your absolute worst memory as a Gamecock fan?

Gman: With these memory questions I’m going with live moments instead of TV moments. So, the worst was Ga Tech 1988. We lost 34-0 and I remember leaving my seat in the 2nd half and lying on the ground near the concession stand. It was miserable. Going in we were  6-0 and #6 in the country-on top of the world. Tech won 2 other games that year: versus UT Chattanooga and VMI.  Runner-up: Sitting through the frigid and putrid Papa Johns bowl.

Tbone: Tough one. A few years ago I would have said it was 63-17, but after a five-game win streak and an Orange Bowl blowout loss for Clemson, much of the sting from that old game is gone. I think the 2004 Clemson game might be it, as we lost both the game and the fight by big margins. But then we made a great hire a week or so later so . . . Wait! Wait!  It’s The Pushoff.  Yeah, absolutely.  I was sitting in the freezing cold end zone bleachers at Death Valley Jr. for that flagrant no-call, and I’m still mad about it.  Refs called it tight all night long, both for and against us, then let that obvious one slide at the end.

How about your best?

Gman: A tie. CTU-1987. My freshman year. I fell down in the bleachers on Ryan Bethea’s catch and run to the 6 yard line or so. I remember looking up at Buck (before he was Buck) and screaming: “Did he score???”  This is tied with The Fade game. Was watching with Tbone (before he was Tbone). What a moment.

Tbone: Best that I didn’t attend? Either Ryan Brewer flipping the OSU defender off his shoulders in the 2001 Outback Bowl, or The Hit. Things got joyfully broken in Chez Tbone after both of those. Best memory from a game I did attend has to be the 1992 Clemson game, with Taneyhill signing the Tiger Paw and me dancing in the middle of the Clemson student section.

Who is your current go-to musical artist?

Gman: Jack White. Creative and one hell of a performer.

Tbone: Last concert I attended was Tokyo Police Club earlier this summer in Philadelphia, but for various reason I’m not sure I really understood what was going on. I listen to an inordinately large amount of Ray Charles and Sam Cooke these days, but I think Ryan Adams may be top of my list. If there is a better ballad out there than his “Come Pick Me Up” then I haven’t heard it. That song is exactly how it feels to be single.

Best movie you’ve seen in the last 12 months?  

Gman: Nebraska. Not the best year or so for movies. Runner up: American Hustle.  Runner Up #2: Muscle Shoals, a cool documentary.

Tbone: None of them. Movies suck. I saw Dallas Buyers Club, Gravity, Her, American Hustle, and several more, and they all gargled my (Editor’s note: deleted due to the family-friendly nature of our blog).  If I ever go to the movie theater again, I want you to decapitate me with Blu Ray disk of The Wolf of Wall Street.

If you were food, what would you be and why?

Gman: I would say sushi but I don’t want to steal it from Tbone. So I’ll say bacon. Why? Because it’s the perfect food. Goes with everything and is always good. Think about it: have you ever had a bad piece of bacon? Of course not.

Tbone: I would be the braised beef tongue from American Grocery, a restaurant in the West End of downtown Greenville. And I would luxuriously dine on myself, because I would be rich, smooth, and incredibly tasty. I’m not ashamed to admit it, I would eat my delicious beef tongue self.