ACC Championship: Clemson vs North Carolina

College: The ACC

Year:   2015

Game: Clemson 45 North Carolina 37

Rating: 9
Tickets/Cost Index:  High

Stadium:  Bank of America Stadium

This game came together fairly late in the year, sort of last minute as a couple of friends of mine who are football refs and one of these guys had just purchased a condo in Myrtle Beach.  Myrtle Beach is about 3.5 hours away from Charlotte.

We got down there on Thursday and immediately went to the Myrtle Beach tourist area to have a few drinks. Evidently we were the only people in Myrtle Beach that weekend, which is fine.  We're too old for the crazy shit but we could've used some eye candy.  We ended up having a shitty tropical drink at some New Orleans themed place, a solid Margarita over at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville and some great shrimp and grits at the Dead Dog Saloon. We ended up at Dagwoods Bar, same place we would close out Friday.   

Let's stop for a minute and talk about an American cuisine that does not get near enough attention and that is Low Country food.  Per a server I spoke with in Charleston, SC the low country extends from Georgia up to North Carolina and encompasses the area near the coast that is prone to flooding.  Evidently Myrtle Beach is in the Pee Dee area, but they definitely have low country influence when it comes to food.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Carolina_Lowcountry

Low country food is heavy on seafood, grits, hush puppies...simple in concept, difficult in execution and really consistent and tasty. 

Early in the trip I came to realize that I was the only person who didn't own a CPAP.  I've written about them before....remember those orthodontia head gear that people would wear in the 80s?  Shit like this?

Well CPAPs are like this but for fat middle aged men.

 Fuck, these things are scary:

Ok, enough of this shit...evidently they make a CPAP appliance that looks a little less like it's trying to crawl into your face. Let's add a CPAP fact and be done with this. What does CPAP stand for?  Continuous Positive Airway Pressure.  Ok, we're done.  CPAPs...improving peoples health and easy to make fun of!  Fun for all!!!

Friday was more of the same.  We played some golf.  This was the first time I had played golf in 10 years, it was at a pitch and put par 3 place. We played a kind of skins game where if you won a hole you got to make a rule for the next hole.  The rules ranged from the basic (use an opposite hand club for a tee off) to the absurd (play a hole with your extra golf balls in your underwear).  Goofy, stupid fun.  The best kind.  Before golf we took a ride out to Coastal Carolina University (not a bad campus) and got some BBQ @ Sticky Fingers (South Carolina BBQ chain).  Decent BBQ, not the best I've ever had but not the worst.

On Friday night we ended up hanging out on the Myrtle Beach boardwalk (note: The Confederate flag is alive and strong on the Myrtle Beach board walk, as are Elvis impersonators).  After a few hours of drinking we ended up back at Dagwoods to eat, food wasn't bad.  Not great, but not bad.  We took it easy because we knew we had a long day on Saturday.  We did spend a few minutes discussing the following topics:  The Pencil Test, Boston Pancakes, Alabama Hot Pockets, Cleveland Steamers and Hot Carls.  If you don't know what these mean...congratulations, stop now...I wish I didn't know what they meant.  If your curiosity gets the better of you have a look at Urban Dictionary.

A note about refs in general:  They are a bitchy little group, kissing each other's asses in person and playing the political games while simultaneously talking shit behind each other's backs and secretly hating each other. They are like a bunch of high school girls in this regard.

We got up Saturday morning and cleaned our CPAPs and took shower and got out of town toward Charlotte. Long drive, but it's not a bad drive.   We got to Charlotte around 2PM.  Let's list all the interesting things about Charlotte.....ok we're done.  A banking city for bankers.  I wouldn't want to be a 30 year old single guy in that city, let's put it that way.

One bright spot in Charlotte is Bank of America Stadium.  I liked it a lot, especially for a pro stadium.  It's appropriate, not over the top fancy.  The amenities can handle a sell out, in other words you don't have to miss half a quarter to take a piss. The only curious part of the stadium is where it's built.  It's downtown but there isn't really any parking in the area, you would have figured that they would have built it in a spot with more lots to tail gate in but I'm nitpicking....the stadium is in a great location and has great sight lines and it's the perfect place to play the ACC Championship game.

We did tailgate a bit before the game with some Massachusetts refs that Ignatious knows. Good guys, they go to one game a year in a group.  Obviously they can't go as much as I can because...they are busy officiating...but they haven't wasted their time.  They go to the good spots:  Auburn, Ole Miss, Army/Navy....it's great to see other people getting out there and checking out the last great American party.

The crowd was about 80% Clemson fans and they were excellent.  The atmosphere was great, place was loud and the stakes where high.  Unfortunately for us there were Tar Heel fans there as well...one in particular.   Let me see if I can properly describe this person.  He was there alone, I would estimate he was somewhere between 50 and 60 and had a very, very low football IQ.  Probably a low IQ in general. He most likely had not been laid in a long time, and even when he was younger he probably rarely got any because he was such an annoying pile of shit  Because of this asshole I will root against North Carolina for the forseeable future.  At one point I called him a fucking retard to his face.  It was after he complained that the clock was stopped at the end of the first half because, and get this one,  CLEMSON CALLED A TIMEOUT.

The game itself was great...the Clemson fans brought the energy...it was two great offenses slugging it out but even though it was a high scoring game the defenses were good and mattered. It wasn't so much that offenses dominated as much as they both play up tempo so the game is longer.  Clemson was the better team, played most of the game in control but could not put Carolina away. I came away thinking DeShaun Watson should have been the Heisman winner.

We paid a lot of tickets....A LOT...but it was worth it. This was easily the highest profile ACC Championship game in the 10 or so years they've been having them, if not the best game.  We had great seats and the ACC put on a first class event.  Having said that...we waited a bit too long to firm up the decision and we didn't just want to get in the door with any old seat. We wanted good seats and we got very good seats, so it was 

If you want to make it part of a larger trip:  Carolina Low Country, Charleston, Wilmington
Don't Miss:  Carolina low country food

Avoid:  Tar Heel Fans

Attendees:  Bones, The Black Viking, Ignatious P Reilly

Game Recap:  http://espn.go.com/college-football/recap?gameId=400852676