Clemson Football: No, it’s not time to stop the Tombstone tradition.
We received questions from a couple of Clemson football fans- as well as fans from other programs- asking if it was time for the Tigers to stop with the Tombstones.
Clemson football has held a tradition for quite some time now that when it beats a top-25 program away from Death Valley, it adds a Tombstone to the Graveyard.
Earlier this week, the Tigers added three new additions to the Graveyard for wins over Boston College on the road, Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl and Alabama in the CFB Playoff National Championship game.
Over the past few years, the Tigers have added quite a few tombstones to the graveyard as they have competed in four-straight CFB Playoff games, as well as four-straight ACC Championship games.
That graveyard is becoming quite crowded holding the recent additions and, because of that, several Clemson football fans have asked us if that tradition should come to an end.
The answer is no.
I can understand fans from teams outside of Clemson not understanding. I remember when the Tigers added the Ohio State tombstone, there were Buckeyes fans saying that “Clemson needed to act like they have been here before.”
To me, that’s just the exact opposite of what Clemson football needs to do.
The Tigers need to continue to celebrate wins, big or small. It’s fun to walk through that Grave Yard on game day and look back at the history of the program.
It’s especially fun now to look at how far the Tigers have come. There used to be years go by between getting to add another tombstone. Now, the Tigers are adding 2, 3, 4 more every year.
I may just be a sucker for tradition, but I think we need to continue to do exactly as we have. The Grave Yard is a tradition unique to Clemson football and it celebrates wins that might would be forgotten otherwise, now ‘a days.
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Don’t ever forget the importance of celebrating victories. Adding tombstones are just another way of celebrating victories, and I’m all for that.
Even if it means we have to expand the Grave Yard grounds to keep up with the tombstones being added. That would be a great problem to have.