re: At what point did you learn to truly hate your rival?

Sorry USC :(

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At what point did you learn to truly hate your rival?

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1961 ... I'm in the 4th or 5th grade. Long story short, the Sigma Nus pulled this prank on Clemson, it was great if you were there, where they used some O-burg high school unis to dress up like taterheads before the game, hid in the stadium and came out pulling these hilarious stunts, (the cow they were going to use as clemson's homecoming queen died in the trailer before the game).

Anyways, everyone has heard the story but as for me, the rivalry was fairly innocuous because I had grown-up with a bunch of Clemson farmers in my area ... but the taterheads took offense at the prank and they started a bunch of fights in the stands, tore-up some stuff, smacked some women around that were laughing at them ... hell, it was ugly.

After the game we're headed over to the fairgrounds and and there were still fights going-on. So I'm just a kid and I see all these taterheads ganging up on people ... yeah, that's definitely where it started. It was out of hand. They are still this way today - although somewhere around that time I guess we started fighting fire with fire because in subsequent years, and by the time I got to Carolina in '67, we would stomp tater arse in the parking lot.

Security finally started stepping-in somewhere around 'the early 70s and there were threats of discontinuing the series about that time as well. But then we got out of the ACC in '72, our congress passed legislation requiring the game be played every year, and the hate has been internalized every since.

But, as a boy in '61, that's when it really hit home for me. What a bunch of fricking retard rednecks they were and always have been.