WEBVTT

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Will welcome back, my friend.
How you been I've been good. I

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like this Mount Rushmore of high school
sports of South Carolina. Can I throw

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a name in or two please?
We'd love to hear because you've covered this

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sport for a long time here in
the state. Let's see what you got.

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Yeah. So, if I had
to say, like, and I'm

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gonna be a little biased here,
but you know, if I had to

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say, like, to me,
who's the best athlete I've seen in person?

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And it got you. Guys.
If I won't know his name,

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there might be some that will.
But he passed away as a good friend

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of mine a few years about ten
years ago. Now, wow, can

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it's been that long? It has
been longer than that. Actually, anyway,

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he was he he was a teammate
of mine in Vamberg and his name

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was Eric Bamberg. And he was
one of the best athletes I ever saw

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in person. I mean he could
he could play any sport at a high

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level. He was a highly recruited
guy out of high school and just he

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helped lead us to a state championship
of football. And you know, he's

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he's definitely one of the one of
the best athletes I've seen him person then

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if I had to say another name, and I'd be remiss if I didn't

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say it. But this was out
of doubt. DeAndre Hopkins. Yeah,

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you know, and Nuke was like
Eric he was he was. He was

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a multiple sport player to do it
all. And dude, my son,

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not to interrupt you, my son
Andrew, who's a huge NFL fan,

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showed me. He said, Dad, do you know Hopkins played basketball?

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I said, yeah, he's his
highlights. I said, yeah, that

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I could do it all. And
dude, the stories I've heard about hop

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because I never got to meet him
when I covered the high school for the

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Greenville News, but it's the hands
he had, like Michael Jordan as Cans.

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I'll tell the story real fast.
So his first game, like the

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only other person I seen like Nuke
was the guy told me about Aaron Bamberg

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who just could take do something like
very like you would think. He just

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makes something looks very difficult look easy. Right. So Nuke, I remember

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his first game at at Daniel High
School, his first varsity game, the

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Woodmont quarterback, he just totally the
guy. He won. My quarterback throws

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this pass and new totally bathe them
intercepts it and then just made all the

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other eleven players that would mont just
look like they need to go back to

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JV. I mean, it was
just the way he got he he got,

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worked his way through the crowd and
scored. He scored a touchdown on

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it, and it was just like
I looked at whoever was sitting at me

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in the press box and I said, that guy's gonna play on Sundays.

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I did say he's gonna play on
Saturdays. I said he's gonna play on

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Sunday, and and I was right. I hate I'm not bragging that,

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but I just knew propecial man and
to watch him in person play sports,

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and to watch him play football and
basketball, he was He was an electrifying

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athlete, great hands and just great
instincts, and that's what separated him the

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great athletes when at the high school
level, it's not so much the talent

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that separates them, which it is, it's more their instincts. They think

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differently than the rest of us,
and that's what stands out with the guy

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like new or not, good friend
Eric Vambers, that's awesome. No,

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that's a great tribute to your good
friend. There, who I'm sure was

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a legend in more ways than one. And of course NW Hopkins, who

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remains a threat there now with the
Titans, a team that we'll talk some

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NFL later. With your Steelers,
there's some developing news out of Pittsburgh that

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we'll touch on, but boy,
let's not bury the lead here. Yesterday,

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Clemson's magical run through the Super Regional
came to a halt in a game

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that I had a chance yesterday to
watch some of and had some family events

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attend to, so I missed it. And then they switched the game over

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to ESPNU they had camera issues.
There's a lot of stuff going on,

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not to mention the fact that on
the field, dude some crazy things.

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Let's start with the positives. Cam
Kinderella, I'm telling you that play he

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made in center field, Willie Mays, everybody's making the comparison, and that

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home running hit just an amazing athletic
feat. To be able to pull that

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off in a crunch time elimination style
game, that's got to be. As

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you your article here at Clemson Insider
Umpires lose control at end of Clemson Florida

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game and you sub sort of texted
this with your tweet saying one of the

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craziest games you've ever seen in your
life. But just talk about that performance

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by Cam. What an amazing stud
he is. Man, I tell you

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what for him too, that three
run homer first of all, I mean,

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Cam's been that way all year.
Is a He's a playmaker. When

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you need him to be, He's
gonna get that clutch shit for you.

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He's gonna find a way to drive
in a run. He's gonna make him

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play. Now here's the crazy thing, guys, the people that don't know

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Cam Tanderella never played center field until
he got the pumpson. Really, but

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he is the most instinctive center fielder
I've ever seen out there. Clinton's had

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some great center fielders in the time
I've watched him, but I've never seen

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a guy like him in centerfield.
I mean, he he knows where the

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ball is as soon as it leads
the bat, so you can pay attention

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to what's going on in the outfield. It's by looking at him, and

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then he just makes plays like he
did. That's not the first time he's

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ready to play like I mean,
he stole a home run in Game one

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from Florida, where he goes up
and just makes the heck of a catch,

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and then you know, then what
he did yesterday was just amazing because

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that's the game. I mean,
they hit the ball out there, it's

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the bottom of the tenth inning.
They got runner and scoring positions. I

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mean the Florida Runners, they're running
around celebrating, They're thinking they just going

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to the College Will Series. At
that moment, they don't realize think another

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hour to play, because he just
makes this unbelievable Like I don't know how

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he did it, Like and the
way in Decline, the little terrace out

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there in Clemson that he had to
climb and then make sure he didn't hit

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the wall, that he kept the
ball towards his body so the ball would

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stay on his body when it came
and not come out. That was just

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an amazing play. One of the
greatest plays I've ever seen. To be

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honest with you, I'm not saying
that in the moment, and that actually

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covering Clemson for twenty years that I
think that is the best play I've seen

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for a Clemson baseball player in my
twenty years covering Clemson. And then just

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and then just the three run homer
earlier in the ninth inning. What he

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did, I mean, dude,
the guy was was he was trending on

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Twitter. He was the number one
after he made that catch. He was

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number one on Twitter Twitter. Yeah, excuse me, X Yeah, he

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was number one on x trending yesterday. That tells you everybody in the country

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Wall was watching what he did and
was amazing what he did. They all

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echoed your sentiments, Will van der
Voorden in terms of those who are really

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baseball purists to be able to to
track the ball watching again here and you

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know the ball he's starting to his
left, left shoulder, goes to his

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right shoulder, hits the wall,
goes up the terrace, and his reaction

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was priceless too, just like the
fact he's like shaking his head like Nope,

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not today, not today. That's
that's swagger right there. So Will,

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let's go through some of the controversy
and again take us through what happened.

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First of all in the second inning. Yeah, so in the second

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inning, Jack, take me on. He what he does is he fills

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a ball, a little dribbler towards
the mound on the right side of the

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left side of the mound, going
if you're coming from the batter's uh and

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it, you know, he picks
it up and runs toward towards the runner,

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which was Clemson's excuse me to him, my brain is not working.

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O' rocky. Uh, Nolan,
O Rocky. Uh. So he runs

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toward no' Rocky to make the tag, and as he does, he kind

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of lowers his shoulder into the Rocky
and the Rocky kind of just being any

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normal human being who's running full speed
knows well, I don't want to get

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run over, so I need to
I need to just kind of like embrace

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the impact of what's about to happen. Right, And so when he did,

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you know, you know, Jack
didn't like that tag. Leon didn't

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like that, and so he kind
of pushes back with a little a little

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right hook as well with his love
uh you know, and Bart Boatwright did

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a great job in our pictures.
You can see that picture on our leflearly

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through that right glove up into that
jaw, and then they both players kind

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of pushed and shoved a little bit
and jawed at each other, and then

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then of course the melee, a
little bit of a melee c breaks out.

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Florida players on the infield, they
come towards it, come some players

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come out of the dugout comes towards
it, and you know, and so

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there's an eighteen minute delay. You're
thinking, those two guys are getting tossed,

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in my opinion, as they should
in my opinion. You know.

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So you know, I'm sitting there
thinking, well, you got to toss

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both guys. You know, both
guys are in the wrong here. You

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know, one guy started it and
the other guy retaliated, and you know

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you tossed them both because this TV's
showing it and it's gone and goes up

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to Pittsburgh for the review. Pittsburgh's
making that decision. And then you know,

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of course the guy that's going to
be tagged is gonna get thrown out

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of the game. It's Jack Crichton, who all he did was he did

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what everybody else did. He ran
the basis, the ending was over it.

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He starts back towards on plate and
jogs over to the where the incident

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is happening. And because he left
his position, as I use their quotes,

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he was thrown out of the game. When every Florida infielder left his

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position, and every Climpson player that
was in that dugout left their position,

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and four or five Florida players that
were in the dugout left their position right,

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and not a single one of those
guys get tossed, nor the two

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that instigated it. And guys,
you know how you know who was in

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the wrong is when they're in the
Florida dugout and Jack kelly On is celebrating

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that he didn't get tossed. That
tells you he knew, oh boy,

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I probably just did something that got
me tossed. And and that's a big

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deal because if Clemson, if he's
tossed and Crimson wins the game, he

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wouldn't have played today either. So
that would have been a huge deal by

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the way the rules work for it
being tossed from a game in Ncuba.

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So my whole thing was, you
know, if you're not going to talk

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those two guys, you don't toss
to anybody, and they end up tossing

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a guy who really had no did
nothing to warrant being tossed on all of

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it. And so it was that
was kind of what started at both benches

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are warned at that time. Any
more altercations happened, that's it okay,

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So we fast forward through the games. A couple of things happened with Florida

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where you could possibly say the players
maybe did something that warranted not what I

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consider unsportuate life, but what these
umpires today do you know? And so

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you know, you probably probably say, okay, if you're gonna do that,

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you probably go stop here and do
that. Well they didn't, and

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you're like, okay, cool,
They're gonna let the game play out.

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And that's the way it should be, right, That's how I wanted it

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to. Everybody wanted it. And
then when Clemson gets to go ahead home

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run in the tenth I mean the
thirteenth, thenn and Alden Massis he slammed

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his back to the ground in celebration
at his you know, at the Clemson

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and dugout. The rest or the
umpires excuse me decide, Well, right

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in front of the Clemson dugout,
they're going to have a conversation whether that

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was unsportsmanlike. And I'm like,
well, Florida just did this twice in

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the game on home runs. You
know, they even flipped the bat towards

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the Clemson dugout. And one guy
actually said some not so nice comments to

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Cam Kennirell as he's round his second
base a couple of times at one time,

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and you didn't stop the game for
either one of those guys. And

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I think Jack Leggan's argument was exactly
mine, like what are you doing?

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Why are you stopping the game?
Why you stopping the momentum? Jack leggantt

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exploded because his a hold on,
you didn't do it to their two guys,

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and you did it to our one
guy after you've already tossed one of

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our guys for doing nothing. And
we're we're like four hours deep into this

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game by now. You know,
if the tensions and frustrations are high,

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this is an elimination game. So
you got to give these guys maybe a

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little bit of grace, But then
the two of them get tossed and then

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they're not tossed to the media based
on NC double A rules, so there's

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no postgame press or anything. Right, Well, we got to talk to

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the players, but we couldn't talk
to Aaron Backage because if you get tossed

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down in n Cuba tournament, they
will not allow you to talk to the

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media afterwards, which is ridiculous,
especially but it's hilly it is. So

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you know, so the n C
Double A comes out with their ruling earlier

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on what happened, and we can
get it. We understand Backage came out

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of his dugout, so did Jack
Legett, and that's why they were taught.

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They were Warren first and then they
were tossed according to what the chief,

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the crew chief said in his later
statement, which by the way,

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didn't come out until I was already
asleep, by which way, I didn't

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go to the middle of I saw
I tweeted out in the middle of the

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night, That's what I saw it
drink and I was in bed by the

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time this thing got tweeted out or
or the or the n C double A

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sent it to Clemson and everything.
I got the first thing this morning.

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I woke up this morning from Clemson
because I requested this, as several other

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reporters did. And you know,
it was like ridiculous. I'm like,

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why couldn't you send this out faster? Not Clemson, that has nothing to

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do with Clemson. It's not Clemson. Why the NC double A couldn't send

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out his comment faster? I just
thought it was kind of bogus and like

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I said, I'm writing to call
him on the whole situation. Did did

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Clemson? I understood why Aeron Backers
was taken up for Jack, and maybe

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Jack should have held his emotions in
check, but like you said, it's

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been four and you know, five
hours. At that point, the game

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has gone on and emotions are high, and you know, coach Legott felt

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like things weren't being called evenly and
he wanted to make a case about it.

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And I get it. We've seen
that in baseball before. And then

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coach Backets had his back and they
they got Coach Backus saying that you know,

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he is insighting the crowd. And
you know what he was, yeah,

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because he knew that they were losing
their momentum their meeting. And by

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the way, if you're gonna meet, go meet by the Florida bullpen,

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by the Florida dugout, you know, and and meet over there and talking

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about it, because none of the
Florida players are gonna say anything at that

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point. They're losing. And the
was a gen home run, but you're

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like doing it on the Clemson side
and you're talking about tossing a Clemson player.

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What do you think was gonna happen. Do you think they were just

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gonna sit there and not say anything
right, throw out one of their players.

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Possibly it was totally handled wrong,
and the NCAA needs to come down

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on this umpiring crew, suspend them
for a series a weekend. I tell

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you, I hope they're not working
the College World Series in the NFL.

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You know how this works. I
mean, we've seen guys notoriously blow calls

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in playoff games, and there's no
way they send them to the super Bowl.

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There's no way they in fact,
they take them out of the playoffs

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for the next year if that happens. And hopefully for this in a sport,

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in a structure that I'm still not
as familiar with as you are,

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Will Van Dedervort, Clint, it's
an insider, but I understand the core

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foundations of how this all operates here. Yeah, you'd want that to not

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be the case. Don't send these
guys to Omaha if they can't control the

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game. But in retrospect, look, you're gonna write a column here,

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Clemson insider guys, don't miss this. Will Vandervoordy's gonna have some more thoughts

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on what happened but just give us
your sense of what a ride. It

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was a journey. Obviously, we've
seen this Clemson program on so many levels

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in sport in general, and basketball
comes to mind. On the men's side,

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the Elite Eight journey, and I
mean a heartbreaking ending, but what

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a great season it was at large
for this team to get right on the

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doorstep of Omaha. Yeah, and
so people understand Florida was the better team.

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Yes, Florida. I thought the
right team won the game. But

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don't get me wrong on what I'm
talking about with the umpires. I thought

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Florida was the better team and deserved
to win, and they did. Okay.

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So with that said, this season
has been you know, forty four

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and sixteen for Clemson. They were
ranked inside the top ten all season long,

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as they probably will finish when the
season is done. I still think

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they're one of the They didn't make
it to omahall, but I still think

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they're one of the top ten teams
in the country. And they just had

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a tougher draw they pulled Florida.
You know, a Florida team that has

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found its mojo, a Florida team
that's as talented as any of those other

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sevens that are going to be in
Omaha, and I think they can win

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it, just as I think they
had just as good chance to win it

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as anybody else. They just didn't
live up to expectations during the season.

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But this Clemson team twenty five times
came from behind to win. I've never

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seen or covered a team that just
keep getting off the mat like yesterday was

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prime example of that. Five times. Guys, they rallied in that game

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yesterday, yep, five times,
And that tells you what kind of team

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that is and how they just don't
quit. And that was their motto all

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year long. Blake Wright kind of
set the tone early before the season started

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when he gathered his team around and
said, look, guys, one thing's

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gonna go down this year. We
are not ever gonna quit in a game.

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We're gonna play until the last out, regardless if we're winning by twenty

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seven runs or down by twenty seven
runs. And they carried that motto all

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the way through the season. And
kudos to them, kudos to coach Backage

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for a great job. They got
over that hump, got through a regional,

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got to a super regional. So
you're seeing in his two years he

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won an ACC championship. He took
Clemson to a regional a national seed his

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first year. His second year,
he wins the Atlantic Division championship, gets

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Clemson to another national seed. This
time, they get through the regional,

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they get into a super regional,
and they battle Florida to the end.

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In both games. Both games were
great, they really were. And so

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you know, kudos to Clemson and
coach Backage for a job well done.

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And I think, guys, you
know, I think this guy's a limit

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for this program under him, I
think, you know, Clinton's gonna get

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to Omaha. And I'm gonna go
ahead and say it. I think Eric

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Beckets will probably lead Clemson to his
first national championship in baseball. I really

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believe that. There you go,
there you have it. Hey, speaking

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of arch rivals here real quick,
did did you hear the news in Columbia?

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Did they zero on a new baseball
coach? And what do you know

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about this right now? Yeah,
they're gonna pull somebody out of retirement.

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Where we've seen this before from South
Carolina. Oh yeah, that's right,

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Steve and holds uh so. And
also, by the way, a lot

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of people forget a guy named Paul
Dietzel. They pulled out an Lsu as

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well, who won a national championship
in nineteen fifty nine and went on to

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be a head coach at South Carolina
in the sixties and early seventies. So

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you know this, this is South
Carolina has done this before. They like

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to go get coaches that have that
have done it before. Hey, and

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there's nothing wrong with that, and
I think they're going they're they're going to

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try to see if they can re
establish what they have. And I'll be

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honest with you, guys, it's
not like South South Carolina's like Clemson in

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baseball. It's not like they're far
off. It just takes maybe the a

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couple moves here or there, just
like you saw backats do here at Clemson.

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Yep, and they're right back doing
what they do. Doc John's got

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a very proud baseball program. They're
one of the premier programs in college baseball,

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have been just like Clinton has for
decades. And I see that continuing

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as well, And you know what, I'm glad it will because that's what

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makes the Clemson South Caroline of baseball
rivalry the best of the country. That

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those two teams are always at the
top of the discussions and everybody's talking about

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them, and they're always talking about
Obahall and getting to the College World Series.

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Finally, you can follow Will Vandervoord
on Exit Steeler Will and you can

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also watch him just do great work
at the Clemson Insider Clemson Insider dot com.

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So just a little Steeler nugget here. Breaking news is Trey Falco have

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also a big Steelers fan, and
I were talking that your boy Mike Tomlin

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just got a three year extension and
you cover the Steelers as well. Get

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a plug in for that. Your
thoughts on this a big surprise? Probably

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not? And what do you think
about this team moving forward? Well,

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I think what did I tell you
guys around November that he was getting he

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was getting an extension? You did? I just could call that. So

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yeah, not surprised he's getting an
extension at all, you know, And

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I'm glad he is, because I
think Pittsburgh is building a team where they

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can win for not just this year, but I think they got a team

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they're building they can win for several
years. And I think I think,

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you know, signing Mike to a
longer deal and securing that and getting all

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that notion out there from the national
media. Oh, is this the last

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year from Mike Tomlin? And I
saw one person say a few weeks ago,

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if Tomlin doesn't win this year,
he's getting fired. I'm like,

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you're an idiot. Don't fire coach? Okay, you're just they don't they

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just I mean, they ain't fired
once since nineteen sixty nine. That tells

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you all you need to know.
You know, three in my lifetime.

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Three in my lifetime. Yeah,
that three in my lifetime too, And

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so like, yeah, I mean, you know, we're talking fifty plus

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years. And by the way,
it's not like and I'm not saying that

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it can't happen, because you know, if he goes one to fifteen,

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it will happen. Sure, Mike
time is not going one in fifteen.

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That's I mean that their team is
too good. They've already built. The

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pieces are in place for this team
to contend to the AFC. Does that

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mean they're gonna win a Super Bowl? I don't know, we'll find out,

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but I think they can contempt in
the playoffs. I think this is

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a team that can win a playoff
game and contend for the AFC Championship.

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I really do believe that. Okay, the last question of the Steelers and

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then we're gonna let you go here. Who is starting for the Steelers and

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quarterback in December? Russell Wilson or
Justin Fields. That's a hall loaded question,

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yes it is, you know,
but load up, let's ride.

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Listen. If it goes like I
hope it, injuries aside, injuries aside,

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if it goes early like, if
it goes like I hope it does

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early in the season, then Justin
Fields is the quarterback throughout the year.

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And I think they use Justin excuse
me, Russell Wilson, excuse me,

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And I think they he's Justin Fields
like a slash. Yeah, I think

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that's what You're like a Cordiel Stewart
For those people don't know what I mean

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by like a slash. I think
they use him like Cordell Stewart back in

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the day until Russell's ready to hang
it up. So I think they're gonna

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find a way to try to keep
both guys. But Russell Wilson just already

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00:22:18.559 --> 00:22:23.559
hearing you know, you're hearing the
TJ. Watts and you're hearing nauseie Harris,

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and you're hearing these guys, they're
talking about what he's already bringing into

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the locker room. And keep in
mind, when Russell Wilson went to Denver,

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Denver wasn't like, didn't have the
pieces in place that Pittsburgh has in

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place, and so Russell was kind
of like trying to and I think he

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maybe did some things wrong and maybe
didn't do a good job from a pr

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standpoint making sure he's there for his
teammates, if you will. I think

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he learned his lesson there and he
came into Pittsburgh and I think he's got

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00:22:51.319 --> 00:22:55.079
the right idea. It sounds like
the Russell Wilson of old, and he

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knows there's pieces in place for this
team to win now. And I think,

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you know, that's why you're seeing
a different Russell Wilson approaching this theme

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00:23:02.839 --> 00:23:06.559
and how he's approaching the Steelers' locker
room and how he's trying to make himself

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fit in and how he's trying to
lead. And that's something that Pittsburgh hasn't

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had in a couple of years,
you know, since been Roethlisberger. And

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you know, Roethlisberger didn't have the
pieces that he's gonna have in place.

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Rouethlisberger didn't have this offensive line or
a Nagie Harris, he had a rookie

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00:23:23.839 --> 00:23:27.720
Najie Harris. He didn't have these
wide he didn't have a George Pickens,

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00:23:29.079 --> 00:23:33.079
right and so like, so,
I think Russell sees the pieces in place,

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and then he sees that elite defense
on the other side, that Pittsburgh

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00:23:37.960 --> 00:23:41.279
has went out and made this elite
defense to go with t. J.

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Watt and Meeka Fitzpatrick. And I
said, that's why I think the Steelers.

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I'm not saying they're gonna go beat
the Kansas City Chiefs or something.

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I ain't what I'm saying, but
I think they can contend. I think

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they can contend in the a f
C because the ASC is loaded, guys,

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and it really is. And so
but the personally division, let's just

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let's just go beat the Browns,
the Ravens and the Bengals and just you

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know, which is what we do. Anyway, I'm coining it revenge.

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By the way, So there's Ravens
people out there who don't know that the

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Steelers are seven and one against the
Ravens. They mean, so suck on

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that and that's what. Don't come
out and go, oh they got Lamar

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00:24:23.200 --> 00:24:30.559
Jackson. We owl Lamar Jackson again. That's all I gotta say. It's

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been that way. Steelers at Falcons
it's the Arthur Smith Ball Week one,

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and then Steelers at Broncos the Russell
Wilson Let's Ride Extravaganza comes back home to

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the Rocky Mountain High City. Will
Van by the way, before we get

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out real fast, if you guys
know, but the Steelers are playing the

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Ravens and hosting the Ravens the same
weekend Clemson is going to Pits. I

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00:24:55.519 --> 00:25:00.359
guess he's already got his ticket.
Oh, mister will vandervo the right,

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00:25:00.039 --> 00:25:03.960
that's right, I smell roadshow.
I am ready for that one. Raven

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Steelers. Oh, it's gonna be
awesome. Not to mention that, uh

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there, there's gonna be some college
football playoff implications on the schedule side that

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butt up against some of these games
in your division. So we'll we'll have

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to catch up with you next time
and talk about that. Will. This

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is too much fun, man,
Thanks for thanks for stopping by. We'll

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keep following your work at the Clemson
Insider. Got some great content coming up,

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00:25:26.160 --> 00:25:27.680
and all your Steelers content as well. Be good, my man,

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00:25:27.759 --> 00:25:32.160
get some rest, Okay, I'm
gonna try to you guys. I appreciate you