Tommy Bowden

The Art of Elimination

I think I have been guilty of suffering information overload. Some of this information could be useful like being informed on issues being debated in DC. Some of it is not so useful like knowing that Taylor Swift is in The Hannah Montana movie with Vanessa Williams who is in Elmo: Escape from Grouchland with Mandi Patinkin who is in The Princess Bride with Cary Elwes who is in Days of Thunder with Tom Cruise who is in A Few Good Men with Kevin Bacon. Yes, I know there’s a quicker way to connect Miss Swift to Mr. Bacon, but that’s the point.
At one point I could have told you how many wins Tommy Bowden averaged per year in his 10 seasons at Clemson, but that’s a decade I’m trying to forget.
Here’s a quote I wrote down from the 4 Hour Work Week:

Doing something unimportant well does not make it important.

I know what you’re thinking. Hey, Heath, don’t most youth pastors work 4 hours a week anyway? Do you really need a book to tell you how to do that? Ha Ha. I get the joke and yes, I have lived that joke. Sadly, the flip side is that many people are working crazy hours but accomplishing very little. As I noted in this post, I am trying to be more effective and efficient. Here is where my train of thought is going:

1. I know that conservatives and liberals don’t like each other and go over the top in media to make their points. Do I really need to check 8 different websites a day to confirm what I already know? It’s not going to change my political persuasion. Knowing all this stuff just allows me fodder for conversation. I do have more important things to talk about so I will.

2. I’m a slow learner so it has taken me a while to figure out that very little news happens between when I go to bed and when I get up in the morning. Why do I default to checking all the news and sports sites first thing in the morning on my phone? Can I rid myself of this burning desire to be “The Grapevine” and the first to know everything from what the Senate is debating to who Boston’s middle relievers are going to be to which pastor is going to what church and when in our district? Would it be so bad to hear this news from other people instead?

3. We had our cable TV cut off last summer because my family was going to be in Alabama for several weeks. We never turned it back on to save money. We are doing the Dave Ramsey thing now and downsizing from 4,000 channels to 12(depending on if the government mandated digital converter box is operating properly) has been a great decision. I’m not checking ESPN news, FOX news, or TLC every 15 minutes. I watch three shows a week: Heroes, Survivor, and Extreme Makeover Home Edition. I have almost effectively eliminated channel surfing from my life. For me(the poster child for ADD) this was HUGE. We get a lot of movies from the library so the kids watch those and PBS Kids. Less TV has meant more rasslin in the living room with my children. Put THAT in your talking points memo.

4. Being on a budget has eliminated needless trips to Wal-Mart. I love the deals, but we were spending time and money we did not have every time. Going in to purchase dish shop(crud, we are out of that now) ended with a full cart, empty bank account, and a side trip to the Mcdonald’s that is conviently located inside the stored. Don’t get me wrong. I love me some Wal-Mart, but our family had to take ownership of our buying and spending habits.

I’m not going to pretend that this journey hasn’t been a struggle or that we have it all together now. I just knew that something had to change. I wasn’t at a crisis point, but I could have been. I will leave you my favorite joke from Jerry Seinfeld.

People ask me what I’ve been doing since we ended the show. I’ll tell you what I’ve been doing: nothing. I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that you might like to try doing nothing yourself. Well, its not that easy. Because the idea of doing anything that could easily lead to something that would cut into my nothing and that would force me to have to drop everything.

Clemson 2009 and a Perry Noble vid

Here’s a hilarious vid of Perry Noble and Dabo Swinney. I hope I don’t have to explain the joke to you.

Now, yesterday I told you I would give you my preview for this year’s Tiger team. I think Tommy Bowden’s legacy can be summed up in two words: unfulfilled potential. Not only in his coaching, but in the program’s failure to turn blue chip recruits into NFL studs. Guys like Todd McClinton, Wily Korn, Roscoe Crosby-guys who came in highly touted but never reached their full potential. 15 Bowden coached Tigers are in the NFL. By comparison, over 20 Gamecocks are on NFL rosters. The full blame doesn’t fall on Bowden or the program, but they must share some responsibility. Sadly, will we add CJ Spiller’s name to the list? He is a great player, but has he improved since his freshman year? He was fast and elusive when he got here. Think he regrets not playing 4 years with Tim Tebow at Florida? For new coach Dabo, this year is a wash. Unless the Tigers go 2-11 or something crazy like that his job is not on the line. I see 7-8 wins for them(sound familiar) and a mid range bowl bid. Dabo either takes the program places Bowden could not or he is gone after three to four 6-8 win seasons. If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results then…

Clemson Blast from the Past

Went through my old MySpace blog posts and found some I liked. I will be sharing them periodically. Here’s one from when we lived in Delaware. Everybody was always telling me to give Bowden time. Well, it seems like my feelings for him were always justified. Tomorrow, I will take time to pile on him again with my Clemson 09 report.

Friday, November 16, 2007

Clemson

Maybe it was me. I don’t know. For some reason over the last 8 years Tommy Bowden could not get the Tigers over the hump. No 10 win season, no ACC championships, no BCS bowl appearances. Now that I’ve moved away, Tommy has the boys in a one game playoff for a bid in the ACC championship game. Tomorrow they will play Boston College and a win gets them the nod. If they lose, they can still win the division if BC loses the next week. However, it would be better for Bowden and everyone if they just took care of business themselves. Otherwise, it’s another week of “Tommy can’t win the big one.” Now, there has been no more vocal critic of Bowden than me. I think everyone who knows me knows how I feel about his coaching skills(or lack thereof), but I won’t rehash that or my disdain for Superman Returns. I will say this. If the man gets the job done and wins the last 3 to stand at 11-2 with an ACC championship then I will be the first to praise him. Frankly, in the 8 wins they have looked like we’ve been hoping for since Bowden arrived. They now run different formations AND different plays. Cullen Harper has been so good that QB-n-waiting-since-his-11th-grade-year Wily Korn will probably redshirt. 7 months ago this would have been unthinkable. I don’t know if it’s the absence of my negativity in the Clemson area, a weak ACC and non-conference schedule, or everything finally coming together, but this year has been different. It makes you wonder what we’d be talking about if we had shown up against Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech. I firmly believe we’re better than both those teams and 2 wins there would have us atop the BCS standings. Instead, we’ve got Saturday. I would be there, but I don’t want to rehash THAT story either. I will be firmly rooting for the Tigers. I will put my personal feelings about Tommy Bowden aside and cheer for a solid victory. Even a skeptic like me can see…he ain’t going anywhere. This morning I went to change my son Drake. I almost put on his Clemson outfit, but I stopped. I wanted him to wear it tomorrow night for the big game. The Tigers are 0-2 when Drake wears the outfit. Maybe it’s him.