The Pepsi Guy:  the Clemson Game
-- by the Pepsi Guy
-- posted 9/28/99

Thoughts from the Pepsi Guy: Installment 3, "The Tigers come to Town."

When I awoke Thursday morning, the first thing that popped into my head was Virginia Tech football and the game with Clemson later that night. How could it not? My beloved Hokies would be battling with a name team in the Clemson Tigers, and what more, it would be live on ESPN across the nation and even Lee "the clown of college football" Corso would be taking in the game from his press box seat high above the field. I was stoked.

As the day progressed, I found myself getting more and more excited about the game. With every additional comment I read throughout the day on HokieCentral, my heart beat quickened. The last time I felt like this was last December during the Music City Bowl. Finally my last class finished up and I headed home to ready myself for the game.

I poured my bowl of Cheerios, I added my sugar, I grabbed my ritualistic glass of orange juice and I sat down to read the paper. But something seemed a bit different. I had poured a bigger bowl of Cheerios, I had added more sugar and my glass of OJ was bigger than normal too. After pondering this subject for a second or two, it just made sense. Tonight was a big game, they don't get too much bigger, so why not add a little something extra? You know, just in case you may need in crunch time, which, for us Pepsi guys, happens to be somewhere in the middle of the fourth quarter when we're carrying that last tray of drinks to the top of the stadium and no one has money left or everyone is worn out from the taste of Pepsi, whichever the case may be. I looked up at my clock and seen it was 6:30 so I jumped into my car and headed to Lane Stadium, where the men yell and scream and, well, the women yell and scream too, and hopefully for me, they drink a little Pepsi somewhere in there too.

As I walked to "The Rock" I observed the fans working themselves into a frenzy. I could hear chants of "Let's Go Hokies" and everyone just seemed louder then usual and excitement exuded from the air. To top it off the Marching Virginians were playing in the distance. I was ready to sell Pepsi.

I put on the straps and headed towards the gate where the students enter the confines of Lane. On a normal game day or evening, my selling pitches are easily heard by all, but Thursday was no normal evening. No matter how loud I yelled, my efforts proved to be fruitless because the students were louder and were ready to rock "the Rock." As they continued to pour into the stadium, I witnessed so many letter painted, bare chested souls that I was beginning to think I was watching an episode of the "Letter People." And not only were there letters on bodies, but it seemed as if dragging in a poster was a sine qua non for the evening. As a Pepsi guy, a screaming mob doesn't make for ideal conditions, but as a Hokie fan I loved it.

I gave up on selling at the entrance and headed into the stands. As I walked through one of the tunnels to reach the stands and appeared into the crowd for the first time, I was amazed. A true sea of maroon and orange engulfed me, and not only was it a sea, but it was a stormy sea with lightning and thunder waiting to crash down upon the Tigers of Clemson. The Pepsi sales were going well, but the stadium was so loud I found myself using hand signals to communicate, which continued throughout the game.

As I walked back to get another tray of Pepsi, I thought what would happen if Tech were to lose? With all the hype, media attention and fan support surrounding the football team, would we ever be able to recover the season? But then I turned to something my father once told me, to get respect you have to earn it, and when you have the opportunity to gain respect, you have to grab hold of it and make the most of it. Well Thursday night was our opportunity and everything was set up for us, so I decided to put my faith in our players and coaches. They were well aware of what was at stake and I figured, if it didn't work out for us, then it wasn't meant to be, and with that I headed back into the stands.

I looked down upon the field and I saw the Tigers had possession of the ball. I couldn't wait for Corey Moore to light up Brandon Streeter. But after selling a dozen or so more drinks, I turned around again and Clemson was on our side of the field, and very early in the game at that. I knew the crowd was booing a couple of times during the previous plays so I figured there must have been penalties on our defense, but the Tigers were still on our side of the field. It made me a bit nervous. But as I walked out of the stands, I heard the crowd cheer and a gentleman came running by me yelling, "Yes, they missed the field goal." Now I thought it was time for our offense to take charge.

Before I knew it, the cannon had sounded and the Hokies were holding a 7-0 lead. The stands were ecstatic. When I came back out into the crowd, the Pepsi started to become a popular item, but I knew we needed more than seven points with a team like the Tigers. A few minutes later, while I was in the process of selling a drink, I heard the crowd roar yet again and I looked upon the field and saw a Tech tailback juking and jiving his way through the Clemson defense. I thought to myself, man that Shyrone is sure one heck of a back, but to my surprise, when the player turned around, it was none other than Michael Vick. All I can say is with moves like that and the howitzer of an arm he possesses, opposing defenses better be on the lookout. I was back in my Pepsi room when I heard the cannon sound again and later, when I looked at the scoreboard, I saw that Tech was holding a 14-0 lead and looking for more.

Then the worst thing that could possibly happen to our team happened. Corey Moore applied pressure on Streeter, ran into him and then stayed down on the field after the play. The crowd became silent as he lay on the field and then slowly chants of, "Corey, Corey, Corey" started rising from the masses and finally Corey walked off the field. Even though Corey walked off on his own, I couldn't help but think back to last year's game against Virginia when Loren Johnson went down before the half and then Aaron Brooks torched our secondary in the second half to lead the come back. But a few minutes later, some guy pointed to the field and said "he's back in there." I looked down on the field as a smile came across my face because C. Moore was back at his defensive end position ready to wreak more havoc on Streeter and his cohorts.

At around this same time, I witnessed the hospitality of the Virginia Tech fans. For some reason I was given large bill after large bill to purchase one drink. Now don't get me wrong, I don't mind this one bit, but with a limited amount of change, I can only take so many twenties. Well I passed by this young Clemson couple and they yelled to me "Hey, Pepsi guy we'll take a soda." OK they didn't call me Pepsi guy, but that's not the point. The man said one regular and I passed him down his drink and then he pulled out, what else, but a twenty to pay for it. The only problem was I was out of change. I told him I was sorry, but I didn't have enough change and asked if he had any smaller bills like some Washingtons or Lincolns. He said no and his wife seemed disappointed and I was disappointed too. As I started to walk off an older gentlemen seated next to the couple, grabbed me and said, "Where you going?" I told the man I didn't have enough change for a twenty so I couldn't sell them a drink. The old man looked at me with a twinkle in his eye and said, "We'll see what we can do about that." With that the man reached into his pocket pulled out two Washingtons as I handed him the drink. He turned to the young Clemson couple, gave them the drink and said, "Welcome to Virginia Tech."

For the rest of the half I continued to sell drinks. I tried to walk up the stands where the students were sitting, but this was no easy task. There were so many students standing and sitting in the aisles that I felt I needed shoulder pads and a helmet to make it through alive. As I was walking through the tangled mess, Vick and the offense were apparently cooling down. Nothing like the previous game where people were ready to throw Dave Meyer to the lions, but there were rumblings of how Vick was making bone headed plays and the offense couldn't hold on to the doggoned ball. I can't say I was happy with the turn of events, but I knew Michael was playing in his first full game so they weren't unexpected turnovers either. Clemson apparently drove on the Hokies and kicked a field goal to cut the lead to 14-3 before the half ended, but I thought 11 points for our defense is like 21 for anyone else's as I jumped into the mass exodus at half-time to refuel.

When I came into the stands in the third quarter, the crowd was still in the game, but our offense was still cold. As I continued to sell drinks in the quarter, our offense finally started to wake up and was driving on the Tigers. I was walking down the stands so I was able to see a couple of plays and on every play the Hokie backs were exploding through the holes and picking up positive yardage. I thought it was only a matter of time before we reached pay dirt once again. I finished selling my tray and, as I walked under the stands, I was waiting to hear the beautiful sound of the cannon, but I never did.

"Crap, crap, crap!" yelled some guy leaving the stands. I walked out and saw that Clemson had the ball and looked at the scoreboard and seen that the score was still 14-3. Then I asked the usher, "Did Vick throw another interception?" The guy looked down at me and told me he had. Now I was somewhat worried, was this the game that some HokieCentral posters had talked about? The one where our young freshmen quarterback might hurt us instead of help us? I wasn't sure.

The fans weren't happy, so the drinks weren't selling. This gave me the opportunity to watch Streeter lead his offense down our field. Aided by a few penalties in our secondary keeping the drive alive, the Tigers marched down inside our 20. Streeter was still put on his back a few times, but it didn't matter because the chains were moving. Finally the defense held tight and Clemson lined up for a field goal. Someone yelled for a drink and, as I was taking care of the gentleman, the rest of the lower section of 15 was frantically yelling, "Watch the fake! Watch the fake!" But their warnings proved to be for not, as Tommy Bowden, being the good coach he is, called for the fake and his team responded with the touchdown. In his post-game comments, Frank said the team should have called a time-out because it was a different kicker lining up for the attempt, but hindsight is 20-20, and to make matters worse, Bowden's boys succeeded on their two-point conversion as well, so our lead was now only three.

I was worried. The man on the right of me was worried. Everyone around me was worried. But I wasn't about to give up and neither was the team. I finished selling my tray and I was getting tired. Most of my fellow Pepsi brethren had already quit selling and I was asked if I wanted to quit. There were 14 minutes left in the game and I wasn't going to quit. Hey this is what the extra Cheerios and sugar were for right? I looked at my fellow workers and said, "give me another" and with that, I headed out amongst the sea of maroon with my last tray of the night. As I walked up step after step and with very few people interested in buying Pepsi, the offense started driving the ball. With every step I took and with every drink I sold, Michael Vick led the team down the field. I had started in Section 1 and by the time I was finished I was in Section 15 and Michael and company were at Clemson's 30. I went back into my room where the Pepsi crew was waiting for me, as I was the last vendor remaining. I didn't finish in first place, but took second once again, but something more important was on my mind. Namely, I wanted to watch the Hokies seal the win and remain undefeated. After I settled my monetary issues with Pepsi and got my ticket for the Syracuse game, I headed out into the crowd to cheer for my team, the Hokies.

I looked on the scoreboard and noticed the offense wasn't able to punch it in the end zone, but Shayne added three to our total giving us a six-point lead. To me six points weren't much better than three, but no matter because the game was in the hands of our D.

The crowd was fired up and we were riling up our team. After the first few plays the Tigers hadn't had much success moving the ball, but we weren't having much success stopping them. Then it happened.

Corey Moore welcomed Streeter once again to "the Rock" and his teammate, "I like" Ike Charlton picked up the leftovers out of the air and returned the interception back 30 yards for the touchdown sealing the victory. The crowd erupted and the celebration began. But there was no quit in the Tigers and they lined up once again to try and move the ball on our immovable D. And yet again, Streeter got the opportunity to see more Moore. This time Corey took the game into his own hands, cause as the saying goes, you're in good hands with C. Moore. Moore took off like a bullet around the right end, past the tackle, knocked the ball out of Streeter's hands, then picked the ball up and jaunted into the end zone for the touchdown, capped off with a little celebration. If Charlton's touchdown evoked an eruption from the crowd, then Corey's started an avalanche. It was pandemonium in Lane.

Minutes later the game ended 31-11 and, although we needed some late minute heroics from our defense, it was still a 20-point win and we were once again able to overcome four turnovers, which eventually will start to decrease with more experience for our quarterback.

I have nothing left to say except for one question … do you think Corey Moore had a little extra Cheerios and sugar Thursday afternoon?

With that, take care and bring on the Cavaliers in Charlottesville.

-- The Pepsi Guy

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