At Clemson, Inflation Is a Good Thing

It's called college football's grandest entrance. Clemson players emerge from the locker room, rub Howard's Rock for luck and race down the hill into Death Valley while the band plays the Tiger Rag. When the cannon is fired, the exclamation point is provided by the release of 25,000 balloons. It's a spectacle second to none, but getting all the environmentally friendly balloons ready is a monumental task. How does Clemson do it? It couldn't be done without students, who volunteer to their services and arrive early in the morning at Memorial Stadium. "We have a system, but it's still a process," said Jeff McDowell, a co-director of the committee in charge of the task. Now nothing will top the effort of Nov. 12, 1983, when Clemson released 363,729 balloons before its game against the Maryland Terrapins. "They were nationally ranked and had [quarterback] Boomer Esiason and they were never in the game," said Sam Blackman, an associate sports information director.