It's ACC week here at Crystal Ball Run and that should mean a lot of happy talk of all the awesomeness this league has to offer and a lot of what if's and what will's – but then there's this: some idiot/idiots decided it would be wise to vandalize the famed Howard's Rock at Clemson earlier this month.
(h/t to @trentacker for this pic via Twitter)
The news was confirmed by the university earlier today, saying they believe the incident took place between June 2nd to the 3rd. Apparently the enclosure the rock has around it was broken and so too was a part of the rock itself. Judging by the picture above the damage was pretty significant to say the least.
Of course no one has been identified, but you can bet the school is taking it seriously, they said as much in their statement released earlier today:
"We take vandalism, especially of such an important part of our history, very seriously," said Director of Athletics Dan Radakovich. "Police are investigating."
Pranks are one thing, its been happening since the beginning of time and hell, some of college football's biggest rivalries come because of said pranks. However, there's a difference between stealing a bell from a school or stealing the head of the mascot or even painting opposing school colors on another campus and vandalizing an artifact at a school.
Go ahead, take a pic of the rock with Gamecocks stuff covering it or something like that, but seriously…. Hasn't the entire country learned from Harvey Updyke and his idiocy at Auburn's Toomer's Corner already?
Be creative, be funny… this was neither of those and it also wasn't the first time this has happened. The rock was damaged just prior to the 1992 Clemson-South Carolina game and nowadays the Clemson Army ROTC kids stand 24 hour guard before the game when its held in Death Valley.
Two things are for sure, this can't be Harvey Updyke's doing (sorry folks, had to do it) and you can be secruity will be ramped up around the rock and that area of the stadium from now on to say the least.
