Just wanted to put in another post in the same thread that gave TC the justice that he deserves as a all time great. This post was made by Bgrant another BBO poster. Who said BBO is a board of negative posters? Please! You wont find these kind of post on the hive. We love you Deuce!
Allow me please to build on the great job that T H has done. I believe Neil Young would have simply broken down and cried if he had met Tashard. Finally I have found my "Heart of Gold" after all that searching. The following is what I believe a "Heart of Gold" is like.
He runs around hugging and telling people he loves them. He breaks down at high school tributes because he is overwhelmed with the love and support he is getting. He is a little league umpire. He puts a team on his back like he did so many times last year and this year and carries the team to heights they could have never gotten to by themselves. We are nothing this year without him. I loved the "give me everything or give me nothing" speech before the Clemson game. I don't know how many people saw the team when they lined up at the start of the game but everyone was nodding like they knew something no one else did.
He plays with a hamstring injury so painful that he can't run full speed. He is back in thirteen days from a knee injury that most people would probably bail out on for the rest of the season and the concern of their career. Regardless that the doctors and coaches were saying that he would not play in the Virginia Tech game he was going around saying that it was a game time decision and that he felt better now than he did at the first of the year. I loved the quote by someone who said I don't want to be around when they tell him he can't play. He ran for over 300 yards in both the next two games after knee surgery and still with a hamstring injury carrying the ball over sixty times.
He gives himself no credit. He does not care about the awards. He just wants to be part of something special. He wants to be part of a family that is pulling together with one goal in love and support for that family. He loves the game. He loves the challenge. He commits himself to the team's goals not his own personal ones. He does not play for the glory or the money. He cares about passion. He cares about giving more than you think you can. He wants to share all of that with his teamates, the fans, the Tech Family.
He has taught me so much this year. I have seem maybe glimpses of this but not the total package. He is the real deal-someone you just thought was made up. The world has become so jaded, cynical, vitriolic and me-me-me. He has helped me come back to the purity of the game, the fun of pulling for something with people that you love and care about, true passion, real effort, real teamwork, real committment.
Wouldn't it be fun if we made Saturday like a tribute day to Tashard and forgot all the agendas we all have and simply bonded together to pull for one thing beating Georgia- forgetting everything else. I know I am pulling with all my heart for Tashard to beat Georgia one time. I would love a story book ending with Tashard scoring the winning touchdown. I will be nodding my head off before the game because I know something no one else does that Tashard has a "Heart of Gold".