Joe Maddon and the Cubs may have a hand in another championship.

As Clemson gets set for a rematch with Alabama in the college football national championship game Monday night, Tigers coach Dabo Swinney reflected on a day he spent at Wrigley Field that changed the course of his season.

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Swinney and Clemson assistant coaches Brent Venables and Marion Hobby were in Chicago for the NFL Draft in April and decided to check out a Cubs game.

Swinny explains the rest:

This is a true story. Joe Maddon would kill me for saying this because we've kind of become buddies and we text a little bit.

But I called my agent and I said, 'Hey, man, we're going up to the Draft' and I said, 'Would you happen to know anybody that could maybe get me and Venables and Hobby some tickets to the Cubs game?' He goes, 'Well, I know Joe Maddon.' And I go, 'Who's Joe Maddon?' He went, 'He's the manager.' I go, 'That's a pretty good guy to know.'

So Joe Maddon hooked us up with [Cubs traveling secretary Vijay Tekchandani] and so we ended up going in. So there was this rain delay. Next thing I know, Vijay gave us a tour, and then he takes us into the locker room and I really didn't know many of these guys, but as it turns out, man, these guys are huge football fans.

Jon Lester comes right up to me and they're all like, 'Hey coach, how are you doing?' And Jon Lester's wife is a Clemson grad and he's from Georgia. Just kind of sat around and talked to all those guys. It was really neat to meet him. That shortstop [Addison Russell], he looked like my son. He was like this young kid and watching those guys get ready for the game. What's that pitcher's name? Arrieta? Arrieta was on the mound but he was off doing Zen somewhere getting ready.

So there's this rain delay, not sure if they're going to play, so I'm walking around, I've got a chance to kind of see the culture there and I was like, "Man, this is really cool. These guys are loose, they know they've got a good team.' And so I ended up going around and they take me to meet Joe. So I go meet Joe and I walk in his office and he's got his baseball pants on and he's got this shirt on that says 'Try Not to Suck' and I'm like, he's big. I'm like, this is Joe Maddon.

So we talked for a minute and he's like, 'Hey man, I watched your team and watched you guys last year' and we kind of have an instant connection. It was really neat. I told him, 'You need to know this' because I had met his players and been around, 'You guys have a great culture. I'm telling you, you've got a winning culture here. You've got a good - just feel - in this building. You can smell it.'

They knew they had the best team and I think they embraced that. They embraced that. Don't run from that. It kind of resonated with me and when I came back and I kind of got off this summer and had a little time, that was one of the things I came back and I told the guys Day 1: 'Listen, everybody has been telling us we're this target. Well, we are the target, but let's embrace that. For us at Clemson, best is the standard. So if Clemson is the target, best is the standard. So let's focus on being the best we can be. Let's be committed to that and let's embrace that. Let's run right to it.'

Our guys bought into that and then I've always told the guys, my message has already been, 'Hey, don't lose to Clemson. If we don't lose to Clemson, we've got a chance here.'