Football Countdown: 56

We continue onward....

Football Countdown: 57

57 days until Diesel unleashes his fury....

Friday Random 10: 45-42

Today's Random 10 is brought to you by the 2008 Georgie/Georgia Tech Game. I watched this on my DVR Wednesday night and I am thoroughly stoked (even more) for football.







And now on to the 10!

10. What's my age again? - Blink-182
9. The Good Life - Kanye West
8. Tomorrow Never Knows - The Beatles
7. The Breaks - The Black Keys
6. She Came in Through the Bathroom Window - The Beatles
5. Alabama - Cross Canadian Ragweed (acoustic style!)
4. Get 'Em High - Kanye West (Ratatat Remix)
3. Secret Crowds - Angels and Airwaves
2. Hey, Say May - Reckless Kelly (awesome group)
1. She Loves You - The Beatles

Dane would like this mix. He is a Beatles groupie and even looks like John Lennon.
Yall know the drill. Whose in your random 10?

GT Student Tickets: International Flava!

International students at Georgia Tech no longer have an excuse as to why they don't go to football games. They can now read about it in their own language:


In actuality, this is a push to get students notified about the new ticketing policies and the $35 season ticket fee being added on.

All ticketing thoughts welcome in the comments.

Football Countdown: 58

58 Days 'til Glory...

ACC Media Day as a Predictor

Predicting an ACC Division Champion is like predicting the weather. You kinda think it's gonna rain because it's cloudy. There's a 90% chance it'll rain (BC/VT) but sometimes the rain gives way to blizzards (Wake) or sunshine (GT). Here's a quick breakdown of preseason picks from the ACC Media Days in July since 2005 (full expansion).



For historical and logical reasons, FSU and VT are typically the preseason favorites. What's fun is seeing the major blunders of the ACC Media and how their hype kinda destroyed our respectability last season. Who knew Clemson would suck?


The biggest jump in the black was Wake's ridiculous 2006 ACCC run while Clemson and FSU managed to blow themselves in 2008 and 2006, respectively. Interestingly enough, the media is fairly accurate averaging around 0.83 places off per team wth Wake being the least predictable team in the ACC followed closely by BC.


What's nice to see with the Delta is that GT is in the black. I'd much rather be sitting in VT's place where they average a 1st place prediction and average a 1st place finish every year but finishing above expectations is much better than constantly letting your fans down (we're looking at you Miami).

Notes:
^{1) Rankings are 1-6 for finish in division based on preseason ACC Media Polling or Postseason ACC Record.
2) ACC Champion after ACC Championship game not regular season champions (hence why started counting after 2005).
3) Negative Delta in 3rd graph means overrated, Positive Delta means underrated.}

My Personal Predictions
Atlantic
1. FSU
2. BC
3. NCSU
4. Wake
5. Clemson
6. MD

Coastal
1. GT
2. VT
3. UNC
4. UVA
5. Miami
6. Duke

I like Ponder and the FSU defense better than NCSU's Glassman Wilson. BC is up there 'cause of their annual ACC clinic on defense. GT-VT is the game of the year for the Coastal (in ATL gives Tech the edge). UNC is like NCSU in the Coastal and hinges too much on the health of their QB. By midseason, I see both both UNC/NCSU's QBs missing starts due to injury resulting in L's.

Thoughts are welcome. Preseason ACC Media Day should be late July.

Myrtle Beach ACC Tournament Open Discussion

In an interesting twist on Monday, the ACC recalled its decision to stage the next couple of ACC baseball tournaments in Myrtle Beach. The decision came down not necessarily from the ACC's head Swofford but from the national NAACP.

The national chapter of the NAACP isn't happy with the flying of the Stars and Bars in Columbia. The NCAA has an official ban of SC hosting post-season events due to the presence of the flag but the ACC initially did not adhere to this rule citing it as unfair to SC.

It kinda sucks though to punish a struggling Myrtle Beach for the ways of Columbia and the Midlands. I'm not saying this is totally analagous but it's similar to ATL being punished for the idiocy that occurs in the town 75 miles east of Atlanta. I personally think Myrtle Beach should've retained the host status of the games with some stipulations but so goes life. The backwards logic of "pride > revenue" never surprises me in South Carolina -- hence unemployment, refusal of stimulus money, and now the ACC tourney...

I'm kinda pissed 'cause I only get to see the Jackets maybe once or twice during baseball season. Myrtle Beach is literally 45 minutes away. So now, after teasing me, the ACC goes and rips out my heart. Damn them.

Seeing as this is a pretty uncensored blog, any political/economic/social thoughts are welcome...

The Football Countdown: 59

59 Days my friends.....

T-Book Tutorings: Shirttail Parades

For today's T-Book Tutorings, we talk about "Shirttail Parades":

One of the many traditions that freshmen were required to participate in, shirt tail parades were always quite the spectacle for onlookers to witness. Freshmen would form a tunnel after every game for the team to run through while departing the field. Then, if the team was victorious, the freshmen would parade around the streets of Atlanta, many times ending up downtown at Five Points for a pep rally. These parades were sponsored by Ramblin’ Reck Club and Georgia Tech cheerleaders. Participation in the shirt tail parades was taken very seriously, and if freshmen were caught skipping, they would be taken to RAT Court and put on probation. One of the most notable shirt tail parades occurred in 1956 before the game itself was ever played. Governor Marvin Griffin sought to disallow the Tech football team from competing in the Sugar Bowl as the opposing team fielded a black player. When students discovered the governor’s stance, they decided to take action. The shirt tail parade set off towards the Capitol, located just a short distance from campus, only to discover that the governor was at his residence, several miles away. Undeterred, they continued their march to the Governor’s Mansion, where they burned and hung him in effigy. The governor finally conceded to the students’ demands and allowed the football team to make the trip to the Sugar Bowl.

The organization of the parades is pretty crazy to think about. As we all know, we won that Sugar Bowl and you can view the trophy in person at the Edge Center.


"T-Book Tutorings" is brought to you in anticipation of the 2009-2010 T-Book, the ultimate guide to the history and traditions of Georgia Tech. The book is published by the Ramblin' Reck Club.

Any good shirttail parades or any good parade stories out there?

Let the countdown begin!

60 days until Georgia Tech Football......

2009 CFN Preview for GT is Up

CFN Preview
College Football News has posted their annual review of GT. Previews for the offense, defense, and depth chart are also up. Same basic stuff you always hear. I like reading about the OL, corners, and DL since those are really the only position battles we'll probably see this year.

Player News
Roddy says he'll be ready for football season. Austin Barrick talks about the 3 feet he couldn't get.

Facebook Message of the Year
I posted this on my brother's facebook yesterday 'cause he works at a pet store part time: "Do y'all have any indestructible dog toys? [My girlfriend's] got covered in glass when a drive-by shot up her house. She has two Jack Russells." Totally true and totally weird in retrospect. So now my car windows have been busted out and my gf's house has been shot up. What's next South Carolina?

Thoughts on the CFN Preview are welcome. Any glaring criticisms of an otherwise blah preview?

College Football Midmajor Stars

I thoroughly enjoy college football. The sights, the sounds, the glory, the defeats. Not much better. I really enjoy the little guy climbing to the top. I'm also a little pretentious when it comes to college football trivia. I like reflecting on obscure midmajor stars of yore that had brief moments of glory on ESPN like Bowling Green's Omar Jacobs (2), LA Tech's Ryan Moats (2), and of course my personal hero in Hawai'i's Timmy Chang (2). For me, the best part of these guys' stories are the particularly heroic performances against insurmountable odds (e.g. Omar Jacobs versus Wisconsin or Chang's bowl game shootout with Houston's Kevin Kolb).

They're the random no name guys that are 90+ overall on your X-Box's version of NCAA. And they are heroes to the little guys: the Idahos, the Colorado States, the FIU's. Teams with little to no winning tradition (thus excluding the BYU, Boise States, or Utahs).
This year I'm looking for the next midmajor superstar. I'm thinking Case Keenum of Houston will have a great shot. For being the C-USA Offensive POY, Case was relatively silent on the national stage. This year, he's got two back-back big time opponents right at the start of the season to get the hype train fired up (OKSU on 9/12 and TTU on 9/26).

Any other midmajor stars we should watch for this season? Maybe the CMU QB Dan LeFevour?

Post-July 4th Post

Let's start with some American-style quotes:

We already run the misfits outta our country. We sent 'em back to England. -- Tom Selleck in Quigley Down Under

Good morning. In less than an hour, aircraft from here will join others from around the world. And you will be launching the largest aerial battle in the history of mankind. "Mankind." That word should have new meaning for all of us today. We can't be consumed by our petty differences anymore. We will be united in our common interests. Perhaps it's fate that today is the Fourth of July, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom... Not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution... but from annihilation. We are fighting for our right to live. To exist. And should we win the day, the Fourth of July will no longer be known as an American holiday, but as the day the world declared in one voice: "We will not go quietly into the night!" We will not vanish without a fight! We're going to live on! We're going to survive! Today we celebrate our Independence Day! -- Bill Pullman in Independence Day

Men, all this stuff you've heard about America not wanting to fight, wanting to stay out of the war, is a lot of horse dung. Americans traditionally love to fight. All real Americans love the sting of battle. When you were kids, you all admired the champion marble shooter, the fastest runner, big league ball players, the toughest boxers. Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser. Americans play to win all the time. I wouldn't give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed. That's why Americans have never lost, and will never lose a war... because the very thought of losing is hateful to Americans. -- George C. Scott in Patton

I went to ATL this past weekend to relax and forget about my current homestead in the Cackalack. It was a relaxing sports weekend other than the Tennis stuff (that I don't really care about) and McNair's shooting, which I actually am interested in.

I followed the Titans inaugural season in 1999 with the likes of Eddie George, Derrick Mason, Frank Wycheck, Jevon Kearse, Yancey Thigpen, and more. I followed them 'cause the Falcons dropped to 5-11 in 1999. The Titans were the second closest team to ATL and had superstar Air McNair leading the way. I watched the Music City Miracle live on a small antenna-fed, black/white tv. We lost power after an ice storm right before the AFC title game so I had to hook up a A/C power converter in my dad's Suburban to watch the Jacksonville game.

Needless to say, Air McNair has a special place in my sports maturation. McNair and the Titans kept me interested in pro football as the Falcons proceeded to go 16-30 from 1999-2001. I would attribute a lot of my current fanaticism to McNair's stay in Nashville. Either way, I put away a few lagers for America and McNair on Saturday Night.

Monday News Links

Mark Teixeira made the MLB All Star team, catching and surpassing Kevin Youklis in the fan voting. I understand the voting for Mark. He had more RBI's and homers. Fans want runs and Teixeira produces runs.

Here's an interesting article about former GT Athletes and their TV/Radio ventures. Players to note, are John Salley, Ryan Stewart, and Dorsey Levens.