Tuesday News Musings

Football

Spring practice doesn't start until after Spring Break but conditioning for the Yellow Jackets has begun, the same conditioning that laid the foundation for us being one of the least tired units in the 4th quarter. All information and photos is thanks to Ken Sugiura.

Jon "Diesel" Dwyer workin' hard

So, here are two of the more difficult drills. You can read them all at the original link above. How would you fare and when would you pass out? Oh yeah, you are also getting yelled at by Paul Johnson.

• Pro agility drill

Players start in a three-point stance. Depending on which direction the coach commands, they sprint five yards left or right, touch the ground, then go 10 yards in the other direction, touch the ground and run back five yards to the starting point.

• Towel drill

Four towels are placed in a square about five yards apart. The players start at one square, place their hand on the towel and, with all their weight on one hand, circle the towel, get up, sprint to the next and do likewise at each corner of the square.

Austin Barrick says: “By far the hardest, especially for [offensive] linemen. You’re supporting your body weight with one arm and you’ve got to bend down and a couple of us have got some bellies. We’ve got to bend over that and spin around. Your legs burn, your back gets tired from bending over. It’s really tiring.”

Thanks for the report Ken.

Basketball

The season has been rough. The season has been long and pretty much unbearable. However, tomorrow is Senior Night. Come to the AMC to show your appreciation. Also, the ACC Tournament starts next week. Plan on us playing the 5/12 game next Thursday at 2pm.

Baseball

The multitude of polls have been released, and Tech is scattered among the rankings. Baseball America has the Jackets at #18. While the NCBWA has us ranked at #10

Beesball kicks off the ACC season this weekend as they host lowly Maryland. The Terps currently own the worst record in the conference at 4-4. The UM student newspaper delves deeper into the woes of Maryland baseball.

Perfect Option to become Non-Commie Roulette

Easily, the most exciting thing about next football season is the incredible amount of nasty firepower we can bring out of the backfield. A quick and incomplete rundown of our personnel:

-Lucas Cox (whom I personally saw drag VT players all over the field)
-Jonathan Dwyer (ACC Player of the Year, and the greatest runningback in the state)
-Roddy Jones I still want to hug him every time I see him around campus, simply because of the UGA game)
-Marcus Wright (fast as lightning, and apparently learned how to catch the ball at the bowl game that won't be named)
-Anthony Allen (the fairly beastly runningback from Louisville)
-Josh Nesbitt (as DRich once put, a straight up gangsta)
-Jaybo Shaw (played like a maestro at points last season)

A discussion over at StingTalk points out something pretty interesting about Allen's recent interview with Heather Dinich.

Of course, AA had a ton of time to learn all of the positions... but what if Nesbitt spends a little time at A-Back, even if only at practice? Not only will his reads improve, but what on earth does a defense do when it sees Lucas Cox at B-Back with Dwyer and Nesbitt at A-Back? Having Nesbitt throw out of a sweep play to Dwyer, Hill, or our favorite Demaryius Thomas, and we are seeing some exciting things happen with a scheme that most people write off as a football system of yore. Of course, I'm probably just talking crazy talk, but then again, we did see a pass to a lineman during our biggest game of the year, so I am not writing anything off.

Regardless, good things on our horizon, and Spring practice starts 3 weeks from today. Football has almost returned, even if it is only for a little while.

Barfly swatter

Is this really GT related? Probably not. The weekend, for me, was a nice return to ATL. I met up with old friends and acquaintances that I hadn't seen in years/months/etc.. Good times. We observed the Chapel Hill Massacre on Saturday.

However, Thursday night, I was out on the town in Florence. Went out to our usual dives and then decided to hit up a college-type bar closer to Francis Marion. I was mostly interested in consuming beer while my buddies were interested in the "live entertainment."

I sat down at the bar and was immediately latched onto by a drunk 40+ woman. She proceeds to lecture me on industrial safety after she hears my occupation is engineering. Then, she tells me her son owns the bar. So I think, "Sweet, let's ride this out and get my tab paid for." Well, as I get another beer from the bartender she tells him to put all of my drinks on her tab to which he responds, "No, you've got no tab and you're son bailed on us four months ago. We haven't seen him or received any payments on bills or tabs since. He's banned for life from here."

Wow. So, she kind of slithered out the back exit and I covered her $3.00 in wine. Why did I share that? I just wanted the blogging public to know where I'm coming from on this fine Monday morning in South Cackalack. Barhopping in Florence is like barhopping at a highway rest stop: No Shirt No Shoes No Service, only give money to women behind counters, and don't sit on the toilets.

GT-Rutgers series ends with snowballs

GT takes the best of three series with a doubleheader ass-kicking on Saturday. Sunday's game was cancelled due to rain/snow. GT outscored the Scarlett Knights 19-8 over the weekend and is showing an offense similar to the 2006 CWS team that scored 8.7 runs per game (FYI GT is scoring 8 runs/game this season).

We will not discuss a certain event that occurred in Chapel Hill this past weekend. I think the box score speaks for itself.

Looking ahead to this week BBall hosts Miami during the midweek and Beesball welcomes the Terrapins to ATL for the first ACC weekend series of the season.

Sports technology debate

Terence Moore opened a barrage on the Georgia Tech swim team for wearing Speedo's new LZR suits. I generally don't mind Terence Moore or any other AJC writers. They don't get under my skin. However, I think Terence Moore was trying to sound codgery and old-fashioned but came off as merely ignorant.

The article does bring up an interesting debate about performance enhancing drugs versus performance enhancing equipment. I'd say they are equivalent in certain respects because they both increase your performance. But if they're allowed by the rules, then who gives a rat's ass if you're popping vitamins or wearing Nike Shox? The LZR suits are allowed by NCAA regs so they're not cheating. Composite materials are allowed in golf/baseball/softball. High tops with ankle/arch support are allowed in basketball. The Hans device is allowed in NASCAR. All of these advances have greatly increased the competitiveness of their respective sports and allowed TONS of records to be broken.

The failure in Moore's article is that he doesn't really understand materials, fluid mechanics, or swimming in general. And for all the laymen that read this blog, the suit simply repels water BETTER than other suits on the market. All swim suits are made with materials that repel water otherwise our trunks would never dry and some people may not even be able to tread water. (On a side note, I don't think the sport of swimming would've ever even developed if not for advanced materials research) The inherent act of swimming is not altered. The swimmers are not webbing their fingers and toes or growing dorsal fins or altering their bodies. They are merely utilizing the best technology presented to them that is within the limits of the rules.

Sports technology makes sports more entertaining for the spectators. However, when sports technology creates a negative impact on a participants's quality of life (i.e. steroids), then we should take issue. If Terrence Moore really wanted a solid debate, he should've said that we should regress all the way to ancient Olympics fashion where all sports are competed in naked and with all natural materials. Women's bball/softball/etc. ratings would sky rocket. I'd venture to say the NFL would be one of the least watched sports on TV.

Anyone wanna talk dynamics or materials or add to the conversation?

Ramblin' Reck History: A Story

The history of the one and only Ramblin' Reck can be a little vague. So here is a story that adds to what makes the Reck so special:

Honestly, this is one of my favorites. The Reck was taken to Knoxville and painted Tennessee Volunteer Orange after the Reck Club had been told by UT officials that it would be taken care of. The following article was written by the Sports Editor of the Technique in reponse to the act. I hope y'all enjoy it.

Trivia Tidbit: GA Representative Phil Gingrey was the Reck Driver that year.

Vols Paint Reck, UT to Receive Bill
Jim Simpson, Sports Editor, October 18, 1963
There is no news in the fact that the Yellow Jackets flattened the UT Vols last Saturday. No doubt the Jackets would have won even had they not been angry over losing 7-6 to LSU, but anger can produce the desire to exert that little bit extra, and the Recks probably got a little hot under the collar upon seeing the Ramblin' Reck painted glaring red-orange.

That's right-RED-ORANGE. The Reck was towed to Knoxville last Friday and stored under lock and key on the UT campus. The administration of the University of Tennessee had agreed to provide for the security of the car, and should have had the foresight to preclude any attempts by pranksters to tamper
with our Model A. However there was no nightwatchman, and someone succeeded in breaking in and painting the Reck-top, sides and tires-rather thoroughly.

I would say that we at Tech are definitely not against practical jokes, but the UT boys carried this one a little too far. One hears from time to time of the kidnapping of a mascot, but as yet I haven't heard of one being shot, which is comparable to the dousing of the Reck.

The repair bills will be sent shortly to the University, with the hope of being reimbursed in full. However this expectation may never be compiled with after the much disputed and finally refused protest of UT Athletic director Bob Woodruff concerning the 54 yard pass play by Lothridge and Davis in last
Saturday's game.

Speaking of "shooting a mascot"...about 5 years later, an Auburn fan shot the Ramblin' Reck in the radiator.

My yesterday was better than your yesterday

Things I did yesterday:

Dropped a class, thus avoiding the test that I would have had to take last night (long story, and no, I'm not lazy).

Met the new President Peterson, who shook my hand twice, and actually remembered my name on his way out. The Reck (escorted in part by me) met him as he entered the Student Center. From what I understand, even DRad and Coach Paul Johnson had to wait in line just like everyone else later on. I didn't. Oh yeah.

Rode around campus in the Reck, as our new driver took it offroad and squeezed it through to normally non-traffic areas.

Ate a chicken tender basket at Junior's, but only because I am a very bad Catholic.

Got a picture with Tommy and the Reck.





Told you.


In other news, GT Men's Rugby dropped a game to Georgia Southern last weekend 17-6, and they played Emory last night play Emory tonight (sorry, Winfield told me it was last night, and we all know what happens when you listen to Winfield). Outcome will be updated later, after I make a few calls or one of the players updates the GT Men's Rugby homepage.