Stadium Checklist

Anyone out there got a goal of reaching certain stadiums? I know I do. I'm trying to hit up the entire ACC/SEC before I pass by my football game traveling prime (young/single) years.

So far my fandom has taken me to the following ACC/SEC houses:

* Alumni Stadium (BC)
* Carter-Finley Stadium (NCSU)
* Jordan-Hare Stadium (Auburn)
* Lane Stadium (VT)
* Memorial Stadium (CU)
* Sanford Stadium (uga)
* Scott Stadium (UVA)
* Williams-Brice Stadium (USC)

I've also been to Notre Dame, Furman, Georgia Southern, GA Dome, and ALL-TEL Stadium for CFB games. The goal for this season is Vandy and FSU so that'll continue my slow completion of the Southeastern checklist. I don't really have much motivation to attend the Mississippi State game despite their inclusion in the SEC. Sort of like all the times I've been offered free tickets to go to Duke...and I just ask myself, "Why bother?"

If I could hit up a few games outside of the Southeast, I'd go to Penn State, Oregon, and maybe Michigan/Ohio State. Those seem like three stadiums where the atmosphere would be similar to the Southeastern stadiums.

Any well traveled fans out there? Got any good stories of travel or dream stadium visitations?

They lost another one to GT

After firing ol' Felton at Jawja, the dogs have lost another recruit to Tech. It's okay though 'cause most dog fans don't realize they've got a basketball team. Interestingly enough Daniel Miller is from my hometown albeit he went to the private school. But I'll pay some attention to the kid.

Also, Tech has a new beat writer at the AJC, Doug Roberson. He's not related to Avery Roberson and he's a dog alum so we'll see how long we can handle the new guy before tossing him under the proverbial bus...just kidding. But seriously, don't let us down.

Looking forward to Clemson. To Hell with the Tigers!

Clemson baseball preview

Tech travels to Clemson, South Carolina this weekend to face one of my least favorite sports personalities of all time: Jack Leggett. Every Clemson game is about 30 minutes longer than it should be because Jack loves to put on a show for his purple/orange minions. I think it's BS and can't stand watching Clemson games just because of him.

Concerning the game itself, Clemson comes into the game with a little momentum after kicking the crap out of archrival USC Wednesday night to the tune of 12-2. Clemson is second in the Atlantic with a record of 28-14 (12-9). Offensively, Clemson is a middling team with a sub .300 batting average and only 42 homers on the season (compared to Tech's .324 average and 68 homers in 5 less games played). Defensively however, Clemson is boasting the conference's second best ERA with a 3.65 (compared to Tech's 4.57). Clemson's man to watch for this weekend is Ben Paulsen who is tied for second in the ACC with 64 hits.

Tech needs two of three from Clemson to solidify the lead over the Coastal Division. It'll be tough but I think my sheer dislike of Jack Leggett will give Tech at least one walk-off homer top of the ninth game winning run against the Tigers.

Anyone making the trip to Clemson this weekend?

The ultimate sacrifice

Local radio sports jockeys asked the other day, "What would you give up to see a national championship from your favorite team?" I'll be bold and say that I'd give up fried chicken (Chic-fil-a, Zaxby's, etc.) forever to see a Tech football championship. If it were basketball, it'd have to be something simpler like fried chicken for a couple of years.

What would you give up to see your favorite team win a championship in its respective sport?

No ACC/Big-10(11) Matchup for Jackets

The upcoming ACC/Big 10 Challenge will not include the Jackets.Why? Well, because the season just straight up sucked. Taking a year off might be what we need anyways as we've just been playing roughly .500 ball in the Challenge.

NFL Draft Thoughts II

I saw this grading system for players on SI.com and thought I'd share it with everyone. Here's a breakdown of some notable ACC players as well as ours:

B.J. Raji (BC) - 4.21
Ron Brace (BC) - 3.88
Michael Hamlin (CU) - 3.55
James Davis (CU) - 3.43
Aaron Kelly (CU) - 3.40
Cullen Harper (CU) - 3.30
Everette Brown (FSU) - 4.25
Darius Heyward-Bey (MD) - 4.04
Andre Brown (NCSU) - 3.23
Hakeem Nicks (UNC) - 3.99
Trimaine Goddard (UNC) - 3.23
Brandon Tate (UNC) - 3.42
Eugene Monroe (UVA) - 4.26
Cedric Peerman (UVA) - 3.63
Victor "Macho" Harris (VT) - 3.50
Sean Glennon (VT) - 2.55
Aaron Curry (Wake) - 4.36
Sam Swank (Wake) - 3.50

GT Players
Michael Johnson - 3.99
Vance Walker - 3.48
Andrew Gardner - 3.40
Darryl Richard - 3.32
Jahi Word-Daniels - 3.29

I linked the GT players to their NFL.com combine profiles for additional reading. I find it interesting just because I've watched a lot these ACC players for four years thinking they were unstoppable or great at the college level. Then, you see them get torn down like a bunch of mediocre talent by NFL scouts. I think the ratings are also interesting in that Miami/Duke only have one player in the same class as GT's five. Oh how the mighty have fallen.

Also, a shoutout to Brendan From Old Virginia as one of the few Detroit Lions fans left. View Calvin Johnson and the new Detroit Lions jerseys here.

Thoughts on the upcoming draft/college football season welcome.

Updates on Tech alum in pro sports

Currently, there've been some rough patches for Tech alum in the major pro sports. Mark Teixeira is struggling as a Yankee batting a lowly .211 in the New York "Homerun Derby Park." He's got three homers helpin' out his slugging percentage. We'll see what happens. Hopefully, Mark'll pull through and justify his contract to the Yankees.

Everyone's favorite name, Nomar Garciaparra, isn't doing much better batting a .179 for the 5-8 Oakland A's.

For completion's sake, Varitek is batting a .250, which isn't great but ain't too bad for a catcher.

In two playoff games for the Celtics, Stephon Marbury has only scored 2 points but he pulled down a few boards and got a few assists in the first game of the series. Otherwise, the playoffs have been like the rest of Marbury's tenure at the Celtics - less than stellar.

Will Bynum, on the other hand, has become a pretty good bench player for the Pistons and is putting in some solid minutes in a desperate effort against the unstoppable Cavaliers. Like I said a few weeks ago, I never thought the tiny man from our Final Four run would be the most successful NBAer when all of those players ran out of eligibility.

Thoughts on NBA playoffs or MLB are welcome.