Archive for the ‘Sports’ Category
Thursday, January 1st, 2009
First, congratulations to LSU and their fans for the win. As a Tech fan, it was hard to watch the Chick-Fil-A Bowl but certainly, I won’t shy away from admitting that Georgia Tech was dismantled in all aspects of the game… offense, defense, and even special teams. I was severely disappointed in the way our defense played last night; they simply looked unprepared to play the game of football. I could easily blame the offense for being unproductive but hopefully our defensive unit would be the first ones to admit that it was their job to get themselves off of the field and keep the other team out of our end-zone. Likewise, our special teams had yet another dismal game. Our team was fooled by a surprise onside kick and a fake punt, the latter being during the middle of the blowout which is quite irksome but not against the rules or anything.
This loss in no way diminishes the great season the Yellow Jackets had in 2008. I honestly expected Tech to go 6-6 mainly due to the introduction of the new coaching staff, new offense, and being the youngest team in the ACC. A 9-4 season with some great wins (especially to U[sic]GA) brought Tech some high-profile coverage of its season and games.
I intend to keep up with whatever news that comes out about Tech during spring practice like I did for last year. I am biased but I think there are some great things ahead for the GT football program in the years to come. I can’t wait to see what our guys can do after a Spring and Summer of maturing with this past season under their belts. It’s great to be a Tech fan. 
Happy New Year!
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Saturday, October 11th, 2008
Don’t comment telling me I’m wrong because I am talking metaphorically and the title was for rhetorical purposes. In reality, Tech got the W today and are 5-1 overall now but it’s very difficult to consider today’s win a victory because it could have easily gone either way and came down to a barely tipped field goal that prevented the game from going into OT. Were we playing a team in the ACC? Nope. Tech played Gardner Webb, a Division I-AA team that our program scheduled because Army pulled out of a home-and-home contract last year.
If you are a Gardner Webb fan, I don’t mean to say that just because GW is a Division I-AA team that it has no credibility or chance to beat a I-A team (for example, Toledo beat Michigan today) but let’s not pretend that this is the first time you’ve read this game should have been an easy game for Tech. Because, it should have been. Even after reading somewhere that GW was a great rush-defense team, I admit that I didn’t think much of it and wouldn’t have been able to believe that they would be able to hold our rush-oriented offense to 79 yards on the ground.
Now for Tech fans, let’s not use the “but it’s our third-string QB” excuse because that doesn’t explain why we only had 79 yards rushing. That doesn’t explain why Calvin was sacked two times and he was the leading rusher at the end of the game with 35 yards rushing on 19 carries. I am going to be blunt here so be prepared for that: our offensive line just plain sucked. Coach Paul Johnson said in his radio show last week that they were working a lot on their punt-return team but did he let the offensive line take a week off or something? CPJ also said after last week after Duke’s game that the offensive line needed to play lower and launch off of the line of scrimmage… but did they instead lay down on the ground and play dead? I wasn’t able to watch the game since it wasn’t televised but I did listen to it live on radio and I just could not believe that our blocking was so bad that our running game couldn’t even muster 80 yards; don’t forget 35 yards came from Calvin who is more of a pocket-passing QB.
What’s even worse is that after reading this column from Terence Moore at the AJC, it seems as if 80% of our offense failed to show up for this game because aside from our non-existing offensive line, our wide receivers were running wrong routes. Seriously? Out of any of the games that the wideouts could be running the wrong routes, they do it on a day that Calvin finally starts a game. Calvin, who is so easy to root for because of he is so team-oriented and unselfish? Come on!
In my mind, Coach Paul Johnson and the Georgia Tech football team lost today. They are 4-2 in my book. We can say a win is a win all we want but we all know Tech coaches, players, students, and fans were disappointed by our lackluster offense today and know that our offense can do better than they did today. Tech didn’t take GW seriously today and it’s going to hurt the team’s credibility.
How about the glass half-full stuff? Our defense played decent which is better than piss poor. This can be used as a good learning experience for our young team so hopefully this game will make them stronger and more focused.
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Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008
I am very excited about the new era of Georgia Tech football that became official yesterday and started today. Before I continue, I wanted to add that Chan Gailey was a good coach and deserves a lot of respect for having upheld a program that has been seriously lacking the fuel that it needed from the administration, fans, students, boosters, alumni, and the staff. From the outside looking in, Chan looks like the guys whose job is to hold the chains wearing a GT cap; he looked bored to death and waiting for something better. Maybe he was but when most of the Tech players stood up for him after he was fired, I knew that what everyone sees in the sidelines was not the same Chan Gailey that his players and staff saw in the locker room. I did see some fire from him when a ref blew a call in our loss to U(sic)GA (yes, we would have lost regardless of that call) but it was too little and too late.
Ultimately, Coach Gailey wasn’t fired because he was a bad coach; I think he was fired because he rarely showed passion for his team. If he were being interviewed right after our 6th straight loss to our rival, he probably would have said something stoic like “our passes were being dropped, I did see some good things happening that we can expand on but no team is ever perfect”. Personally, if I were Dan Radakovich, 50% of me probably would have told him that he had next season to see improvement… not even significant improvement, just noticeable improvement… something more than what the fans have been enduring for so long because year after year we can’t help but have higher hopes for the next season. The other 50% wouldn’t have turned out any different than it turned out now.
Head Coaches get paid a lot for the chance of being criticized as the scapegoat when teams don’t progress and also paid for the chance to get shoved aside by interviewers chasing after an individual playmaker after winning a Championship game. Either way, Chan is now the offensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs and I think it’s a good fit for him as an offensive-minded football coach. While, I won’t be as big a fan to the Chiefs as I am to the Panthers, I know I will be tempted to check up on him just as I do with Calvin Johnson, Jarret Jack, and so many other former Tech atheletes that I have followed during and after my time in Atlanta.
With Paul Johnson coming in after turning around the football program at Navy, I am a very excited Tech fan looking forward to September to see what our new offense (and defense) will look like. One thing that I was impressed about our new Coach was the fact that he was disappointed with the players’ performance at the Humanitarian Bowl. Primarily because I was disappointed too and it’s great he didn’t play the disappointment off with just a hope of doing better next time. I feel like this will put the needed fire in our players, students, and fans.
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Sunday, December 30th, 2007
As many football fans may have heard by now, the New England Patriots have done the unthinkable. They have gone 16-0 in the regular season of the NFL, a perfect regular season and many are predicting that they will clinch their division title and then win the Super Bowl giving them an absolutely perfect season that only the ’72 Dolphins were able to accomplish in the history of the game. Tom Brady and Randy Moss have also set individual record performances; respectively, most touchdown passes and most touchdown receptions in the regular season.
Regardless, as a fan of the NFL and acknowledging the fact that the Patriots are a great football team, I will not be able to say that the Patriots were perfect the entire season. Whatever trophy or plaque this organization will hold at the end of this season, it will always have the infamous Spygate scandal in its back-story, shamefully tarnishing what could be turning out to be perfect. I feel like years or decades from now if/when another NFL team is able to have a perfect season, people will refer back to say “just like the 2007 Patriots except they weren’t involved in a scandal.” It’s a damn shame… but I guess that is what happens when you do stupid things.
With NCAA Football and NFL season coming to a close, I’m not going to have anything to watch Saturdays, Sundays, and also Monday nights. Hope everyone had a great Christmas and is looking forward to a great New Year.
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Sunday, March 25th, 2007
With so much March Madness buzz going around lately (especially at work), I had to create a few brackets. In my primary bracket, my Final Four picks were: Oregon, UCLA, Georgetown, and Ohio State. Three out of four, not too shabby especially since three of my picks were complete upsets. Unfortunately (and admittedly), I had too much faith in the Ducks and underestimated the Gators… I had Oregon going past UCLA and having a last-game-of-the-season loss to the Buckeyes.
I am slightly saddened by the fact that the Yellow Jackets didn't make it past UNLV. If they had done so, I was sure of their return to the Sweet Sixteen with an easy win against Wisconsin. Alas, that was not our intended fate this season. I hope Thaddeus and Javaris do not enter the draft; otherwise, we are going to have a long and slow season next year.
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Monday, January 8th, 2007
It’s a sad sad yet inevitable day for Yellow Jacket fans everywhere. Calvin Johnson (#21) has declared for the NFL draft foregoing his Senior year of eligibility at Georgia Tech. Calvin brought all Jackets fans a lot of excitement over the past three years and will be missed. I hope you will be paired with a reliable quarterback. Good luck, Calvin!
As for Georgia Tech fans, don’t fret. We have a spectacular Class of 2007 coming in and our outlook is pretty good.
p.s. Boo, what a boring BCS ‘Championship’ game but in the end, good job Gators.
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