Amazing Georgia Tech Victory!
Thursday, December 4th, 2008Tech was down 16 points at the half then the offense clicked into place. What an absolutely amazing comeback victory by Georgia Tech against our rival!
Archive for the ‘Random’ Category
What was the McCain camp thinking?
Thursday, October 2nd, 2008When Sarah Palin was announced as John McCain’s running mate, I gave the McCain campaign the benefit of the doubt. I thought to myself, hey- considering how many people work for and advise John McCain, surely Sarah must be highly qualified. Even earlier this week, when I read news articles about Tina Fey’s ability to portray Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live, I thought the articles were ridiculing SNL’s ability to parody Sarah’s interviews. To my horror, I have been completely wrong. Go on YouTube and watch some of Sarah Palin’s actual interviews. Keep in mind, they are not secondary sources and they are straight from the horse’s mouth.
I have to say that I’ve never felt so bad about a grown women before in my life but I feel so sorry for Sarah and her family. I feel like she jumped into this without realizing how deep the muddy political well is and she only thought about the positives of being the Vice President of the United States and neglected everything else. I feel sorry for her because she probably thinks that there is no way out now considering she is already in the spotlight and taking the backdoor out of the spotlight will make her look like a quitter.
On the other hand, after watching the debate between Joe and Sarah, I was surprised that she didn’t make any ridiculous mistakes and I applaud those that planned and coached her for this debate because they clearly had a plan. Oddly enough, she basically stated her plan within the first few minutes of the debate; she said that she may not answer questions as the moderator or Joe would like her to answer. She did exactly that. Sarah rarely responded directly to the questions at hand and instead made the points that she wanted to make. This is smart for two reasons. First, it forces Joe to be on the defensive side of the fence because he wants to respond directly to her answer which may not be the same thing that the moderator had asked. Second, due to the fact that she forming her responses regardless of the question asked most of the time, highlights of the debate to be played over and over again until next Tuesday’s second Presidential debate will portray her in a better light than this past week with her interview with Katie Couric.
So who do I think won the debate? Well, let’s see… if there was a rubric of all questions asked as rows and two columns for Senator Biden and Governor Palin, I think I would have more relevant notes jotted down in the Biden column while I would have more questions marks on the Palin column. If you cut out each candidates replies and replayed them randomly without the moderator’s question, I think both did a good job of getting the point across that their Presidential candidate would have liked them to get across but I still would give Biden the edge.
In the end, why even bother reading this? I’m sure it’s on YouTube by now so go watch it and make your own decision. 
Gas shortage in Charlotte.
Sunday, September 28th, 2008Last time I checked, this is the year 2008. It is quite amazing to me to think that in the year 2008, the City of Charlotte has had a shortage of gasoline for going on three weeks after Hurricane Ike has hit the Gulf Coast forcing the shutdown of significant percentage of refineries. In the year that oil companies like Exxon Mobile are announcing record profits in consecutive quarters, you are telling me that it is taking these giant companies almost three weeks to be operating at 100% efficiency as prior to the hurricane? That is quite unbelievable.
Allow me to continue my sarcastic tone; operating refineries in the hurricane prone Gulf Coast isn’t like finding the cure for cancer or finding the Holy Grail, is it? A refinery that is shutdown due to a Hurricane isn’t a mysterious puzzle, it should be an expected technical problem that any decent company should be able to resolve with the only question being how many man hours it would take to get it done. In stark contrast, it would be a completely different thing if the monster from Cloverfield popped up out of the Gulf of Mexico and destroyed all the refineries there. That would be considered, say it with me those that are responsible for managing these refineries, un-ex-pect-ed because no one in there right mind would have ever imagined that scenario.
So my rant on refinery operators is done. Of course, I’m not trying to shift the blame away from consumer panic caused by what seems to be a rumor but coming up on the third week of the gas shortage in Charlotte, I can’t help but think that there is some flaw in how the gasoline is distributed in the Southeast.
Less than two years away from 2010, where are the flying cars? Better yet, where is Mr. Fusion?
Georgia Tech beats BC, 19-16.
Saturday, September 6th, 2008Wow, what a game! The stories of the game were all about defense for both teams. Tech’s defense was giving up yards left, right, and up the middle in the first half. In the second half, it was a different story because they forced multiple turnovers and even got a safety. The cream on the top was the athleticism of Josh Nesbitt making amazing plays… turning possible sacks on third downs into huge yard gains for the first. I would have to say that Georgia Tech won because of our defense getting in gear and stopping Crane (was he hurt mid-3rd quarter?).
GT is now 2-0 and 1-0 in the ACC conference. I realize that beating Jacksonville State and BC (in such an ugly way as Paul put it agreeably) doesn’t really match up to some of the ranked teams in the nation. Yet still, considering that earlier this year and probably up until the final play clock ticked down in Chestnut Hill today, there were plenty of sketics questioning Tech’s chances of being successful; I think our offense did okay.
A win is a win regardless of how ugly of a win it was but obviously with three fumbles, two of which I attribute to the poor execution of the offense, we still have a long road of improvement ahead.
GO TECH! THWG!
What is a flexbone formation?
Saturday, August 30th, 2008One of the formations that Paul Johnson will run as triple-option is the flexbone formation. I’ve created an image below depicting what a balanced flexbone formation looks like. Keep a note of its distinct two A-backs (A) in slot and one B-back (B) in the backfield outlined in black and highlighted. Of course, this is just one formation and there are many different ways to line up but you will almost always see one A-back in slot and a B-back with the last A-back being a blocker or receiver down the field.
Again, one of the most unique things about the triple-option offense is that a play can be called without anyone knowing who is going to end up with the ball and where because there are several ‘options’ the quarterback has when running the play from center. It’s in no way foolproof but if executed properly, it’s a system that can chew up a lot of yards on the ground and give the offense the ability to control the clock.
A Modest Win.
Thursday, August 28th, 2008My initial thought at the start of the second quarter was just… relief. I was still a bit concerned about how our offensive players would operate in the new system but it looked like the guys made long strides since their fumble-filled Spring scrimmage. I read in a separate AJC article when Fall practice was about to start that Josh and Jonathan did a lot of work over the summer voluntarily to understand the new offense better; I guess that paid off a bit. I was unable to watch the game because it was only broadcast as a streaming feed at ESPN360 only… unfortunately, ESPN didn’t get any from my ISP so I just got a nice “please tell your ISP that you want this service” message. So I listened to the live radio broadcast from CSTV instead.
First half was good, we had some good runs and decent passes so we gained a lot of yards. Our defense was able to hold the Gamecocks to a few 3-and-outs by shutting down Perrilloux’s passing game. Regardless, the second half was a different story. Not exactly sure what happened during half-time, maybe the defense got a bit apathetic because we were leading by so much and relaxed… we gave away 258 yards. That is a bit disappointing because once we start facing conference opponents, not only would you expect yardage multiplied but also points on the board.
Five fumbles; two lost. Those are pretty big numbers too. Good thing about the fumbles (weird to say that) is that the fumbles were caused by tackles instead of offensive miscues. It was good that we didn’t have any botched handoffs and pitches in the option. In the end, I would consider this a modest win at best. I am hoping that our team makes some more adjustments and improve on both sides of the ball starting from our next game at Boston College because I expect the margin of the score to normalize.
Considering that the core of our offense is so young (and seemingly eager to learn and improve), Georgia Tech is going to have a good season and even better future. GO TECH! TO HELL WITH GEORGIA!
