What's The Good Word?

Countdown to GameDay: Re-motivating the ACC

2007-08-29T16:49:00.000-04:00

Last year's motivating the ACC was one of the more popular pieces that I did. I wish I could say that I carried that momentum into an impressive blogging empire, but mostly it stood as a testament to wasted potential.

As part of my new found committment to killing time at work, I bring you an updated football'esque version of the same concept.

Look it's another random 10

2007-08-24T14:17:00.000-04:00

Since everybody else is doing it and I’m still a horrible idea thief, I present to you the first every Friday Random Ten for hear at WTGW?

Back to You – John Mayer
Here Comes The Sun – The Beatles
Get Out the Map – Indigo Girls
Mr. Roboto – Styx
The Sounds of Science – The Beastie Boys
It’s All Understood – Jack Johnson
Stumptown –Nickel Creek
Ants Marching – Dave Matthews Band
Serenade – Mozart
What You Are – Dave Matthews Band

I share my I-pod with the missus and while we have a good bit of overlapping taste in music, not all of it is. For example you’ll notice that out of 10 random songs on an I-pod containing around 2,000 songs that DMB, John Mayer, and Jack Johnson all made it into the random 10. Let’s just say that’s not completely my doing (though I like Jack Johnson better than the other two.)

Still in keeping with the spirit of the random 10, I listed all of the songs that appeared without edit.

(Other than the Kenny G song that will be fucking deleted when I get home tonight.)

I gotta tell ya . . . I celebrate the guy's entire catalog.

Fuck You Dan Radakovich!

2007-08-24T14:05:00.000-04:00

I could deal with the donations for seats.

I can deal with a new commercial that looks like it came out of a Daft Punk wet dream.

I can deal with staying tight lipped while your head football coach put on his finery and strutted his ass for any NFL team that would wave a dollar in his direction.

But this . . . THIS . . . is an effrontery that I cannot stand. My season tickets came in the mail yesterday and when I flipped those suckers over I now see that instead of my stub being good for a Free Chick-Fil-A sandwich there’s some kind of deal with Papa John’s Pizza . . . none of which is free! By god I got 14 delectable fast food equivalents of the peanut butter and crack sandwich last year and the year before that and you get the goddamn idea.

Clearly this a program headed in the wrong direction.

The secret ingredient is heroin.

(Brought to you by the blog that keeps you abreast of the real issues.)

Two Men Enter . . . One Man Leaves

2007-08-13T18:52:00.000-04:00

Truth be told my eyeballs popped out of my head when I read about this over the weekend. Taylor “Tater” Bennett apparently done hauled off and whupped Darrell Robertson’s ass at the end of the scrimmage. Some folks are worried about chemistry, some are worried about injury, but I, on the other hand, am just ecstatic that the goofy looking white boy that I saw at media day last year with his jersey tucked into his athletic shorts and cell phone clipped to his hip is apparently a misleading badass of the Jeff Speakman variety.

He will either beat your face in or get you a hellaish return on your income taxes.
Pick your fate!

In fact it’s good to see this kind of fire out of the team again and I feel like we should add some more Mad Max’esque features to our practices. Thus in my first post back as a newly dedicated blogger WTGW decrees that the following shall all take place immediately:

1. Phillip Wheeler in fitting in with his new title of the Paul Bunyan of middle linebackers shall hence forth practice and play dressed as The Humongous.

2. As part of our strength and conditioning programs, you Miss a Meal you Face the Wheel.

3. Pint-sized powerhouse and new OC John Bond will roam the sidelines on Chan Gailey’s shoulders speaking in broken English

Who runs offense now?

4. All practices fights will now involve Thunderdome.

2007 Georgia Tech Football it’s FANNN-tastic!

Critty is leaving . . . Hive Reacts Poorly . . .

2007-05-25T13:55:00.000-04:00

Film at 11:00:

I just don't get how people who've never remotely been in a situation like Critty's could pass judgment on him being able to jump for the money. We're not talking Thad (who I still couldn't fault for going) who has a judge for an uncle and a solid middle class upbringing here. We're talking about a kid that had playground friends that got shot and a mother that busted her ass to give him every opportunity to avoid the pitfalls young black men can fall into. Now he's given a chance to not only do what he loves for a loving, but to set himself and his family up for life.

Somehow that makes him selfish, probably because all of his self-esteem isn't tied up in where he went to college.

Look! Something else for me to write about intermittently

2007-05-18T14:12:00.000-04:00

In a potentially wasted effort to get myself writing again, I thought I would add some thoughts on a non-Tech sport that I am following with growing interest and education, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA.) Most people out there still know it only as Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and even then they only remember the hardly any rules, no weight class, Royce Gracie demolishes everybody early days of the product. In fact until I started watching The Ultimate Fighter 3 on SpikeTv, even I had no clue how much the whole affair had evolved from spectacle to actual sport. In fact most people only know the UFC, but arguably the best pound for pound fighter in the world fights for the Japanese Pride Fighting Organization (Fedor Emelianenko).

So anyway, I’m hoping to post some more opinions on upcoming UFC\Pride events. TUF 5 episode analysis and maybe a few other tidbits here and there to try and get myself back into the groove of writing regularly without resorting to random internet meme discussions. I’m not much for recruiting so I still won’t post too much there either.

Twice in Two Weeks? It is the Apocalypse

2007-04-20T16:24:00.000-04:00

1. A group of playoff proponents have a questionable theory on how to break out of the bowl system and get a D-1A playoff: Boycott the Rose Bowl. What's your take on the never-ending playoff vs. bowls debate?

Well for one, it bothers me that this debate is viewed as somehow mutually exclusive. That if the NCAA suddenly goes to a system where the best X teams are allowed to play in a tournament format that every other team playing in the Mrs. Winner’s Chicken: Congratulations on Scheduling 3 OOC Cupcakes and Making it to 6-6 Bowl ™ will be left out in the lurch. Basically the whole concept of a mixed bowl\play-off system just creates an environment in which I get to watch more football. Much like more tacos, beer, and porn I just can’t view this as a bad thing.

The other thing that bothers me is everyone griping about these kids having to play the extra games. Last time I checked the NCAA just allowed a 12 game regular season with any team that would be contending for the national title more likely than not playing in a conference title game and then a bowl game. That’s a 14 game schedule with only 9 of the games consisting of actual conference games. That gives 5 games of wiggle room for OOC scheduling and setting up a bracketed tournament. I’m fine with allowing 8 regular season conference games, 2 OOC games, and then using the conference title games plus major bowl games to represent the national title game. In the end the national title teams would probably 15 or 16 games in the regular season. That’s not a huge increase and not really a major impact on these kid’s academics.

So in summary people that are against a college football play-off want the terrorists to win.

(Probably against a college football play-off too.)

2. What change to our football personnel makes you happier this year: Taylor Bennett at quarterback, or John Bond as offensive coordinator?

As much as I did the happy dance when Reggie couldn’t play in the Gator Bowl, I am still much more excited about John Bond. Nix was part of Reggie staying on the field. Nix was part of Reggie never progressing as a QB being his position coach and all. Nix kept calling plays for passes that our QB was incapable of making. Nix was the one that kept forgetting that Tashard Choice was just gouging the opposing defense in both the UGA and Wake Forest games.

Reggie Ball is possibly legitimately the worst 4 year starter at QB in the history of college football, but you have to point some fingers at his position coach for all of those years.

In short Pat Nix should die of gonorrhea and rot in hell.

3. Last weekend, Steve Spurrier spoke out against South Carolina's practice of flying the Confederate flag over the state capitol. Should football coaches get political like that, or just stick to coaching?

I think this pretty much should fall under the actor\musician rules of shut your fucking trap and go back to providing me the entertainment that I pay you for. However, this was purely a recruiting ploy by Spurrier and don’t doubt that for a second. The man is an evil genius after all.

4. There are always rumors at Georgia Tech of expanding our varsity athletics programs. What programs would you like to see added next? One for men, one for women.

Since it was my sport of choice from sixth grade through high school, I would like to see GT add a varsity wrestling program. In truth though the school could never really be that competitive in it since Georgia is not a hot bed of wrestling talent and I just don’t think it resonates much as a sport outside of those who were participants. So if I was going to pick a sport that could be both potentially popular and have some success for the school then I think men’s soccer would do very well at Tech. There is some solid soccer talent in this state and the ACC is a good soccer conference.

Since this post is making me follow Title IX (I knew the 19th Amendment was a mistake), then I guess I will go some distinctly chick sport like Field Hockey or something. God knows we aren’t adding gymnastics since we ain’t competing with UGA in that.

(Women should stay home and make babies!)

5. The matchups were just announced for the 9th annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge in basketball, and GT plays at Indiana (the teams' first meeting since 1969). In the history of the challenge, the ACC has won 48 out of 75 games, and has "won" every year. Is this a tradition you care about, or would you rather see something started with another conference, e.g. an ACC/SEC Challenge or ACC/Big East Challenge?

I think it’s a neat tradition, but I’d like to see the ACC rotate it to a different conference. For instance an ACC\Pac-10 challenge would be great since it could settle a lot of those East Coast Bias arguments and provide some really great basketball while the schools are at it. An ACC\SEC challenge would be great as well, but I agree with Jeff’s point about how it wouldn’t really increase viewer ship for ESPN to broadcast in overlapping fanbases.

6. Lightning Round!! Other Conferences Edition!! (Cue "The Matrix" fight music) Name the first thing that comes to mind:

Big East: Improved greatly in football. Overrated for basketball.

SEC: Red Man

Big Ten: Slow

Pac-10: Hippies

(Pac-10 fans want to think they're good at football, but really they just smoke pot and smell bad.)

Big XII: Texas and 11 other schools in football. Kansas and 11 other schools in basketball.

Sun Belt: I could not name a single school in this conference without a Google search.

The Rivers Run Red . . .

2007-04-05T18:15:00.000-04:00

Because believe it or not, I am actually back with a new post. Jeff over at Ramblin Racket has come up with a brilliant idea for the off season in the form of a Georgia Tech bloggers roundtable. Apparently you don't actually have to still be writing to be considered a blogger and thus I was invited. So without further adiue here are my answers to the first set of questions:

1. (Single obligatory basketball question) What do you make of the ACC's postseason in basketball? Was the conference overrated, or did the teams just get unlucky draws in the tourney?

As a basketball nut I still feel pretty strongly that the ACC was the best top to bottom conference in basketball this year. That mostly had to do with the middle and lower tier teams this season instead of the top tier teams (really team.) The ACC, and as much as I’m loath to admit it the SEC, were really the only two conferences where the conference leaders still needed to worry about the bottom feeders on a nightly basis. Even Miami beat Maryland at the end of the season and they were one of the hottest teams in the country. You can see the same thing in NC State’s performance in the ACC Tournament.

As for the flame out in the NCAA, while the ACC had the best top to bottom conference it was lacking in having the best top of the conference. Each team from the ACC that made the tourney this year had at least one easily exploitable weakness that kept them from truly moving on.

UNC – Relatively young team with a coach that is legendary for shaky big game coaching. You can disagree with that last sentence all you want, but in truth Roy was just smart enough to get out of the way of his national title team.

Virginia Tech – Only had one night in, night out consistent scorer in Dowdle.

Virginia – Stop Singletary or Reynolds and you stopped UVA.

Duke – Their big man should be made to wear a tutu during games and they were the youngest Duke team in like 40 years.

Boston College – No interior game to speak of and a very weak bench after the starting 5.

Georgia Tech – We honestly were like UNC light from my criticisms above. On top of that UNC at least had Bobby Frasor and even Quentin Thomas to go to when Lawson was playing bad or tired. Tech just didn’t have a back-up PG option at all and it showed throughout the season whenever Crit was either in foul trouble or tired.

2. On to football! Where will Georgia Tech be ranked in the preseason polls, and where do you think the Jackets should be ranked?

I suspect we should be in the top 30 and in my opinion smart analysts would have us in the 20-25 range. I honestly believe that the loss of Reggie overcomes the loss of CJ. Yes, I believe that Reggie Ball was a worse player than CJ was a legendary player. Yes, this means that I believe Reggie Ball is in the legendarily bad player camp. It was like watching Ryan Leaf’s pro career, but in college.

3. All due credit to Tech's 2006 squad, but we benefited from Miami and other teams' lackluster seasons. Will the big-reputation programs like FSU and Miami be back in 2007?

FSU should be a very interesting program next year. If Bobby will keep his hands out of Jimbo Fisher’s cookie jar then FSU could be very scary. They always have talent on all sides of the ball, but they have been squandering their offensive talent under some of the most damaging nepotism to ever conceivably take place. The season did end for them on a degree of quarterback controversy and that’s never a good thing for a program. Out of the two of FSU and Miami, I would still pick FSU as the most likely to come back to full strength.

As for Miami, I just believe that the 2008 season is when they will really begin to get back in synch. Too much bad stuff has happened over the last two seasons for them to completely recover and be dominant this season. But like FSU they will have the talent to prove me wrong. Of course they have Nix now to make sure that Kyle Wright is put into some kind of sophomore stasis in his QB development.

4. Our out-of-conference schedule is exciting, with Notre Dame and Georgia bookending the season, and while Army is a cupcake, playing a military academy is kinda cool in my book. Which game are you more stoked about between ND and UGA? Also, what ACC games are you most excited about?

As far as I’m concerned we should pecker slap ND next year. They are replacing most of last year’s team and going up against a QB making his first ever collegiate start. Even if that QB is Jimmy OMFG Clausen. They also replace most of their o-line starters, lose McKnight and Smardlkhstnsdfklue at WR, and Walker at RB.

(He's coming for you Jimmy!)

I’m excited about the concept of the pecker slapping, because beating ND is good for America. However, I just can’t get as fired up about that as I am about the UGA game. Both teams should be better this year than last and we have them at home. We’ve been completely pwned in recent years and I hope we’re do, but I just don’t make guarantees when it comes to the UGA game.

5. Lighting Round! (Cue "Eye of the Tiger") Name the first thing that comes to mind, as fast as you can:

Calvin Johnson: Freak of nature.

Tailgate Food: Pulled pork.

Beesball: Brought to you by Ambien (sorry I just really find college baseball boring)

Taylor Bennett: Throws to the middle.

6. How do you deal with the football offseason? Prayer? Hibernation? Blogging?

I actually cherish about half of the off-season. I am a very emotional fan and going from football to basketball leaves me pretty drained once the seasons are over (good or bad.) So for a few months I enjoy not being worked up over the game and fill the time with reading, videogames, and blogging.

Unfortunately, this really only lasts until about June and then I’ll be completely fired up for football with still far too long to wait for the games to return. At that point, I turn to my trusty friend Internet Pornography to get me through the rest of the summer.

(Me and Neil Diamond deal with loneliness in the same way.)

(Make sure you check out all of the answers over at Ramblin Racket.)

Not Really a Shock

2006-12-21T09:31:00.000-05:00

(I’m honestly not going to tell you guys that this post marks a sudden upswing in the amount of articles on this blog. In fact I don’t know if it will ever be any better than sporadic since I got a promotion at work going into ’07 that will definitely increase my responsibilities. My employer is also looking to hire more sales guys which will also end up with more work for yours truly. So, no more empty promises. There will still be articles on this site occasionally as the mood touches me and if I travel regularly that will increase the articles as well. Thanks. –mgt.)

Some folks will talk about class, some will talk about disappointment, some will say things like “how awful it was to end a career like this,” but I say:

The truth is that I didn’t want Reggie to play in the Gator Bowl and now I got my wish. I’m not going to sit here and lament how it came about. I’m going to enjoy my moment. It’s not like the kid suffered some awful injury (outside obvious brain trauma as a child) or lost a close family member. A senior player on the team decided that class wasn’t that important (although how the coaching staff didn’t know about this is a frightening proposition, even more frightening would be if they did). At this point is anybody even really surprised that even in giving a chunk of the fan base what they wanted, Reggie still found a way to make it disappointing?

I honestly hope it’s a wake up call for the young man, but I’ve yet to see him learn from his mistakes so I honestly don’t believe he will start now.

Weekend Review

2006-12-04T08:08:00.000-05:00

Football: Wake Forest 9 - GT 6
Basketball: Miami 90 - GT 82

Instead of a lengthy post, I have chosen to express my inner anguish through the majesty of song.

The only man that can fully express how pissed I am.

Odds and Ends: I Totally Suck

2006-11-16T15:33:00.000-05:00

Okay, you think you’re going to get back in the blogging habit and then you blink and you haven’t updated the site in 3 weeks. It’s the same old boring excuse (work . . . yadda, yadda), but it really is true. In fact I was supposed to be going to Chicago this afternoon for a sales presentation tomorrow, but the dumbasses we were supposed to meet got the dates confused and double-booked our time with another vendor. It sucks, because I’ve been busting ass on preparing a demo for them, but it’s good because it means that I won’t miss the men’s basketball game versus Georgia State tonight.

So a few other updates:

Blog Roll Updated: I finally switched In Dodd We Trust to Ramblin Racket. I mean it’s only been about 4 months since Jeff moved over to Sportsblog Nation.

I also included the fantastic Clemson blog – Danny Ford is God. They know the value of swear words and childish humor like yours truly, but actually update on a regular basis.

Grandson vs. Grandson: The prize is Lefty’s love!

Men’s Basketball Thoughts: Just a few more thoughts around men’s basketball before tonight’s GSU game. Thus far I’ve been to the Moorehouse exhibition, the Elon game, and the Jackson State game.

Good:

Offense, offense, offense – This team can score in bunches and from several different positions. When you’re starting 5 all score in double figures with a bench player scoring in double figures as well and one or two others threatening, then you definitely have some offensive weapons. This is also without Anthony Morrow at full strength, unfortunately I think this will take some time to happen.

Javaris Crittenton is very good – This was definitely what the team was missing last year, a true point guard with some competitive drive and actual toughness. I meant it when I wished Zam well after last season, but I am so happy that his departure made it easier to have Critty and then Mo Miller next season that I may make a mess at my desk. Critty sees the court well, he handles the ball well, he can drive to the basket and take some punishment (needs to work on finishing still, but he’s only a freshman), and he even goes hard on defense (it needs some work, but nothing time in a system won’t fix). These are all of the things that last year’s team was missing from the 1 spot in order to finish games.

. . . So is Thad Young – I think he’s still working on learning when to take over a game, but right now he’s doing a bit of everything and making differences on the court. As we start moving into ACC play and seeing more man to man defense, I see him stepping it up even more for us.

Peacock vs. Dickey is huge for this team – Starting Zach Peacock over Dickey and telling them that the starting 5 job is open for the season has thus far been huge for this team. Dickey is hustling in the games where it doesn’t really matter and we can at this point only extrapolate that he will keep hustling in the games were it really does matter. Peacock has a crazy motor and is playing very well himself right now. In fact, I feel like he gets pulled for breathers more than substandard play. Dickey, on the other hand, is been coming in and playing efficient basketball with solid scoring and rebounding.

Bad:

Free throws – The team is shooting an abysmal 60.8% from the charity stripe right now. It’s especially disconcerting because they are getting to the line a good bit each game. I don’t know if it’s nerves or what, but we have too many shooters on this team to be shooting that badly. It’s been a problem with Hewitt teams and I don’t know if it’s going to get better, but I can only hope that it does. Otherwise we’re going to see things like last year’s UGA game where they can just keep sending Jeremis to the line and let him clank away free points.

Defense (sort of) – The kids play hard, but it’s obvious the freshman have a lot to learn about communication with one another and keeping it up for a whole game. I imagine it’s hard to stay focused in a game with a 30 point lead, but I’d like to see it happen some more. Maui will really be the first indicator of where this team stands defensively. We have the length and the athleticism to be a problem for anybody in the country, but you can’t fall asleep out there or you will get burned.

Ugly:

Not much falls in the ugly category right now. Although Stefanie is not a big fan of the dance team’s gold spandex pants (though we both agree this about the top to bottom hottest dance team we’ve had in a while). They’re a little too Leslie Hall for her tastes.

Odds and Ends: What Sucky Weekend

2006-10-25T13:40:00.000-04:00

Once again it’s been kind of slow posting around here and for that I apologize. I have some more big articles in the works and hopefully I’ll have them up in the next week or so. I’ll have plenty of time once people get through November as pre-sales work really slows down after Thanksgiving until New Years. With that said, there are a few odds and ends that I can cover.

I Don’t Wanna Talk About It – Last Saturday was an ass whupping pure and simple. You know you got your shit worked when you thing of all of the things your team could have done differently and the end result is still “well it would have been a more competitive game.” And for those talking about getting revenge in the ACCCG, fuck that noise. I don’t wanna see these assholes again until next season. I saw nothing that said the outcome would be any different if played them again at the end of the season. I think I just became a de facto BC and Wake Forest fan.

I Need Backup – I’m still the only Jacket actively posting on I Gotta Rant. Maybe I scared folks off talking about the number of leghumpers over there, but it’s a good board and could use a Jacket presence. The Arcade alone is worth it.

One Tech Team Still Won on Saturday – Of course it was a scrimmage so it was impossible to lose. I made it to Hoopsfest down on campus and watched the scrimmage for the men’s basketball team (tickets got here last week: shiny). As depressing as the football game was there is a lot to be excited about for men’s hoops this season. I quick rundown of what I saw

Thaddeus Young – Folks, he is everything that is advertised. He scores from all over the court, plays defense, rebounds, passes, and is athletic as hell.

I’m really excited to watch all of college basketball this year with the influx of NBA level talent. Especially considering how talented this year’s freshman class was on the whole.

Javaris Crittendon – Ran the offense really well and was definitely looking to push the temp. His outside shot was off, but he drove to the basket with reckless abandon and played really outstanding defense for a freshman player. Banged his ankle up a little bit, but then came back.

Zack Peacock – Obviously you take a step down from the two talents above and Peacock was no exception, but as more traditional college freshman go I was very impressed. First, he looks like he’s about 23 years old. If he grows into his frame even more, he’s going to be a beast. He also knew his role: rebounding and defense. He had one ugly shot and one great shot so consistency will need to develop there.

Brad Sheehan – A better athlete and more skilled than Luke at the same point in his career, but he will have to add muscle and knowledge to compete in the ACC. He is my most likely candidate to receive a red shirt this season.

Alade Aminu – Thicker and more skilled than he was last season. He’s not a Dickey, but he’s not the decrease in skill that he was last year. Other 4’s and 5’s will get sick of chasing this young man down the court during the season.

D’andre Bell – Moved to the back-up PG spot and looked like his handle has improved. From what I saw he’ll be fine at spelling Critty when he needs it, but his minutes should decrease significantly. He can still hit an open jumper out to 3-point range and that should not be discounted.

Lewis Clinch – Had a bad day shooting, but smartly became content to play defense and work the ball around. He still hit some nice shots, but he obviously was having an off day. I would like to have seen him drive to the rim more than he did.

Paco Diaw – Surprisingly improved in my opinion. He’s thicker and improved his handle from the looks of it, but could still be a reds hirt candidate since we’re so deep at combo guard this year.

Muha Faye – He had 14 points, several rebounds, played good defense, and negotiated peace between North and South Korea. All in all, a below average day.

Jeremis Smith – He had a typical Jeremis day. Several nice rebounds in traffic, good defense, and a couple of put backs and that’s all I really want him to do. He took a 3 and barely missed it, but he shouldn’t be shooting rather out than 10 feet with the rest of the players we have this season.

Ra’Sean Dickey – Dickey’s hands looked good, his moves to the basket looked good, his outside shot looked good, and his FT’s looked good. But he’s still one of those players that you feel could have played a little harder than he did once the game is over. I think it’s just his style and attitude, but if he plays like he did on Saturday we’ll be fine in the post all season while wondering if we could have gotten more.

Anthony Morrow – DNP. He looked thicker, but I don’t if that’s weights or the fact that he’s missed workout with the back injury.

Mario West – Mario did his Mario things. Picked a couple of pockets, made life hell on the perimeter for Critty in bringing the ball up and hit a couple of jumpers and dunks. By far the most emotional player on the court and hopefully he fills that Clarence Moore role that we were missing last year.

Matt Causey – He’ll sit this year due to transfer rules and that is a shame, because he would be an excellent back-up for Critty this year. He wasn’t hitting his outside shots, but he had several nice moves to the basket and also likes to run the court. He’ll fit very well into our system.

General Observations – The team is very tall and very athletic top to bottom. I think you’ll see a lot more transition baskets and a very up temp offensive style. Especially when Critty is running the show. It’s obvious that he, Thad and Dickey have a nice rapport between them as the blue team scored several times by taking the ball after a basket and catching the gold team loafing up the court some on defense. I also saw a lot more motion from the boys in the half court sets that will hopefully take some pressure of Hewitt for the poor offensive showings we had the last two years at times.

I was very concerned about FT shooting though as the team was struggling with that on Saturday. I think Dickey was the only person to go 100% and with the athletes we have and their ability to get around the rim these boys need to hit FT to punish the other team for lazy defense. Hopefully it gets better or Saturday wasn’t indicative of the team as a whole, but considering our woes from the charity stripe the last couple of years it was a little disconcerting.

No matter what this team should be fun to watch. There will be growing pains with two freshman in the starting line-up, but they are definitely stars in the making and since they’ll be surrounded by a talented and experienced junior class this could be a very special season in the making.

With that, I bring you your moment of Yellow Jacket Zen:

Odds and Ends: Idle Hands

2006-10-12T15:31:00.000-04:00

Just a few quickies here before I preview the big battle against IDLE we have coming up.

Maryland: Well for 3 and a half quarters it looked like Ike Turner wasn’t a changed man at all. But in the end it really was just Tim Meadows pretending to be Ike Turner. Hopefully this truly is a turning point for the team in getting over letdown games, because we have a big one in 9 days against a Clemson team that’s riding high and fighting for an ACC title shot.

One quick note, but this is the first 5 game win streak of the Chan Gailey era.

Inter-league Message Board: I got an email offering to advertise WTGW from a message board and went to check it out. It’s actually a pretty decent site despite being completely overrun with mutt fans. I’ve linked them in my blog roll over to the right (I Gotta Rant) and am looking for some back up as the only active Jacket poster right now.

Maxwell Pundit:
I should have discussed this before, but excellent Notre Dame blog The Rakes of Mallow is having their own internet voting for the Maxell Award. While he’s way behind Troy Smith, Calvin is currently pretty comfortable in second place after six weeks of voting.

Finally, I leave you with your moment of Yellow Jacket Zen:

2006-10-05T17:50:00.000-04:00

Uh Oh, Dan Figured Out Youtube

A simple combination of two of my favorite things in the world: GT and Adult Swim.

Odds and Ends: Post VT Thoughts

2006-10-02T17:26:00.000-04:00

Once again I leave all of the statistical analysis to other bloggers who are more qualified (read interested). I’ll just throw props to the entire team in what was possibly the best team performance since the 1998 game vs. UVA. We dominated in every facet of the game and it’s been a long time since I’ve seen that.

Good

The offense looked good when it was really needed and then looked a little confused to be up so early and so easily. Here’s hoping they don’ panic about scoring 3 touchdowns in a single quarter and keep that momentum rolling.

Calving Johnson has truly become a threat from anywhere on the field instead of just on the jump ball. Anybody that thinks Ted Ginn Jr. is a better receiver than Calvin or Dwayne Jarrett more likely than not rubs one out in the library on occasion. (Hell, Ginn isn’t a better receiver than Rodriguez.)

We lined up and powered the football some. The o-line finally played with some pride and Choice had the game I’ve been waiting for all season. He was dancing around the whole so much in the first 4 games that I thought we should get him a tutu.

I don’t think much else can be said about the defense other than they will cut you.

Whatever in the fuck the coaches are feeding the special teals, it needs to be doubled.

Bad

Reggie still looked like Reggie on the one interception. It was especially egregious, because he missed a WIDE open CJ in order to try and force a jump ball into a triple covered Greg Dunlap. The second INT was Calvin’s fault and there’s no arguing it. I don’t know if he thought the ball wasn’t coming his way, but if he looks for it then it’s a 30 yard completion or at least an incomplete.

I don’t know what it is that we put in the other teams water, but every game this season has seen on benefit from some egregious dropped passes. I don’t know if it’s the whacking we give the QB throughout the game, but I’m still a little concerned about the secondary if some of these get caught. On the plus side, we’re talking the best I’ve seen in years.

Ugly

I’m strongly considering becoming a college ref, because apparently the only requirement is breathing and the guy working the replay booth for Oregon\Oklahoma sounds like he was struggling with that. They completely choked on 3 reviewed calls (2 favoring VT and 1 favoring GT.) Threw an unsportsmanlike conduct flag on a single player TALKING to a huddle of opposing player’s around him and decided that it would just be legal for VT to hold for the last 7 minutes of the game. Frankly if you could bottle bowel cancer and send it as a gift I’d be willing to give it a shot.

Nathan covered it beautifully, but I’m giving an ugly to our fans that can’t be fucking happy at least once in their lives. I swear it shames me that I share a degree with most of these retards.

Odds and Ends:

Schadenfreude – Is the joy I take in the absolute implosion of Ted Roof and Bill O’Brien’s regime at Duke so wrong? I know most of the Hive rides Ted Roof’s black striped jock, but that fucker single handedly cost Joe Hamilton the Heisman trophy. Watching O’Brien call a game was like watching special Olympic basketball. You felt giggly, depressed, and shocked all at the same time. Gailey’s offense is dull as hell, but Billy O defined the word clusterfuck.

Maryland – I know we apparently have a lot of fans talking trash about this Maryland game and on paper we should definitely be making a sandwich with their cheese. But right now I’m still guarded. This game is the equivalent of Ike Turner standing outside on my porch with flowers and a contrite look on his face telling me how changed he is. Do I let him into my house and potentially take another NCSU\Utah or do I make him wait and prove to me that he’s changed? I’m currently cautiously optimistic due to a senior laden team that seems to enjoy sandwiches and the making there of, but Ike’s not coming into the house until Saturday night.

I’m sorry Kevin Nealon.

Odds and Ends: Quick Clips

2006-09-28T10:53:00.000-04:00

Just two click clips that must be shared with everyone.  Enjoy!

Beware the wrath of Orgeron:  Try your damndest not to laugh too loudly at this clip.  The Orgeron can hear you and he’s coming for your soul.

MSU Officially Broke Mike Valenti:  The ever-excellent House Rock Built has a clip of Mile Valenti’s outstanding post Michigan State meltdown rant.  I have only a few times in my life been that close to flipping out and they all involved GT sports events.  So I get his pain, but I will still laugh at it.

Odds and Ends: I'm Not Dead Yet!

2006-09-26T16:09:00.000-04:00

Alright damn it, a three week diet of cupcakes (UVA I’m definitely looking in your direction) and a suddenly huge workload killed my posting streak. Being a Tech grad, I also think the continued use of words and the subsequent putting them together in a sentence thing broke my writing ability for a bit.

That being said, we’ve had some increased traffic on the site and our first real test since the ND game to start the season coming up this Saturday. So I guess I should get myself back into writing at least a little bit. I would even analyze the Falcons game, but since the announcing crew and America got their wish in NO winning the game I’ll just pass.

Moving On Up: Nathan has actually been promoted to paid blogger over on the AOL sports section. He’ll still be updating the Golden Tornado site in a fashion slightly more frequent than I update this site, but he’s putting up smaller information packed blurbs over on AOL as well.

Some other notable bloggers in the same boat are Ian from Sexy Results and Brian from Mgoblog. You should be checking all of those on a regular basis.

Yay, For Puppies: Keep Jeff from Ramblin Racket in your thoughts and prayers. It looks like he might be having his own little baby crotch licker.

True, True: Orson is going to be spending this week trash talking the fine state of Alabama. Of course he misses the paradox in expecting Alabamians to actually be able to read his online bashings.
Although Kenny Irons apparently got 4 credit hours for being logged on to EDSBS last week.

Tech Fans: Behind the Curtain

2006-09-01T00:31:00.000-04:00

(Finally the article that I have been deliberating on since starting this blog. The article that will pull me off of other Tech blog rolls, get me banned from GT message boards, and fill my inbox with poorly punctuated, yet highly mathematic, vitriol. Obviously not all of this true, unless it is.)

While Orson might have prepped our Irish friends for their trip to Atlanta, what he didn’t adequately prepare them for was actually dealing with Tech fans. Considering the amount of time that we will spend together this Saturday, I believe it important for the Domers to understand what it is that makes the average Tech fan tick. How exactly we go about our lives and what is the impetus for how the why and how of our behavior.

I give unto you Tech Fans: Behind the Curtain

I drive . . . I drive . . . I drive a Dodge Stratus! No quote has better summed up the thought process of the average engineer quite like the gem above. The truth is that Tech is a hard school (not as hard as some make it out to be and I’ll touch on that later), but in truth it pretty much prepares most of us for boring non-fulfilling middle manager positions that many lack the social or tactical ability to escape. Go and watch that clip again, and not only because it’s hysterical, the slow build up to anger is quintessential middle-aged engineer. Lucky for the visiting fan there is one universal truth at work here; there is no funnier rage than bitter impotent rage. If you want to see something really special make some comment about how you think your school is better than ours. I would keep a minimum safe distance of about 10 feet. Not really because of potential violence, but the spittle associated with that level of histrionic sputtering and chest thumping can reach some impressive distances.
(Picture:) People are afraid of me!

My boy doesn’t have what you call the social skills. Interacting with the Tech fan socially can be an interesting and educational experience. While we are exceedingly intelligent within chosen vocations, there are certain levels of “social retardation” that are seemingly related to these traits. For instance the portion of the brain that says “don’t wear a short sleeve button down shirt with a tie” is woefully underdeveloped. Unfortunately we seem unable to turn our powerful deductive reasoning skills inward as to why our social lives do not turn out the way we wish for them to be. Deciding instead to surround ourselves with self-fulfilling prophecies and blatant falsehoods. The greatest of these being that while at Tech you had no time for a social life. We like to make it appear that we were regularly placed within a burlap sack and beaten with reeds for our insolence. The truth is that we spent most Saturday nights in our dorms chatting with the ever charming and understanding IvanaHumpalott who more likely than not was a 500-pound Russian refugee named Ivan.

A great philosopher once said, “Rationalizations are more important than sex.” When challenged that nothing is more important than sex he wisely responded, “ever been a week without a rationalization?” As we don’t get laid anyway, trust me when I say that we fill that void with rationalizations. In fact much like the doting mother protecting their child, Tech fans are at their greatest skills in weaving half-truths when lying to themselves. Clearly the other kids are making fun of your completely sweet silk Wolverine tie, because you’re smarter than they and that threatens them. (Uh, not that I know anything about that.)

The Sin of Being Incorrect: Engineers are taught from the earliest stages of their education that there is no greater sin in this world than being wrong. And with good reason as you might have heard of a few rounding mistakes in engineering: The Hindenburg, Challenger, Columbia, Chernobyl, etc. Unfortunately, we’ve allowed this attitude to carry over into the softer sciences like psychology, politics, and football. We then mingle this delightful fear of falsity with the aforementioned handicap in the area of the social graces and create a concoction in which arrogance plied by willful ignorance is mistaken for confidence. Thus be prepared to see otherwise rational people unwilling to give up the silliest stances on subjects all because of the abject fear of being incorrect.

(Picture: Should have carried the one.)

Be Prepared!

So when you combine all of this together you get an interesting hodge-podge of existence. A being possessing a broad range of ability, but sometimes woefully short of application. A creature with an over inflated sense of entitlement, but without the vocabulary to explain why. For instance while Tech Fans might try to convince you that we don’t like Domers, because of historical rivalry, running up the score, fish throwing, etc. The truth is that whenever Notre Dame fans are around we’re no longer the most undeservedly arrogant person in the room.

And if you’re not first, you’re last. So welcome to campus, bitches.

Motivating the SEC

2006-08-28T18:51:00.000-04:00

We're down to 4 days until toe meets leather and only 3 days until CFB starts in general. I have planned out some actual articles this week and this is the first them as I build upon my Motivating the ACC post to hopefully run a series here on WTGW? over the next couple of weeks.

Odds and Ends: Light Week Ahead

2006-08-21T17:25:00.000-04:00

It’s a somewhat bad week again at work so posting might be kind of light.  On the upside I’m traveling a good bit towards the end of the week and I wrote the Lipton bit while on a plane and have a few different ideas for in-flight\layover time killers.  I’m hoping this means that next week will fulfill all of your wildest fantasies.

Just a few odds and ends today to get us started:

Fan Day Was Fun

I made it to my first eve GT Fan Day.  Stefanie and I had a good time and she got to talk with James Johnson who played freshman football with her brother in HS.  James actually remembered Greg and asked how he was doing.  Some of our boys are really impressive in person.  Michael Johnson is a man and Taalib Tucker should just walk around saying, “I’m Taalib Tucker! I will smack you in the mouth!”  Some of the guys standing in the injury line seemed to be doing better.  Of course, there is a difference between being well enough to stand around in your jersey and being fit enough to play, but here’s hoping.  Next year we’ll know not to be fashionably late.  The line for Reggie, CJ, and Tashard Choice was over an hour and a half long by the time we got there.

We took a few pictures and I’ll try to throw them up tomorrow or later today.

More Potential Big Time Recruits Around The Corner?

I tell you what; nobody is more surprised than me with the turnaround in recruiting we’ve experienced this year.  It’s like we replaced Shelley Levene with Ricky Roma out there.  I don’t know who showed up from downtown with the brass balls, but so far it appears to be working as the rumor mill has Josh Nesbitt, Jonathan Dwyer, and Nick Claytor all potentially declaring for the Jackets next Thursday.

Joe Tereshinksi Named UGA’s Starting QB:

I don’t think this is much a surprise to anyone that’s been following the crotch lickers’ summer sessions.  Richt strikes me as the type that will be loyal to his seniors unless given very strong reason not to be.  Although, I don’t think Joe T. is starting by the end of the season.  Western Kentucky will tell a lot about the plans for this team.

12 More Days and Everybody Can Zip Them Up:

We’re in probably the most annoying part of the off-season and that’s the home stretch.  Fans from every school are out there shit talking their opposition for the first game, running down opposing teams, coaches, and players that coming up this season, and generally making asses of themselves.  It’s almost over.  Meaning that everyone can put their johnsons away and let the people that actually have direct impact on the outcome of the games get down to business.

Odds and Ends: The Homers Club

2006-08-17T15:26:00.000-04:00

Sorry for a light couple of days putting anything of substance up, but I haven’t had too much to cover that the other guys at better blogs hadn’t already said. I did have a plan to really help FightinAmish from the always hysterical The House Rock Built, is looking for a bit of advice on rolling in the ATL. Unfortunately, Orson Swindle came in with his big words and his fancy punctuation, and pretty much stepped right on my literary nuts. I recommend that everybody read that article, as it is a fantastic representation of Atlanta and Tech. Plus, he has an open call for adding your two cents to the whole bit.

Congratulations go to Jeff for bringing home the Coulter\Krugman award for outstanding achievement in the field of excellence in the first blogpoll of the year. Actually the award is commendable amounts of homerism within your ballot. Jeff had GT ranked #4 in a ballot that on the whole didn’t even see them make the top 25. Bravo sir!

Nathan has finally given us the last of his mascot reviews with the second half of the SEC. I have to admit that having a live Tiger is about the coolest thing ever. Nathan will probably be back sometime in mid-December to tell us which conference is the overall winner. (I kid, because I love.)

Odds and Ends: We're Still Blogging

2006-08-14T17:51:00.000-04:00

Several folks actually linked to the Lipton Article making it about the only thing I’ve ever written that people apparently actually liked. I don’t want to kill the theme too much so I’ll probably put the series under wrap until halfway through the football season. Believe it or not, it’s actually hard to come up with so many overbearing and undeserved statements of praise.

As for a few hits around the blogosphere:

Nathan hits us up two times, two times, with the funny. It’s good to have Nathan back in the blogging swing of things. Otherwise we wouldn’t have gotten the first part of his ratings for the SEC Mascots or a rather Lipton’esque video extolling the virtues of not only a Clemson education, but also Clemson’s mere existence.

Jeff shows us that Calvin Johnson is now a part of the ESPN hype machine by making their list of 2006 X-Men. Since comic books and Georgia Tech go together like peas and carrots, I wholeheartedly approve this endorsement.

PaulWesterDawg, one of my favorite crotch sniffers, hits one a little too close to home as he brings up the great dilemma of 2006: DragonCon or GT vs. ND. I wish I could still link to it, but I’m sure it’s scrolled off the Hive by now; last year some of the Auburn faithful were giving us grief and I went for the pre-emptive strike on a DragonCon joke. Of course the good natured Auburn folks got a laugh out of it, but the one douchebag Auburn fan couldn’t help pushing the bar a little. Most of us ignored him since we figured he was just killing time in his directed reading class anyway. But of course one champ had to take up the banner and defend Tech’s honor. How did he do this you might ask, by standing up and saying; “well I wasn’t even going to go to DragonCon, until I realized I had a friend coming in from out of town that was going. So I’m going with him.”

It was the granddaddy of all “I don’t believe I would have told that Brother John” moments that I have ever witnessed.

Non-GT:

Just a few quick observations about the Falcons game on Friday that I don’t want to spend a whole post on.

VICK STOOD IN THE POCKET! VICK STOOD IN THE POCKET! – That was a rough impression of me on Friday night when Vick took the 2-yard dump to Warrick Dunn instead of running up the middle for 6 yards and a potential ruptured spleen up.

The run defense was, uh how shall I put this . . . atrocious. For all of the talk about working on the run defense, Clock Killin Corey Dillon looked pretty damn good against the defense. And as much as he’s my boy and all Keith Brooking looked slow out there.

I think we have a field goal kicker.

The offense looked good for the most part and I was impressed with Shockley at the end of the game. Of course Randall had a good game too, so it’s probably still a tie on the field. The obvious love that a 3rd string QB got from the barking fans in oil stained overalls probably pushes him ahead from a pure marketing standpoint.

It’s the first preseason game so I am reserving judgment until we have a few more of them.

Football is starting!

2006-08-11T13:39:00.000-04:00

Obviously my first love is GT sports, but another team near and dear to my heart opens up their “season” tonight against the New England Patriots.  Obviously I’m talking about the Falcons; who will attempt to improve on last year’s non-winning\non-losing season.  It’s hard to tell anything from the first pre-season game, but there are some things that I’ll be watching while the first team is out on the field:

Vick’s Passing – It’s already been confirmed in the AJC that Michael will get two series in the game.  I’m hoping we move the ball enough to get a decent mix of plays in there and see how his passing looks . . .

Receiver Quality – Alge is going to sit this game, so going along with Vick’s hopefully improved passing will be seeing how Roddy White and Michael Jenkins perform as primary receivers.  The loss of Brian Finneran for the year definitely hurts and we need these two to step-up.

Run Defense – As the face of the franchise Vick took a lot of heat last year, but the Falcons lost a ton of games because we couldn’t stop the other team from scoring in the final minutes.  It actually felt a lot like that ’99 Tech team that scored on almost every possession, but couldn’t stop my grandmother (dead for three years at this point) from blasting through the line for 8-9 yards.

New Secondary – We have almost a completely new look in the secondary.  Definitely a worthwhile change as last year’s secondary wasn’t worth the price of lead to take them out in the street and shoot them.  With Webster ahead of schedule for his annual injury we’ll get to see 2nd round rookie pick Jimmy Williams play with the 1st team defense.  Since he can actually lay the wood on folks, I’m anticipating him having the starting job by the end of the year.

Shockley trying to make the team – I tend to forego college rivalries once a guy is out of school, unless I absolutely could not stand him in college.  I liked Shockely at UGA and I’m rooting for him over Randall to take that 3rd QB slot.

Inside the Tech Man's Studio

2006-08-10T17:42:00.000-04:00

The other week Dan Radakovich graced Matt Chernoff and Chuck Smith with his presence on Monsters of the Mid-day. Matt asked some tough, but fair questions that I felt Dan did an excellent job with addressing. Predictably The Hive felt that Chernoff did not lob near enough Tech worshipping softball questions to Mr. Radakovich and the inevitable whining about support from our “flagship” station began.

After a little research, I have decided that I agree with them. For instance, did you know that “flagship” is apparently of German derivation and originally meant, “taint worshipping ass snackery of the highest magnitude?” Obviously for your “flagship” to ask any question not expressly designed to show your utter levels of superiority to any and all things in existence is an outrage of high order that can no longer be tolerated. We as Tech fans have always demanded respect and we should demand no lest from our flagship station.

I’m not one for just griping though. I’m here to offer viable solutions and obviously there is only one man out there capable of providing the stratospheric levels of adoration worthy of carrying on a conversation with even the lowliest bums sleeping in our hallowed halls, much less our Athletic Director and coaches. I am speaking of course of mediocre celebrity teabag master James Lipton. A man capable of spending a full hour making Ashton Kutcher look as if the lack of Oscar on his mantle is one of the great crimes of the 21st century.

We here at What’s The Good Word would like to show you the future of all GT related interviews with our first edition of Inside The Tech Man’s Studio™. For example, Mr. Lipton had a chance to sit down with our own head ball coach himself, Chan Gailey. Coach Gailey was able to withstand almost lethal levels of adulation in his hour with James.

Here are just some of the highlights:

James Lipton (JL): Four consecutive seven win seasons, four consecutive bowl appearances in exotic and distance locations, and the love of the whole world. These achievements describe not a mere mortal man, but a modern day Atlas hoisting the football heavens on his mighty shoulders. I almost dare not speak his name for fear of striking our students deaf, but I shall stride forward resolutely in honor of the excellence that our guest represents. Ladies and gentleman I present to you a man that magnifies the worthlessness of your very existence, Georgia Tech head coach Chan Gailey.

Coach Chan Gailey (CCG): Gee golly shucks.

JL: I fear that I have wet myself in excitement. But let us continue nonetheless. You sir are delight made flesh, pleasure personified, and in my amateur opinion the cure of all the world’s ills. How does Chan Gailey wake in the morning and prepare to unleash his grandeur upon the world?

CCG: Shucks, gee, golly. I just want the boys to go out and do good. When I was running the Cowboys into the ground . . . I mean taking the team to consecutive play-off appearances with only three future Hall of Fame players on my roster, I never thought someone would use words quite as pretty as yours in describing my life.

JL: HA HA! I have been rendered sterile by your grace and humility. Tell me Chan, if I may use your first name, is it true that Georgia Tech is the source of all good things in the universe?

. . .

JL: We will now move to our quick questions as given by the students. What is your favorite play?

CCG: Run up the middle and then throw the ball out of bounds on two consecutive plays.

JL: Genius! What is your greatest success?

CCG: Averaging a roughly 20 hour drive to all of my bowl games.

JL: I am erect at the thought of your greatness. We thank you for joining us here and warming our tepid existence. I look forward to the days of bowing at your statues and praying to whatever direction it is that you are standing at the time.

Odds and Ends: I'm Finally Off of a Fucking Plane!

2006-08-10T10:58:00.000-04:00

Hah ha, you probably thought that I would update and then just disappear again. Well it was close to the truth, but I have been out of the office on the road most of the last two weeks. However I took some travel time to work on at least one new article for the site that should go up later today. Before we get to that, here are a few items passing around the Tech world of note:

Jeff is moving on up – In just a few short weeks, Jeff from In Dodd We Trust has been invited to leave the world of open free blogs here at blogspot and join the Sports Blog Nation. His new site is called Ramblin Racket and looks pretty damn nice. So congrats to Jeff and his success there. You should be reading the writings of anyone that ever said “there is no poon like Zentradi poon.”

ND Gameday shirts – A regular Hiver known has gtpsufan (who my wife also knows offline) has with some friends setup a t-shirt for the ND game. I personally think they are fucking hysterical. That of course means the socks and sandals crowd that comprises many of the vocal Hivers is upset about it. I think the next shirt should involve some dead baby jokes so we can show them what truly tasteless (yet hysterical humor) really is. Order you can order them in the thread, but you only have until tomorrow at 3 PM to get your order in.
Injuries already piling up – I’m honestly starting to really question our strength and conditioning programs. Every year we seem to have a lot of key personnel that gets banged up early or even suffering season ending injuries. Maybe I only notice more from Tech because I have my finger closer to the pulse, but I think if we look back over the years of practice starting up we seem to continue having this problem.