Rivalry with UGA defines Tech
UGA fans don't view the rivalry the same way Tech fans do.
It’s a given that Georgia fans hate to see the Dogs lose to Georgia Tech.
They are, after all, our in-state rival, and you always hate to lose such a game. But aside from bragging rights, UGA fans don’t attach nearly as much significance to the rivalry as do the folks from North Avenue.
We also hate to lose to Florida, Auburn or Tennessee. In fact, the Florida rivalry has a pretty strong claim to being the biggest one in the eyes of Bulldogs fans.
Whereas with the Techies, there’s no question at all who ranks No. 1 in their thoughts 365 days a year: Georgia.
It’s an obsession at Tech. I understand they indoctrinate incoming students at orientation with the importance of hating the school in Athens. They have “to hell with Georgia” in the official lyrics of their fight song. (UGA’s fight song makes no mention of Tech, and even the unofficial version sporting a “to hell with …” line sung by the student section substitutes whoever the Dogs are playing that week.)
Tech puts fans in the stands up on the Grant Field scoreboard video screen during a game to recite their mantra, “to hell with Georgia.” They put Bulldog stickers in some of the urinals at Grant Field. First thing Paul Johnson did after coming to Tech was declare that beating Georgia would be paramount for his team.
How large do the Dogs loom in the Jackets’ consciousness? They actually engraved the score of last year’s win over Georgia (Tech’s first in eight years) on the rings given to players the end of the season!
The lopsided nature of the results in football over the past four decades have also ingrained an insecurity in Tech fandom that even Johnson taking the Jackets back into the Top 10 can’t erase. Amid the usual trash talking this week in comments posted by Tech fans on Georgia blogs have been a surprising number of folks worrying that the Dogs somehow will pull out another win this year, despite the Jackets being the clear favorite.
I think an upset win by Georgia this year is unlikely. The 2009 Dogs are just too deeply flawed. But it could happen. And if it does, Dogs fans will be thrilled and surprised. But it will be just another Georgia win over Tech. The universe restored to its normal order.
If Tech wins, it’ll be just one more disappointment in an ugly season for Georgia fans. But in the Tech world, it will be time to put up a statue or something.
Their hatred of the Dogs is what defines them. After all, you can’t spell Georgia Tech without G-E-O-R-G-I-A!
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418 comments Add your comment
DawgVoiceofReason
November 29th, 2009
12:29 am
Mattie Brooks,
Brilliant, Mattie, you got one thing right in your comment on November 27th, 2009 2:47 pm when you said, “It won’t be close”. Had number 8 made the catch at the end, it would have been close but you guys got steamrolled.
I have just one thing to say, “How ’bout them Dawgs!!!!”
DawgVoiceofReason
November 29th, 2009
12:33 am
Atlanta native who just moved to Hawaii,
Our scoreboard clock was designed by Ga. Tech engineers, and that’s the best they can do. That’s why it doesn’t work!
How ’bout them DAWGS!!! (don’t worry about how we spell it; your team apparently had the same concern and didn’t pay enough attention to catching the ball).
DawgVoiceofReason
November 29th, 2009
12:52 am
It’s really too bad for all you “genius” engineers who talked smack here before the game and even tried to deny your obvious obsession with the University of Georgia. You’re obviously not so bright and certainly not as smart as you think you are.
How ’bout them Dawgs!!!
Statham Dawg
November 29th, 2009
2:12 am
Wow! Two 6-5 SEC teams beat the 2 ACC Championship teams Saturday, I have 10 ACC Championship tickets for sale and they are only 50 cents a piece!
Go Dawgs
November 29th, 2009
11:02 am
Ah, all the smack talking is hard to find now. Figures for the techies to be beat at their own game. Good game dawgs, all these Tech fans on here have proven how pathetic they really are.
GT IS A 4TH RATE HIGH SCHOOL TEAM
November 29th, 2009
11:06 am
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAFOREVER
GT IS A 4TH RATE HIGH SCHOOL TEAM
November 29th, 2009
11:08 am
GT FANS SAY UGA FANS ARE FAIR WEATHER FANS. I SAY, GT FANS ARE BAD WEATHER FANS AND TEHY LOVE AND ENJOY IT, WHAT A GROUP OF MASOCHISTS. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA FOREVER
GT IS A 4TH RATE HIGH SCHOOL TEAM
November 29th, 2009
11:09 am
PAUL JOHNSON SAYS THIS IS JUST ANOTHER GAME, A LAME EXCUSE AS HE KNOWS THAT GT WILL BE TRASHED. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA FOREVER
GT IS A 4TH RATE HIGH SCHOOL TEAM
November 29th, 2009
11:11 am
GT FANS SAYS DAWG FANS LIVE IN DIRTY TRAILERS, YES I WILL TALK TRASH FROM MY DIRTY TRAILER AND GT FANS WILL HEAR FROM ME FOREVER, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA FOREVER.
GT IS A 4TH RATE HIGH SCHOOL TEAM
November 29th, 2009
11:13 am
ACC CHAMPIONSHIP IS A GAME BETWEEN THE DUM AND THE DUMBER(GT). HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA FOREVER
GT IS A 4TH RATE HIGH SCHOOL TEAM
November 29th, 2009
11:14 am
ACC (ASSOCIATION OF CUP CAKES) HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA FOREVER
Scott
November 29th, 2009
12:17 pm
I let out a huge sigh of relief when Nesbitt returned to the game!
Wouldn’t matter that AJ Green (on of the best in the country) was out. Wouldn’t matter that Rambo (our best safety) was out…it would have only been another year of whining…”you had to take a cheap shot to elimanate Nesbitt or we would have won”….yeah, yeah.
Tech fans are unlike a new litter of puppies in that….the puppies stop whining in 8 weeks.
Go Dawgs.
ha!!!
November 30th, 2009
9:16 am
what a moronic blog post. and it’s totally proven wrong by all these bull puppies’ visceral responses to the biggest win of their season…. it’s even funnier to hear them say ‘ACC and Tech stinks’ but ‘we beat a top 10 team, great for UGA, we are the best’.
oh and to be proud of this UGA team? The one that starts a fight before the game? the one that intentionally injures Nesbitt (funny UGA whining about UF poking them in the eye, and UGA is just as dirty)? the ones with about 5 late hits (only 1 called)? the one where Richt rips off his headset and gets in the face of Brad Jefferson (tech linebacker) after he pursued a UGA running back to the sideline (and didn’t hit him late, by the way, unlike UGA’s play)? Richt taunting other players, pathetic??? The one where your players were taunting fans as time ran out – wow, big tough men there? The one where they tried to get in a fight on the last play of the game? The one where ‘this game doesn’t matter’ but your players plant the UGA flag at the GT 40 at the end of the game?
Sure you guys won, but you showed why there is no class and respect for your team from Tech, UF, Auburn, or any other teams that play you.
yellow dawg
November 30th, 2009
3:35 pm
I am disappointed at the way UGA handled themselves Sat. trying to hurt Nesbitt, starting a fight. I may not be able to pull for UGA if they continue this thug acting behavior.
Saint Simmons
November 30th, 2009
6:25 pm
30-24!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
SugarfreeSailor
December 1st, 2009
10:51 am
So, I guess this article is completely backwards, looking at the comments. Yeah, it’s a rough loss for us, but we’ve got bigger things going for us. “Dawg fans” seem to think that this win compensates for their whole season… kind of like we used to. I see us losing a few and winning a few more in the rivalry game during the next 10-15 years, but it won’t make or break us. Don’t take our strategy during the early 2000’s and put your whole season on winning against your rival “college”. 1 and 2 against rivals this year… not bad.
To Hell With Georgia!
Clint
Sam
December 1st, 2009
10:44 pm
GT hates UGA every which way, not just in football, or even just in athletics. GT is one of the Top 10 public universities in the USA, and among the Top 100 in the world. UGA is a local university, and a high % of its alumni stay in GA, influencing the state government to spend dis-proportionate funds on UGa.
Fortunately, the advantages of Atlanta have made Georgia Tech and Georgia State the two best public univesities in the state, and with Emory, the three best overall.
Congratulations on wining a close, exciting, football game.
Lowcountry Jacket
December 2nd, 2009
9:59 am
I think Bill King’s column shows an unadmitted obsession with Tech. Since the Janet Kemp affair, Georgia’s admissions criteria and academics have improved a great deal, which has made it harder for them to compete against other SEC teams. They have an excellent veterinary school, business school and law school. But face it, Georgia is known more for its football team than its academics, while Tech is known worldwide for its rigorous degree programs. It’s a much harder school to get into, and even harder to graduate from. Being a Tech alum is a pretty exclusive club — one possible reason why much of Georgia’s toothless fan base have their own brand of Tech envy. The fact that Tech also has a competitive football program with a rich tradition (4 national championships, #8 in total bowl wins, the oldest continually-used field in Division I-A, an original fight song instead of a revamped version of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, regular appearances on Thursday Night Football, and a cool Model-A Ford mascot) makes it especially bitter for Georgia whenever they lose to us.
Tech fans are becoming less and less obsessed with Georgia as time goes on. Coach Paul Johnson is the first Tech coach to articulate that publicly. With Clemson and Virginia Tech on our schedule, how does beating Georgia ‘make’ our season? As much as I look forward to the Georgia game each year, there have been many times I’ve passed up watching the game and looked at the score in the news or on espn afterwards. This year I divided time between the game and working in the shop. On the other hand, I’d never think of sitting out the Virginia Tech or Clemson games.
Most Tech fans these days consider Va Tech a much more important opponent than Georgia, our old fight songs notwithstanding. And during the George O’Leary era, Florida State was a more important opponent for us. With talented but inferior teams, we came close to beating them couple times during their heyday in the 1990s. A victory over a top-5 FSU would have been sweeter than the three in a row we posted against you in those days. We were relieved to win last year after losing 7 in a row under Gailey (our version of Jim Donnan, who perhaps secretly wished he coached Georgia). But relief was all it was… not elation.