Walmart shoppers! Here’s the scoop on Tech and UGA fans!
Sometimes Tech folks feel overshadowed. (AJC photo by Johnny Crawford)
In years past our annual look at Georgia fans vis-a-vis Georgia Tech has been offered in the spirit of good clean fun. This year, for the sake of novelty (and also because even I’ve wearied of Willie Martinez), the idea will be to help these two neighboring-but-different groups actually understand one another.
And then we’ll all join hands and raise our voices in a spirited rendition of “I’d Like To Teach the World to Sing” and toast one another with Coca-Cola products, and by the way: Did you know Georgia fans refer to Bobby Dodd Stadium as “The Joke By Coke”?
But enough! No more gags from me this year! Instead I offer the observations gained from dwelling among Tech and Georgia folks these past 27 years, eight months and 18 days.
• Tech fans care just as much about football as Georgia fans. This may come as a surprise to those Bulldogs backers who are forever mocking the attendance at Bobby Dodd Stadium. (For the Jackets’ mammoth Thursday night clash against No. 10 Virginia Tech, attendance was announced at 50,140 in a facility that seats 55,000.) But counting heads isn’t necessarily a measure of passion.
Tech’s enrollment is roughly 20,000 — Georgia’s is 35,000, by the way — and a goodly percentage of those students will take their degrees and move elsewhere. (This isn’t to say that no Georgia grad ever moves out of state. Even Lewis Grizzard moved to Chicago for a few months.) But studies have shown that there are more Auburn grads living in metro Atlanta than Tech alums.
Numbers-wise, Georgia is always going to win. That doesn’t mean Tech folks don’t care. They do. Just ask any alum what he/she thinks of a Tech uniform that doesn’t feature the color gold. Or get one going on Bill Lewis’ 2 1/2-year reign of error.
• Just as Tech fans hate being hit over the head with attendance figures, Georgia fans hate hearing about Jan Kemp. When John Davis was a Tech lineman back in the ’80s, he told me this joke: “How do you get a degree from Georgia? Drive by campus and roll down the window.” And there was a time, let’s stipulate, when UGA wasn’t exactly a school of renown, and the Jan Kemp trial only underscored the notion.
But that was then, and under presidents Charles Knapp and Michael Adams the University of Georgia has become a place of pride and achievement. No, calculus isn’t a requirement for every UGA undergrad, but the academic missions of the schools are rather different. Georgia is a broad-based state university; Tech is, duh, a technical institute. Not everyone wants to be an engineer. Just because your diploma is from UGA doesn’t make you a comparative moron.
Not that Tech folks are eager to concede the point. On his Tuesday night radio show, Tech coach Paul Johnson took a call from someone who began barking. Said Johnson: “He just got off from Walmart.” (FYI, the CEO of Walmart is Tech grad Michael Duke.)
• When Tech fans speak of football tradition, they think first of Bobby Dodd. He was everything a Tech fan wanted in a coach. He was smart and his teams played precise football and he won a lot of games and he, not incidentally, beat Georgia eight times running. But that was in the ’50s, and those were different times: College football wasn’t yet a billion-dollar industry driven by TV and recruiting wasn’t a cutthroat nationwide competition.
Reasonable Tech fans — and Tech fans, by and large, tend to be reasonable — cannot envision their team ever again beating Georgia eight times in a row. (Since 1977, Tech has beaten Georgia eight times total.) In their heart of hearts, Tech fans would be satisfied with winning one of every three against their bitter rival. Not coincidentally, Johnson is 1-2 against Georgia.
• When Georgia fans speak of tradition, they think first of Herschel Walker. Yes, the Bulldogs were winning SEC and even national championships and turning out famous players (Sinkwich, Trippi, Tarkenton) long before landing the kid from Wrightsville on Easter 1980, but the Era of Herschel propelled Georgia from the ranks of perennial Southern power to something bigger. By every measure, those were the three greatest years in Bulldogs history.
That said, those three seasons skewed some Georgia fans’ view of their program. Two decades would pass before Georgia won another SEC title. Mark Richt has taken two conference titles and three division championships and his teams have finished in the top 10 five times, but Georgia hasn’t played for a national crown since 1982, and five different SEC schools have finished No. 1 over the past 13 years. UGA fans are still waiting their turn, same as they await the Next Herschel.
• Georgia is Tech’s biggest game of every year. Chan Gailey got fired not because he had losing seasons — he didn’t, not a one — but because he was 0-6 against the Bulldogs. And it’s undeniable that the words “To Hell with Georgia” are sung the loudest whenever “Ramblin’ Wreck” is played.
• Tech is Georgia’s biggest game only when Georgia fans are scared they might lose. This isn’t such a year. Georgia has won its division and is going to play LSU or Alabama for the SEC title next week. Georgia has, to borrow another Johnson line, bigger fish to fry. Which is the primary reason Georgia fans should be wary of Johnson and his team.
By Mark Bradley
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521 comments Add your comment
?????????
November 23rd, 2011
2:09 pm
Crackbaby,
The insult to retards was the comparison to a UGA fan.
PerroGrande
November 23rd, 2011
2:10 pm
George wrote
>>>Long as the tackle is five yards downfield, the UGA players can knock themselves out, Perro.<<
We are all taught by Walmart to greet customers immediately upon store entry, if a customer gets 5 yards into the store, we would be fired.
RxDawg
November 23rd, 2011
2:10 pm
“FYI, the CEO of Walmart is Tech grad Michael Duke.”
OMG that is too daggum funny right there. Oh man I’m going to smile about that for a long time.
JB
November 23rd, 2011
2:10 pm
Johnson IS NOT leaving Tech. After 4 years he’s at .663%, no bowl wins, 1 three point win against Georgia, makes 2.5 mil a year and has gotten them on probation….and they love him…Leave, you’re kidding me, right.
Arno
November 23rd, 2011
2:11 pm
If you want to win an argument and call it logic, then you have to start with a solid premise. Kelly’s assertion, “the fear of judgment is only moral inertia,” reveals an ineptitude for logic by the words, “is only.”
PerroGrande
November 23rd, 2011
2:11 pm
Fortunately for me, Walmart is merciful on pronoun references.
George Stein
November 23rd, 2011
2:11 pm
It’s a rivalry not limited exclusively to football so the academic reputations of the respective schools do matter. However, you are correct that whether Tech is a better school than UGA (or vice versa) will not affect the outcome of the game.
Happy Thanksgiving.
?????????
November 23rd, 2011
2:12 pm
“The fact that he declared the caller a retard is an insult to retards. But we get it.”
I thought the comparison to UGA fans was the insult to the mentally challenged. Come to think of it, he probably owes Wal-Mart an apology as well.
George Stein
November 23rd, 2011
2:12 pm
That made me laugh, Perro.
coachx
November 23rd, 2011
2:12 pm
If I were CPJ I would not touch that Ole Miss job with a 10 foot pole.
PerroGrande
November 23rd, 2011
2:13 pm
RXDawg, that is the joke by GT Joe/CPJ–Dawgs all work for GT grads. I didn’t realize the GT crowd thinks we all work for Walmart and are retarded until today!
RICHARD
November 23rd, 2011
2:14 pm
FINAL.GA.TECH 35 GA.13
George Stein
November 23rd, 2011
2:14 pm
My last post got eaten, Kelly. Whatever. Happy Thanksgiving.
PerroGrande
November 23rd, 2011
2:14 pm
We may as well have some fun with this!
RxDawg
November 23rd, 2011
2:14 pm
Just FYI Mark, this Georiga fan is scared we might lose to Tech Saturday.
Anyone have a spare RB lying around?
Kelly
November 23rd, 2011
2:15 pm
Good point Arno. What do you reckon the obsessive need to split hairs indicates psychologically in context of a blog about a football game where GT loses year after year and, once again, the problem with conflating stylistic preferences with formal logic?
PerroGrande
November 23rd, 2011
2:16 pm
Dick, 35-13? Can you tell the future, or is this thing rigged?
OkieDawg
November 23rd, 2011
2:16 pm
After Georgia wins the game 42 – 35, all the Tech fans will spend the next year talking about the 400 rushing yards they hung on Georgia. GT will run the ball around 60 times and think they won the game. Does a GT fan ever look at the scoreboard or do they just hold up the stat sheet? Guess they are just looking for something to make them relevant. And they must be so proud of CPJ.
Kelly
November 23rd, 2011
2:16 pm
Take it easy George! Happy Thanksgiving to you, too.
coachx
November 23rd, 2011
2:18 pm
WnE = bulldog
November 23rd, 2011
1:44 pm
From today’s New York Times: “Many would question whether the (English bulldog) breed’s quality of life is so compromised that its breeding should be banned.” Expand that to segments of their fan base and it says it all I think!
You make a fair point. I’m a die hard UGA fan and it breaks my heart to see the bulldogs they breed as Ugas.
I personally have a 9 year old male bulldog who looks nothing like the Ugas. He is 50 pounds (not 90 like Uga). He can still jump up on the couch at 9 years old. He breathes without sound and sleeps without snoring. Some bulldog breeders should be arrested but there are many many good bulldogs still out there.
DIT
November 23rd, 2011
2:19 pm
Saturday UGA will have their victory and tek will have their “moral” victory
George Stein
November 23rd, 2011
2:20 pm
You honestly think we’re gonna score 35, Okie?
Kelly
November 23rd, 2011
2:20 pm
Saturday UGA will have their victory and tek will have their “moral” victory
And how they didn’t lose by enough points to prove Georgia is really a better team.
Kelly
November 23rd, 2011
2:22 pm
With UGA’s running back issues I don’t see either team putting up 30 points on the other.
DIT
November 23rd, 2011
2:23 pm
If Murray plays like he did against Auburn I can easily see Dawgs outting 30+ points on the scoreboard by the 3rd quarter.
That’s the concern, which Murray will show up.
PerroGrande
November 23rd, 2011
2:23 pm
How dare Coach Johnson talk to Russ like that! The nerve of that man…I’ll bet Russ never calls him again, and I know Russ truly resents being called a Walmart employee! He has a nice house with a beautiful lawn, sleeps for a living, and has GT grads designing his plumbing, electrical and AC systems.
Arno
November 23rd, 2011
2:24 pm
Kelly– In my view, whether splitting hairs or firewood, its all about gaining yardage. And hey, that was a very conflated question, I reckon. Go Jackets.
DIT
November 23rd, 2011
2:24 pm
Sorry, should have been “putting”. Can’t wait to get back on my lap top.
Paul Johnson
November 23rd, 2011
2:25 pm
I didnt say that! I buy my bras from wal-mart!!!
George Stein
November 23rd, 2011
2:26 pm
Would not be shocked to see UGA score that many, Kelly. If OC gets the ball less than 7 times, I would have to question Bobo’s sanity. We have no one who can cover him.
Kelly
November 23rd, 2011
2:27 pm
conflated question
With what?
Gaining yardage is fine. Scoring is what it’s about though.
Like DIT said above, if the confident, accurate Murray shows up that should balance the offense somewhat, but if he doesn’t, UGA may be in for a long day. If Crowell actually stays in the game for a while, that’ll help too. But if Harton is the running back, he’s probably good for two fumbles.
DIT
November 23rd, 2011
2:27 pm
George – We question Bobo’s sanity every Saturday!
Kelly
November 23rd, 2011
2:28 pm
George, you wouldn’t be the first person to question Bobo’s sanity.
DIT
November 23rd, 2011
2:28 pm
“If Crowell actually stays in the game for a while…”
That was a good one Kelly. I can’t stop laughing. I sure hope we pick up Marshall
RxDawg
November 23rd, 2011
2:29 pm
Politically Correct
November 23rd, 2011
12:45 pm
That was the funniest post by a Tech fan I’ve seen in a long time, bravo.
Kelly
November 23rd, 2011
2:29 pm
DIT, George, we have consensus. lol.
George Stein
November 23rd, 2011
2:29 pm
Touche, DIT & Kelly.
Time
November 23rd, 2011
2:30 pm
If I were a Tech fan, honestly, I’d be embarrassed and demanding of a true apology from my coach. One thing is for sure, those at UGA might not always be happy with how Richt handles the team. But he would never use the plight of people with a retardation as a example to try and demean the fans of another school. But that’s the over-riding constant attitude of Tech people anyways, so he just reflects the fanbase I suppose. Congrats Tech people, you’ve sunken to a new low.
UGA – 35
Pathetic high school coach with grade school jokes – 6
Kelly
November 23rd, 2011
2:30 pm
DIT, you’re telling me. Crowell, he’s a puzzler.
GTBob
November 23rd, 2011
2:31 pm
After Georgia wins the game 42 – 35, all the Tech fans will spend the next year talking about the 400 rushing yards they hung on Georgia.
No, here is how the conversation will go:
UGA fan: we shut down your high school offense
Tech fan: we had 400 yards rushing and 35 points, how is that shut down?
UGA fan: look at the scoreboard
DIT
November 23rd, 2011
2:35 pm
You have to be very quick when watching the game on TV because you might miss Crowell’s 2 runs of the game.
Who knows, he might actually be hurt this time. However, playing possum for most of the year hurt his credibility.
PerroGrande
November 23rd, 2011
2:35 pm
Here is the dilemma the “bosses” put us in for Sat: if we win, we are thugs, druggies, trailer park trash, and now retards from Walmart. If we lose the SEC stinks, UGA stinks, Richt stinks. You see my simple minded and fellow employees of GT grads…you lose the argument either way. hahahahahaha
LESD
November 23rd, 2011
2:35 pm
Tech recruits many of the same players that Georgia does. They just don’t sign many of them.
OkieDawg
November 23rd, 2011
2:37 pm
CPJ school of taunting UGA fans: Punch them in the face and tell them to get their r _ _ _ _ _ed butts to Walmart, the shopping carts need to be gathered up. This is why the GT fans act as they do. They are just playing follow the leader.
Kelly
November 23rd, 2011
2:38 pm
DIT, it’s weird. This kid has all the talent in the world, but he’ll be passed over by the NFL scouts unless he grows up. That’s a shame. To give him the benefit of the doubt: maybe this is one of those times where the guy is playing because he feels pressured to or because he feels it’s what he should be doing as opposed to having the desire to play. Either way, it translates into disappointment.
Ron Swanson
November 23rd, 2011
2:39 pm
Perro- alMy favorites after a win over Tech – if we win we should have won given our talent and easy academic standards and beating Tech is not worthy of “pounding your chest” and you’lose to (insert school here) anyway
Kelly
November 23rd, 2011
2:40 pm
Perro: That’s all just a matter of perception, right? It is according to coach Husserl over there.
Kelly
November 23rd, 2011
2:45 pm
I didn’t see this earlier. Nice: How dare Coach Johnson talk to Russ like that! The nerve of that man…I’ll bet Russ never calls him again, and I know Russ truly resents being called a Walmart employee! He has a nice house with a beautiful lawn, sleeps for a living, and has GT grads designing his plumbing, electrical and AC systems.
DILLIGAF
November 23rd, 2011
2:47 pm
Here’s the scoop on GT fans.
Do you know what Tech fans use for birth control?
Their personalities.
Go Dawgs!
UGA/85′
GATA!
DawginAR
November 23rd, 2011
2:49 pm
Great column as usual Mark – I do give you special props for your call out on Mike Duke, current CEO of Walmart. I find it particularly amusing that Johnson made that remark without any clue that his “insult” was probably a lot more insulting to one of Tech’s most distinguished alums. Go get ‘em Paul! I’m sure Duke doesn’t throw much money Tech’s way as an alum. Classic…
Oh, and GO DAWGS!!!!!!!!