Archive for May, 2009

The Jackets avoided being swept in the ACC tourney for the first time by way of a 9-2 trouncing of FSU this past Saturday. That win effectively ended a dreadful 2-5 slide here at the end of the season…a slide that very nearly cost the Jackets their chance to host a NCAA Regional at Russ Chandler Stadium.

But as luck would have it, the 35-17-1 Jackets have been named the #1 seed in the Atlanta regional and will face the 39-20 Georgia State Panthers on Friday at 7pm EST. Elon (40-16) and Southern Mississippi (35-23) join the Panthers and Jackets in Atlanta to round out the four team elimination bracket.

Looking at the brackets, it appears that the winner of the Atlanta regional will face the winner of the Gainesville regional. That would potentially pit the Jackets against Florida, Miami, Jacksonville, or Bethune-Cookman in a Super Regional.

Of course, the Jackets would have to win their home Regional first.

Florida (39-20) looks like the #8 national seed and would be …

Continue reading Looking at the CWS Atlanta Regional and Beyond »

There are a dozen bell ringing, loudly laughing women upstairs playing bunco.

That makes it a perfect evening to hide out in the basement and watch Tech and UGA face off down at the Ted.

Both teams have slipped a bit from their lofty rankings earlier in the season.  Tech is ranked 7th at 33-12-1 and are coming off a dramatic series win against #6 FSU this past weekend.  UGA is 34-17 and ranked around 15 after a recent 8 game losing streak.  The fact that they were able to lose 8 games in a row and maintain a ranking of any sort speaks to the regard pollsters have for the Bulldogs.  They’re not a team to be overlooked.

Tech knocked off UGA earlier in the season when the Dawgs were ranked #1 and right now, in the top of the third inning, the Jackets are leading 2-1.  UGA scored in the opening frame to go up 1-0 before the Jackets took advantage of an error and a balk in the second inning to go up by the current 2-1 margin.

It looks like UGA has a runner on base in the third …

Continue reading Go Beesball Jackets! »

I suddenly find myself watching an NBA game for the first time in my adult life.

I rationalize it as a combination of the home team playing well, a 7th game sudden death situation, and the fact that Mario West has been coming off the bench for the Hawks to play defense against Dwayne Wade.

The AJC had a great picture earlier this week that showed Mario reacting to a big defensive play against Wade.  Some of the talking heads around the internet made noise about how West should act like he’s been there before or that he was over reacting.

I don’t think so…

Remember, West came to Georgia Tech as a walk-on, earned playing time as a defensive specialist who gave 110% every possession, quickly became a crowd favorite, and then became a veteran leader and senior team captain on a team that needed one badly.

Becoming a starter on an ACC team after arriving on campus as a walkon is one thing…but West took it a step further when he showed superior athleticism on the way to winning the …

Continue reading Pulling for the Hawks and Mario West! »