Readers! In Dodd We Trust has moved to Sports Blog Nation, and is now Ramblin' Racket! I ask y'all to update any links or blogrolls to the new address.


You can expect the same type of content over there as you found here--it's basically the same blog, just with a new home. I hope all of you follow us over there and continue to participate in our discussion of all things Tech... well, maybe not all things... really just football. Whatever.

Posted by Jeff at 8:45 PM | Permalink | Comments

This post is intended to offer advice to new students, new alumni, or visiting fans who don't know where to go for tailgating. Tech has a fairly big campus with fairly little usuable 'gating space, and even less parking. If you've tailgated at Tech for years, this guide will tell you nothing. In fact, you may say "Those are lame spots! EVERYone knows the ONLY place to 'gate is [insert your spot]!!!"

Consult this map I made, and I will offer brief explanations of each area. By no means is this map comprehensive, and I don't know the whole situation on all these areas. This post was made with some help from the folks at the Hive. Feel free to post info you have in the comments, and I will update this guide as I get more/better information.

The Varsity (orange on the map): I highly recommend tailgating at the Varsity lot for beginners. For one thing, you can experience a Tech tradition by getting an FO, Yankee dog, and strings, and also you're damn close to the stadium. (Warning: I don't know the whole parking situation, i.e. how much you'd pay to park in the lot or deck there.)

W01 (light blue): There is good RV parking along Tech Parkway, and I don't believe you pay to park there.

W02 (purple): Student Center Parking Deck & Lot. Lots of room, lots of people. I usually see a few visitor tailgates here.

IC Field (green): AKA the F'in Awesome Lot; home sweet home for IDWT. Tech no longer lets people park on the grass here, so you'll need to park a little ways away. Lots of room on the field, and fairly family friendly (except for the random cursing, smashing of liquor bottles, and throwing of lawn darts by my buddies).

W21 (red): Lot behind the Physics building. I usually see a few visitor tailgates here; good, spacious lot. Near the center of campus and the campanile, where GameDay will be for Notre Dame.

Yellow Jacket Park (yellow): I have never tailgated here and know NOTHING about tailgating here; I just imagine it would be a good place because it's a huge grass field. GameDay will be near the campanile according to D-Rad, so they may actually be here.

W24 (blue): Small but good lot. Fairly far from the stadium, so not good if you have elderly, pregnant, etc. 'gaters.

W25/26/27: Similar to W24 but bigger. Friendly to visitor tailgates. Again, far from Bobby Dodd Stadium.

E65: Lot behind Alexander Memorial Coliseum. It seems about half of the Hive tailgates here. Lots of RVs, lots of alumni. Maybe not super-friendly to "enemy" tailgates.


There you have it folks, a brief summary. Again, feel free to give feedback if I'm wrong on something or if there's a glaring omission. See y'all in September!

Posted by Jeff at 11:10 AM | Permalink | Comments

Few lil' GT Quick hits:

Via Wreck Ramblin', Al Ciraldo is in consideration for the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in Macon. The late Ciraldo was the voice of Georgia Tech football and basketball from 1954-1993 [edit:fixed the year]. He was a huge assett to the Yellow Jacket community, and if he doesn't make the HoF now, he definitely will later. Credit Ciraldo with the phrase "When Toe Meets Leather." If any of you want to make a GT blog, toemeetsleather.blogspot.com would be a fine choice.

D-Rad has spoken to Georgia Southern's AD about a football game in the future. No projected date, just an idea, but I'm all for it. Really, playing a good AA opponent is kind of a no-win situation, because if you don't blow them out, "you should have," and if you lose, that's just terrible. But I am definitely stoked about that. Although be sure to double-bag it when the Statesboro kids come to town.

AJC profile of D-lineman Vance Walker. He's put on 10 pounds and worked on his speed.

Practice notes from the Macon Telegraph.

Later today: profile of good tailgating spots on/around campus.

Posted by Jeff at 8:55 AM | Permalink | Comments

Stewart Mandel of SportsIllustrated.com lists 16 national title contenders, including Georgia Tech. Mandel explains this is not a "Top 16," but rather that these teams, "at least on paper, possess many of the right ingredients -- a veteran quarterback, experienced offensive and defensive lines, proven playmakers, a favorable schedule -- to put together a championship run, provided some other key areas fall into place." He goes on to say "All the teams on our list of contenders have the basic foundation to go 13-0 yet could just as easily wind up 7-6."

At first I was surprised to find Georgia Tech on this list, but given their full description (especially that last sentence I quoted), I agree entirely.

Posted by Jeff at 4:34 PM | Permalink | Comments

First off, two notes: (1) This was done with minimal research, off mainly gut feeling and the consultation of the AP poll and a couple other folks' BlogPoll ballots.
(2) This was done by the BlogPoll guidelines, which say we're ranking who would beat whom. That was the main criterion here, I looked at a team, the teams above it, and the teams below it. Who would win?

This resulted in certain things you won't see on (m)any other ballots, i.e. GT in the top ten. Blatant homerism, wishful thinking? Oh yeah. But still, since I think Tech will beat Notre Dame, the Jackets should be ranked higher than the Irish. On with the crappy ballot.

1. Ohio State University
2. Auburn University
3. West Virginia University
4. University of Southern California
5. University of Texas
6. University of Florida
7. Georgia Institute of Technology
8. University of Lousville
9. University of Iowa
10. University of Georgia
11. University of Notre Dame
12. University of Oregon
13. Boston College
14. University of California, Berkeley
15. University of Michigan
16. University of Arkansas
17. University of Miami
18. Florida State University
19. Texas Christian University
20. University of California, Los Angeles
21. Pennsylvania State University
22. Louisiana State University
23. Clemson University
24. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
25. University of Utah

Others considered: Oklahoma, Navy, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Texas Tech, Arizona State, Fresno State

Doubtless this will change before submission, and doubtless fans of many teams (in the strange event that they visit this website) will be like "WTF? No way!" at their "low" rank or absence from the list. Tell me where I f'ed up, though. On thing, though. There's no way Georgia Tech is leaving my top ten during the preseason.

Posted by Jeff at 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments

Usually I don't like it when news outlets Costasize, but lately the AJC has run a lot of good player profiles: Travis Chambers, Wayne Riles, Jahi Word-Daniels, Tashard Choice.

Wreck Ramblin' point us to a sweet but kinda concerning article on CJ: Calvin claims he knows "every position," so he'll be lining up all over the place. But like Goldtimer said, shouldn't he have kept that quiet? Although it really makes the imagination run wild; where are we gonna line him up? QB, RB, TE?

Brief practice report. The full report is on the Hiver Insider message board, but I'm too broke for that crap.

Georgia Tech on CFN's Top 100 Greatest College Football Finishes: #94 (2000: GT 31 Clemson 28), #36 (1990: GT 41, UVa 38).

I saw this several other places, notably GSB and CFR, but Clay Travis at Sportsline wrote a nice eulogy for Jefferson Pilot Sports, and their god-awful football telecasts.

I truly hope many of you will compete for the Andy French Cup, brought to you by Notre Dame blog The House That Rock Built. The rules are simple: Get wasted, dial (312) 239-0841, and leave a drunken rant about any college coach, player, president, etc. This is no-holds-barred, so feel free to insult as inappropriately as possible.

Coming later today: my preliminary BlogPoll ballot. The BlogPoll is a college football rankings poll, much like the Coach's and AP polls, but it's filled out by college football bloggers like me. You know what teams the voters root for, and you can read their ballots, so any regional bias or blatant homerism is there to see.

Posted by Jeff at 9:26 AM | Permalink | Comments

Just about any time you read a mention of Vanderbilt football, whether on a blog or in a newspaper article or in some other medium, the program is demeaned. And I ask folks to chill. Just a bit.

Obviously, Vanderbilt is a (if not the) bottom-feeder of the Southeastern Conference. They've not won a conference title in many decades, and their Varsity athletics are now organized by the same group that handles intramurals. However, I encourage fans to give Vandy a break.

Vanderbilt plays in the SEC, arguably the most competitive conference in major college football. And they suck in it. So why should fans/journalists give them slack? Because they've never stopped. Vanderbilt University has clearly been out of SEC Championship contention for many years. If they chose, they could bolt to some "lesser" conference, and (assuming the same personnell) compete for a conference title much more often.

But Vanderbilt respects the tradition of its conference, which it helped found. (Okay, Tech does not, whatever. GT helped found the SEC but later bolted. This is not the point of the post, so I ask that it not be a major thread in the comments section.) Rather than head for greener pastures, Vandy runs with their long-time crew, and unfortunately loses a lot.

I do not suggest, and do not think, that Vanderbilt is satisfied with their current role. Doubtless, the school hopes (and hopefully expects) to compete for a conference title as soon as possible. But in the mean time, I implore journa-/bloga-lists to not be too hard on Vanderbilt. At times it seems like they get less respect than worse, but not perennially-faced, teams (since the worse teams are faced less often, so there's not the familiarity to their suckiness).

Vandy does not have to be your whipping boy, but they accept it. And for that, I commend their attitude.

(Notes: (1) Most of these comments could apply to Dule within the ACC. (2) This post does not consider sports other than football. I do not consider this inappropriate, since football is clearly the most loved/influential sport at colleges.)

Posted by Jeff at 2:57 AM | Permalink | Comments

As reported by Paul Westerdawg in a post called "More Tech Cheating?", LSU self-reported a "Level 2" (i.e., won't result in sanctions) NCAA violation for a summer yoga program. As previously mentioned at IDWT, Tech was doing a yoga program over the summer. The AJC reports today that we are not in violation of NCAA rules. Why is our program okay and LSU's not? According to Tech's compliance director:

"The ACC told us what we were doing is OK," Parker said. "Since we're doing yoga that's open to all student-athletes, it's OK — it's not special to the football team. Plus, it was initiated through our sports medicine staff, and it's non-mandatory."

Gotta show respect to dudes with the last name Parker.

The AJC has some photos from Thursday's prakiss. Both K-Mike and Phillip Wheeler are rockin the visors on their helmets.

Reggie's got a chip on his shoulder, and he's out to prove the nay-sayers wrong this season... Just like last season. (HT: Wreck Ramblin')

Posted by Jeff at 8:51 AM | Permalink | Comments

I'm posting this not as a "Glory Days of Yesteryear" thing, but mainly because it features the last time Tech and Notre Dame squared off: the '99 Gator Bowl.

Posted by Jeff at 12:06 AM | Permalink | Comments

GT Athletics Director Dan Radakovich just released Volume 7 of his bi-weekly newsletter The Good Word. I recommend you read it, but I'll highlight the key bits:

• Ramblinwreck.com will soon have a "Fan Guide" for gameday, with info on parking, pregame activities, etc. This is a VERY good thing. As of recently, RW.com had almost no info on parking; it just sent you to the GT parking site, which is hard as crap to navigate.
• Link to the GTAA Annual Report. Go watch D-Rad's video intro.
• Radio coverage is what it is. ISP has tried to find a higher-power FM station, but no avail yet. All ACC football and basketball games are on XM, but they feature the home announcers, so no Wes Durham for road games. Still a very good thing, though. Also, night games are simulcast on WREK, with Wes and the usual ISP sports crew.

I've gotta say, I'm mad stoked about D-Rad as the new AD, and I am continually impressed with his performance and attitude. He interacts directly with the fans through the Good Word and via email. He appears on TV and talks to the press. And one thing that I like is that he looks at GT athletics as a business, and discusses it as such. Sports are our product, and we have customers, not "just" fans.

Radakovich sees that we need to create a good experience overall, as well as field competitive teams. The AA has stuggled for years to develop a solid "sidewalk" fanbase, and hopefully Radakovich can get some wheels turning on that. (Yes, Atlanta is hindered by being a pro sports town, and by the fact that many Atlantans are transplants with existing college allegiances, but those are excuses. BDS should sell out hella more often.)

I didn't have a particular opinion during the AD search, because I knew little about the candidates. With the power of hindsight, though, I certainly think the search committee found the right man for the job. Not a lot to base it on yet, but I don't imagine D-Rad ever being seen as a bad choice.

Posted by Jeff at 10:18 PM | Permalink | Comments

If you "get" the post title, then you're a nerd, GT alum or not. (In my own defense, yes I'm kind of a nerd, but I wouldn't have noticed today's "event" if not for a Slashdot post.)

The EDSBS crew will (tentatively) be tailgating for the GT/Notre Dame game. Although we at IDWT celebrate this, McKinley and I will doubtless own their tailgate by following our own 'gating advice. Unless they also follow our advice and one-up it, in which case their 'gate will own us worse than their blog owns ours.

Deadspin offers Four Tidbits on the ACC, including one about the GT/Clemson rivalry.

In a little pre-ACC/Big 10 Challenge ACC/Big 10 action, Tech basketball will face off against Purdue in the EA Sports Maui Invitational.

Some turkey over at the VPI student newspaper has a crappy ACC preview up. I insult his article partly out of spite, I admit, because he insults GT in it, but I really actually thought it was poor overall. Much better info available on many a college blog. And (since my focus is on Tech*), I have a particular problem with his prediction of GT going 6-6. First off, our team is overall much more mature than in 2005. The only area that's truly gotten "younger" is the secondary. Going downhill from last year is pretty doubtful. Secondly, even if you want to predict a mediocre season from Tech, Gailey has given no reason to expect anything but 7 wins (CGE).

*I have no problem saying "Tech" referring to GT in the context of the ACC, since "Virginia Tech" is a "Polytechnical Institute", whereas Tech is an "Institute of Technology." GT is Tech and VPI is Polytech.

Posted by Jeff at 2:43 PM | Permalink | Comments

First off, the links I stole got from Wreck Ramblin'.

• SouthernCollegeSports.com has a pretty good ACC preview. Their project record for Tech is 8-4 (6-2 ACC, 2nd in Coastal). What's interesting is they have no "projected losses" for GT, only projected wins and toss-ups. Toss-ups include ND, VT, Clemson, UM, UGA.
• You can now buy tix to the 2006 Dr. Pepper ACC Championship Game. $80 lower level, $60 upper level, $20 for a parking pass.

Posted by Jeff at 9:17 AM | Permalink | Comments

The 2006 Football Wallpapers are out, assumedly just versions of the posters as usual. Looks like we're trying to show Notre Dame's Tommy Z he's not the only boxer. (Not that I think that's a good idea, based on his match at MSG.) HT: jdubjacket on the Hive

"Jamie's Mailbag" on scout.com talks about Tech recruiting and our chance to be a surprise team of the ACC.

The Macon Telegraph discusses Tech's strong recruiting class. HT: Goldtimer

Brief overview of 2006 Tech football from a gambling site, Eye On Gambling.

This would suck like wo. A bunch of GT freshman this fall will be living 3 to a dorm room... and those are NOT big rooms.

Posted by Jeff at 10:24 PM | Permalink | Comments