Article - how Atlanta became the CFB capital

I found it kinda bittersweet to read. Pretty well done article, though. Most folks don't know the history and tradition or that Tech ever owned Atlanta to begin with, so I give the author kudos for that.

But yes, very annoying that he didn't credit us for the split title in 1952. By the way, how did that happen? We were 12-0 with wins over 3 ranked opponents and Sparty was 9-0 with none.
 
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killerB said:
From the time I've spent reading ST I know there are a lot of guys who have actual real memories of Dodd, but what if his name was stripped off the stadium and replaced with Coca-Cola or something else to bring in advertising dollars to help the program. "X" Stadium at Historic Grant Field. He has a statue. He has a coaching award with is name. Lots of other Dodd stuff. Let the GTAA make some marketing money and fuel the program back to perennial power. Might take some heat initially, but if the money is well spent a few extra wins will make it all forgotten. That how it works, right? Winning cures everything!
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No
 
killerB said:
From the time I've spent reading ST I know there are a lot of guys who have actual real memories of Dodd, but what if his name was stripped off the stadium and replaced with Coca-Cola or something else to bring in advertising dollars to help the program. "X" Stadium at Historic Grant Field. He has a statue. He has a coaching award with is name. Lots of other Dodd stuff. Let the GTAA make some marketing money and fuel the program back to perennial power. Might take some heat initially, but if the money is well spent a few extra wins will make it all forgotten. That how it works, right? Winning cures everything!
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Stingtalk OFFICIAL Glacier Ice Water Stadium at Mediocre Grant Field
 
"Atlanta is a Georgia town" written by someone out of touch with current demographics. Theres probably twice as many soccer fans in Atlanta than dwag fans.
 
smokey_wasp said:
But yes, very annoying that he didn't credit us for the split title in 1952. By the way, how did that happen? We were 12-0 with wins over 3 ranked opponents and Sparty was 9-0 with none.
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MSU started the season ranked above us and never lost. Still tough to demote a team that doesn't lose.
 
We were top 10 earlier this season?
Awesome
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gnats67 said:
Atlanta has been here and been the dominant city in the South for 200 years.
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Um, what? Atlanta wasn't founded until 1837, when it was just a place where two railroad lines met. There's a ton of more important cities in the South throughout the nineteenth century — Charleston, Richmond, Winston-Salem, Nashville, Mobile, New Orleans, Memphis. It really takes the victory of railroads over sea transport, facilitating the industrialization of the South after the Civil War, to even put Atlanta on the map. Atlanta did not become the most important city in the South until — at the earliest — the turn of the century, and many would say not indisputably until the rise of the New South in the '60's.
 
People dissing Dodd's departure from the SEC just completely forget how things looked at the time. We now look at everything through conference-centric glasses, but it wasn't that way for most of the 20th century. Teams in conference didn't even play each other most of the time. Conferences didn't have a lot of power or control all the money. Used to be that the gate was the source of revenue, and conferences didn't even control the TV revenue. Bowls were not tied to conferences. From Dodd's perspective, GT had a national reputation, had been playing national powers for years, and was being held back by SEC shenanigans.

Obviously things look differently today, and I would rejoin the SEC in a heartbeat. But that means that Dodd's decision was wrong, not foolish.
 
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That's a pretty good article, and a pretty fair look for GT, IMHO. Having said that, this is stupid:
The ultimate sign that Atlanta is a college football town: Chick-fil-A takes pride in its policy of closing its more than 2,000 stores on Sundays.
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Closing on Sundays reflects CFA's pride in a different religion than CFB...
 
18in32 said:
Um, what? Atlanta wasn't founded until 1837, when it was just a place where two railroad lines met. There's a ton of more important cities in the South throughout the nineteenth century — Charleston, Richmond, Winston-Salem, Nashville, Mobile, New Orleans, Memphis. It really takes the victory of railroads over sea transport, facilitating the industrialization of the South after the Civil War, to even put Atlanta on the map. Atlanta did not become the most important city in the South until — at the earliest — the turn of the century, and many would say not indisputably until the rise of the New South in the '60's.
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Even Savannah was more important throughout much of history. Sherman burned Atlanta for good measure, but Savannah was the prize and Lincoln's Christmas gift.
 
18in32 said:
Um, what? Atlanta wasn't founded until 1837, when it was just a place where two railroad lines met. There's a ton of more important cities in the South throughout the nineteenth century — Charleston, Richmond, Winston-Salem, Nashville, Mobile, New Orleans, Memphis. It really takes the victory of railroads over sea transport, facilitating the industrialization of the South after the Civil War, to even put Atlanta on the map. Atlanta did not become the most important city in the South until — at the earliest — the turn of the century, and many would say not indisputably until the rise of the New South in the '60's.
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Atlanta and Birmingham were on equal footing until the early 60's. Atlanta got the Falcons, Braves and International Airport and that is when it really took off. Add in Ivan Allen was not Bull Conner and that made it more attractive to businesses as well.
 
18in32 said:
People dissing Dodd's departure from the SEC just completely forget how things looked at the time. We now look at everything through conference-centric glasses, but it wasn't that way for most of the 20th century. Teams in conference didn't even play each other most of the time. Conferences didn't have a lot of power or control all the money. Used to be that the gate was the source of revenue, and conferences didn't even control the TV revenue. Bowls were not tied to conferences. From Dodd's perspective, GT had a national reputation, had been playing national powers for years, and was being held back by SEC shenanigans.

Obviously things look differently today, and I would rejoin the SEC in a heartbeat. But that means that Dodd's decision was wrong, not foolish.
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The SEC decision is one thing and hindsight is unfair.

Denigrating Tech after by telling coaches to leave because we aren’t “big time” is inexcusable.

His name shouldn’t be on the stadium IMHO.
 
18in32 said:
People dissing Dodd's departure from the SEC just completely forget how things looked at the time. We now look at everything through conference-centric glasses, but it wasn't that way for most of the 20th century. Teams in conference didn't even play each other most of the time. Conferences didn't have a lot of power or control all the money. Used to be that the gate was the source of revenue, and conferences didn't even control the TV revenue. Bowls were not tied to conferences. From Dodd's perspective, GT had a national reputation, had been playing national powers for years, and was being held back by SEC shenanigans.

Obviously things look differently today, and I would rejoin the SEC in a heartbeat. But that means that Dodd's decision was wrong, not foolish.
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I will agree with this mostly, but it was only 2.5 years later that Dodd would step down because of the quality of players he could attract - he specifically blames The Hill and impending integration in his book. That and the fact that Atlanta was whoring it up for pro sports for a few years before the decision make me believe that for all of his abilities as a coach & recruiter and his "luck", leaving the $EC was wrong and foolish.

edit to add: I still believe that he was the best coach that GT ever had.
 
Gary Stokan deserves a lot of credit for this. However, the article must've been edited or something, because they never even introduce him. First mention of him is "Stokan estimates"...
 
18in32 said:
People dissing Dodd's departure from the SEC just completely forget how things looked at the time. We now look at everything through conference-centric glasses, but it wasn't that way for most of the 20th century. Teams in conference didn't even play each other most of the time. Conferences didn't have a lot of power or control all the money. Used to be that the gate was the source of revenue, and conferences didn't even control the TV revenue. Bowls were not tied to conferences. From Dodd's perspective, GT had a national reputation, had been playing national powers for years, and was being held back by SEC shenanigans.

Obviously things look differently today, and I would rejoin the SEC in a heartbeat. But that means that Dodd's decision was wrong, not foolish.
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Good post. Dodd supposedly felt "back stabbed" by the SEC's coaches and athletic directors. When gentleman agreements were broken considering scholarship numbers, Dodd took this very personally and basically gave the SEC the finger. I agree the timing was bad but i believe Dodd had seen the writing on the wall and could tell Tech would increasingly be at a disadvantage as college football evolved, especially with the Auburn's and Alabama's of the world just one state over. I personally feel like Tech is a better fit in the ACC though. I just wonder what would be different had we stayed in the SEC? Not to compare ourselves to Vandy, but at one time (a long time ago) they were the powerhouse in the SEC. They have not fared well in the modern era of college football in the SEC where recruiting the same caliber of athlete has proven difficult.
 
savbandjacket said:
The SEC decision is one thing and hindsight is unfair.

Denigrating Tech after by telling coaches to leave because we aren’t “big time” is inexcusable.

His name shouldn’t be on the stadium IMHO.
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Wow! You really are ridiculous. NO ONE ever, before him or after him, understood and loved Tech more. He may be one of the top 5 best college football coaches ever; he had Tech playing at a very high level despite the academic challenges he faced in recruiting.

With the advent of football factories all around him, and the incoming integration, what do you think Tech would have looked like playing in the SEC going forward at the time, without help from the BOR and the Hill? It is easy to say that looking back, being in the SEC would be good. But not at the price of being Tulane and Vanderbilt.

Dodd was an awesome person in every way!
 
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