Gentlemen, Reggie Ball

The win at Clemson was a memory that will always stick with me, but not only because of the dramatics of what happened on the field. I had one young fan at Tech named Carter who I’ll never forget. I was this special guy’s favorite player. He’d come to practice and to the stadium and it would just be Carter, his brother, and me running around, throwing the ball, and having a great time. Because of his health, Carter wasn’t able to come to many games, but he either watched or listened to each and every last game.
Man, that was an emotional night all together. It was September 11th at 8pm on ABC. Stages that young athletes dream of. Like most of the country, at least on the east coast, Carter had tuned in.
This night though, Carter was very sick. So ill that he had to listen the 2nd half of the game from his bed while tuned into the radio. With under 4 minutes left in the game, and we’re down 14-24, Carter’s father told him to get some much needed rest since the game was out of reach. Carter tells his father, “no, wait Dad…they’re gonna win. Keep it on!” You all know what happened that delightful night! We stormed back and scored 2 quick TDs, pull off a crazy win, and Megatron was born. Carter listened until the final whistle and fell asleep with a smile.
Sadly, Carter didn’t wake up again. That story was told to me by my head trainer a little while after that game. I am glad he did, because I’m an emotional guy. Ain’t no telling how I would’ve reacted. Hell, even now I have goosebumps everywhere because I know without that little boy simply believing in me and my team, we wouldn’t have won that night. That is by far one of the most memorable moments that I know Tech fans would have no idea about. Out of respect for Carter’s parents, I kept that to myself until now. But I hope they understand I wanted to tell that story to honor and pay homage to Carter. And if you’re reading, guys, I still look at my album of us every football season. Thanks for letting me meet such an amazing kid. And thank you Carter. “…that’s all I have to say about that….”
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Dusty in my office this morning.
 
05GTCorndog said:
And we have a winner.
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Man, can you imagine RB and JD on the field at the same time??

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WreckfromGTech said:
For sure! The fans would have more receptions than our receivers. :biggrin:
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Well at least someone just went with the joke instead of getting defensive. Reggie Ball started for us for 4 years and had some big wins which I thank him for but he will be remembered most for throwing it away on fourth down. At least that's how I feel.


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:biggthumpup:
I've never been one to dwell on the negative so I have a lot of great memories of this guy. He played some really great games for us and I think a lot of people tend to forget those and just remember things like the 4th down throw-away (which is something I had totally forgotten about until I started seeing people here referring to it repeatedly). I'm glad to see he is doing well.
 
JJacket said:
Perhaps you forgot he was competitive against UGAg. I remember the year before he showed up having two QB's that looked afraid to take a snap against UGA.
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I remember the defense keeping us in all those games and Reggie either throwing a pick or out of bounds late.


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WhiteandGold2727 said:
I remember the defense keeping us in all those games and Reggie either throwing a pick or out of bounds late.


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Well aren't you just a ray of sunshine on the board?

You will climb my hate list at warp speed.
 
JJacket said:
Well aren't you just a ray of sunshine on the board?

You will climb my hate list at warp speed.
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Anyone who blames a loss on one player doesn't have a clue and has never played a team sport in their life.
 
Reggie Ball was a great athlete and he has a lot of character. I think that if he had Ralph or PJ to guide him, he would have performed much better. He was one of the most competitive players Tech has ever had on the field. Too bad a few want to try to crucify him over a few relatively little things. I wish him the best.
 
Piss on this article for giving me a positive view of Reggie :-)

Seriously, though, this article doesn't make him Joe Hamilton, Jr. I understand he was a hard worker, but how does the entire board begin to defend a player it has derided so much?

I definitely like his attitude in the article, and there were times I enjoyed watching him play. It actually even gives me a modicum of respect for the guy.

This doesn't change the fact I still dream about Calvin's college potential catching passes from a better QB.
 
SGaJacket said:
Piss on this article for giving me a positive view of Reggie :-)

Seriously, though, this article doesn't make him Joe Hamilton, Jr. I understand he was a hard worker, but how does the entire board begin to defend a player it has derided so much?

I definitely like his attitude in the article, and there were times I enjoyed watching him play. It actually even gives me a modicum of respect for the guy.

This doesn't change the fact I still dream about Calvin's college potential catching passes from a better QB.
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Hmm vintage butthurt..
 
I think the biggest takeaway from this article is that we have our new recruiting hashtag.

#straightcashhomie
 
I am not saying that I have never said anything negative about Reggie, but I have never held him responsible for Tech's record against UGAg. I always felt that he was underutilized by the coaching staff. If he played somewhere where he was properly trained, he would have been awesome.

SGaJacket said:
Piss on this article for giving me a positive view of Reggie :-)

Seriously, though, this article doesn't make him Joe Hamilton, Jr. I understand he was a hard worker, but how does the entire board begin to defend a player it has derided so much?

I definitely like his attitude in the article, and there were times I enjoyed watching him play. It actually even gives me a modicum of respect for the guy.

This doesn't change the fact I still dream about Calvin's college potential catching passes from a better QB.
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SGaJacket said:
Piss on this article for giving me a positive view of Reggie :-)

Seriously, though, this article doesn't make him Joe Hamilton, Jr. I understand he was a hard worker, but how does the entire board begin to defend a player it has derided so much?

I definitely like his attitude in the article, and there were times I enjoyed watching him play. It actually even gives me a modicum of respect for the guy.

This doesn't change the fact I still dream about Calvin's college potential catching passes from a better QB.
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Reggie's shortcomings were always known. He worked hard to overcome them, but he pretty much did reach his ceiling.

The fault lay with the HC, who was unable to recruit a decent QB for his system (remember how Taylor Bennett was our next best option?) and our OC who liked to call plays thinking that we had Aaron Rodgers under center.

Reggie was never put in a position to succeed and it is amazing that he managed to pull the wins he did during his time at Tech
 
This guy has more maturity than a lot of our fans, that's for sure.

It was unquestionable that Reggie was our best option at QB for his time on the flats, and effort was never in question -- despite the "it's just a game, dog" snafu, which I can't help but chalk up to a kid talking to the media after a brutal loss.
 
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