bobby dodds ghost
Damn Good Rat
- Joined
- Jun 5, 2002
- Messages
- 1,492
Posted By: BarJacket Registered User
Posted At: 11/17/02 3:37:42 pm
Reply
I love Georgia Tech ahtletics. In fact, I'm pretty sure I love Tech sports too much for my own good. I know that many people disagree with what I'm about to say, but I believe it is true.
First, the bottom line: If Tech doesn't get back in the SEC, the athletic association will go broke and that will be the end of Tech sports. It just breaks your heart, and worries you, to see the apathy for Tech football that was displayed yesterday. This once-proud program that we love is reduced to playing conference games in front of thousands of empty seats in one of the South's smallest capacity Div 1-A stadiums.
And it will only be worse two years from now, when Duke draws the same size "crowd" in an expanded Bobby Dodd Stadium. You can talk about the rain and cold weather, but it was rainy and cold at games all over the country that drew capacity crowds into stadiums twice as big as our's. The difference: Fans cared about those games.
If we stay in the ACC, I really wonder how we're going to pay the debt on the new endzone seats and seats that have been remodled and are were empty yesterday that are going to be sitting there empty for many ACC games. I'm seriously afraid the GTAA will go bankrupt and be forced out of business.
It isn't a matter of what conference we want to be in anymore. Tech fans disagree on that. It's a matter of which conference can we financially survive in. All Tech fans should be concerned about that. I submit that the question isn't whether you want Tech to be in the SEC or the ACC. The question is whether you want Tech to be in the SEC or drop sports. Those are the two options we're confronting.
Shocking statement, isn't it. I don't like it that it has come down to this, but it has. Look at yesterday. We're going for a bowl game and a five hundred conference record. We're playing our last home game of the year. And who shows up? The few and the proud, and nobody else.
Face it: You can't sell air conditioners in Alaska and you can't sell ACC football in Atlanta. When Tech was in the SEC, everybody who was anybody had season tickets to Tech games. Grant Field was the place to be at the place to be seen. There was a waiting list for tickets. Even Tech grads had to wait their turn to get season tickets. Visiting teams didn't return tickets, they wanted more.
Then, Coach Dodd made the horrible mistake of getting out of the SEC. But note this: He never planned on Tech succeeding by getting out of the SEC and joining the ACC. He knew that wouldn't work. His plan was to get out of the SEC and play a combination of long-time rivals and national powers. He thought we could make it as a major independent, like Notre Dame. For a long time we had schedules that brought very attractive teams to Atlanta. We played Auburn, Tennessee, Alabama, Clemson, South Carolina, FSU, Miami (of Florida), Georgia, Southern Cal, California, Notre Dame, Michigan State and teams like that.
But some problems developed. We couldn't win against a schedule like that, pro teams started spreading the sports dollar thin in the Atlanta area, fans from those national powers didn't travel to Atlanta and, most importantly, Tech found out these big name teams from all over could not replace the old SEC rivalries in the minds of the people we were trying to sell tickets to.
This was firmly recognized, leading Tech to try to get back in the SEC. We were rebuffed. Then and only then, did we decide to join the ACC, more as a means to survive than to thrive. And that is what has happened, by and large.
Well, if we want Tech sports to survive, we're going to have to get back in the SEC. Some people dismiss this by saying we could not get back in because we were rejected back in the 1970's. Well, I believe we could get back in for the following reasons:
1- A very high ranking Tech official told me that "we could get back in the SEC tomorrow if we wanted to." This person also said the reason we aren't getting back in, despite the fact that it would help us athletically, is that the administrative powers that be prefer Tech to stay in the ACC. Well, whose program is it, some school administrators or the fans who support Tech sports? And more importantly, with our debt repayment problems, the ACC just isn't an option anymore. I take this person at his word when he says we could get back in the SEC "tomorrow, if we wanted to." He even said that he had been contacted a few days earlier by the SEC wanting us back. Now, these weren't public comments, because the powers that be would have had this person's head if he had made them publicly. But these were comments he made in a private conversation in his office, and I believe him 100%.
2- When we tried to get back in the SEC in the 1970's, Bobby Dodd was still at Tech and the people he offended by getting Tech out of the SEC were still at many SEC schools. Now, it's thirty years later, and those people have passed on.
3- Tradition dies hard. While we miss our SEC rivals, many of them and their fans miss playing Tech and coming to Atlanta, too. This isn't a one-sided situation.
4- Financially, we'd be much better off in the SEC. Maybe the ACC does pay slightly more from the conference office to member teams than the SEC pays to its teams. But that is more than offset by the revenue to be derived from sold out games at 55,000 seat Grant Field against an SEC schedule as opposed to pitifully attended ACC games at Grant Field, like yesterday against Duke.
5- The fact that the SEC has 12 teams is not a problem. If they want Tech back, they'll find another team, maybe one in the ACC or Big East, to join Tech and give the SEC two seven-team divisions. Or they could take us back and have a thirteen team league. After all, the ACC has had seven, eight and nine member league lineups in the recent past, and the Big 10 has eleven teams, so there is a way to work out the schedule.
6- Even if we had to pay $100,000 to each SEC team and the SEC office for ten years in a row, it would be well worth it. We would still come out much better than we will trying to draw crowds to ACC games and falling so short that we go broke.
I posted last week about the reasons I'm optimistic about Tech's future. I am optimistic... about our players, and coaches. But there is one opponent that we cannot beat, and that oppoent is the Atlantic Coast Conference. Georgia Tech has become irrelevant in football because we're trying to get people excited about something they do not and never will be excited about: Atlantic Coast Conference football.
Say what you want to say about me. That's not important. But keep this in mind: Either Georgia Tech will get back in the SEC or it will go from being irrelevant to being broke and closing down its sports programs. It's your choice. If you care about the future of Tech sports, start contacting everybody you know and letting them know that you don't believe Tech can survive in the ACC and that you're withholding contributions until we get back in the SEC. You will be amazed to find out that the power to save Tech sports by getting the Yellow Jackets back in the SEC rests with you, my friends.
Need more proof? Ask yourself this. Which home games are you the most excited about next year? Auburn and Georgia, right? And both of those are non-conference games against old rivals from the SEC. I submit that when the highlight of your schedule are your non-conference games, you are, of course, in the wrong conference.
And remember, it's not a choice between the SEC and the ACC. It's a choice between the SEC and a self-imposed super death penalty that will surely result if we don't get back in the SEC.
Finally, you can say, "Well, Clemson has a big stadium and they're doing great in the ACC." Yes, but remember, the ACC is where they've been all along. Those teams are Clemson's traditional rivals. Or you can say, "FSU does fine in the ACC." Well, they were never in the SEC, so they don't have the traditional rivalries we do. Plus, the games they care most about are not ACC games. Plus, FSU fans will not sit still in the basketball-first ACC for very long, in my opinion. In fact, having Tech and FSU go in a package deal to the SEC is a real possibility. Of course, right now FSU doesn't care what conference it's in and being in the ACC means they get a BCS bowl even when they have a bad season. But with the glory days of Bobby Bowden fading, this will change.
And I'm not saying ACC football is bad or even inferior to SEC football. I'm just saying what's true. The reason you can't sell air conditioners in Alaska is not because they're not good air conditioners, it's because people in Alaska don't want to buy them. Same thing. The reason you don't have people dying to see ACC games in Atlanta isn't because the ACC plays a bad brand of football, it's because ACC football is not what the people want.
Save Georgia Tech sports. Get the Yellow Jackets back in the SEC!
Selah.
Posted At: 11/17/02 3:37:42 pm
Reply
I love Georgia Tech ahtletics. In fact, I'm pretty sure I love Tech sports too much for my own good. I know that many people disagree with what I'm about to say, but I believe it is true.
First, the bottom line: If Tech doesn't get back in the SEC, the athletic association will go broke and that will be the end of Tech sports. It just breaks your heart, and worries you, to see the apathy for Tech football that was displayed yesterday. This once-proud program that we love is reduced to playing conference games in front of thousands of empty seats in one of the South's smallest capacity Div 1-A stadiums.
And it will only be worse two years from now, when Duke draws the same size "crowd" in an expanded Bobby Dodd Stadium. You can talk about the rain and cold weather, but it was rainy and cold at games all over the country that drew capacity crowds into stadiums twice as big as our's. The difference: Fans cared about those games.
If we stay in the ACC, I really wonder how we're going to pay the debt on the new endzone seats and seats that have been remodled and are were empty yesterday that are going to be sitting there empty for many ACC games. I'm seriously afraid the GTAA will go bankrupt and be forced out of business.
It isn't a matter of what conference we want to be in anymore. Tech fans disagree on that. It's a matter of which conference can we financially survive in. All Tech fans should be concerned about that. I submit that the question isn't whether you want Tech to be in the SEC or the ACC. The question is whether you want Tech to be in the SEC or drop sports. Those are the two options we're confronting.
Shocking statement, isn't it. I don't like it that it has come down to this, but it has. Look at yesterday. We're going for a bowl game and a five hundred conference record. We're playing our last home game of the year. And who shows up? The few and the proud, and nobody else.
Face it: You can't sell air conditioners in Alaska and you can't sell ACC football in Atlanta. When Tech was in the SEC, everybody who was anybody had season tickets to Tech games. Grant Field was the place to be at the place to be seen. There was a waiting list for tickets. Even Tech grads had to wait their turn to get season tickets. Visiting teams didn't return tickets, they wanted more.
Then, Coach Dodd made the horrible mistake of getting out of the SEC. But note this: He never planned on Tech succeeding by getting out of the SEC and joining the ACC. He knew that wouldn't work. His plan was to get out of the SEC and play a combination of long-time rivals and national powers. He thought we could make it as a major independent, like Notre Dame. For a long time we had schedules that brought very attractive teams to Atlanta. We played Auburn, Tennessee, Alabama, Clemson, South Carolina, FSU, Miami (of Florida), Georgia, Southern Cal, California, Notre Dame, Michigan State and teams like that.
But some problems developed. We couldn't win against a schedule like that, pro teams started spreading the sports dollar thin in the Atlanta area, fans from those national powers didn't travel to Atlanta and, most importantly, Tech found out these big name teams from all over could not replace the old SEC rivalries in the minds of the people we were trying to sell tickets to.
This was firmly recognized, leading Tech to try to get back in the SEC. We were rebuffed. Then and only then, did we decide to join the ACC, more as a means to survive than to thrive. And that is what has happened, by and large.
Well, if we want Tech sports to survive, we're going to have to get back in the SEC. Some people dismiss this by saying we could not get back in because we were rejected back in the 1970's. Well, I believe we could get back in for the following reasons:
1- A very high ranking Tech official told me that "we could get back in the SEC tomorrow if we wanted to." This person also said the reason we aren't getting back in, despite the fact that it would help us athletically, is that the administrative powers that be prefer Tech to stay in the ACC. Well, whose program is it, some school administrators or the fans who support Tech sports? And more importantly, with our debt repayment problems, the ACC just isn't an option anymore. I take this person at his word when he says we could get back in the SEC "tomorrow, if we wanted to." He even said that he had been contacted a few days earlier by the SEC wanting us back. Now, these weren't public comments, because the powers that be would have had this person's head if he had made them publicly. But these were comments he made in a private conversation in his office, and I believe him 100%.
2- When we tried to get back in the SEC in the 1970's, Bobby Dodd was still at Tech and the people he offended by getting Tech out of the SEC were still at many SEC schools. Now, it's thirty years later, and those people have passed on.
3- Tradition dies hard. While we miss our SEC rivals, many of them and their fans miss playing Tech and coming to Atlanta, too. This isn't a one-sided situation.
4- Financially, we'd be much better off in the SEC. Maybe the ACC does pay slightly more from the conference office to member teams than the SEC pays to its teams. But that is more than offset by the revenue to be derived from sold out games at 55,000 seat Grant Field against an SEC schedule as opposed to pitifully attended ACC games at Grant Field, like yesterday against Duke.
5- The fact that the SEC has 12 teams is not a problem. If they want Tech back, they'll find another team, maybe one in the ACC or Big East, to join Tech and give the SEC two seven-team divisions. Or they could take us back and have a thirteen team league. After all, the ACC has had seven, eight and nine member league lineups in the recent past, and the Big 10 has eleven teams, so there is a way to work out the schedule.
6- Even if we had to pay $100,000 to each SEC team and the SEC office for ten years in a row, it would be well worth it. We would still come out much better than we will trying to draw crowds to ACC games and falling so short that we go broke.
I posted last week about the reasons I'm optimistic about Tech's future. I am optimistic... about our players, and coaches. But there is one opponent that we cannot beat, and that oppoent is the Atlantic Coast Conference. Georgia Tech has become irrelevant in football because we're trying to get people excited about something they do not and never will be excited about: Atlantic Coast Conference football.
Say what you want to say about me. That's not important. But keep this in mind: Either Georgia Tech will get back in the SEC or it will go from being irrelevant to being broke and closing down its sports programs. It's your choice. If you care about the future of Tech sports, start contacting everybody you know and letting them know that you don't believe Tech can survive in the ACC and that you're withholding contributions until we get back in the SEC. You will be amazed to find out that the power to save Tech sports by getting the Yellow Jackets back in the SEC rests with you, my friends.
Need more proof? Ask yourself this. Which home games are you the most excited about next year? Auburn and Georgia, right? And both of those are non-conference games against old rivals from the SEC. I submit that when the highlight of your schedule are your non-conference games, you are, of course, in the wrong conference.
And remember, it's not a choice between the SEC and the ACC. It's a choice between the SEC and a self-imposed super death penalty that will surely result if we don't get back in the SEC.
Finally, you can say, "Well, Clemson has a big stadium and they're doing great in the ACC." Yes, but remember, the ACC is where they've been all along. Those teams are Clemson's traditional rivals. Or you can say, "FSU does fine in the ACC." Well, they were never in the SEC, so they don't have the traditional rivalries we do. Plus, the games they care most about are not ACC games. Plus, FSU fans will not sit still in the basketball-first ACC for very long, in my opinion. In fact, having Tech and FSU go in a package deal to the SEC is a real possibility. Of course, right now FSU doesn't care what conference it's in and being in the ACC means they get a BCS bowl even when they have a bad season. But with the glory days of Bobby Bowden fading, this will change.
And I'm not saying ACC football is bad or even inferior to SEC football. I'm just saying what's true. The reason you can't sell air conditioners in Alaska is not because they're not good air conditioners, it's because people in Alaska don't want to buy them. Same thing. The reason you don't have people dying to see ACC games in Atlanta isn't because the ACC plays a bad brand of football, it's because ACC football is not what the people want.
Save Georgia Tech sports. Get the Yellow Jackets back in the SEC!
Selah.
