The Diesel # 21 hating on Tech

[BarrelORum]

If we ever reach the point where we're not critical about a bad season or game, that's when you know we've give up. Be ****ing glad we haven't and that we never will.

I think every player and former player should read this because no truer words have been spoken.

 

[#1stinga6]

After reading this thread, I think both our players, and our fans need to grow thicker skins. Was what Dwyer said completely uncalled for? No. We've all seen that before. Was the forum he choose to voice it appropriate? No.

Like I said the people on the message boards, this message board, and face book for that matter are the diehard fans that buy tickets and go to games. It isn't his audience. The wine and cheesers that show out only for a couple of big games and don't bother following Dwyer's fb page, or post on message boards are the fans he has a problem with.

 

[ibeeballin]

LOL we go to the games dumb@$$. Most of us to many of the away, championship, and bowl games. What more do you want us to do?

How am I a dumbass when I have a Tech degree, silly?. :rolleyes:. All jokes aside, this was blown way out of proportion. You guys ask for players or coaches perspective, then when you get one y'all go insane. Not saying Dwyer was right in his method in delivering his opinion because Dwyer words, whether grammatically correct or not, do carry weight within GTFB community and what he said could have an affect on recruiting. Just take it for what it's worth. I believe what the team is trying to get across what do they have do to get you in BDS. It just seem y'all are never satisified. Some didn't like the video board, many don't like the unis, and among other things. Now the players have a subpar season now everyone(figuratively speaking) wants to jump of the GT train and the need to speak out about it.

 

[cyptomcat]

Dwyer recognized his mistake and took the post down, you all need to realize that this thread needs to go away as well.

 

[andrew]

How am I a dumbass when I have a Tech degree, silly?. :rolleyes:. All jokes aside, this was blown way out of proportion. You guys ask for players or coaches perspective, then when you get one y'all go insane. Not saying Dwyer was right in his method in delivering his opinion because Dwyer words, whether grammatically correct or not, do carry weight within GTFB community and what he said could have an affect on recruiting. Just take it for what it's worth. I believe what the team is trying to get across what do they have do to get you in BDS. It just seem y'all are never satisified. Some didn't like the video board, many don't like the unis, and among other things. Now the players have a subpar season now everyone(figuratively speaking) wants to jump of the GT train and the need to speak out about it.

Nothing. We're all already in BDS, as is everyone who would have been able to read JD's rant.

 

[BarrelORum]

I believe what the team is trying to get across what do they have do to get you in BDS. It just seem y'all are never satisified. Some didn't like the video board, many don't like the unis, and among other things. Now the players have a subpar season now everyone(figuratively speaking) wants to jump of the GT train and the need to speak out about it.

What gets people in the stadium is not uniforms and videoboards. That's all dog and pony show stuff. Its winning. Plain and simple. look at last year's UGA game. The turnout of GT fans were the best I have EVER seen at a home UGA game. We kept their fans out of the stadium for the most part and GT fans showed up in great numbers some not even able to get into the stadium.

The players didn't just have a subpar season. This season may be the most disappointing season since 1999 when we were coming off of a 10-2 season and Joe Hamilton was a senior. Expectations for the coaches, the players, and the fans weren't met. I think we can all agree. And all this talk about GT having crappy fans is just a bunch of BS. GT has some of the most diehard loyal fans ever. To be a GT fan you really have to know that its not going to pay off like Alabama and Michigan.

Not to mention that the home schedule this year is completely unattractive. 6 home games. SCST, MTSU, Duke, and UVA ARE NOT GOING TO PACK ANY STADIUM, at least for very long.

What puts fans in the stadium is winning. Winning cures all. That and beating your rival which we haven't done. We don't have a 100K fan base to fill out our 80K stadium every week. We may never have that unless Paul Johnson wins 10+ games a year for over ten years and beats UGA regularly. It is what it is. Crying about something you knew with open eyes coming into it, really is a waste of breath.

You want fans to regularly show up and fill out the stadium?
1.) Beat Georgia more than 33% of the time. Not even 50% of the time, beat them more than once in every three years. Is that a lot to expect as a fan?
2.) The AD has to have an attractive schedule. Next year you will see a better turn out just because of the home games are attractive.
3.) Win games.

 

[GTCrew4b]

Nothing. We're all already in BDS, as is everyone who would have been able to read JD's rant.

you my friend, can't see the forest for the sake of the trees.

Obviously YOU are, and most other people HERE are. But there are a lot of empty seats at BDS. Alas I had car trouble just before the Duke game, and although planning on going for several months was unable to attend and due to the last minuteness could not find a replacement. Therefore I contributed to the empty seats at BDS against Duke...and I felt mortified...

I simply couldn't make the 10 hour (20 hours RT) drive to BDS that weekend. I'm sorry for my lack of commitment GT players. Please forgive me and my lack of faith!

but I echo BoR's posst above. If the team wants more fans. Then the team should win. The team should not need fan support to win games. The team should believe in itself to the point where nothing outside of the game has any effect on the way they perform or they expect themselves to perform.

 

[BioJacket06]

What gets people in the stadium is not uniforms and videoboards. That's all dog and pony show stuff. Its winning. Plain and simple. look at last year's UGA game. The turnout of GT fans were the best I have EVER seen at a home UGA game. We kept their fans out of the stadium for the most part and GT fans showed up in great numbers some not even able to get into the stadium.

The players didn't just have a subpar season. This season may be the most disappointing season since 1999 when we were coming off of a 10-2 season and Joe Hamilton was a senior. Expectations for the coaches, the players, and the fans weren't met. I think we can all agree. And all this talk about GT having crappy fans is just a bunch of BS. GT has some of the most diehard loyal fans ever. To be a GT fan you really have to know that its not going to pay off like Alabama and Michigan.

Not to mention that the home schedule this year is completely unattractive. 6 home games. SCST, MTSU, Duke, and UVA ARE NOT GOING TO PACK ANY STADIUM, at least for very long.

What puts fans in the stadium is winning. Winning cures all. That and beating your rival which we haven't done. We don't have a 100K fan base to fill out our 80K stadium every week. We may never have that unless Paul Johnson wins 10+ games a year for over ten years and beats UGA regularly. It is what it is. Crying about something you knew with open eyes coming into it, really is a waste of breath.

You want fans to regularly show up and fill out the stadium?
1.) Beat Georgia more than 33% of the time. Not even 50% of the time, beat them more than once in every three years. Is that a lot to expect as a fan?
2.) The AD has to have an attractive schedule. Next year you will see a better turn out just because of the home games are attractive.
3.) Win games.

Absolutely. I could not agree more.

 

[NatiJacket]

How am I a dumbass when I have a Tech degree, silly?. :rolleyes:. All jokes aside, this was blown way out of proportion. You guys ask for players or coaches perspective, then when you get one y'all go insane. Not saying Dwyer was right in his method in delivering his opinion because Dwyer words, whether grammatically correct or not, do carry weight within GTFB community and what he said could have an affect on recruiting. Just take it for what it's worth. I believe what the team is trying to get across what do they have do to get you in BDS. It just seem y'all are never satisified. Some didn't like the video board, many don't like the unis, and among other things. Now the players have a subpar season now everyone(figuratively speaking) wants to jump of the GT train and the need to speak out about it.

I understand where you are coming from and I completely agree what we need to get more fans into the seats. The way to do that though isn't through attacking the fans that do show up.

Things that would probably work much better is reaching out to the Tech community: having players talk to fraternities about the importance of showing up early, engaging with students and encouraging them to come out. During my time at Tech (last 5 years), football players seemed to generally stick to themselves. Making connections will bring out more support from people both while students and when they become alumni and they won't be bandwagon fans.

The same should be done by Tech fans too. It's all of our problem and its something we should all work on together.

 

[TechSBP]

I believe what the team is trying to get across what do they have do to get you in BDS. It just seem y'all are never satisified.

First, not everyone has to like you.

Two, its not us who aren't in BDS. Wrong tree. Nearly everyone on this thread attends a lot of games.

Three, if you want more fans, beat U[sic]GA. Heck, go 4-6 over the next ten years against them and things will change.

Four, I'm not satisfied with 1 win in 10 against U[sic]GA becaue I think we are better than that. I'm disappointed in a 6-6 season, because I think the team is capable of more. Yes, you worked hard. So did everyone else you played. The margins are so thin in football . . . that small reactions and taking one play off, an offsides penalty, a fumble, or botched fumble recovery can change an entire season.

I'm neither dissatisfied or satisfied with GT football this season. But I am disappointed. I thought GT would do better. I sense, from what everyone has said, that you feel the same way. I'm sure that you'll work hard not to feel the same way next year.

But if you want more fans in this state, stop blaming the ones you have and beat U[sic]GA.

Finally, if the stadium is empty, it isn't personal. GT does a lot to tick off alumni, like sending police to tell them they can't tailgate where they've been tailgating for 7 years, instead of someone from the alumni association. Or they tell police to harass people who are trying to give away extra tickets. Quite frankly, Tech is so far behind the other schools I've attended in alumni relations, that it is very disturbing (of course, Tech doesn't believe that this is true).

 

[BarrelORum]

Quite frankly, Tech is so far behind the other schools I've attended in alumni relations, that it is very disturbing (of course, Tech doesn't believe that this is true).

Probably because GT's alumni give back moreso than any other school alumni group in the country. We have been at or near the top for over 20 years. Maybe that's why Tech doesn't think its true.

 

[aeromech]

What gets people in the stadium is not uniforms and videoboards. That's all dog and pony show stuff. Its winning. Plain and simple. look at last year's UGA game. The turnout of GT fans were the best I have EVER seen at a home UGA game. We kept their fans out of the stadium for the most part and GT fans showed up in great numbers some not even able to get into the stadium.

The players didn't just have a subpar season. This season may be the most disappointing season since 1999 when we were coming off of a 10-2 season and Joe Hamilton was a senior. Expectations for the coaches, the players, and the fans weren't met. I think we can all agree. And all this talk about GT having crappy fans is just a bunch of BS. GT has some of the most diehard loyal fans ever. To be a GT fan you really have to know that its not going to pay off like Alabama and Michigan.

Not to mention that the home schedule this year is completely unattractive. 6 home games. SCST, MTSU, Duke, and UVA ARE NOT GOING TO PACK ANY STADIUM, at least for very long.

What puts fans in the stadium is winning. Winning cures all. That and beating your rival which we haven't done. We don't have a 100K fan base to fill out our 80K stadium every week. We may never have that unless Paul Johnson wins 10+ games a year for over ten years and beats UGA regularly. It is what it is. Crying about something you knew with open eyes coming into it, really is a waste of breath.

You want fans to regularly show up and fill out the stadium?
1.) Beat Georgia more than 33% of the time. Not even 50% of the time, beat them more than once in every three years. Is that a lot to expect as a fan?
2.) The AD has to have an attractive schedule. Next year you will see a better turn out just because of the home games are attractive.
3.) Win games.

Agreed, and part of the reason we had a flat season is because several of our top players from last year made the decision to go pro early. With those players back this would have been a completely different season, with a completely different fan turn out to watch games, and Paul Johnson would be 2-1 versus Richt. I can understand the reason those players made the decision to leave early; but sad one would complain about dedication after not fulfilling their own commitment.

 

[Ish]

What really upsets me, is that it's really hard to be a Tech fan. It truly is. We don't have the resources of Georgia, the fanbase of Alabama, the titles of Notre Dame or even the stadium of Michigan. But I love Georgia Tech anyway. How easy would it be to be an Ohio State fan? Being a GT fan require dedication. Going years, and sometimes decades, without being in the national spotlight all for one glimmer of glory in 1990. It makes all the struggle worth it.

And yet here we are, pulling for Tech, and our players are whining about how the fans aren't good enough. You know what, screw you.

 

[ND_jacket]

Quite frankly, Tech is so far behind the other schools I've attended in alumni relations, that it is very disturbing (of course, Tech doesn't believe that this is true).

They know it's true in some areas. They know they do abysmally in relating to graduate-only alumni. They even try to fix things. Then they send out letters to new PhD alumni that piss us off. Mine was addressed to Mr. ND_jackett. (Yeah, that misspelling is intentional, because they doubled up a letter in my first name and didn't bother to use Dr.) This was the Roll Call "We gave ourselves $25 in your name." letter, so it came right after commencement. One would think they could get something simple like one's name and title right when they just got the list from the Registrar.

 

[andrew]

They know it's true in some areas. They know they do abysmally in relating to graduate-only alumni. They even try to fix things. Then they send out letters to new PhD alumni that piss us off. Mine was addressed to Mr. ND_jackett. (Yeah, that misspelling is intentional, because they doubled up a letter in my first name and didn't bother to use Dr.) This was the Roll Call "We gave ourselves $25 in your name." letter, so it came right after commencement. One would think they could get something simple like one's name and title right when they just got the list from the Registrar.

Hah. Roll Call...they sent me a letter asking me to donate to Roll Call about six months ago so I did. One month later, someone was calling me on the phone to ask me to make my annual donation to Roll Call.

I informed him that I had already donated this year and would do so again next year. Since then, I've received like three more letters asking me to donate. Very frustrating.

 

[AE 87]

I'll jump back into this thread which I agree should probably just go away for two things: 1) mack, i was making a joking reference to the other thread. I actually don't care that much about message board spelling and grammar; 2) sports are entertainment -- they exist because of fans; High School atheletes get used to being popular and the centers of attention just for being their school's stars. College athletics should be an opportunity for them to learn that in the real world people have to please their market--it doesn't just exist for them. If the kids in the locker rooms are complaining about the lack of fans in the seats, then the coaches should be saying that it's the job of the players to give people a reason to be in the seats. That's the way the real world works. Everybody has to win their share of the market.

 

[JTS]

It's not the quality of the fans we have. It's the quantity of fans that we have.

Based on numbers I researched a couple of years ago, GT has 48K alumni in GA while Ugag has about 300K. When you apply a friends and family factor on to the alumni numbers, you end up with a couple hundred thousand GT fans versus a couple of million of Ugag fans. It gets even worse when you add in the unaligned, "I root for the team that's winning crowd". It will take a multi-decade run in order to change fan dynamics in this state.

Bottom line....if JD wants more fans in the stands for our players he should focus on building up GT so we can get new fans not ripping on the ones we do have.

 

[stinger78]

Agreed, and part of the reason we had a flat season is because several of our top players from last year made the decision to go pro early. With those players back this would have been a completely different season, with a completely different fan turn out to watch games, and Paul Johnson would be 2-1 versus Richt. I can understand the reason those players made the decision to leave early; but sad one would complain about dedication after not fulfilling their own commitment.

You know, I agree. The note was in bad taste on a public board. It is another in a trend of those notes. I'm surprised that JD posted it. He seemed like a great guy who liked GA Tech. Not sure what's up.

However, I would say that had he not elected to go sit on an NFL inactive list all year, and had he elected to finish out his eligibility, things may have been a bit different.

 

[eg1]

What gets people in the stadium is not uniforms and videoboards. That's all dog and pony show stuff. Its winning. Plain and simple. look at last year's UGA game. The turnout of GT fans were the best I have EVER seen at a home UGA game. We kept their fans out of the stadium for the most part and GT fans showed up in great numbers some not even able to get into the stadium.

The players didn't just have a subpar season. This season may be the most disappointing season since 1999 when we were coming off of a 10-2 season and Joe Hamilton was a senior. Expectations for the coaches, the players, and the fans weren't met. I think we can all agree. And all this talk about GT having crappy fans is just a bunch of BS. GT has some of the most diehard loyal fans ever. To be a GT fan you really have to know that its not going to pay off like Alabama and Michigan.

Not to mention that the home schedule this year is completely unattractive. 6 home games. SCST, MTSU, Duke, and UVA ARE NOT GOING TO PACK ANY STADIUM, at least for very long.

What puts fans in the stadium is winning. Winning cures all. That and beating your rival which we haven't done. We don't have a 100K fan base to fill out our 80K stadium every week. We may never have that unless Paul Johnson wins 10+ games a year for over ten years and beats UGA regularly. It is what it is. Crying about something you knew with open eyes coming into it, really is a waste of breath.

You want fans to regularly show up and fill out the stadium?
1.) Beat Georgia more than 33% of the time. Not even 50% of the time, beat them more than once in every three years. Is that a lot to expect as a fan?
2.) The AD has to have an attractive schedule. Next year you will see a better turn out just because of the home games are attractive.
3.) Win games.

+ eleventy billion

 

[Essobee]

It's not the quality of the fans we have. It's the quantity of fans that we have.

Based on numbers I researched a couple of years ago, GT has 48K alumni in GA while Ugag has about 300K. When you apply a friends and family factor on to the alumni numbers, you end up with a couple hundred thousand GT fans versus a couple of million of Ugag fans. It gets even worse when you add in the unaligned, "I root for the team that's winning crowd". It will take a multi-decade run in order to change fan dynamics in this state.

Bottom line....if JD wants more fans in the stands for our players he should focus on building up GT so we can get new fans not ripping on the ones we do have.

Good post. It's about demographics. Not only are we greatly outnumbered, we have the competition of pro sports along with other universities (GSU, KSU) now getting in on the act. But as my old coach used to say, "It's not the size of the dog in the fight; it's the size of the fight in the dog." Tech fans' "fight" stacks up pretty well, IMHO.