A Sad Day In Athens

Kanu, are you baked? How could you say such a thing after we beat our little sisters for the 6th year in a row? Look, dumbass, it's all right here.


Pre realization-that-Ball-is-gone joy.

It is a sad day because Reggie Ball's eligibility will soon be over and we will have to face a different Georgia Tech quarterback next year.

I realized today, at some point during the 2nd quarter (I think when he engineered that GT scoring drive from our 12 to our 22 to set up their field goal), how much I love Reggie Ball and how much I will miss him.

At halftime Solon called me and asked me what was going to happen. I said something like "Well, Ball has been inept but hasn't yet had any fuckups, so we should be due 1 or 2. That being said, we aren't doing shit. I bet we find a way to narrowly get ahead near the end and all we will need is 1 defensive stop and I fear like Vandy & UK we won't get it."

So when we valiantly went ahead by 3 with 2 minutes left I was starting to feel like a swami, and I was hoping that my premonition wouldn't come true. But the power of Reggie was stronger than I imagined. It wasn't enough for him to 1) fumble the ball away, which resulted in not only a turnover deep in his own end but a TD directly and 2) to keep it, slip and fall on their 2 point conversion instead of pitching it to a dude who could have walked into the corner of the end zone. Nope, he wanted to go out in style. So he patiently waited while we turned 4th & 17 for them into 1st and 10, and then threw a horribly thrown interception befitting a true freshman. Not quite throwing the ball away on 4th down because you don't realize that it's 4th down, like he did on his would be game winning drive 2 years ago, but that was always going to be difficult to top. This was a perfect way to cap his career against his school's biggest rival.


Oh how I will miss thee...

***Update: it appears I am not alone.

So that is why it is a sad day today. I don't know if we will ever again benefit from such shittacular play from the opposing QB in our rivalry with little sister.

A special word of props for Mo Massaquoi, who stared down the inner demons of earlier-in-the-year chronic drops and made 3 huge catches on the final scoring drive. Amazingly, the most important one was the one that didn't result in points: a 3rd down catch at the 5 where he knew he was going to get drilled, made a great catch, held onto the ball, was heady enough to fall forward and get the 1st down, and did get drilled. A huge play from someone whose confidence was very low much of the season, and on the next 2 plays he caught the winning TD and 2 point conversion. Like Bob Marley, perhaps he has conquered the evil spirits that earlier beset him.


Mo Mass: Duppy Conqueror

A special word of props also for Paul Oliver, who for the 2nd year running pretty much shut down Calvin Johnson (save for 1 circus catch TD last year). As great as Calvin is, imagine how amazing he would have been if he had gone to a school with a 1/2 decent QB and a team that actually could get him the ball and maximize his talents. Scary to think about - dude cannot get his ass out of Atlanta and into the NFL fast enough.


PO8 channeling Public Enemy: Shut 'Em Down.

For those scoring at home, that is six in a row and 13 of the last 16, with 2 of their 3 "wins" resulting from calls so bad that they would certainly have been overturned given the current replay system. Oh, and all 3 "wins" during a period when the NCAA found them to be cheating profusely and attempted to vacate said "wins". In other words, 1 legitimate win for GT since 1990. Feels great, until you realize that it is exactly how the Gators feel about us. Still feels great though.