Tag Archives: Georgia Tech

Meet and Greet with Joe the Plumber

Posted on by
Reply

 

(Originally Published on 11/5/2008)

Are we human?
Or are we dancer?
My sign is vital
My hands are cold
And I’m on my knees
Looking for the answer
Are we human?
Or are we dancer?

–  Killers Human

I have been battling with these lyrics for about a week now. Dancer? Isn’t there an ‘s’ missing? The strict grammartarian in me was cringing. What are these guys thinking? I ended up seeking out PDE advice, and what I found blew my mind. You see, we can’t think of human as a noun, but as an archetype, and so is Dancer. Are we human or are we dancer is like saying are we American or are we Russian. Do we belong to just the base human, or are we dancer, transcending to a new form. Dancer is not a subset of human, no, not at all. However, there Venn diagrams do interact and go beyond. Dancer is what we should be, not what we are. So cut cord, be Dancer.

Now, amidst the euphoria and glory of the recent Phillies championship, other great events in sports have been happening. I speak of College football, a topic long debated among members of Brier Nation. So far we have an excellent season shaping up.

Consider:

  1. GaTech beat FSU for the first time in Bowden era
  2. PSU won in OSU for the first time in 30 years
  3. Michigan lost to Toledo.
  4. Michigan blew the second longest winning season streak in history. #1 you ask? PSU of course. Better luck in 2059.
  5. PSU beat Michigan for the first is like forever.
  6. First losing season in like forever for Michigan.
  7. First none bowl appearance for Michigan is 34 years.
  8. Michigan lost to… well I think you get the picture. A good strength and conditioning coach does not make up for no talent. Who knew?

As all members can agree, these are all excellent events. I am still trepidatious about the over rated Big 12 stealing another chance for JoePa to play for a title, so I won’t linger to long there, but instead will focus the truly unexpected: Ga Tech.

How can they be winning (In first place of the Coastal division) when:

  1. They have the ugliest uniforms in football. What happened? We used to have great classy uniforms. Where have you gone Rudy? Now.. yuck.
  2. They are running the wishbone. Call it the triple whatever, I will go with BobbyB – It’s the bone.

These things make me sad for my great and mighty alma mater, and go against everything I believe about football, (yes I believe good looking uniforms are a pre req for winning and you need throw the ball.) but the wins? They somehow mask this. I guess I feel like a feminist did when Bill stained Monica’s dress.

Just win baby.

Note: Amazing how a BCS game and years of consistent winning can change your views on Paul Johnson. I am still not convinced this offense is versatile enough to win a national championship, but it fun to watch. (We also fixed the uniforms.)

 

Picking your team – You probally don’t have a choice anymore

Posted on by
Reply

Bill Simmons has pretty much laid out the rules for who you are meant to cheer for and how you change it.

The relevant parts are that whatever team was your team in your formative years is your team for life. You can’t change it except for certain conditions.

This is 100% true and you should rag on anyone who changes their team. For instance if your buddy who is a lifetime Lions fans shows up in Vegas wearing a Seahawks hat he deserves to get shit about that for the rest of his life. Even if he wised up and jumped back to the Lions, the damage was done. You can’t uncheat.You can like other teams, but you can’t wear their colors.

I grew up in Philly so that locks me into the Eagles, Phillies, Sixers and Flyers for life. Philly is a great place to be from and these teams have been the finals in all of their sports during my adult life so I am pretty happy with my allotment in life.

But last summer and in 2006 it was tough. The Heat showed and are showing what real NBA basketball is like. I haven’t had that since 2002 with the Sixers. So I like the Heat. I cheer for them. I even go to Heat games. But I am Sixer fan first and always will be.I cheered for the Sixers in the first round last year and would do so again.

However I will call the Heat my second team. I will sort of cheer for them, especially when it has no impact on the Sixers. (Incidentally this makes me a much better Heat fan than most “Heat fans” I have met.)

And this brings me to my main point. It is OK to have a second team as long it doesn’t conflict with your main team. However there are rules:

  1. You can’t cheer for them if it affects your main team. You must follow your main team more than your second team. Care about their drafting, etc. The second team is just for fun.
  2. The team you pick matters. For pros, it must be from the city you are living in or be in the other conference. For college it must be a school someone from your family went to or has some other personal tie to.
  3. You can’t get into them like your main team. No wearing shirts or jerseys for them. Except maybe, and I mean maybe, in the playoffs. There is a little gray area here. It might only be for the local city you are second teaming.
  4. For college you must cheer for the school you did your undergrad at first. Your second team can be the school you did post grad work at. These cannot be flipped. You made your life decision at 18 or 19 and you are stuck with it. (Go Jackets!)
  5. You can change it. If you move to a new city you don’t have to be stuck with the team from that old city. That is just silly. You also don’t have to stick with some loser team in another conference. Remember the second team is just for fun.

A second team is not cheating unless you take it too far. It is like going to a strip club. That is not cheating on your wife, but it is a good time. However, blowing $1000 in the champagne room might perhaps get you in trouble with the misses. The above rules outline how not to get into trouble.

That all said my second teams are the:

  1. The Heat. Yes, that is weak. I know, but come on, you know you would do it to. If a supermodel moves in next door, you are not going to water the lawn a bit longer? Come on son. It used to be Golden State. That was because I used to love playing as Chris Webber in NBA Jam. (Yes, the reasons for picking your second team don’t have to be logical.)
  2. The Chargers. I think because I liked the lighting bolts on the uniforms as a kid and didn’t like the Raiders and they were always the 4:00 PM game so I saw them play more.
  3. The Sharks. I liked when they were an underdog and beat the Red Wings. I hate Detroit because their fans are so annoying. Hockeytown my ass.
  4. Penn State. Ugh. Thanks family and friends for sticking me with this albatross. At least I didn’t go there. It was so great and now… Did I mention Go Jackets?