Fleeced

This weekend was quite possibly the greatest March Madness i have had in the past five years. Unfortunately, syracuse, uconn, kansas, wake, and gonzaga are all gone. brackets across the country are in ruins. i can painfully admit that my best bracket has 3 teams left in the final four, which is looking to be a great matchup of #1 seeds.

But lets start this journey on friday, when my crew found itself knee deep in Yellow Jackets at Manuels Tavern. Here are some interesting facts you should know about GA Tech fans. (since 1998, when i arrived in atl...)
- GA Tech fans have gone to three NCAA tourneys. 2001, lost in round 1. 2004, lost in the final. 2005, well....youll see below.
- 50% of tech's fan base is strictly bandwagon; georgia residents who need a team to cling to during march madness choose tech, especially with last years performance.
- Not a lot of girls show up for the games. or the after parties. or ever, really.
- 20 tech students can drink as much as me and three buddies.
- Your ethnicity should somehow tie in with the continent of Asia.
- Your prayers for winning games are based off the play of a 7 foot australian redheaded stepchild.
- You cheer every point, every rebound, every steal, with a golf clap because you have never gotten intense about a sports event in your life and you dont really follow basketball unless deepak, suni, and kirpal try and get the ICE to meet up at a bar and watch misery for 40 minutes.


uncircumcised australian hoops player known for choking in big games
moving on....
Saturday, when the weather in atl held out just enough warmth for me to embark on a disc golf extravaganza. redan park runs leagues on saturdays, so we had to make the trek to lenora park instead. the gentle giant loved the course, able to launch his cannon shot hundreds of feet past my little dinky straight shots. we played 10 holes before we decided that smoking massive bowls and watching basketball was just a better idea. then double overtime happened with West VA upsetting my wake forest picks and the night turned into complete debauchery. we met up with dwelly, timmyjimmy, his lady friend, and some more ladies over at moes and hoes. after downing several $3 pbr's it was off to fontaines. shots were poured and everything was cool until a.wild katz showed up and karmatically inspired wild shit to go down. someone caught fire to her purse, her hoodie, and a napkin all in one swift move. beers were also dropped on the floor due to girls not being able to handle their drugs of choice. all in all, for what was billed as a relaxing night before my big game on sunday, it was a hilarious night for all.

sunday morning, 8 am, alarm goes off. call gets patched into mama shu re: louisville tickets for the big dance. she was already in nashville, tn, and had obtained the 2 tix for me and swilly to get to the game. 9:30 am departure from atl up 75 to 24 west. sometimes, road trips are only as good as the music available in the car. lucky for me swilly has massive cd collex plus mp3s via laptop. bowls were packed, twists were twisted, and we were off for this 240 mile, 3 hour ride to the Gaylord Entertainment Center.


If last weekend was 'catlanta' for UK fans, then this weekend in 'pitinoville' the black and red dominated the entire city. i would say that the Louisville fans outnumbered the GA Tech fans 20:1. that means in every bar lining the broadway strip of nashville, you heard 95% more talking and jeering about garcia and dean than glory days of jarret jack and luke so-unsure. (that kid looked like his feet were nailed to the basketball court for the first 20 minutes) 95% more makers mark ordered. 95% more hope for a sweet sixteen bid.

so after mama shu handed me the 2 tix and got us nice and toasty with shots and beers (which she had been downing 2 hours before my arrival), we proceeded back to the car for a quick rejuvie and then into the stadium for the two games.

After watching Florida twice this year, i can say this for certain. The SEC sucks. I said it before when there were 1000s of fans surrounding me in the GA Dome for championship week, and ill say it again here for all to read. the SEC sucks. they are the biggest tourney choke artists ever. so it was no surprise to catch villanova parlay their 5-12 win into a sweet sixteen bid.

for each college game, there are 4 sections of fans on the floor. then the upper area is general admission; anyone who gets their hands on the tickets can have them regardless of school following. C-A-R-D-S, CARDS! cheers filled the air with 10 minutes left in the Nova-UF game. we were louder than two other fan bases combined! when our squad came out to watch the required 2 minutes of the first game, the stadium looked more like the red sea and i swear, beers knocked over because of the noise.


Despite god having nothing to do with it, garcia's skills cause waves in the red sea
Needless to say, we smoked tech by 21 points and our double digit lead dropped to 9 once in the 2nd half. Louisville continues on and GA Tech fans head home. Of course on our first stop for gas, there were plenty of Tech boys in their gold and black polos, khakis, and loafers, looking like they were just penetrated, beat down, and stuffed into a trunk. i was popping my louisville shirt like we were on top of the world.


Despite being hideous, this fan 'pops his jersey' to the GT team
and after all this madness and bracket busting and crazy upset city, i just have one question that remains unanswered (and hopefully will stay that way until St. Louis)....

how does it feel to be fleeced?