When Georgia Tech is Not Playing, How Do You Enjoy Football?

by Winfield Featherston on Oct 29, 2010 9:00 AM EDT in Enhance Your Experience

Some of you old-timers might have to set me straight on this one, but what was it like when you had no TV and only one football game to listen to on the radio? What did it feel like when you were able to actually watch a game on the television set with the big knobs?

Technology has become a tool for any and all people, communities, and events but especially for the college football fan and today I want to start a discussion about how technology has affected my college football Saturdays when I'm not in the stadium watching the game.

I've told you about when I was growing up, I had to listen to Wes Durham over the internet because we couldn't get the regional broadcasts of Georgia Tech to play up in Ohio. Thank you technology for making me a strong Georgia Tech fan.

In my family's travels, we moved to Nebraska and could not get consistent Georgia Tech football coverage on TV either. So we ordered the college football package offered by our cable provider. There I had just about every game imaginable that had a TV broadcast. There were days when I would walk downstairs at 10AM and not come back up until midnight, soaking up the football games. Thank you technology for making me a strong college football fan.

Technology has allowed for things to continuously change, including how we watch, view, and become knowledgeable about college football. I could talk about twitter all day but for this morning I want to talk about what we do when we aren't in the stadium watching a game. What do you do during your off week?

I become a football junkie. The off-week is probably the peak of when I lose all attraction levels to females because I camp out on my couch, drink beer, eat food, and watch as many games as possible. I specifically remember one week last year when it was myself, my roommate, and about two or three other people where we had 2 TV's and 3 computers plugged into ESPN360 and we watched 5 games at once all at the same time. Without the rise of technology and football we wouldn't even be able to think of such an act.

How have you used, or use, technology to maximize your bye week?

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Will enjoy "Roadblock Weekend"

Blur beats Kiffykins
Bo beats Big Mo
SuperCam

End of High School Regular Season
Yard Work

We do get an overload of CFB will all of the TV choices. Much like Baseball. BB was certainly more interesting in the days of NBC’s “Game of the Week”. Hence the interest in watching only when we get to playoffs/finals.

by DressHerInWhiteAndGold on Oct 29, 2010 10:23 AM EDT reply actions

You did what when you were growing up?

I believe thats the 1st time I’ve heard someone use the term internet with the phrase “When I was growing up.” I guess I need to get used to it.

I do love Saturday’s where I sit in my recliner with beer and food, and so many games to choose from.

by Beernutts on Oct 29, 2010 11:04 AM EDT reply actions

Yeah I guess I may have just dated a significant portion of our community

Better to have died a small boy than to drop this football - John HeismanFromTheRumbleSeat

by Winfield Featherston on Oct 29, 2010 1:21 PM EDT up reply actions

Yes, yes you did

And I don’t even feel like I’m that old @ 30.

"Everybody talks about SEC speed. The 27 fastest guys at the (NFL) combine, how many of them were from the SEC? Three. But if you say it enough, everybody will believe it."
-CPJ

"You could spend the next fifteen seconds of your life watching a man and a tiger scream together, or you could be an idiot."
Fact.

by Jesse28 on Nov 2, 2010 8:07 AM EDT up reply actions

O.K., I will volunteer to be the geezer

I find technology to be a mixed bag. I am no Luddite but there was a magic to those simpler times. TV’s were invented before I was born so listening to the radio was not my only option. I grew up with TV.

What was strangely comforting however was that ABC (that’s what some of us used to call a network) would feature one key game every Saturday. To be sure other games might also be shown but this was the game that “everyone in the nation” was watching together. The game could be from anywhere in the country but the same announcers and crew would go to cover it and it would be treated like it was the most important game of the year. Usually a color analyst would be added who was local. It seems like (but I am sure this is just my imagination) fans were more knowledgeable about teams from other parts of the country as a result.

Now it seems many people only watch the teams in their regional broadcasts. Only the geeks and nerds keep up with the national picture. In the “good ole days” I was forced to know what Michigan State was doing or SMU.

by Atlanta's original team on Oct 29, 2010 4:28 PM EDT reply actions

Back when Keith Jackson was the voice of CFB

I enjoyed the “roundup” of CFB scores on TV. I wondered where these colleges were:

Drake
Fordham
Valpariso
Colgate
Villanova
Air Force
Holy Cross
UC Santa Barbara
Delta State (Fighting Okra)

by DressHerInWhiteAndGold on Oct 29, 2010 10:15 PM EDT reply actions

Exactly!

When we moved to Massachusetts I told my wife that now knowing where Holy Cross was felt like completing the circle from my childhood. The Holy Cross score used to be one of the first ones announced. The other one I remember was Slippery Rock.

by Atlanta's original team on Oct 30, 2010 8:02 AM EDT up reply actions

Al Ciraldo on the radio

If you could not be at Grant Field in person, Saturday afternoons were spent listening to Tech games with Al Ciraldo on WGST. “Toe meets leather…” AM radio only, so if it was a transistor, you may have had to hold it just right to get a good reception. If it was a late game you would lose the the AM reception about 6:30 since WGST had to power down.
ABC and Keith Jackson ( or KEith JAckson) had a monopoly on the nation’s TV attention. If you did not care about the particular teams playing, you had to watch for the other scores.
When I went to college in MO, I would often have to call home that evening to find a Tech score. I remember my dad giving me the run-down on the 78 Tech-uga game when both teams returned consecutive kick-offs.

by CaptK on Oct 30, 2010 9:14 AM EDT reply actions