To say that Georgia Tech has struggled with building a loyal fanbase in its home city of Atlanta would be an understatement. The Jackets have consistently failed to fill up Bobby Dodd Stadium for games not against top competition the general vibe of the city tilts strongly towards the dwag faithful. That said, it is still a surprise that the Jackets come in at a depressing third (or fourth depending on how you look at it) in terms of popularity in the ATL. Sure, measuring a team's popularity in terms of Facebook likes can be problematic, but there is really no better way to measure a difficult-to-observe entity such as popularity of college teams. The teams which rank above the Jackets are uga, Alabama, and Auburn in that order. Is it a cause for concern that Tech doesn't even own the zip-code in which they are loacted -- there really isn't any other team in the nation which struggles with popularity in their home city as much as Tech does in Atlanta.
Yesterday was a very interesting day in terms of Georgia Tech's future football scheduling. The Jackets announced that they had postponed their home-and-home series with Ole Miss, pushing it back five years from 2017-2018 to 2022-2023. The primary motive for that move seems to be Tech's expected 2017 season opener against the Tennessee Volunteers in the Chick-Fil-a Kickoff Game, and I totally support the move. Three SEC teams in a season seems ridiculous, especially when each of those teams is trending upwards. Tech also announced games against Alcorn State to start next season and Kennesaw State to kick off the 2021 campaign, which will undoubtedly come on the heels of about six straight Georgia Tech championships.
Georgia Tech legend and football-catching god Calvin Johnson was removed from the Lions' week five matchup against the Bills with an ankle problem, finishing the game with just one catch. The all-time great player has been struggling with the nagging injury lately, and it has prompted some people (salty dwag fans, no doubt) to question his ability as a receiver. In fact, someone recently came up to me and verbally, at his own will, said that Calvin Johnson was washed up. I laughed and walked away.
It would appear that the state of Florida's behavior problems go far beyond FSU's resident toddler Jameis Winston -- Florida's true freshman quarterback Treon Harris was recently dismissed from the team amid a sexual assault investigation. This is just the latest occurrence in a string of disgusting choices made by football players, both college and NFL alike. You'd really think that people who have everything going for them like these folks do would have enough common sense to realize that their choices have consequences. Domestic violence and sexual assault are both very serious crimes, but they have become so common that neither even grabs a headline It's sad, honestly. Especially when you realize that people who commit such atrocities will likely be welcomed back onto a team at some point.
What are your thoughts on Georgia Tech's struggle with garnering interest within Atlanta?