Technical Tidbits 6/23: Georgia Tech’s game in Ireland still in question, Pastner’s program gets a big-time endorsement

Cade is out on vacation this week, so in the mean time you’re stuck with the rest of us.

We told you a few weeks ago that Georgia Tech’s season-opening game in Ireland against Boston College might have been in jeopardy due to a sanctioning issue, which appeared to be more of a play by the Irish American Football Association (IAFA) to recoup some legal fees from the Irish American Events Limited (IAEL) organization. Part of that was the IAFA setting a deadline on those fees being paid in order to sanction the game, and that deadline has passed with no apparent developments in the way of payments. That said, IAEL (the group who organized the game) still isn’t worried about the game taking place — nor should you be. The amount that’s being argued over is less than .05% of the projected revenue that the game would bring to Ireland in the form of tourism. If you bought tickets to the game, have a little faith — the Irish government will ensure that they’ll get this done.

In other scheduling oddities, the AJC pointed out yesterday that when Georgia Tech’s basketball team hosts Tulane this fall, it will be the first time in history that they have played a home game on the same day as the annual Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate football game. (Link may require registration.) The Yellow Jackets’ football team will be in Athens that day, making things awfully tough (or impossible) for fans hoping to attend both. We won’t know what time either game starts until we get closer, but I feel comfortable in thinking that the result of the football game could have an impact on how fans react to the basketball game. Win the football game? The basketball team could get shut out and there’s a chance nobody would notice. Lose the football game? Total toss-up between “everyone so emotionally consumed by the football game that they don’t notice” and “everyone’s anger gets deflected to the basketball team, with no result being good enough”. Hope you’re feeling lucky, Coach Pastner.

Speaking of Coach Pastner, if you’ve paid much attention lately, you’ll have noticed that the new basketball coach has been giving out scholarship offers to seemingly anyone he sees on a basketball court. That includes rising high school seniors, juniors, and even sophomores. Fans will always find something to complain about with him (or any other coach), but the thing they’ll never be able to gripe about is his effort on the recruiting trail — which has been every bit as good as advertised. That said, as hard as he’s clearly working, Pastner would likely welcome any help he can get. Well, he got some yesterday, in the form of a ringing program endorsement from one of its greats:

I have no idea if Marbury was asked to say something or if he went out of his way to say it, but hopefully it’s something that high school prospects pay attention to — point guard has been a major position of need at Georgia Tech for a few years now.