Mailbag 2/24

What is Tech’s requirement to get a player’s jersey in the rafters for Basketball? - NCYellowJacket

Ben: Well someone beat me to it, but here’s the link for the jersey retirement requirements: https://ramblinwreck.com/jersey-retirement/

Jake: I believe a big one is that players need to get their degree from Tech, but having looked at those criteria, well, the bar is raised a LOT higher than I expected.

Why did the chicken cross the road? - Notwima13

Ben: To get the heck away from all these new fast food places hopping into the #ChickenSandwichWars. Even Taco Bell is coming out with a chicken sandwich...taco thing. If I was a chicken, I’d be running too.

Jake: inserts Carter gif here

Carter:

11 walks??? - ramblin gooner

Ben: At least it wasn’t 12?

Akshay: It could always be worse. It’ll get better....hopefully.

Jake: We hit a batter, too, so it was worse. The good news, though, is that NC State let in 16 runs to UNC Greensboro last night, so maybe we can just outscore them like 100-13 or something? Either way, I am not extremely pleased with the control shown by the pitchers and now I’m seeing shades of 2017 all over again. Great!

Carter: That reminds me, I really should remember to take more walks now that the weather is starting to get nice. Take some time away from the home office, people. Work-life balance is important.

Pastner is taking some ribbing...For his comment about 11 ACC Tourney teams. Is this type of comment good for Tech Bball’s image or does it hurt the program, recruiting, etc. - BuzzForPresident

Ben: I think you can spin it however you want, but I don’t think it’ll really matter too much when it comes down to it.

Akshay: He’ll get some good-natured ribbing about it, and that’ll be it. Coaches have said (and done, mind you) much dumber things. He’s a coach marketing his program to the selection committee — of course he’s going to say some outlandish things to get his team on the map.

Jake: His logic was built on the fact that the conference has hall of fame coaches and future hall of fame coaches, too. Like, okay, coach? But you can still be in a down year and have great coaches. It happens. And I say this as a born-and-bred mid-major basketball fan, but on some level, it really makes no sense for someone with a .500 or losing record in-conference (as the 10th and 11th best teams in the ACC or any conference would inevitably have) rather than a really competitive second/third entry from the Atlantic-10, Missouri Valley, etc. Same applies to the Big 10. No conference is THAT good that more than half their teams needs to make the tournament. That’s what the conference tourney is for.

Carter: He hasn’t reached 09-10 levels of Paul Hewitt posting, so fine, whatever.

With your single use time machine, would you...

Stay right when/where you are?

Travel to which epoch of Human or Earth history (and stuck there for the remained of your life)?

Travel to the future on pot luck, just spin the dials?

Through the Grand Unified Theory, we gain the ability to remember tomorrow and the future. What would you look for in landing time/place? - DressHerInWhiteAndGold

Ben: I don’t think I could pick one time to go to, so I would probably end up just staying where I’m at.

Jake: See, the problem is that I really like modern technology and sports and, like, food, so I couldn’t go too far back. But if I go really any farther back than a little while ago, I’d have to suffer with the Cubs (and Tech and the Blackhawks and...) through some pretty rough years, so maybe like the Roaring 20s? I’d love to see America in the railroad age and hit Europe as the Grand Tour culture was picking up.

Akshay:

Carter: I’d probably only go back 10-15 years. You know, a “if I knew then what I know now” kind of thing. But that would almost certainly set up a butterfly effect that causes me to miss out on meeting my fianceé, so, maybe not.

What is the status of Tristan Maxwell? Is he injured? (submitted via email)

Ben: I haven’t heard anything about him, and schools are notoriously quiet about when players aren’t playing.

Akshay: I thought I read somewhere that he was practicing now, but that the team was taking it slow with him. However, I can’t find my source for that.

Jake: He was definitely injured before, but I definitely saw a report that said he had been cleared to practice.

Hello Guys,

Hope all is well for you today. Not sure how I feel about us dropping a game to EKU, but otherwise it was a pretty good weekend. Where I’m at it finally stopped raining and snowing so we could finally enjoy the sunshine which was nice. Good times were had by all.

This week I was talking with my friends about pizza. There was a conversation about what exactly qualified a pizza as Detroit style pizza among other things. So my question this week is what is the best pizza combination in your opinion. Talking style, toppings, location if it matters. The Anticos’ Margherita pizza was one of the best (if not the best) I’ve ever had... but I dunno for regular consumption it might be a bit much (also I’ve heard bad things about how they treat their employees, not sure if they’re still around but I don’t really want to support them).

I guess I’d go with a pan style with extra cheese and italian sausage with pineapple (that’s right, I’m a heathen, do something about it). That’s my regular and favorite... Best, I like the brick oven Margherita style pizzas no matter where I get them from. What’s your favorite? Have a good rest of your week guys.

without malice,

Little Caesar (submitted via email)

Ben: You are not a heathen at all. My go-to pizza has bacon, pineapple and red onion as its toppings. But while I’m talking about pizza, let me just say, I am tired of all these places who have a crust and do JACK [STYX] with it! Like, it ends up just being a dense piece of chewy bread that has no flavor whatsoever. At least put some garlic butter or something on there. /steps off soap box

Chris: Meatballs and sun-dried tomatoes. Maybe some caramelized onions. (Yes this is the only question I answered this week, thanks for asking)

Akshay: I often defer to Domino’s thin crust offering (which I read somewhere was St. Louis-style? we have too many named pizza styles in this country) with feta and olives. Pan pizzas are also great, but it has been a while since I’ve had one. I’ve also been looking to try some authentic Detroit-style pizza in Atlanta, but I just haven’t had the opportunity yet. I leave you with the hottest of pizza takes: Chicago-style pizza is just casserole, and that’s fine. No one wants to admit it, but let’s just be honest about what we’re eating, man.

Jake: That’s horrifying, and so are most of these takes. Especially Akshay, but his takes are always suspicious. Chris can stay, though. I feel like, as the only person yet to answer who comes from a place with a real pizza culture, I am the best and only person qualified to answer this question. The problem with people hating on Chicago deep dish pizza (and those who automatically dismiss Detroit style, or St. Louis style pizza, though both of those cities can also go far, far away and St. Louis can please take their Provel with them), though, is that they dismiss the true bounds of what pizza can be. Of course, I’m about to say that and also say that Chicago’s true pizza, the one folks in the neighborhoods get, is a tavern-style thin crust pie with a cracker-thin crust cut into squares (though I did have a deep dish last night that was in my freezer) and my favorite combination of toppings is the Fellini’s special - sausage, pepperoni, meatballs, green pepper, onion, and green and black olives - so combining those two things would probably make my favorite pizza combo. I suppose, being also a fan of the strict interpretation of the Chicago style hot dog, that overloading on toppings should be expected.

Carter: First, I will not stand for any slander of Detroit style pizza. The lady had plenty of it growing up in Michigan and easily converted me after we met. But it’s hard to find around here — your options are Nina & Rafi’s if you want to be local and fancy, or find a Jet’s. Yeah, Jet’s is a chain, but they’re also from Michigan, and I trust their Detroit style far more than anything one of the mega pizza brands is offering. If I’m talking my go-to pizza slice, though, it can only be my order from when I worked downtown and we went to Rosa’s once a week: spinach, onions, hot sausage. Perfection for under $5.