Mailbag 2/16

Watched any of the Olympics? I haven’t seen 30 seconds of any event; and it looks like I’m in the majority here. - DressHerInWhiteAndGold

Ben: I don’t have cable, so I don’t watch the Olympics. Occasionally I catch some highlights, but that isn’t any different from most Olympics.

Jake: I used to watch so much of the Olympics, particularly the winter ones. I watched an evening last week, but, otherwise, I’d say you and I are in the same boat.

Chris: M O N O B O B.

Carter: I watched quite a bit while I was stationed in San Diego last week. (Being on Pacific time for a few days really helped out with the time differential.) And if you didn’t stay up to watch USA-Canada in men’s hockey a few days ago, are you really an American?

Logan: I watched the halfpipe competitions, the ski jumping, the biathlon... I actually watched plenty, but I’d be lying if I said I was paying much attention. I don’t remember who won those, I had it on in the background and watched when impressive things happen.

Do you have a favorite Super Bowl Ad? I’m going with Meadow Soprano with a slight edge over Scarlett and Colin (and I’ll NEVER have one of those Alexa things in my house, or car.) - DressHerInWhiteAndGold

Ben: I didn’t turn the Super Bowl on for one second, and therefore, I did not see any of the commercials. Normally, I will at least see some clips or something on Twitter, but I haven’t even seen anything like that.

Jake: I honestly don’t know. There were a couple that I wanted to like, but nothing really stood out as particularly enjoyable. I feel like I should have stronger opinions here.

Carter: From this year? I already forgot most of them, but the Lay’s ad with Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen was pretty good I guess?

Logan: I liked the one where the kids were playing a game and the football players jumped out of the tv as cartoons. I thought that one was fun and funny. the Seth Rogan and Paul Rudd one was also pretty good. Like the one with Taco Bell taking shots at McDonalds. I wasn’t blown away by any of the commercials this year but they were decently amusing.

When will each of these happen next? Baseball advances to Super Regional, Football wins a Bowl Game, Basketball wins an NCAA Tournament game? - ramblin gooner

Ben: If basketball extends to the women’s team, I’ll take that option. Otherwise, I’ll say baseball.

Jake: Baseball to the Super Regional. Just given that it can still happen this year with reasonably good odds.

Carter: At this point baseball making a super regional is certainly the most likely to occur.

Logan: When? That’s tough to say because of all the factors in play, but I might be able to give you a range. Baseball within the next 3 years probably. Baseball has the most talent of our teams and we seem to run into the most problems after reaching the regionals usually. I think we can at least reach the super regional in the next few years.

Basketball will be tough to say but probably in the next 14 years or so. preferably sooner, I could see it happening in 4 to 6 possibly, but you said “win” a NCAA tournament and getting there doesn’t mean winning. Getting there is hard enough for GT, since there is not necessarily a guarantee that a certain number of wins will get you in. In the ACC you have to win the big games, which is possible but the Jackets have not proven we are capable of consistently doing. Then if we get in odds are we will be a lower seed, so that will set us up against a tougher opponent. NCAA tournament is notoriously hard to predict and also is harder for us to get into.

Football isn’t as hard to predict. Getting to a bowl game is easier than reaching the NCAA tournament since you just have to win half your games (granted us doing that is not looking likely next year). I’m pretty sure that we can find a way to win 6 games at some point in the near future, lets say in the next 5 years or so (assuming some changes happen). Winning is a different story. I would expect to win some kind of bowl game in the next 8 years as an optimist, but 10 years may be more likely. We haven’t made a trend of going a decade without winning a bowl game in the past. If we make it to Shreveport and beat a school like Troy I guess that would count (I don’t think that made up scenario is possible based on how that bowl selects teams, but you get my point).

How long does it take for returns to be processed for online orders from the Bookstore? - partywaggin

Ben: Thank you for calling the bookstore customer service, please hold.

Carter: Your call is very important to us. Please stay on the line and an associate will assist you shortly.

Jake: I honestly have no idea. I’ve only ever bought things there in person.

Logan: We appreciate your patience, please stay on the line... It depends. somewhere between a couple weeks to a couple months in my experience, but things may have changed.

Who’s going to be at Russ Chandler this weekend? - Bill Brockman

Jake: I might be able to drop by on Sunday, we will have to see if things work out. With work, the Friday game is tough, you know?

Logan: Not me unfortunately. Would love to go but being in NC makes things difficult. I’ll be there in spirit.

What are the chances that women’s basketball can get a high enough seed to host the first two rounds at McCamish? - jabsterjacket

Ben: I don’t know about specific odds, but if it happens, it’ll probably be the most exciting to happen for Georgia Tech sports in recent memory.

Jake: Ben, I am going to have to respectfully disagree with the latter part of your comment. The volleyball postseason was just, what, two months ago? That was a ton of fun, and absolutely an exciting postseason run. As far as odds go, they have a shot at it, but they need to stack up some wins here in the closing days of the regular season, as even before last week’s rough stretch, they were on the outside looking in of the last NCAA update. The Thursday night Notre Dame game is a great place to start with that.

Logan: Back to the original question... unfortunately I don’t think so. We’re currently bracket projected as a 6 seed which means we would host the first game but not the second. We would need to be a 4 seed to host 2 home games. Since there is only a few games left against unranked opponents there isn’t a big chance for us to move up. Maybe if we take the ACC tournament and there are some upsets against other higher ranked teams. It’s not impossible, but at this point it is less on our performance and more on how the seeded teams above us play. Fingers crossed.

Anybody read Dr. Clough’s book “The Technological University Reimagined: Georgia Institute of Technology, 1994-2008”? - Burdell91

Jake: I read it back in October. There are a couple of pretty interesting tidbits in it, and it definitely fills a void in Tech literature/primary sources in the era after the 1980s. I would recommend it, but it definitely is slow in places. Definitely glad to have read it though, and it wasn’t too strenuous or long of a book.

Logan: No, but do you know if there is an audiobook version?

Do you know what Georgia Tech football is doing about NIL opportunities for their player. Is there a concerted effort by the Athletic department to provide opportunities as there are at other schools? Please discuss how GT stacks up with other ACC schools. - YankeeJacket

Ben: I have heard that things are coming, but I do not know to what extent, outside of the Tivo deal. I also have no clue what other ACC schools are doing.

Jake: I mean, we’ve seen a number of players get deals (Yates and the Braves, Devoe and Morgan and Morgan, etc.) but it really seems like the vast majority of Tech student-athletes, much like those at other schools, have not cut any deals. I don’t know as much about ACC schools in particular, but it does seem like the deals are concentrated in the few, not the many.

Logan: Right now the focus from GT seems to be more around training their athletes to make reasonable and responsible deals, followed by money management strategies. The school itself is putting in effort to get more potential NIL partners, but they are mostly putting the finding of sponsors with the players themselves.

Thoughts on the David Turner hire? - Frodo Swagginz

Ben: I am a pretty big fan of this hire, but I would have liked it even more if he got the title “Defensive Coordinator.” Right now it sounds like Andrew Thacker is going to remain the defensive coordinator, even if in name only. Anyway, regarding Turner, he seems like he has a lot of experience working on some really good defenses and has actually developed some players. I don’t know exactly how he will fit in since he doesn’t have a position group, but I’m excited to see what he brings to the table.

Logan: I like it, but I’m not going to overreact until I start seeing results on the field. I’ve realized after some recent hires that I can’t just get hype because we hire someone I like. Once I see the first few games, I’ll decide how I really feel about the hire.

Dog or Cat?

-Catdog (submitted via email)

Ben: Cats, all day, every day. But really, all animals are good animals. Remember to adopt from a shelter and to get your pets spayed and neutered.

Jake: I am super allergic to both. So it’s a tough, and mostly moot, question.

Chris: Dogs. I like cats but am allergic so they get points deducted.

Logan: I got a hypoallergenic dog (technically its my girlfriend’s dog, but the dog likes me more... don’t tell my girlfriend). I love dogs, can’t stand cats. cats will murder you in your sleep. Cats don’t stay loyal. Dogs are annoying sometimes but they definitely make for better pets if you can train them properly.

If Alvarado and Wright had come back, how much better would our record be? - Nononsense92

Ben: I won’t sit here and say that Tech would be the best team in the ACC, but they certainly wouldn’t be the worst team if Alvarado and Wright came back. I think they would probably be close to, if not, at .500 in conference. I’m also not a basketball guy, so I may be wildly overrating how important they would be. I just know that men’s basketball is down bad right now.

Logan: Not as good as you might think, but I do believe Alvarado would’ve added a level of leadership and motivation that we don’t seem to have right now. I think there are potentially 4 to 6 additional games we could’ve won... but its hard to say exactly how much of an impact that would’ve had.