We set out Saturday morning for Tampa, Florida, where Georgia Tech would be playing Clemson for the ACC Championship game. My newfound state of football fandom was at its peak this weekend, and it was accompanied by that peculiar mental state wherein a fan will view a 7- to 8-hour drive as a perfectly reasonable distance to travel to see one's beloved sports team (or band - we did the same thing when we found out The Killers were playing in Ljubljana, Slovenia, while we were living in Germany).
Before the game began, I realized my apathy towards all things football-related had given way to a growing dislike of the fans of the opposing team. This, I feel, was not entirely without cause. As we made our way through the masses of orange and purple (there was a distinctly stronger Clemson presence, it seemed, in the crowds and the tailgaters surrounding the stadium), we were often confronted by groups of men in orange sweatshirts making a concerted effort not to move out of the way as we tried to pass them on the side walk. On more than one occasion, we had to endure their rather obnoxious country music blaring out of some loudspeakers next to their tailgate parties. Furthermore, when we discovered that the pre-game live entertainment was James Otto, ACC's spokes-singer (see the truly awful ACC-sponsored video below), we couldn't help but notice that the majority of people actually crowding around the stage and acting like they were enjoying the thoroughly mediocre performance were Clemson fans.
Meanwhile, those of us from the ATL were standing around wishing we were listening to Young Jeezy perform one of the team's signature songs for this season, "Put On":
Before the game began, I realized my apathy towards all things football-related had given way to a growing dislike of the fans of the opposing team. This, I feel, was not entirely without cause. As we made our way through the masses of orange and purple (there was a distinctly stronger Clemson presence, it seemed, in the crowds and the tailgaters surrounding the stadium), we were often confronted by groups of men in orange sweatshirts making a concerted effort not to move out of the way as we tried to pass them on the side walk. On more than one occasion, we had to endure their rather obnoxious country music blaring out of some loudspeakers next to their tailgate parties. Furthermore, when we discovered that the pre-game live entertainment was James Otto, ACC's spokes-singer (see the truly awful ACC-sponsored video below), we couldn't help but notice that the majority of people actually crowding around the stage and acting like they were enjoying the thoroughly mediocre performance were Clemson fans.
Meanwhile, those of us from the ATL were standing around wishing we were listening to Young Jeezy perform one of the team's signature songs for this season, "Put On":
Sure, the majority of Georgia Tech fans are either middle-aged and WASP-ish or college-aged and geeky, but there is a certain level of bad-assness about hailing from Atlanta that removes the need for excessive attempts at "presence" or intimidation. That's just not how we roll.
So at some point in the game - I am not exactly sure when - I just knew in my heart that Georgia Tech was going to win. There was something about that outcome that seemed like it was in line with the proper Order of Things.
And we did. And all was well with the world.
LOL, and you're a very interesting writer.
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