[Tap…tap] Is this thing on?

Greetings, ladies and gentlemen. What follows is my maiden voyage into the blogosphere, inspired by last Saturday’s epic Georgia-Georgia Tech game.

I’ve gone to almost every one of ’em in the last 25 years (the last one I didn’t make was the 1999 Sanks non-fumble game). Despite the lesser stakes that came as a result of Georgia losing to Vandy and Kentucky in the same year, I have to say that, outside of the ’97 game, this was perhaps the most satisfying one that I’ve attended. So why would a game that really wouldn’t decide any more than whether the Dawgs would have a shot at going to the Chick-Fil-A Bowl bring me so much pleasure?

Because it hurt. Painfully. So much.

There are few things worse than deluding yourself into having hope and then watching as reality yanks all hope out from under you.

Going into the game, the Jackets had everything seemingly going their way. Tech had the All-American. The top-20 ranking by the pollsters. More wins. The pending conference championship game (or, as Jim Donnan refers to it, “The World’s Smallest Outdoor Cocktail Party”). The track record that a ranked Tech team had never lost to an unranked Georgia team.

And, of course, the fourth year senior starter at quarterback. As it turned out, that was the only thing that really mattered.

Reggie Ball, Reggie Ball. Another game with Georgia, another way to lose. If the annals of this series are ever updated in Clean Old Fashioned Hate, Reggie will surely rate a chapter of his own.

Was there any doubt when Georgia Tech got the ball back after the two point conversion as to what was getting ready to happen? Hell, during the time out, they were probably organizing a betting pool in the Dawg defensive huddle as to which player would come up with the turnover.

Ball’s post game “dog” quote was icing on the cake; it’s almost impossible to feel sorry for somebody who says things like that. Certainly many Jacket fans don’t, if the thread on the Tech Stingtalk board entitled “Did Reggie Ball throw the game on purpose” is any indication.

Really, if you had to pick a way for them to lose, blowing a fourth quarter lead – hey, Tenuta’s a defensive guru! – and then watching them have to put the ball back in Reggie’s hands to attempt a comeback was about as good as it gets.

My only regret from the game is that the replay of the Taylor TD showed that the officials made the right call. A blatant missed call there would have been the greatest “karma is a bitch” moment of all time.

Bottom line: Georgia’s weakest team of the Richt era was still able to take care of business against Georgia Tech’s best team during that time. Regardless of what Tech does against Wake Forest (!) in the ACCCG, this one’s left a nasty mark on the Tech psyche that ain’t going away for a while.

Six in a row.

Once again, the world spins in its properly greased groove…