Honestly, in a From The Rumble Seat blog post about declining student attendance, is there anything more that needs to be said than this?
In college, I always found it wildly disturbing how many people (very social people, I should add) would rather sit in their rooms and play Assassin’s Creed or Battlefield all day rather than go watch Georgia Tech play a game against a major opponent like Pittsburgh or North Carolina. (Clemson, Virginia Tech, and uga were much easier to get attendance at without peer pressure – otherwise, a lot of folks showing up were doing so because they were “supposed to”, and doing so late before leaving at the start of the fourth quarter.) People have developed their entire social circles around others who like to play video games and partake in other entertainment via the internet, and it ends up that those things interest these individuals far more than watching folks do activities that they themselves never did or were never any good at. The sample at Georgia Tech may be somewhat skewed towards this type…
Never make a Techie choose between Dragon*Con and football.
Get The Picture 
The jokes really do write themselves.
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“other entertainment via the internet” eh?
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What is Anime Porn?
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Google it but make sure you do it at work and call your boss over first.
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How do you know?
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Maybe Spence has a certificante from the Japanese Program at Tech
http://www.modlangs.gatech.edu/languages/japanese
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DO YOU WANT TO AVOID ANY UNNECESSARY EXPOSURE TO SUNLIGHT OR OTHER HUMAN BEINGS? YOU’RE AT GEORGIA TECH!!! YOU CAN DO THAT!!!
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It’s hard to parodize when reality imitates parody.
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Do they win rings if they are successful in the video games?
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I like the way they think it’s insulting when they don’t capitalize UGA or better yet, call UGA ugag, they are so cute.
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it’s hard to take their intended disrespect seriously when they wrap it up in an article about why pencil neck kids at Tech are too busy being video game nerds to attend a major (sic) college football game.
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He wasn’t being Tech specific but general for all kids. Tech isn’t the only one with a student attendance problem. Georgia, Alabama, all of us are having to figure out why so many college students don’t want to attend college sporting events. That’s why McGarity is talking about finding a school song and pumping in music and more wifi and all this other artificial crowd boosting crap the Senator has mentioned frequently of late.
I get the Tech = nerd jokes are fun, but any comments about the man’s actual point of why college students seem to staying away en masse?
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This is humorous coming from a Tech blog but I think there may be some validity to his theory.
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Agreed. I suspect this virtual reality obsession isn’t just a poindexter condition. DawgNation probably has its share of hardcore gamers (from Madden to Tolkien). You could argue further that fantasy FB isn’t that far removed from playing video games.
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I would argue fantasy FB is worse than video games.
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‘The sample at Georgia Tech may be somewhat skewed towards this type…’
Now you’re getting somewhere.
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A lot of truth in this, especially how these kids never grew up playing sports. I grew up playing youth baseball, soccer, basketball and football. In all honesty, to each their own. However, I think raising your children, especially boys, to be well rounded, athletic and competitive is good. Too many parents are lazy and are happy to let computers, video games, ipads, etc occupy their kids’ days. My parents didn’t ask me if I wanted to play youth soccer or T-ball, they just signed me up and I’m better off for it.
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Our kids have been lucky on that front, but I know a lot of parents who left their first season of little league baseball or rec basketball very bitter. A lot of the leagues up here will stash “new kids” (introducing themselves to a sport) on a team or two. Meanwhile, the other league teams are full of kids who have a lot of experience both in the sport and playing together. Result: these “new kid” teams get pounded all season long. You can find leagues with drafts and some competitive balance, but it can be difficult to find spots if you don’t enroll early. Our youth sports experiences have almost all been positive, but I can’t even count the hours I’ve spent researching leagues and coaches plus maneuvering our kids into positive situations.
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coaches and parents who think their kid wont make the NFL/NBA/MLB if their little darling isn’t on an all star quality team at age 7 are ruining kids sports. Little kids need to learn fundamentals, work ethic, and manners before they become cold blooded on the field killers. This includes little stars learning how to be nice, and patient, with less talented teammates and opponents.
but, a lot of parents just want to be the next “parent of a star,” and a lot of coaches are just petty tyrants who love the attention that comes from winning, no matter how they do it.
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This
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Funny you should say that. I signed my 5yr old boy up for Upward soccer. I checked the box saying I was willing to help out. Well it turns out my help was as the Coach. Now I have NEVER played or watched really, soccer. They said “don’t worry about it we will give you an assistant coach”. Never did. So I was the first experience most of the kids who were stashed on my team had of soccer. I did the best I could, lots of research, but it was pretty disappointing experience. My son cares not for soccer at all to this day.
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My daughter did Upward Soccer, age 5. They have a rule: no goalie. First of all, they don’t want kids running at each other from opposite directions, because evasive maneuvers are not a strong suit for 5 year olds. Second – come on, they’re 5. The best possible game result at that age is every kid scores.
Anyhoo, game 1, and the opposing coach puts a kid with a cannon leg in as goalie. I think about saying something, but I don’t want to be “that dad,” so I keep my mouth shut. 5 minutes in, breakaway. My daughter and her teammate are running down the field, doing well not to trip over the ball. Katie (teammate) kicks the ball ahead, and here comes Cannon Leg. He catches the ball flush, and it travels 15 yards on a rope straight into Katie’s face. She literally flops backward like a rag doll. Blood everywhere from her nose. Parents carried her off; we never saw her again. My daughter didn’t get within 10 yards of the ball rest of the season, no matter how much ice cream we bribed her with.
I’ve had hundreds of great stories, but it amazes me how few coaching training programs emphasize how important those first experiences can be.
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Also: I think your decision to coach was wonderful. I can’t imagine coaching a sport I didn’t really understand. Plus: 5 year olds.
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I think you are generalizig a bit here. I have two boys, both active in sports/marching band etc. Their first preference is video games. It is a different world today.
This is how they socalize. I prefer the sports activites, but kids today are learning to live and participate in the world differently. I can barely get them to watch the UGA games with me on Saturdays (really. how sad is that)
We make every effort to take them to live events, sports and arts, when we can. It is expensive for sure, but I feel it is important for them to understand the difference between live and televised. For instance, my older son was never a football fan. Sad. Last year he started HS and joined the marching band. First game. BOOM. Lights on. Now he understands a connection. It takes time and dedication from a parent to get kids out of their zones to go to events. With two parents working and a busy, busy life, it can be hard to do.
If I were in charge of filling stadiums, I am not, I would be concerned about down the road and looking at more than loud music to entice new fans to come out. Make it easier not harder.
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