Sept. 6, 2007
Current Edition: Issue No. 38, September 6, 2007
TO: Fans, Friends, and Supporters of Georgia Tech Athletics
FROM: Dan Radakovich, Georgia Tech Director of Athletics
Needless to say our season has opened with a bang. A very large bang! I want to thank all of our great fans for the support you have shown leading up to this 2007 football season. The display of loud, proud, gold-clad Tech fans in and around Notre Dame Stadium last weekend was overwhelming. Never in my life have I seen a group of 6,000 people out-shine, out-cheer and out-party a throng of 75,000. It was an amazing day in the annals of Georgia Tech Football.
And now we look forward to opening our home slate with Samford and BostonCollege on consecutive weekends. I hope you’ll take in a full day of activities and entertainment. Don’t forget to help us line Yellow Jacket Alley to welcome and cheer on our players and coaches at 11 a.m. for the Samford game and at 5:30 p.m. before the BostonCollege game. Make this tradition part of your game-day ritual.
Speaking of activities and entertainment, why not take in our Yellow Jacket volleyball team over at O’Keefe Gym over the weekend as well. If you haven’t been to a match there, I will promise you are in for an exhilarating experience. We’ll be taking on Georgia Friday night at 8 and have two great matches on Saturday sandwiched around the football game. We’ll face Arizona at 10:30 Saturday morning and Kentucky at 8 on Saturday night. How’s that for a full weekend.
Ticketing Updates:
During the last couple of weeks our ticket office has experienced some problems with the printing of tickets resulting in them being returned to the ticket office. We have been able to identify the cause of this glitch now and have put a process in place that should eliminate a recurrence of this problem in the future. We appreciate the understanding of our fans as we continue to work on ways to improve our ticketing process. We hope to have a much smoother operation beginning with the upcoming Men’s Basketball ticket renewal process.
We have also received some feedback regarding how the season football tickets and other items were packaged this year. Currently discussions are underway with UPS to provide a better packaging solution and also a better partnership between both UPS and Georgia Tech Athletics. We appreciate all the correspondence that has occurred during this time and the ticket office will continue to respond to the many written and verbal messages that have come our way.
Here are a few other ticket-related notes of interest:
The remainder of flex packs ordered for the football season are being printed at this time and all remaining games in your pack will be mailed together. If part of your flex pack was sent, the remaining games are being mailed within the week.
Away game tickets for the remainder of the season are currently being allocated. Expect to receive all away game tickets at least two weeks prior to the game being played.
Men’s Basketball Season ticket renewal invoices will be going out within the week. The deadline for payment will be September 26th so be on the lookout for your ticket renewal.
And one other fan convenience note: We will have newly installed ATMs inside Bobby Dodd Stadium just inside gates 1 and 4. ATM machines will also be located adjacent to the entrances to sections 204, 115, 215, 225, and 123.
Softball Celebrates 20 Seasons With Alumni Game
Since the Georgia Tech Softball program is turning 20 years old this season, the coaching staff and former players are hosting its Inaugural Alumni Softball game on September 30th, 2007 at 12:00 PM at Glenn Field. All former letter winners are encouraged to come out and join us for a friendly game and lunch following the game. If you are a former letter winner and did not receive information regarding this event please contact Tiffany Goodman at tgoodman@athletics.gatech.edu.
Honors Across The Board
While the entire football team should be congratulated for its effort against Notre Dame, several individuals earned special recognition last week. Junior Andrew Gardner was named the ACC Offensive Lineman of the Week. Senior kicker Travis Bell was the ACC Specialist of the Week. James Johnson was named to the watch list for the Biletnikoff Award (won last year by Calvin Johnson). Today (Sept. 6), senior Tashard Choice was officially named to the list of candidates for the Doak Walker Award (nation’s top running back). Finally, Jon Tenuta was named Defensive Coordinator of the Week by the Master Coaches and Nike.
Yellow Jacket Alley Has A New Look
Yellow Jacket Alley (Brittan Drive) has a new look this year. Banners with images of Georgia Tech football greats of the past will be hung on the lightpoles, and the street is newly-painted with yellow jackets and honeycomb. A special thanks to our facilities department, led by Director Shawn Teske, for their hard work in sprucing up Yellow Jacket Alley.
The football team buses arrive at Yellow Jacket Alley approximately 2½ hours before kickoff, 11am this Saturday. The cheerleaders and drumline will lead the procession of players down the street to the stadium. You’ll know when the team arrives because the steam whistle will sound. Be the first to greet the players as they prepare for the game.
Once the team enters the stadium, walk over to the other side of Peter’s Parking Deck for Wreckfest. Fowler Street will be filled with food vendors, apparel shops, face painters, a balloon animal maker, bounce houses, interactive games, an autograph session with the Women’s Basketball team, and a DJ spinning music up until 1pm. Also pick up a poster or a football schedule card from the GT Marketing table.
Tennis Champs Will Be Recognized
The Georgia Tech National Champion women’s tennis team is slated to be honored at halftime of Georgia Tech’s football game against BostonCollege on Saturday, Sept. 15. All eight members of the team will be in attendance to receive their national championship rings.
Golf Team Highly-Ranked
Georgia Tech’s golf team, which returns three of its five starters from last year’s Atlantic Coast Conference champions, has been ranked No. 8 in the preseason poll published by Golf World magazine.
