TO: Fans, Friends, and Supporters of Georgia Tech Athletics
FROM: Dan Radakovich, Georgia Tech Director of Athletics
Thank you to all of you Tech fans who have been busily taking care of your 2009 football ticket business over the last two weeks. Our renewals and purchases of new season tickets have been going smoothly. If you have not yet visited our ticket site at www.ramblinwreck.com/tickets, please make a point to take advantage of the ease of completing your transactions with us. Renewing your seats is a snap. And for new purchases, for the first time ever, you can actually select your seats online, make your payment and within minutes receive confirmation of your purchase via e-mail.
Don’t forget the deadline to renew your season tickets is April 1st. If you have any questions about our ticketing process, you should have received a season ticket brochure in the mail from us. If you are not a current season ticket holder, you can access the brochure and all ticket information online, or simply call us at 1-888-TECH-TIX, and our ticket staff will be ready to assist you.
I know I might sound like a broken record, but I can’t emphasize enough the importance of bringing your friends, neighbors and colleagues into the season-ticket fold. There are more than 23,000 of you current season-ticket holders – over 9,000 season ticket accounts in our system. You are our best sales force, and we need you to help us fill Bobby Dodd Stadium with Jacket fans. Please refer a friend to us and a member of our sales staff will reach out and make the transaction simple and easy. Alternatively, feel free to send your reference to the website or to speak with a member of our sales team, call 404-385-2047.
In case you missed it, our schedule for the 2009 football season was released by the ACC last week. To say the least, we have a very challenging slate. After our opening game with Jacksonville State on September 5th, we will play in consecutive Thursday night ESPN prime-time games. Clemson visits Bobby Dodd Stadium on September 10th, and the following Thursday we travel to Miami to face the Hurricanes. After the opener, Paul Johnson’s Jackets will play 11 straight weeks against ACC and SEC opponents before enjoying their first and only open date, the weekend before our showdown with Georgia.
Also on the football front, spring practice will begin on March 23, with practices being held generally on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Please note that our spring game will be played on Saturday, April 18th. Stay tuned for all the details of what should be a fun day on the Flats.
Just a few days after that, construction will begin on some new video and audio technology within Bobby Dodd Stadium. We are installing a new video board – doubling the size of our current screen. There are also new ribbon boards, ad panels and scoreboard upgrades to be installed. Click Here To See A Photo Of The New Scoreboard. We are also installing a completely new sound system.
By the way, I saw where the University of Virginia is installing a new giant video board which they have dubbed “Godzilla-tron”. If any of you want to suggest a name for our new “monster” board, send it along. With all the new bells and whistles, your Bobby Dodd experience in 2009 should be packed with more fun than ever.
Speaking of fun, I hope you are planning to get over to Alexander Memorial Coliseum tonight for our women’s basketball showdown with 7th-ranked Maryland at 7 p.m. MaChelle Joseph’s ladies have been tough to beat at home and are clawing their way toward a third straight NCAA appearance. Let’s get behind the team with a big crowd tonight. A bus trip is available for Sunday’s 2 p.m. game at Clemson. More information is available on our website.
The road to the 2009 NCAA men’s basketball tournament starts here in Atlanta when the ACC Tournament tips off in the Georgia Dome on March 12. Because the tournament is in a larger venue this year, we have ticket books for the event available for sale. Contact our ticket office if you would like to attend the ACC Tournament. The cost for all 11 games is $363. It is truly one of the most storied and best events in college basketball.
And if March Madness is right around the corner, then it must be baseball season. Danny Hall’s club has been working hard toward the 2009 season opener, which takes place tomorrow (Friday) at 4 p.m. when Lipscomb University comes in for a three-game series. You might remember Lipscomb from the regional field we were a part of last year over in Athens. They are a very formidable bunch. Coach Hall enters the season as Tech’s all-time winningest coach, and his Jackets will field a veteran club in 2009. Sophomore phenom Deck McGuire will be on the mound for the Jackets in the opener tomorrow afternoon.
Sharon Perkins’ softball team is off to a 6-2 start already, but more importantly, has had a couple of practices in their brand new ballpark – Shirley Clements Mewborn Field — at Fowler and Eighth Street. We will officially cut the ribbon on the park before our first game there vs. Tennessee-Martin on March 10th. A Grand Opening is planned for March 28th when Florida State visits. Stay tuned for more details. You can listen to every Tech softball game for free on RamblinWreck.com.
Honestly, is there any better setting for college baseball and softball than we now offer at Georgia Tech? Bring the family, come out and be a part of the fun this spring. It is the most wholesome, fun and economical way to spend an afternoon or evening that I can think of.
One other set of dates that I will share with you as I close this week is the schedule for our second annual Spring Caravan. Coaches Paul Johnson, Paul Hewitt and MaChelle Joseph will once again join Wes Durham and me for five great evenings beginning in May. Our first Caravan stop will be on Tuesday May 5th at the Cobb Galleria, followed by stops in Macon (Idle Hour Country Club) on May 14th, Gwinnett County (1818 Club) on May 19th, Dalton (The Farm) on May 26th and Peachtree City (Dolce Hotel and Resort) on June 2nd. These events are free and open to all who are interested in Georgia Tech Athletics. Please plan to come out to the event near you!
WOMEN’S TENNIS: HOME OPENER DOESN’T GET BIGGER
Coach Bryan Shelton’s women’s tennis team will find out where it stands on the national level right away. The Yellow Jackets play their home opener Sunday at 1 p.m. against the nation’s No. 1-ranked team, Northwestern. Tech, coming off a big 4-3 win over No. 3 UCLA at the National Indoors last week, will jump into ACC play next week with a road match Wednesday at Clemson.
MEN’S BASKETBALL: vs. CLEMSON SUNDAY
Coach Paul Hewitt’s youthful team, hoping to make a push late in the season, hosts nationally-ranked Clemson on Sunday. The final home game for the Yellow Jackets and this year’s group of seniors is March 4 (7:30 p.m.) vs. Miami.
GOLF: TRINGALE A FINALIST FOR HOGAN AWARD
Senior Cameron Tringale is one of 22 players on the watch list for the 2009 Ben Hogan Award, golf’s equivalent to football’s Heisman Trophy. Tringale, currently ranked seventh nationally, will lead 13th-ranked Georgia Tech next week (Feb. 27, 28, March 1) at the Puerto Rico Classic in San Juan.
MEN’S TENNIS: HOME TODAY, `DAWGS VISIT NEXT FRIDAY
Coach Kenny Thorne’s men’s tennis team plays its home opener this afternoon (2 p.m.) against Georgia State at the Bill Moore Tennis Center, then travels to Auburn on Sunday. On the horizon for the Yellow Jackets is a Feb. 27 home match against in-state rival Georgia (2:30 p.m.).
SWIMMING: ACC CHAMPIONSHIPS IN PROGRESS
The Georgia Tech women’s swimming and diving teams are in College Park (Md.) through Saturday participating in the ACC Championships. Coach Stu Wilson’s team was in 11th place after one day of competition and the Jackets are hopeful bettering last year’s seventh-place finish. The men’s team begins competition at the same venue on Wednesday.
SOFTBALL: ROAD WARRIORS
By the time Sharon Perkins’ softball team plays its home opener March 10th – the first game at Shirley Clements Mewborn Field – the Yellow Jackets will have played their first 24 games away from home (assuming no rain-outs between now and then).
