If you read my last column – and odds are, if your name isn’t “Mama Alexander,” then you didn’t -you may remember that I promised to review the NBA’s Western Conference this week.
Well, sorry Mom, but I’d rather talk about something a little more near and dear to my heart than the NBA: college basketball.
It’s an interesting time for me. Last year my Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets were NCAA finalists. This year they begin the season ranked in the Top 3 of most preseason publications. Serious basketball nuts know what I’m talking about: Athlon Sports, Street & Smith, etc. – magazines that I would consider fetishes if I didn’t collect them all myself.
Expectations haven’t been this high in nearly 20 years.
1985 was the last time Tech found itself in the preseason Top 3; Reagan was in the White House, Corey Feldman was employed and my huge hair was still in style. And that, my friends, is a long time ago.
Sure, Tech has had major highlights since then. They even went to a Final Four in 1990, but there hasn’t been this much enthusiasm at the Alexander Memorial Coliseum since the early days of Bobby Cremins’ coaching tenure. There is a buzz of excitement – no pun intended – throughout Atlanta.
So what does this all mean for me?
Well, as you may or may not know, I’m obsessed. Look at my picture. You see that lump on top of my head that makes me look like I had some sort of forceps-induced birth defect? That’s actually Buzz, my Georgia Tech hat that, until an unfortunate laundry accident this summer, was more a part of me than my right arm – damn you, Tide!
A hat may not seem like much, I admit, but ponder this: You are reading the words of a man who had his own Athletic Coast Conference fantasy basketball league in high school and who once cried because his friend drafted T.J. Vines one spot ahead of him in said league – yes, the T.J. Vines.
Am I starting to scare you yet?
Let me get to the point. I’m excited. I’m ecstatic. I’m in love with this team in a way that the Catholic Church might not condone. And I have lofty expectations.
Sure, the ACC is more loaded than a Phish concert, but look at what Tech has going for them: they have one of the hottest young coaches in the NCAA in Paul Hewitt, their entire starting lineup and the core of their bench is returning, they have tournament experience and, because He stuck me with the Atlanta Hawks to root for, God owes me one when it comes to basketball.
With that being said, I’m going all in. I’m pushing all of my chips to the center of the table and outright guaranteeing that Tech will make it to the Final Four once again.
How confident am I about this? I’ll make you this promise: If Tech does not make it back to the Final Four, I will wear nothing but a Speedo to all of my classes for a week.
If that’s not reason enough to make you cheer for Tech, then I don’t know what is.
