Flashback: College Gameday for GT vs. Notre Lame (9/2/06)

I really don't wanna study, and I've got less than an hour til class anyway, so I'm gonna write about one of my favorite experiences as a Tech student, one that I'll remember for a long time.

It started back in the summer of 2006, when ESPN announced that it would hold it's first College Gameday broadcast of the season in Atlanta (Yellow Jacket park specifically) for Tech's game against then-#2 Notre Lame (with Brady "Dr." Quinn at QB). Our campus was gleaming with excitement those first two weeks leading up to our season opener.

A few of my friends and myself decided to make some signs, pictures of which are below:

This sign was a result of the genius of one of my friend's girlfriend who is actually a student at Samford (though she gladly roots for Tech). This was the most popular of the two signs we made; I can't tell you how many random people said something like "we just saw that on tv, great job guys!" on our way back from Gameday. We actually had a great spot for maximum TV coverage (the below video will show you what I mean). Now, over two years later, this amazing work of art sits comfortably in my room at our house in Hamilton.

Our second sign (still not sure whose idea this was, though it wasn't mine) showed our Tech roots. We didn't have a chance to show this one as much, mostly because our fellow Techies booed everytime we showed it. In the video though, you'll see the one time that we got a great shot of the sign. You'll see it below:


You can probably see why most of our fellow fans didn't want this sign up.

Now to the video...another friend of mine - who's in the pit in our band and was also involved in the production and display of these great signs - had his parents record the whole two hours of Gameday, and he put together a video a few months after the game in preparation for our game the following year in South Bend (a 33-3 Tech win, btw; we were in attendance for that one too).



Ironically, the band ended up showing this video at a pre-Notre Lame weekend pep rally (to the surprise of my friend who made the video).

That Saturday was one of the most amazing (and longest) days ever, despite our close 14-10 loss (thanks to a bogus helmet-to-helmet call on now-Indianapolis-Colts-LB Philip Wheeler for "hitting" Dr. Quinn on a big third down play late in the third quarter). I'll never forget those times the Friday night before making the signs, waking up early the next morning to get our spot up close for Gameday, and watching our signs on tv later in the fall. Not to mention, we got some online publicity from at least three blogs: Gump's Law, Golden Tornado, and Nueva Cantora.

That's all for the Gameday story. Sorry, no autographs please ;)

I'll have some pregame thoughts on GT-Thug U later this week. Until then, Go Jackets!