Tuesday Thoughts 12/2: Played Out

Yeah, that’s about what I thought it’d be.

5 Star (7 Star, 5 Star) Developmental Program Haiku of the Week

Athens collects soulsThe world owes you not a thingPlease stop the Benz games

Played Out

I’m tired of moral victories.

I’m tired of one-score games that feel like uncrossable chasms.

I’m tired of modern Georgia Tech being reduced to “awww you almost had ‘em little guy!”.

I’m just…tired.

There’s a world in which it isn’t like this. There’s a world in which no one tries to force me to feel better about losing our eighth straight rivalry game because “it was close”. There’s a world in which I’m not expected to feel grateful for not getting blown out. There’s a world in which the reaction to a one-score game isn’t a pat on the head and a gold star.

The problem is that our current world is one in which UGA has outspent us three times over in the modern era. In which their annual football budget is 65% larger than ours. In which their NIL fund is estimated to be around 4x the size of ours. In which they outspend literally everyone in recruiting and have a stable of 4 and 5-stars to show for it. In which they have nearly twice the number of living alumni to extract resources and influence from. It may be a historic rivalry, but that doesn’t mean that it’s a level playing field. What exactly did everyone think was gonna happen when one team got their best running back from the Ivy League and the other can afford to lose 10 players every year to arrests? Was that a pot shot? Maybe! Counterpoint: it’s really easy to not commit crimes! They should simply stop doing them!

Despite everything, there’s a world in which Brent Key is 3-1 against UGA and it is sickeningly close to our own. My own neuroses cause me to view this as proof that we’re cursed or doomed;  the more likely reality is that we’re lucky to be that close at all. It’s an uphill battle but that doesn’t make the losses sting any less. “There’s always next year” or whatever. See y’all at the bowl game where we lose a really uninspired game by two scores against someone like Tennessee. Happy Holidays.