19 DEC 07: THRILLER NIGHT

"If there's one thing I've learned in the last seven days, it's - to h**l with Georgia!" So said new Georgia Tech football coach Paul Johnson Tuesday night to a basketball arena largely filled with loyal fans. Within an hour, I think most of those fans were ready to say the same thing to the officials....

BLOG SPECIAL EVENT: Undefeated Kansas escaped a disastrous meltdown at Georgia Tech Tuesday night, winning 71-66. And of course, your loyal Kansas graduate made the trip to Atlanta to see it all. It cost a lot less than a trip to Miami to see the football team in the Orange Bowl -- and I didn't even have to spend extra money at the higher-priced Atlanta gas pumps.

The Kansas-Georgia Tech basketball game will serve as my "bowl game," since I have work commitments during Orange Bowl week. And since Alexander Memorial Coliseum is set up a bit like a bowl, it's even more fitting....

But Tuesday's trip to Atlanta to see Kansas play Georgia Tech was a bit of a dice roll. Tech's web site said the entire regular season was sold out, save for "a limited number of single tickets" for each game. So much for making it a date night - because what if our single tickets were on opposite sides of the court?

The single tickets went on sale 90 minutes before the 7:00 p.m. tipoff time, so that meant I was on the road up Interstate 185 before 3:00. I had to guard against delays from Atlanta afternoon rush hour traffic -- not to mention being distracted by landmarks I used to know, and how they've turned into things like used car lots.

5:05 p.m.: I reach Tenth Street, where Alexander Memorial Coliseum is located. The line outside the main gate for tickets looks quite short. But then trouble happens, as I dream of parking on Techwood Drive across the street. Someone added "no parking" signs on that street in the last 20 years or so....

I've been to Georgia Tech games at what Brad Nessler dubbed "the ThrillerDome" before. I followed Mark Price's amazing college career in the mid-eighties for the newspaper in his Oklahoma home town, where I used to live. I had a press pass for a courtside seat - back in the civilized days, when Tech students mocked Maryland Coach Lefty Driesell for being bald.

I parked my car on Techwood Drive for games back then - but with that option unavailable now, I have to follow the Georgia Tech web site instructions. I turn left onto Fowler Street, and find a roadside parking space within a block. It seems too good to be true - and only as I climb out of my car do I discover it is. Signs along a fence say they're for disabled parking, with a permit required.

So on down Fowler Street I go, and find a small open space between two cars two blocks down. It's a classic challenge of parallel parking - but I try to squeeze my small Honda in, I bump the bumper of the car behind me.

"Don't touch my bumper again," says a man standing on the sidewalk -- as if he's waiting to pay for his game ticket with a body shop check.

"Have I damaged your bumper?" I ask the man after rolling down the passenger's side window a bit.

"No," the man admits. Some bumpers actually still have the strength to handle tiny bumps.

The man wearing a Georgia Tech cap guides me into the small open parking space. I needed to "cut deeper" as I turn my steering wheel, he says. I'm admittedly rusty at that - as I don't even have to cut the grass where I live.

5:15 p.m.: It's a three-block walk from my car to the main ticket window. Along the way, I pass a man. "Selling tickets?" he asks.

"Yes - they're doing it right up there."

I'm about the 25^th person in line at the ticket window -- and that surprises me, since Kansas is ranked third in the country. Perhaps the short line is due to Georgia Tech students being away for winter break. Or perhaps it's a typical 5:00 hour in Atlanta, with thousands of fans stuck in midtown traffic.

Two men seem to be in line ahead of me. "You selling?" one asks.

"No, I'm buying."

"Kansas seems to draw a lot of fans, doesn't it?"

"I don't know." The Jayhawks haven't played in Atlanta in years, and I missed those games due to Sabbath commitments. My old church pastor would tell you when a church meeting is underway, God isn't at the basketball arena - He's only at the church meeting. Pity the worshipers who had to stay home sick.

"How long have you had that hat?" the man asks me next. Suddenly we've switched from basketball to Project Runway.

"About six or seven years," I say after thinking it over a second. "Next question?" Spontaneous news conferences seem to break out around me every so often.

The hat I'm wearing is a Kansas Jayhawk blue ball cap, which shows a few stains from sweaty Columbus afternoons. I've worn it a lot in recent weeks, with the Kansas success in football - but even though I wear it on poker nights, I really don't sweat when I'm dealt great hands.

The two men in front of me eventually peel off, to look for tickets. "The game is sold out," one says. But I quote the "single ticket" statement on the Georgia Tech web site -- leading me to wonder if those two are buying unwanted tickets to sell later as scalpers. Sports tickets sometimes flip faster than foreclosed houses.

5:30 p.m.: The ticket window opens on time, with a sign on it from the 4:00 p.m. women's basketball game: "Adult -- $4." I speculate to the people around me than the men's price will be a bit higher -- which is strange, since both Georgia Tech basketball teams reached the NCAA tournament last spring.

I finally reach the window, and learn how much higher. The Georgia Tech web site warned tickets were sold "cash only" - and one of them costs 30 dollars. That's the exact amount I won last week on poker night. The Lord gives, and then he takes away....

Thankfully, I guessed right before leaving home -- and have 41 dollars in my wallet. So armed with my ticket, I walk on in to the Coliseum. The ticket-takers don't even bother checking the bag I'm carrying, with a camera and note pad. What if I bring something to match the Georgia Tech free T-shirt gun?

The prices inside Alexander Memorial Coliseum also reflect what I call "gotcha" pricing - where they've got you trapped. Hot dogs range from four to six dollars, and a large bag of peanuts costs 13 dollars. This year's crop really was hit hard by the drought....

But surprisingly, the small game program on the concourse is free for the taking. It shows me this is Georgia Tech's first home basketball game in more than a month. This rustiness may explain why the scoreboard visitor isn't changed from Georgia Southern to Kansas, until about 35 minutes before tipoff.

5:50 p.m.: I walk into the main arena, and find pre-game drills already underway. Both teams are stretching and shooting - and within a few minutes, ESPN will begin taping items for its live telecast. Sadly, there's no Erin Andrews or Bonnie Bernstein strolling the aisles or sidelines to get my attention.

With plenty of time to wait, I stroll around Alexander Memorial Coliseum - and I'm struck at how commercialized college basketball has become. The drink cups have multiple ads on them. Signs around the two main scoreboards rotate with sponsors. There even are ads on the bathroom walls - but somewhat surprisingly, none of them offer condoms.

Georgia Tech pioneered this commercialism several years ago, by renaming the basketball floor "McDonald's Court." But these days the golden arches are gone. It's now "Cremins Court," after former head coach Bobby Cremins - so is it Tech which is afraid to put his new team at College of Charleston on the schedule?

6:20 p.m.: Several Kansas fans have scattered tickets around me. One of them is an Atlanta attorney - and as we chat, I'm amazed to learn he attended the same high school I did in Kansas City. In fact, he graduated high school one year ahead of my older brother. Maybe I shouldn't have brought up the fact that my brother now drives trucks for a living.

6:45 p.m.: The Georgia Tech Pep Band starts playing, 15 minutes before game time. This replaces the recorded music which was playing loudly before. I listened carefully, but could not figure out all the lyrics to "Soldier Boy" - and no cheerleaders were dancing it, either.

6:50 p.m.: A sportsmanship announcement is made, as fans begin to fill the arena. I'm surprised again, when the recording notes NO alcohol is allowed at Alexander Memorial Coliseum. Yet during the second half, many in the crowd still know how to sing the jingle, 'When you've said Budweiser, you've said it all."

6:53 p.m.: Flag-carriers and cheerleaders bring out the Georgia Tech basketball team for the game. The school fight song is played - and the only words most fans seem to know are in the second verse: "To H**l with Georgia." No wonder football coach Paul Johnson has learned that so well, and so quickly.

I wind up with a single seat wearing a Kansas sweatshirt, with Georgia Tech on either side of me. It inspires me to sing to the man on my right an old Sesame Street tune: "One of these things does not belong here...."

First half: Tipoff is right on time at 7:00 p.m., but a challenge occurs right away. Did Georgia Tech take a 2-0 or 3-0 lead? The officials check ESPN's video replay, and call it three. It's about the only time Kansas Coach Bill Self raises a fuss all night - which could mean he's turning Self-righteous.

The officials are in a whistle-tooting mood, and the personal fouls pile up quickly. I tell people around me that the referees seem to be sponsored by Tic-Tac.

Georgia Tech basketball has a lot of gimmicks which borrow from pro sports. One timeout has a "dance cam" following fans, while another offers a "kiss cam" to smooch your partner on the big screen. By comparison, an old-fashioned "Let's Go Tech" routine by the cheerleaders doesn't excite the crowd at all. The ladies doing standing backflips after free throws may have to start doing doubles.

But gimmicks may have their limits, because not every seat is filled for the Kansas-Georgia Tech game. A top-five team visits Atlanta, and it can't fill the building?! Well, maybe it's because fans around me aren't sure if the University of Kansas is in Lawrence or Manhattan - and one even claims Kansas is famous for corn. No, that's what the joke writers from Kansas write....

The Georgia Tech fans around me do seem to be impressed by the Kansas team. One calls the Jayhawks "big and quick." Another compares senior center Sasha Kaun to "the Russian in Rocky V." Wow - I hear that name, and compare him to a soul singer from the 1980's.

But the game is good and tight. Kansas takes an eight-point lead, then Georgia Tech cuts it to two. The Jayhawks lead 36-29 at the half, but I'm not feeling comfortable. This is only Kansas's second road game, after playing nine at home -- and what if some players are concerned about whether they passed their final exams?

Halftime: Georgia Tech's new football coach is introduced, to the loudest ovation so far. Paul Johnson admits he's trying to catch up on recruiting, while hiring a staff of assistants. And his quote about Georgia which we mentioned above shows he still has a good bit of the Navy in his system.

Second half: Kansas jumps out to an early 12-point lead - but I'm amazed at how the Kansas fans around me seem to sit on their hands, even when the Jayhawks make a nice basket. It's as if they've read all the scary reports about Atlanta, and fear Georgia Tech fans will mug them.

Alexander Memorial Coliseum has two "jumbo screens" above it - and the "Buzz Vision" for instant replays finally works, after not showing any in the first half. It showed all the replay sponsorships, though. I hope Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt enjoys the new suits they're buying him.

Paul Hewitt calls a timeout at about the 12:00 mark, and uses much of it to vent to an official. You'd think after all these years, Hewitt would know he can e-mail The Vent at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution....

(And even if he did, some of us might offer a polite reply - pointing out three Kansas players fouled out, while no one from Georgia Tech did.)

Paul Hewitt suddenly calls another timeout with 9:17 to play, and throws off his sportscoat to the floor in less than two seconds. He's apparently now upset with how his team is playing - because other coaches would have thrown that sportscoat at a referee, in an attempt to get ejected.

(I should note here that even Georgia Tech is called the Yellowjackets, the coach does NOT wear a yellow jacket on the sidelines. That sort of approach to coaching seemed to end when Alabama fired Wimp Sanderson.)

Kansas reaches a game-high 13-point lead. Georgia Tech eventually makes a comeback, but a mix of sloppiness and great defense gets in the way. One of them has a Yellowjacket breakaway end with TWO blocked shots by the Jayhawks. You don't see many double-blocks like that anymore - not even when people are changing flat tires.

Yet Georgia Tech keeps hanging around, because Kansas can't finish the game well. Several missed free throws allow the Yellowjackets to climb back within eight at the 2:00 mark -- and a backcourt fumble makes the score 67-64 with 32.1 seconds left. Did the Jayhawks watch Atlanta Falcons tapes by mistake?

But Sherron Collins makes two free throws with eight seconds to go - and then Kansas steals the ball at midcourt as Georgia Tech tries to approach for a tying shot. The final margin is five points. And that's where some frustrated fans head next - the Five Points MARTA station, on their way home.

Post-game: Georgia Tech guard Lewis Clinch tells the WQXI-AM locker room show Kansas is NOT the toughest team he's seen this year. He says Vanderbilt was. Is that a coded way of saying, "We were robbed by the refs"?!

I hear this interview in my car, while traffic clears the Georgia Tech campus. While I ate popcorn during the second half, I've yet to really eat dinner. But that's OK, because the legendary "Varsity" is right on the way to the Downtown Connector. It's buzzing with post-game fans - but I'm saddened to hear the server require me to give up my ticket, for the free chili dog coupon on the back.

I wind up with a large Diet Coke to stay awake on the drive home, onion rings which are a bit limp but very tasty - and two of what the late author Lewis Grizzard called "chili dogs that bark all night." And in perhaps the biggest surprise of the night, no beggars show up by my car window in the parking lot looking for some of their own.

(By the way, what does it say when The Varsity accepts major credit cards - but the basketball ticket window at a technologically advanced place like Georgia Tech does not? For all the team's sponsorships, couldn't it work out something with American Express?)

Because of our road trip/special event, we didn't hear much local news Tuesday. But this much we know....

+ A Columbus man surrendered to police, on charges of robbing Golden Donuts Monday evening. Talk about a daring holdup! He may have hit the very place where you'd expect officers to be swarming.

+ The Steve and Barry's store officially opened at Cross Country Plaza. Among other things, it offers a fashion line by tennis star Venus Williams. Hopefully she resists the urge to say in commercials, "You'll LOVE it."

+ Fox Sports Radio reported the Atlanta Falcons are talking to Bill Parcells, about becoming an executive vice-president. That's too bad - because it seems to me this team needs him as a coach. Not to mention a quarterback, and some receivers with better hands....

+ Instant Message to Keep Columbus Beautiful: Has someone told you about what's happening in the middle of Interstate 185? It looks like rows of trees in Harris County have been sawn off at about ten feet high. Is this some strange way to make sure the "scenic byway" has scenes which everyone can see?

(BLOGGER'S NOTE: Because of today's special event, our review of 2007 will take a break today. It should resume Thursday.)

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