So, this Georgia Tech and Big Ten chatter…
Man, lemme tell ya. It’s funny how these things pop up. I wasn’t even looking for it, you know? I was just trying to plan a simple weekend, maybe catch a game, nothing serious. My buddy, Dave, he’s a Big Ten guy through and through, probably Michigan or something like that. And I’m more of an ACC follower myself, given my soft spot for Georgia Tech. Not a die-hard fanatic, but I like to see how they’re doing.
Anyway, we were on the phone, just shooting the breeze, trying to figure out if our teams were playing anywhere near each other soon, or if there was some cool neutral site game we could both get to. Just casual talk, the usual stuff. And then, out of nowhere, Dave pipes up, ‘Hey, wouldn’t it be absolutely wild if Georgia Tech jumped over to the Big Ten?’ And I was just floored, like, ‘Dave, where on earth did THAT come from?’
My ‘practice’ for the next hour, instead of figuring out a fun weekend getaway, turned into this unplanned investigation into why he’d even bring that up.
- First, I just brushed it off with a laugh. ‘Dave, you’re pulling my leg,’ I told him. ‘Completely different parts of the country, totally different rivalries, the whole shebang.’
- But he was pretty set on it. He’d apparently stumbled upon some article online, or maybe it was a forum post, or just some random dude’s tweet. You know how it goes. Someone says something with enough conviction, and even if it sounds totally off the wall, a little piece of your brain starts to wonder if there’s something to it.
- So, there I was. I was supposed to be checking out game schedules and ticket prices, and instead, I found myself typing ‘Georgia Tech Big Ten rumors’ into the search bar. What a complete detour from my original plan, right?
And the kind of stuff I dug up! Oh boy. It was like falling down a never-ending rabbit hole. I scrolled through pages and pages of fans just speculating wildly. Some ‘analysis’ pieces looked like they were put together by a kid. Then there were a few slightly more serious-sounding takes, talking about things like TV markets and how the schools match up academically. It was a real jumble of information. I reckon I spent a good solid hour just sifting through all this nonsense, getting more and more ticked off – not really at the idea itself, but mostly at how easily I got sucked into this whole thing. My straightforward weekend planning? Yeah, that was totally out the window.
And you know the worst part? After all that time spent digging around, all that so-called ‘research,’ I didn’t really have a solid answer for Dave, other than a vague, ‘Yeah, looks like some folks are talking about it, but it’s mostly just a bunch of hot air.’ And Dave’s reaction? ‘Oh, okay then. So, about that game we were talking about for next month…’ Just like that! Like my whole hour of internet sleuthing never even happened! I’d basically thrown away a decent chunk of my afternoon chasing down his crazy hypothetical scenario.
So now, whenever that ‘Georgia Tech Big Ten’ phrase comes up, I don’t think about conference realignments or academic rankings or any of that stuff. Nope. I just get this flashback to that particular Saturday, my completely derailed plans, and Dave being totally oblivious to the chaos he caused in my schedule. That’s my ‘expert’ take on the whole thing. It’s a fantastic way to lose an hour of your life, I can tell you that much for free. And guess what? I still haven’t actually planned that weekend trip. At this rate, maybe I’ll just kick back and stay home.
