I'm too young to have lived through the drought and Theron Sapp's heroics.

I'm not sure I even knew that college football existed when Coach Dooley came along and humbled the Yellow Jackets -- and their legendary coach Bobby Dodd -- in Dooley's first and Dodd's last three Bulldogs-Yellow Jackets showdowns (Dooley would go on to triumph in his first five meetings with the Techies).

Even Jimmy Poulos' 1973 last-minute touchdown was "before my time."

But I went to high school in the metro-Atlanta area before matriculating in Athens and have lived here ever since so I've known my share of snide Tech fans and their unbearable lightness of being when they win in this rivalry.

Sure, the domination that we've enjoyed since Coach Dooley's 1964 arrival has tempered the Yeller Jackets even when they do pull off a (referee-aided) miracle every now and then, but the younger generation of Bulldog Nation does not understand what it was like for Bulldogs fans when Tech would win back at a time that Atlanta was a much smaller town.

So, from my 30+ year perspective, here's what this game means to me:

• Tim Wansley, Paul Oliver and Tony Flack stamping out last-gasp GT dreams with game-ending interceptions.
• Bobo to Corey Allen after Munson mourned on WSB-AM that Tech had "ripped our hearts out" and we were "bleeding all over Peachtree Street."

  Y'know how little kids want to read the same story over and over, night after night? My "little kid" comes out in me every time we play at Tech. I always make a point to grab Coach Bobo, walk out to the spot on the field where he threw the pass to Corey Allen, and get him to tell me the story. Sweeter than a Mama's lullaby!

• We sat in the fog and rain and mud of the railroad tracks. The stadium was 60,000 then and rain slickers abounded. Many of them yellow (yuck!) No one on the tracks wore them, though. We just drank our beer and slopped around in the mud screaming for the Dawgs. Hmmm...maybe that beer had something to do with the fog too. With nine seconds remaining and the score knotted at ten All-American kicker Alan Leavitt was true on a field goal, the good guys avoided a 10-10 tie and we were 10-1 and headed to the Sugar Bowl with a shot at the National Championship! What a freshman year!
• I wasn't there! Missed a Georgia-Georgia Tech game. Very rare! Thanksgiving weekend. Relatively new in-laws. Great wife. Traveled out of town and had to – gasp – watch on TV. Thankfully Garrison Hearst G.A.T.A. for 175 rushing yards and the red and black snuffed out an uncomfortable two-game losing streak and began a run of seven in a row over the bees.
• Dunno who came up with the idea of calling the 600 level at Sanford Stadium the "Tech Deck" because that's where we stick a bulk of their fans, but wish I'd thought of it.
• The brawl. Thanksgiving Day, 1993. We whupped ‘em good – 43-10 at historic Grant Field – and before the final seconds could tick off the clock our guys and their guys were throwing haymakers at each other, down around the 25 yard line in the south end of the stadium. Coach Goff on the field grabbing his own players and physically throwing them back toward the Georgia sideline. For every one he snatched off the pile, three more seemed to pour onto the pitch. Smiled for three days after that one.
• Two years later we had a nail-biter at their place. Trailing 17-15 Kanon Parkman kicked a knuckleball from about 34 yards and we ran our streak to five straight. Gotta share this in-the-present-as-I-write-this-column moment with you. I just googled "Kanon Parkman Tech" to find out how far the field goal was. Here are two items that popped up on a site called "Sting Talk":

  Kanon Parkman ruined my freshman year.
  Burn in HELL!!!!
  I hate the University(sic) of Georgia so much.
  
  We were 6-4 and needed a win for a bowl game. UGA was 5-5 and Ray Goff was already fired. We led 17-7 early in the 4th and let those homos come back. Their last drive took about 9 minutes I think. I was a slow and horrible death. Kanon Parkman's kick still gives me nightmares.

  Just reading those makes me all warm inside. God bless you Kanon, wherever you are...you just made my day again!

2006: Stafford to Massaquoi. Munson's play-by-play of that TD pass. His orgasmic exhilaration followed by exasperation. Find it on the internet. Play it over and over. I have a copy and I do.

Anything Reggie Ball.

1981: Everyone knows that Herschel's gonna carry the ball. So Coach Dooley calls play-action Buck to Lindsay for about 80 yards on Georgia's first offensive play. The route was on. Again.

Bobo again. Zeier got hurt. 1994. Mike, as a freshman, came off the bench and completed a long pass. He was so excited he tore down the field like his hair was on fire. 18 years old and beating Tech in his first try. I remember elbowing Larry and pointing to #14 on the run. Munson and I just laughed.

Eric Zeier never lost to Tech.

Neither did Herschel.

Nor Belue, Guy McIntyre, Terry Hoage, Freddy Gilbert, Jimmy Payne, Lastinger, Thurson. UNDEFEATED, baby.

Greene, Gibson, Reggie, Pollack, B. Bennett, T. Davis, Blue, Jean-Gilles, Inman, Velasco, Tony Taylor – none of those guys ever lost to Tech.

Bill Stanfill, Edgar Chandler, George Patton, Kent Lawrence, Larry Konn, Ronnie Jenkins, Billy Payne. Zero losses to the North Avenue Trade School.

Hines Ward, Brice Hunter, Brandon Tolbert, Adam Meadows, Dax Langley, Randall Godfrey, Whit Marshall. Owned the Jackets.

There are probably another hundred or more lettermen from Georgia who have never lost to Tech.

The youngest Yellow Jacket alive who could make the counter-claim of never having lost to Georgia is at least 66 years old. At least. Awwwww, don't you feel sorry for them? (fake puppy-dog eyes here).

Finally, 1978. One of the greatest football games I've ever seen in person or otherwise. We spent Friday night on the tracks – Ray, Cozmo and I. We froze all night. At least the beverages were frosty when we stirred at sunrise with 8,000 of our new red and black friends.

Woerner got clocked on a punt return but held the ball – despite being knocked out.

He later returned a punt for a touchdown. No wonder Frank Ros gave his kid the middle name "Woerner."

We came back.

Twice.

We trailed Tech 20-0.

We led 21-20.

We trailed 28-21.

Thrills and spills all afternoon.

Buck came off the bench and hit Amp Arnold.

Twice.

First for a long touchdown pass.

Then on the pitch for the two-point conversion.

Delirium.

Sheer pandemonium.

Still makes me smile every time I think of it.

And I try to think of it as often as I can.

Happy Thanksgiving and BEAT TECH!

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