quote:

Originally posted by Tommy Deas:
Greetings from inside the press box at the Georgia Dome.

The Virginia Tech band is surrounding the field right now, with the drum corps apparently posing for photos on the field. They look like they want to make a practice run.

The Million Dollar Band had a quick meeting in the stands and has departed the field area.

Speaking of the band, there's a brief story on our home page with a report (from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution credited) that a bus carrying members of the Million Dollar Band hit a car and injured a man not far from here this afternoon.

I'm here with Chase Goodbread and Michael Southern. Cecil will be along shortly.

Neither team is on the field yet, of course.

Nick Saban said this morning on ESPN that the coaching staff would monitor Brandon Deaderick during warmups before making a determination on whether he will play. Saban sounded like he's ready to play Deaderick is he looks ready to go, but I wouldn't expect him to play the full game in any event. We'll keep you posted.

We'll pop up any real news on the front page as it develops. Chase will be blogging on TideSportsExtra throughout the game. This is your thread, so do with it as you will.

quote:

Originally posted by crimsonwine:
Sticky, please

quote:

Originally posted by Tommy Deas:

quote:

Originally posted by crimsonwine:
Sticky, please

Was already on it as you posted, but the WiFi here is iffy at best and seems to come and go in waves. Doing the best we can.

---------------------------------------
"These pretzels are making me thirsty....

quote:

Originally posted by Tommy Deas:
OK, two things just happened:

1) The Virginia Tech band was ushered off the field and out of the field area.

2) They gave us a different WiFi network to log into.

The result is we now have five bars and are operating at full capacity here and the connection is excellent. I'm guessing it's because they got rid of the band.

Band story from a year ago:

Clemson had a intro video for its band at last year's game. I kid you not. Well, how'd that work out for 'em?

I'm interested to see if Virginia Tech is going to fall into the We're-the-ACC-and-we-care-about-our-band-as-much-as-our-football trap.

quote:

Originally posted by Tommy Deas:
OK, two things just happened:
1) The Virginia Tech band was ushered off the field and out of the field area.
2) They gave us a different WiFi network to log into.
The result is we now have five bars and are operating at full capacity here and the connection is excellent. I'm guessing it's because they got rid of the band.

quote:

Originally posted by I_Iz_Thumper?:

quote:

Originally posted by Tommy Deas:
OK, two things just happened:

1) The Virginia Tech band was ushered off the field and out of the field area.

2) They gave us a different WiFi network to log into.

The result is we now have five bars and are operating at full capacity here and the connection is excellent. I'm guessing it's because they got rid of the band.

Band story from a year ago:

Clemson had a intro video for its band at last year's game. I kid you not. Well, how'd that work out for 'em?

I'm interested to see if Virginia Tech is going to fall into the We're-the-ACC-and-we-care-about-our-band-as-much-as-our-football trap.

At least the aren't MTSU. Remember when we played them at BDS a couple of years ago and the announcer said something like this "Get up on your feet for the crunkiest band in this bia bia"

"IN LOVING MEMORY OF "ED" THE WALK-ON. August 31, 2009 04:29 - August 31, 2009 04:29 .
Ditto....I'm gone"
You will be missed.

"This was the fastest defense if you went from 1-11," Nutt said. "It's from the cornerbacks, to the safeties, to the linebackers, to the D-line. They're the best I've ever seen."-Houston Nutt after the UM/BAMA game.

quote:

Originally posted by Tommy Deas:
They just announced that gates will open in 30 minutes.

Made a trip downstairs to the outside concourse for a few minutes and saw the entire UA majorette line walking out. There's a lot of them.

This is truly a first-class facility with a professional event staff. They know the answers to questions and can tell you what's where and so forth -- open doors with cheery greetings, etc. Traffic isn't a problem -- band bus accidents aside.

In short, this is a place and a city that knows how to put on big events.

If you didn't know, Atlanta is hosting Dragon Con -- one of the biggest sci-fi conventions in the nation -- this weekend. Probably be a few Trekkers mixed in with the game crowd.

Cecil told me Brittany Spears had a concert last nite -- I guess at the Phillips Center. He neither confirmed nor denied attending. Just kidding -- he's more of a Lyle Lovett man.

"IN LOVING MEMORY OF "ED" THE WALK-ON. August 31, 2009 04:29 - August 31, 2009 04:29 .
Ditto....I'm gone"
You will be missed.

"This was the fastest defense if you went from 1-11," Nutt said. "It's from the cornerbacks, to the safeties, to the linebackers, to the D-line. They're the best I've ever seen."-Houston Nutt after the UM/BAMA game.

quote:

Originally posted by Gilmer Dos Santos:

quote:

Originally posted by Tommy Deas:
They just announced that gates will open in 30 minutes.

Made a trip downstairs to the outside concourse for a few minutes and saw the entire UA majorette line walking out. There's a lot of them.

This is truly a first-class facility with a professional event staff. They know the answers to questions and can tell you what's where and so forth -- open doors with cheery greetings, etc. Traffic isn't a problem -- band bus accidents aside.

In short, this is a place and a city that knows how to put on big events.

If you didn't know, Atlanta is hosting Dragon Con -- one of the biggest sci-fi conventions in the nation -- this weekend. Probably be a few Trekkers mixed in with the game crowd.

Cecil told me Brittany Spears had a concert last nite -- I guess at the Phillips Center. He neither confirmed nor denied attending. Just kidding -- he's more of a Lyle Lovett man.

I dont see any Trekkies making it to the game..Just sayin