Why Tennessee vs. Georgia Tech Is So Bittersweet
Why the Vols versus the Yellow Jackets is so bittersweet Sunday night.
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I feared this day would come. The day in which the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets faced the Tennessee Volunteers in the Knoxville Regionals this weekend. As I’m writing this, the Jackets are up big on Campbell in their elimination game, and, barring a miracle, Georgia Tech will face Tennessee later this evening in the regional final.
I did not want this to be the case.
When the regional bracket was revealed last week and I saw Tech in Tennessee’s bracket my heart immediately sank. I thought about Papa. I thought about how perfect it would have been for him and my family to come up for the weekend and watch the games. I thought about just how cruel timing can be in life sometimes. The first college baseball postseason without Papa, the Vols get the Jackets in their regional.
It is uncomfortable for me to even write this.
In a previous piece, I wrote at length about the kind of relationship I had with Papa. I wrote about Georgia Tech baseball and how much I treasured our time, just the two of us together, catching so many games growing up in Atlanta. It was one of my favorite things as a kid.
A former pastor read the piece at Papa’s funeral this spring.
At the start of each college baseball season, I think of him, and I think of the games, and I think of the view at Tech and that Atlanta skyline in the outfield and I think about the solitude. We both were always just fine keeping to ourselves and watching the game. The best part was simply being there, enjoying the game and, really, watching the world go by.
What you do not think about in those moments, though, is that one of those times would be the last. That the world really does go by. One day, you’re in your thirties, engaged and wrapping up graduate school in a completely different state.
After I moved to Knoxville, we still spoke often. I always wanted him and Nanny to come up for a Tennessee baseball game with my family. Even if they were not playing Tech, that didn’t matter. I missed watching baseball with Papa. It didn’t sit right with me knowing the years were passing and things changed. It’s part of life, I get that, but I do not have to like it, though.
However, in the back of mind, I thought it would eventually happen. I thought he and Nanny would eventually make their way up here with my parents and we’d have the opportunity to go watch the best team in the country together. In my mind, it was happening, even if it had not yet been decided.
But it did not work out that way.
Tonight, Tennessee will need to beat Tech to advance to the Super Regionals. It’s already not sitting right with me writing this piece. I know I’m going to think about Papa a lot and our experiences together. I’m going to think about how perfect it would have been to have him up here for this game.
I miss my Papa, and I always will, but tonight, it’s going to be different. Tonight, I’m going to think less about the Vols and more about what could have been.
I’m going to think about Papa.
It would have been so perfect, all of it, and yet, it all came together at the worst possible time. I’ll think about how much I wish this regional happened last year. It feels so wrong for it all to unfold this way at this time. Tonight is going to be hard, but I’m glad that’s the case because if that was not the case than our relationship wasn’t what it could have been. It’s going to be hard because of the memories, because of the times we had and because we did it all right. And yet, Tech playing Tennessee this weekend feels oh so wrong.
Chase Thomas is the Sports Renaissance Man, Atlanta Sports Guy and Vol For Life. He is a graduate student at the University of Tennessee and resides in Knoxville, TN. Chase obtained his undergraduate degree in journalism from the University of North Georgia. He has written for a variety of publications that include Outsider, SB Nation, VICE Sports, SI’s The Cauldron, Cox Media Group & ESPN’s TrueHoop Network. You can email him at chasethomaspodcast[at]gmail.