In August of 2020, during the throes of the pandemic and the first time I was consistently around people that weren’t related to me, I moved in with eight other friends to a rental house on McMillan St. Our house is two doors behind Rocky Mountain Pizza, a delightful location if you want to be off-campus, but still an easy walk to classes (except to Scheller). 

When we toured the house, we knew it wasn’t perfect. None of the floors are flat, but it had what we needed. Two bathrooms, six bedrooms, a working kitchen, a living room that could accommodate guests and parking for most of us. We also knew the landlord wasn’t the best, but that’s par for the course for Home Park. We were willing to accept that sacrifice up front.

During the first few months there, nothing major came up. A couple nights we had rats, but that problem was quickly solved. We realized the dishwasher was a little old and not cleaning super well, and our house manager was helpful in getting that replaced. Those were the last of the problems solved in any reasonable manner.

A year ago, we noticed black mold coming up from the floor of one of the bathrooms. The mold wasn’t spreading that fast, but obviously any mold is bad, so we wanted it taken care of before it became a legitimate health hazard. We mentioned it to our landlord. 

By this point, we no longer had a house manager, so it was on us to liaison with our landlord. This is still the case today.

We also had some roof issues because we’d get water dripping from the ceiling in a couple spots during intense storms. We asked about that as well, but no major fix was ever completed. Just patching at best.

Months passed into the summer, and the mold had not been addressed. The same bathroom shower had poor drainage as well, to which our landlord said to “drill holes.” 

We began noticing other issues more closely that revealed our house was not up to current City of Atlanta codes. We had no working fire alarms. The foundation essentially was piles of bricks and cement blocks that slowly had been shifting as the decades passed, hence why our floors are not flat. 

Heat and cool air didn’t equally get through the house, rendering one bedroom to essentially be plus or minus 20 degrees the outside temperature on a normal day. We had no working gutters, or gutters at all around most of the house. Multiple ceilings have cracks in them. The other bathroom had broken tiles on the floor that were caving in. Our front porch staircase was treacherous at times and absolutely not up to current code. The house has one total exterior electric
outlet.

This brings us to Fall 2021. Of all those issues listed above, none were fully solved by our landlord, and some were plainly not addressed. One of the bedrooms in the middle of the house we knew was vulnerable to leaks on rainy days, but we weren’t aware how damaging it was until September. One night behind a bed frame, we found an appalling amount of mold on the floor and wall that we just hadn’t found yet. It was enough that it honestly made more sense to tear the whole house down than try and clean it up. A new element for the periodic table was probably living in that room. It was so bad. 

Multiple residents had been having some breathing issues the last couple months, and now we knew why. One promptly took advantage of Tech’s emergency housing and had a much safer room in Woodruff until we reached a solution.

We immediately reported the mold to our landlord, who I’ll note had still yet to fix any of the other major issues we had brought up by this point. Issues are supposed to be submitted through an online portal they track to make sure we pay rent. Our landlord does not check this portal ever.

We knew this was no condition we should be living in, so immediately we began researching other possible housing options we could relocate to mid-semester.  

By the end of September, that room had still not been treated by our landlord, nor any of the other major issues. We decided to seek legal counsel to try and find a way out of our lease, scheduled to end July 2022. Tech does have some counsel on hand, but we could not get anything scheduled fast enough. We wanted out as fast as humanly possible.

At first, we were pretty hopeful we could get out. We could show that our landlord was unresponsive to fixing issues with our house that did not meet City of Atlanta’s criteria for a livable house. To lawyers we told this story to, they seemed optimistic we’d win any
legal battle. 

In Georgia, though, tenants have very, very few rights when it comes to issues like this. Even in a house that clearly is uninhabitable, tenants aren’t allowed to just pack up and leave if their lease doesn’t have a clause for that. Rent has to be paid unless a lease has been altered or voided, no way around it. Until we legally had the green light to leave, we were stuck.

We became quite vocal with our landlord. We attempted to send a letter to them so that there was documented writing that we asked for him to fix the problems in the house, but nothing had been fixed. The initial address we had for them in Tennessee bounced back to us. We literally couldn’t figure out where this person lived. We eventually found they lived in Georgia and sent it there, but not after repeated checks with USPS to make sure it was delivered. Another avenue we attempted was to get the house condemned by the City. The problem with that is first a house must be empty and deemed vacant by the landlord. Neither of those were true, so that idea wasn’t going to happen. October became the month of looking at houses in Home Park and the Centennial area. That month we also created a demand letter to be sent to our landlord. 

Before we sent it, our lawyer wisely reminded us that a landlord has the right to fix an issue before tenants take any concrete action. We were under the impression that because it had been over six months for some of the issues with no fix, we were past that point. But, our landlord did begin solving some issues at a mediocre level. Because of that, our possible legal argument that we could terminate the lease became much murkier. Our landlord also had the resources to take each of us to court individually, which we did not have the financial resources for. As we got into further discussions with our lawyers, we did however get the City to inspect the exterior of the house, and they did send our landlord a list of issues that needed to be fixed by late-December upon reinspection. That list totaled 35 deficiencies just on the exterior. 

In late-October, our lawyer and landlord spoke over the phone, which resulted in the promise that workers would come to work on the house in the next five business days. There was one day not long beforehand that some did show up, but with no advance notification. That in itself is not allowed per our lease.

A mold inspector also came, but when we contacted our landlord to get a report, they never responded. We separately contacted the inspector, and they told us they were never paid. We then paid for our own inspection, which read that the room was free of any hazardous mold. By that point, we had done our best to clean it somewhat because leaving it untouched was not an option.

In November, our lawyer and landlord had communication about the early termination of the lease, and said they would fix everything making the house non-livable. Some issues including the bathroom flooring were in the process of being fixed. Our landlord then proceeded to show up to our house past 8:00 p.m. on a weeknight unannounced. My housemates that had tracked our situation best walked them through the house to show every little thing we had notified him about. The landlord was given an extreme talking to about how messed up our situation was, and that we’ve been under undue hardship for multiple months. By the end of the evening, they verbally agreed to let us out early.

We began preparing the exterior of the house for showing because our landlord still wanted to get the house filled somehow. Somehow this civil engineer landlord of ours believed our house was still livable after being inside it for half an hour and worth letting others live in.

Workers came and went throughout November, often not coming when they said they would. This caused a housemate who was working this semester to lose some pay because they had to stay home to wait for workers who never came. Later that month, our landlord said everything was fixed. Our lawyer then personally came to our house to see for themselves, and could easily tell the landlord was lying. Our lawyer then sent both a settlement letter and a demand to release us from the lease simultaneously to ensure our landlord had to respond to one of them.

To that, our landlord responded threatening to sue us all individually, the only thing we didn’t have the resources to do. We were stuck.

So, we continue living in the house. The City eventually made their inspection of the house during winter break and are taking our landlord to court for at least eight citations. According to the City, that process can take up to six months. For us, that means no resolution could come until after we’ve moved out in July.

It’s an awful situation. None of us are pleased about it. 

The housemate who temporarily was at Woodruff did move back in for a month or so after most of the mold was cleaned up. 

But, because that room is so vulnerable to moisture and humidity from outside the house, mildew constantly has been spreading in that room, which has caused further damage into 2022. 

The damage in that room includes destroyed luggage, warped furniture, destroyed clothing, and constant health issues to our housemate. 

For their own health, they had to move out and we are volunteering to cover their rent. 

All of this to obviously say, be careful who your landlord is. Do your research. What we’ve been through is not representative of the average Home Park experience. For those wanting to move into Home Park, I hope this story is both enlightening and also not a deterrent from moving to the neighborhood. 

The positives I’ve experienced in this neighborhood far outweigh the harm this story has caused me and my friends. 

Community can be built. Good landlords do exist here, some even live here. 

Many friends came to our aid during the last year, to whom we are eternally grateful.

The 18th-ranked and top scoring defense Jacket women’s basketball team finished 3-1 in a stretch of four games in eight days against conference opponents, including tight finishes against Florida State at home and Miami on the road. 

The four game run began at home against an overmatched Virginia Cavalier side on Jan. 9, despite only having seven available players for head coach Nell Fortner due to illness with the team. Tech won 67-31, which included a 21-0 scoring run. The Cavaliers were held to single digits in each of the second through fourth quarters. 

 “[I’m] really proud of their effort and how hard they continue to play and fight and listen to their coaches. Today I thought our defense was pretty tough,” Fortner said of the team after the win
over Virginia.

Two days later the Jackets were facing Pitt in what became a closer game but secured their second win of the stretch 63-52 on the road. Tech effectively had the game in hand by the end of the third quarter up 56-28 but allowed 11 straight points to the Panthers in the final quarter. Tech only made two baskets in the
entire fourth.

Again two days later the Jackets were back at McCamish to face Florida State, a game that showed they had the ability to gut out tight, physical wins during games that are not played at their best. Fifth-year Lorela Cubaj led Tech with 24 points in 38 minutes played on 10-for-18 shooting. 

Tech was up at the end of the third quarter despite Florida State scoring 22 points, and the Seminoles even took the lead late in the fourth before sophomore Eylia Love put the Jackets up with a second-chance putback with 48 seconds left. The Seminoles then were forced to start fouling, effectively securing the win for Tech.

Postgame, Cubaj said, “Florida State is a really physical basketball team, so we knew what we were going into.” 

On the fourth quarter, she said, “It was just get a stop pretty much. Nothing crazy.”

“I don’t know if we’ve ever given up 22 in one quarter, so that was disappointing and it hurt us bad,” said coach Fortner after
the game.

While Tech did give up those 22 points in the third that pushed the physicality of the game, the win kept Tech at 4-1 in conference play with only Miami left in the four-game run.

The game at the Watsco Center in Coral Gables became physical just like the Florida State game, but throughout it was clear Tech was running more on fumes, having played just three days earlier. Junior Nerea Hermosa led the team with 12 points on 5-for-12 shooting and six rebounds.

It was a rough shooting game for Tech, only connecting on 28.6% of their shots. They played well defensively, forcing 15 turnovers and 11 steals. This may have been the one game that was severely impacted by the referees, as on multiple occasions both sides had legitimate reason to expect foul calls on drives to the basket,but regularly received none.

Tech held the lead nearly the whole game until the 1:23 mark in the fourth, when Miami scored a layup to go up 46-45. The Jackets had a chance to set up a play with the shot clock off and two timeouts in hand, but Nell let the clock run and was unable to get a quality shot off to win.

After that loss, Tech sits at a 13-4 record, which includes a 4-2 ACC record. As of Jan. 17, Louisville and North Carolina State possess the only undefeated conference records.

Tech currently leads the NCAA in scoring defense by over two points, holding teams to 46.3 points per game. Albany (NY) is currently second at 48.5 points per game.

Hermosa, senior Lotta-Maj Lahtinen, Cubaj, and Love are all averaging over 10 points per game. Cubaj is averaging a double-double with 12.0 rebounds per game, sixth in the nation and tops in the ACC.

The Jackets play at McCamish on January 23 against North Carolina to kick off a two game home stand following a road trip to Syracuse.

The city of Atlanta saw its first sports parade since December 2018 on Friday, Nov. 5. The Atlanta Braves took off from the Peachtree and Marietta intersection at noon, making their way up to Peachtree and 10th, where they loaded onto buses that took the team to Truist Park at The Battery, where the second portion of the parade took place.

In the area surrounding the start of the parade, the crowds were already five to eight people deep an hour before the start. Signs that said “Battle Won” were placed at storefronts for fans to grab and wave as the buses drove by. Vendors had the special edition of the AJC from the morning after the game six win along with noise makers and all sorts of fan created merchandise.

The parade itself included all of the current Braves players and coaching staff. Manager Brian Snitker and players Freddie Freeman, Jorge Soler, Eddie Rosario and Charlie Morton all rode in their own white trucks with their families at the head of the parade. The rest of the team were divided among other open-top buses based on their fielding positions.

Joc Pederson, in the outfielders bus, spent the parade throwing pearl necklaces to parade goers. Most of the team smoked cigars throughout the parade. Fans attempted to throw beers at the players for them to drink. Video of Dansby Swanson catching a can is on the internet, along with A.J. Minter making a spectacular grab over the rail of the bus.

The only notable absence from the parade was Braves GM Alex Anthopolous, who tested positive for COVID-19. He was present at the celebration in Truist Park in his own open-air suite with his family.

Many noted in person and online after the Atlanta portion of the parade went by much faster than people expected. This was in part because the Atlanta Police Department did not have enough cars and officers to spare for the kind of crowd control necessary if the parade went at the expected crawl.

Cars from the Cherokee County Police Department and other counties were present to help. Students from the Institute were still walking towards the parade route after it had ended and headed to Truist Park.

At The Battery, the crowds were far denser than on Peachtree considering how much less road there was. Relief pitcher Tyler Matzek nearly got arrested while running off the bus during the Cobb portion of the parade since an officer mistook him for a random fan. Once the parade arrived at Truist Park, the entire team was introduced one by one as they walked on a red carpet starting in dead center field to a stage placed behind second base.

Braves radio color commentator, Joe Simpson, emceed the celebration on stage. Braves chairman Terry McGuirk and other front office members spoke. The spoken portion was highlighted by a speech from Billye Aaron, the wife of the late-great Hank Aaron, whose number 44 was present in the center field grass during the entire 2021 season.

Many players spoke after that for short stints. Joc Pederson’s short speech was an edited version of his now famous statement in The Players Tribune, saying, “Guess what? We are those mothers!”

Dansby Swanson was the first of multiple players to note the Braves should re-sign Freddie Freeman, saying “it might get me in trouble, but re-sign Freddie.”

Travis d’Arnaud echoed his statement. Dansby also wore an Outkast themed Braves jersey that read “ATLiens” on the front instead of the usual home jersey. Jesse Chavez wore the 1974 throwback jersey worn during the entire first homestand of the season in honor of Hank Aaron.

Big Boi and Ludacris headlined a concert on stage after the team took a picture with the Commissioner’s Trophy behind the large 44 in center field, capping off Atlanta’s celebration.

In what was almost too easy of a game for Atlanta fans to rationalize as it went on, the Atlanta Braves clinched their first World Series since 1995, winning 7-0 at Minute Maid Park.

Game six began similarly to game one, with Jorge Soler destroying a baseball to give Atlanta a 3-0 lead in the third inning. His homer had an expected batting average of 1.000, and left the bat at 109.6 miles per hour, finally landing 446 feet from home in the Houston sky. It took Houston starter Luis Garcia out of the game, who was the first of four Astro pitchers that would be scored on throughout the game.

Max Fried delivered his best outing of the entire postseason, going six innings after letting the first two hitters he faced reach base. In Michael Brantley’s first at-bat, he stepped on Fried’s right ankle as he missed trying to cover the bag. While it looked dangerous in the moment, Fried had no apparent pain after a couple test pitches. He went on to retire the next six Astros batters, including throwing his quickest fastball strike of his career to strike out Yuli Gurriel swinging to finish the first inning (98.4 mph).

The rest of the game was remarkably quick by the standard set in the first few games of the series. The game lasted three hours and twenty-two minutes, in part because of how efficient Fried was getting through batters in the early innings. Houston could not get solid contact all night long.

In the fifth inning, Albies walked to start the inning and reached second on a Cristian Javier wild pitch. After Travis d’Arnaud struck out, Dansby Swanson got his own no-doubt home run to extend the lead to 5-0. Soler then also walked and was driven in by Freddie Freeman on a long double to the left-center field gap which bounced off the fencing.

Freddie would hit a solo home run to the same part of the park in his next at-bat during the seventh inning to make it 7-0, and that was more than enough for the Braves to put it away. Fried finished after six shutout innings, paving the way for Tyler Matzek and Will Smith to finish the seventh, eighth and ninth innings.

Yuli Gurriel hit a ground ball to lifelong Atlantan Dansby Swanson with two outs in the bottom of the ninth on an 0-2 count, who threw a perfect throw to Freddie at first to end the 2021 MLB season as champions.

At the Institute, the celebrations ensued immediately. Crowds of students began forming between Tech Green and Techwood Drive, eventually merging in front of Peters parking deck where a couch was set on fire in the front yard of a fraternity. With a police presence to ensure everyone’s safety, the crowd proceeded in a parade-like fashion down Fowler Street towards McCamish and turned right towards the I-75/85 Connector. At all points, students had speakers blasting the music of the Braves’ tomahawk chop.

After crossing the bridge (and becoming an alert on the Atlanta Police Department scanners), the crowd turned right on Williams St. back towards Tech Square, and were routed back to Techwood Drive where the crowd originally formed.

From there, the mass kept going towards Tech Green, with many going into the Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons (CULC) building, going up the main staircase, entering the Price Gilbert Library and exiting at the top of Freshman Hill. Another massive throng of students merged with the library group and proceeded down the hill, banking a right at the closest entrance to Bobby Dodd Stadium.

Students were climbing over the fencing, and those inside managed to open a locked gate to let the crowd into the stadium. The crowd went straight to the football field, at worst removing the foam protection at the base of the north end zone field goal post. Mosh pits came and went before campus police showed up at the gates of the stadium, which naturally prompted the exit of everyone from the stadium.

The crowd then shifted again in front of Peters to witness another couch being burned. Some attempted to get into Russ Chandler Stadium, but the police presence was enough to ward off any real attempts, resulting in a mostly static crowd at the intersection of Ferst and Fowler. One more big mosh pit occurred once there was no traffic at the intersection.

A smaller crowd than before eventually made their way to Tech Tower, but by then most of the people of the original crowd had gone to where they started the evening, where they had watched the Braves end their 26-year drought.

It actually happened. The last time the Braves were in the World Series, I was 7 months old and had never knowingly stepped foot in Atlanta. A friend of mine said this team was not the best team we’ve put together. I would say last year’s team was much better, but this team was the right team to make it to the World Series, even if it wasn’t the best we’ve had. The outfield is currently in its third iteration of the year, the pitching rotation is about the same as we thought it would be minus Mike Soroka, but most importantly, the clubhouse cares about each other.

Jorge Soler, one of the Braves’ trade deadline acquisitions, noted that Guillermo Heredia was instrumental in making him feel like part of the team as a fellow Cuban. Even with the dismissal of Ozuna mid-season, the culture within the team didn’t break down. They adapted time and time again, even their celebrations on base evolved to match the natural energy of the team.

Championship ready teams always have to be hot at the right time. Jayson Stark noted that from August onward, the Braves played like a 109 win team. We just beat a 106 win Dodger team in six games, and that included a blowout win, our first in Dodger Stadium since 2018. I would take almost any of their main starters in a heartbeat to add to the Braves lineup or pitching rotation. No game is a cakewalk with them, and we beat them during our bullpen game!

In general, the NLCS was working in the Braves’ favor from the beginning. The Dodgers started with a bullpen game since Scherzer had to close Game 5 of the NLDS. We barely escaped it with a walk-off, and the legend of Eddie Rosario was beginning with his first NLCS hit. Game 2 was another walk-off, beating Scherzer and keeping him from pitching in Los Angeles. Eddie Rosario got the walk-off hit on Kenley Jansen, who would mow down all the Braves he saw in games three to five.

The Los Angeles portion of the series went about as well as one could hope for Atlanta. The Dodgers pulled a fast one from under us on a Cody Bellinger eighth inning homer to tie in Game 3, and a Mookie Betts double to grab the lead going into the ninth. It was Luke Jackson’s first of two disastrous outings, but thankfully only this one cost Atlanta a game. Game 4 became the catalyst game for Eddie Rosario’s ascension into the Braves history books. The 9-2 Braves win saw homers by Freddie Freeman and Adam Duvall and two more by Rosario. In Eddie’s last at-bat, he was only a double away from hitting the second postseason cycle in history, but instead hit a two-run homer to put the game away.

Don’t worry about Game 5. Max Fried had a bad night. We got killed. Yeah people were saying we were about to blow a 3-1 series lead again. But as you probably know, that didn’t happen.

Game 6 was a dream. An absolute dream. The game was close, we had clutch moments, we had near disasters, but we most importantly won. Facing Walker Buehler, Austin Riley brought in a first inning run with a ground-rule double to score Ozzie Albies. Los Angeles finally got through Ian Anderson via a Cody Bellinger single to tie the game at one run apiece in the top of the fourth inning.

The bottom frame was arguably the best inning in Braves history since 1995. With two outs, Travis D’Arnaud walked in a tight at-bat. Anderson’s spot was up next, but even with two outs, Snitker decided to pull Ian and have Ehire Adrianza pinch hit. Adrianza pulled a double down the line, putting runners at second and third for Rosario.

There was no one else on the team I wanted more to be up than Eddie. He was on fire. After going down 0-2, and fouling off a bunch of pitches inside, he yanked a screamer of a line drive that just barely made it over the right field wall. Braves up by three. The Dodgers got one more run before Tyler Matzek came out blazing hot and struck out four of the six batters he faced in relief of Luke Jackson. The NLCS was over. Atlanta was heading to their first World Series since 1999 to face Houston.

Game 1 in Minute Maid Park began literally with a blast. Jorge Soler became the first to hit a home run in the first at bat of the World Series. Framber Valdez, Houston’s starter, got rocked for five earned runs, with the following four runs coming from an Austin Riley double (Albies scored), a Soler fielder’s choice (d’Arnaud scored), and a Duvall two run homer (Rosario scored).

Charlie Morton needed 32 pitches to get through the first inning, but escaped the inning scoreless. In the bottom of the second, a Yuli Gurriel comebacker nailed Morton in the shin, and the ball deflected right to Freeman for an easy out. While in the moment it didn’t look bad, after one batter in the third, Morton was clearly grimacing after striking out Jose Altuve. He came out and it was revealed his fibula was fractured.

Multi-inning appearances by Minter and Matzek held the Astros to a run apiece, which included Minter’s longest career outing with 43 pitches. Will Smith closed the game on four batters to give the Braves their first World Series lead since 1996.

Game 2 was a role reversal for both sides. Houston broke the game open in the second inning on four straight ground balls that found their way through the Braves infield, scoring four runs to get their lead to 5-1.

Atlanta had nothing on Houston starter Jose Urquidy, who threw 55 strikes on 74 pitches and faced only one notable hard hit ball that D’Arnaud homered on in the first. The game was Max Fried’s second straight shaky start, and the second in a row Atlanta lost that he started.

Game 3 is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 29, but rain is in the forecast, so it’s unclear whether the game will go on as scheduled. Atlanta gets to host Games 3 through 5.

After climbing back in the NL East and taking over the division lead in the last couple months of the season, the Atlanta Braves cruised relatively smoothly through the Division Series, taking three out of four against the Milwaukee Brewers. While the Brewers did have the better regular season record by five games, the Braves matched up well against Milwaukee’s stellar starting pitching, taking advantage of a slightly depleted bullpen.

This year’s team was in a much better place than they were last year coming into the NLDS. The Braves had to get through a tough Cincinnati team last year in the expanded Wild Card round, and then had to fly to Houston to play Miami in the division series, which was the first series Miami ever lost in the playoffs in their history. Starting pitching was not as much of a luxury for Atlanta last year, relying more on their hitting, especially from Marcell Ozuna and Travis d’Arnaud come the playoffs.

For this year’s matchup, Milwaukee lost two relievers due to injuries, including their setup man Devin Williams after punching a wall. As the four games played out, the lack of Williams and other Brewers relievers clearly played a role in the Braves ability to squeeze games at the very end. Milwaukee won game one at home in a huge pitchers duel between Charlie Morton and Corbin Burnes. The game was the first of multiple games so far this postseason where the Braves committed a baserunning blunder, or “baseruining” as I have called it now.

Yet, the Braves took games two and three in 3-0 wins both characterized by excellent starting pitching by Max Fried and Ian Anderson. Those were the kind of games that used to make me nervous in the postseason. Games where we clearly should have had the upper hand, play well for a while, but then would find a way to spoil it at the end. Does that sound like any other Atlanta teams? Thankfully that has not happened yet.

Game four was another nail biter, with Freddie Freeman hitting the go-ahead home run in the eighth inning being the kind of moment that the Braves and other Atlanta sports teams have been lacking for a long time. The moment where we have a guy like Freddie who can do the one thing that’s needed at a huge crucial point in the game to win, without there being enough time for us to blow it.

At the time of writing we are up two games to none on the Dodgers in the NLCS, which is not a statement I would have said could have been remotely possible four months ago. We knew this Braves team was talented, even when they were slumping early in the season. They picked themselves up, may have lost a couple weapons along the way, but still showed some true professionalism and learned their lessons from the last couple years. Austin Riley’s emergence this year has changed the landscape of our batting order as well as the entire Braves infield hitting 30 home runs a piece.

I am not yet at the point where I can think winning the Dodgers series is a definite possibility. Getting through three games in a row in Los Angeles is a huge order, which will probably include another Max Scherzer appearance. Getting one win in Los Angeles would likely get us through to the World Series, assuming we can win one of game six or seven at home. That is still asking a lot though of an 88 win team that has to get through a 106 win team.

What this lifelong Braves fan can tell you though is that this Braves team always finds a way to make themselves relevant. They play classy baseball and have a knack for gutting out wins at the tail end. I have watched a lot of postseason baseball in my life, and those are some traits that I have seen replicated in other World Series champions, notably from National League champions. This may be our year, it may not be. Regardless we have done about as much as one could have hoped. Now it is just a matter of being the lucky ones that make it all the way.

After a blistering 11-1 start for 18th ranked Tech volleyball, the matches on Oct. 1 and 3 brought the team down back to earth after a tight loss to Notre Dame and a blowout by number three Louisville. The weekend was not a complete loss though, as the Killer B’s Brambilla, Bergmann and Bertolino all put up good showings.

Junior Julia Bergmann put up a season-high 30 kills against Notre Dame, along with 11 digs for her eighth double-double of the season. That match was a breeze for Tech in the first two sets. The first set was the best Tech played all weekend, who went on an 8-0 scoring run after being down 11-12. Notre Dame fought off two set points, but Tech finished off the set 25-17 on a Caroline Meuth service error for the Irish. Bergmann and senior Marianna Brambilla were most effective on sets they received in the middle of the court.

Set two began with a beautiful Brambilla touch shot. Notre Dame routinely was reverting to touch shots themselves with how strong Tech’s back line was at getting digs. Tech did indeed have their best defensive set in the 2nd, finishing with 25 digs. This set like the first, was back and forth and featured multiple Bergmann or Bertolino kills to keep it close. Brambilla hit the final kill to secure the set 25-22.

From that point on, Tech would not win a set the rest of the weekend. Notre Dame would also win 25-22 in a third set that stayed remarkably even. A miss by Bergmann at 20-20 after keeping Tech alive most of the set gave the Irish enough momentum to finish off Tech.

The fourth set began with a miss by senior Matti MiKissock that unfortunately foreshadowed the result for Tech. Notre Dame got out to a two point lead at 8-6 that Tech would never come back from. MiKissock was called for a carry to slip the lead to three. Head coach Michelle Collier called timeouts at multiple points to try and regroup, but Notre Dame had enough of a handle even the match, winning 25-17.

Bergmann in that set only had two kills, and in the fifth set she was visibly frustrated that she could not get past the Notre Dame block. Notre Dame got to a three point lead early. Brambilla moderately stopped the bleeding on a long point to keep the game at 9-5, but Notre Dame’s block kept winning points. The Jackets fought back to 12-12 on an ace by senior Kayla Kaiser, and Bergmann saved one match point before Notre Dame won on a kill by Aubrey Hamilton.

Two days later, the Louisville Cardinals came to O’Keefe for an all ACC, ranked on ranked matchup. After Bergmann started the match with a beautiful touch shot kill, Louisville won three straight points, getting in their groove far faster than Tech. The Jackets never had a grasp in this set, losing six straight points to go down 16-7, losing the set by ten.

The second set provided a massive roller coaster ride for both teams. Bergmann again opened the scoring with an ace. A long point at 6-5 that included three massive Tech hits ended on a Amaya Tillman block, which Tech answered by battling to 7-7. That was the theme of the set, long points and tiny leads that would disappear quickly. The set was tied on 23 different occasions. Louisville would win 36-34, but it truly was a full team effort on both sides to eke out points and not let either side dominate. Louisville played from ahead much more in the extra points.

The third set actually gave Tech more life than the second set, getting ahead 4-1 via kills by seniors Breland Morrissette and Brambilla. That was the only stretch Louisville was not on the gas pedal. They quickly fought back and ran to a 10-5 lead that Tech bit but never recovered. Louisville finished the sweep 25-22, Tech’s first sweep defeat of the year.

Tech travels for their next three matches to Charlottesville, Pittsburgh and Clemson to face Virginia, Pitt and Clemson respectively over the next week.

I was born in Seattle in early 1999, but have essentially grown up an Atlantan after my family moved here in November 2001.

The only roots I really have left of Seattle are the Seahawks, Mariners and a couple family friends.

I’ve tried to recoup some photographic memories that I can’t tell if they’re real or not by walking the streets in Google Maps. Everything else is Atlanta for me.

So, by growing up in Atlanta, the South, that meant sweet tea was on basically every menu.

It was the easy choice at restaurants. It was usually sweeter than I anticipated it would be (which is the absolute best when you’re six).

If a family member ever made sweet tea, I knew I was drinking at least three glasses of it in one sitting.

There wasn’t, and dare I say still isn’t, a moment where gulping down a bunch of sweet tea sounded like a bad idea.

But before I had any clue that tea, sweet or unsweet, existed, I was very aware of lemonade and how delicious it is. Lemonade became almost a given no matter where I was.

Until my taste buds evolved to a more mature point, nothing could beat a can of Minute Maid Lemonade at the pool in summer. I don’t drink that particular brand now, but I’m still a sucker for the Country Time mix, which was secretly my actual favorite when I knew it was available.

The Arnold Palmer was a drink I was not aware of until I think I was ten.

I don’t remember the actual day I had my first one, but it changed the entire landscape of my default drink.

The sweetness of the tea and the acidity of the lemonade creates a 1+1 = 3 miracle drink.

It’s honestly a better combination than peanut butter and chocolate.

The only time either component of the drink is better alone is when the lemonade is of poor quality (aka, if it’s Minute Maid), which inherently means the sweet tea can’t mess it up.

I haven’t done the kind of scientific research to understand this fully, but sweetness level has never been too much for me no matter where I get my Arnold Palmer’s from.

A quick aside for those that don’t know; Arnold Palmer was the most famous American golfer until Tiger Woods.

The legend goes he liked the mixture, and eventually the drink acquired his name as people knew he liked ordering it at golf clubs.

I imagine in the next 50 to 100 years, the story will change like any other legend.

But back to the drink itself. Once I knew what the drink was and that I preferred it over any non-alcoholic beverage, perfecting it became a never-ending side quest for me.

At restaurants with wait staff, I let them make it on their own to see how they do it. At places I can make it myself, I always do.

Unfortunately, most fast-food style spots use Minute Maid since it’s easy to get, which I don’t use anymore. If there’s homemade or some other brand, it’s gonna be much better.

On the question of whether pink lemonade works: I tried it once, and it just felt weird.

I would need to try it more often to get a good idea of if it works.

Considering it’s still the same lemonade with just a different color, it’s fine.

The most important part is the ratio. Traditionally, this drink comes half and half.

That is not the way to go unless only unsweet tea is available to use.

Lemonade tends to pack a bigger punch than the sweet tea, so I’ve always favored having more sweet tea than lemonade.

Arnold Palmer preferred the same himself. My ratio that I currently like best is 3/8 lemonade, 5/8 sweet tea.

The order of how it’s poured matters too.

I put ice in the glass first, only about a third full.

The lemonade is next, and my default rule with that is to fill it until it fills most of the space between the ice cubes, but leaves at least the entirety of the empty space with no ice free for the sweet tea.

This ratio gets just enough lemonade to get the mix to the signature Arnold Palmer flavor.

The tea gets the sweetness level to the right threshold. If there’s too much lemonade, the mix is off-color lemonade.

If there’s not enough lemonade, the mix will taste weird.

On Tuesday, Sept. 21, the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions handed down probation on the Tech women’s basketball team for practice violations that took place during former head coach MaChelle Joseph’s tenure from 2016 to February 2019, when she was relieved from her post.

This marks the second time in the last few years the NCAA has sanctioned the basketball program at Tech. The men’s team was sanctioned in 2019, but the penalties were lifted this past February in time for March Madness 2021.

The women’s team’s violations included practice times going longer than NCAA rules permit, which also included practices on off days.

Penalties include three years of probation, along with a $5,000 self-imposed fine. One percent of the women’s basketball budget will also be fined. The team will still be allowed to participate in the NCAA Tournament during the probationary period.

Because the men’s basketball team is still serving their probation, the women’s three year probation will be added on at the end of the men’s probation. If no more sentences are handed down, Tech basketball will be out of probationary status for the 2027 season.

An outside agency will conduct a compliance review with the Tech Athletic Department, prompted by the fact that both basketball teams have been sanctioned recently.

The final piece of the sanctions was a reduction in “countable athletically related activities,” (CARA) which was fully served by the end of the Spring 2021 semester by the team over the course of two seasons. These penalties were also self-imposed.

According to the NCAA’s findings, “Each week, the director of women’s basketball operations provided student-athletes with the practice schedule. However, a former women’s basketball assistant coach would notify student-athletes on the day before or day of practice that the schedule had changed, frequently requiring the team to report to practice early. Additionally, according to multiple student-athletes, the team was regularly scheduled to practice an hour or more longer than scheduled.”

In Tech’s statement about the sanctions, it was noted that Tech “demonstrated exemplary cooperation during the NCAA enforcement staff’s investigation.”

None of the sanctions affect this year’s team, of which Athletic Director, Todd Stansbury, was glad to see.

“We remain pleased that the Committee on Infractions did not find any institutional violations in this matter. While we do not necessarily agree with all of the conclusions that the Committee came to, we are pleased that this case has come to a resolution and that our current student-athletes and coaching staff can move on knowing that they will not have to serve any punishment for infractions that they had no part in and have not provided them with any competitive advantage,” said Stansbury in his official statement.

On the flip side, Joseph in her statement noted that her CARA logs were never in question, and that players continually came back to Atlanta to coach with her following their playing career at Tech.

“I must note that in my 16 years at Georgia Tech, no one has ever questioned my CARA log practices or suggested any violations. I am extremely proud of my record of compliance at Georgia Tech and also of my culture in my program. The NCAA’s seemingly gratuitous reference to that culture is belied by the large number of my players who returned to Georgia Tech to work for me as staff members,” said Joseph.

The NCAA was also investigating Tech for recruiting violations in the same time frame during Joseph’s tenure, but were cleared from those.

While the NCAA provided no definition to “probation” in their statement, it effectively means that if Tech breaks any more NCAA rules, they could have harsher sanctions than other, non-probational teams would face levied on them.

For the Tech faithful, the second “cupcake” game of the year was one that played out as such. Kennesaw State made the short trip south to Bobby Dodd, and in a short amount of time the Jackets had the game in hand.

After nearly forcing a three and out on Kennesaw State’s first drive, Tech responded with redshirt junior Jordan Mason’s first ever receiving touchdown on a six-yard pass by redshirt freshman Jordan Yates. Tech would never relinquish the lead.

Tech’s defense showed consistent prowess on Saturday as Kennesaw ran a triple option offense that threw a little bit more than an average Paul Johnson team.

The biggest play was a 70-yard scoop-and-score by redshirt sophomore Jordan Domineck during Kennesaw’s second possession. His run to the south endzone required two stiff arms, the second of which saw Domineck using a Tech defender as a human shield to ward off the last Kennesaw man right before jumping into the right corner of the endzone.

In the postgame interviews, Domineck said of that play, “we were ready to celebrate into the end zone, but I saw out of the corner of my eye that somebody was coming. So I apologize to my boy Charlie [Thomas], but for the greater good, I had to throw him into the block. He got a great block, though.”

That score gave Tech a 14-0 lead, which, even though it was only late in the first quarter, was the only momentum shift needed for Tech to emotionally hang on the rest of the game.

Yates played quarterback the entire game in place of week one starter freshman Jeff Sims, who injured his arm during the Northern Illinois game. It was his first career start at quarterback and he did not disappoint.

When Sims is available again, he may have some serious shoes to fill. Yates threw for four touchdowns on 254 yards with only five incompletions.

Senior Kyric McGowan was the most popular passing target of the game, hauling in five catches for 77 yards and two touchdowns. No other Jacket had more than two receptions. Sophomore Kalani Norris caught the other of Yates’ touchdowns.

Kennesaw’s only real punch came in the fourth quarter, where they scored on a 54-yard fourth down run by Iaan Cousin, which they followed up with a successful onside kick. They nearly scored on their first play if not for a drop in the endzone. Again, on that possession Kennesaw faced a fourth down, where Xavier Shepherd dropped a beautiful ball in between Tech’s cornerback and safety for a long touchdown to Adeolu Adeleke to bring the score to its closest at since the first quarter at 38-17.

For a game that was fairly normal by the standard of most FBS vs. FCS games, junior Charlie Thomas had a slew of standout plays that effectively put the nail in the coffin for KSU. In the middle of the third quarter, he laid a massive tackle for loss that was reviewed for targeting, eventually with no penalty assessed. The following play he picked off Shepherd to give Tech the ball on Kennesaw’s 30-yard line. Tech did not convert on that turnover after a costly intentional grounding penalty on Yates.

Two Kennesaw drives later, Thomas again picked off Shepherd on a floated pass that no Kennesaw receiver was around, his second forced turnover of the game.

Coach Collins was emphatic about his team’s defensive preparation for Kennesaw’s offense, saying, “That was the reason we won.”

In a little bit of ACC history, Karina Tovar became the first female official to referee an ACC game on field. She had previously worked in Conference USA games.

The Institute heads to Clemson, South Carolina next week to face Clemson for the first time post-Trevor Lawrence, and also the first time since Clemson’s complete bashing of the Jackets last year in Bobby Dodd 73-7. The game is at 3:30 on ABC. Kennesaw State heads to South Carolina as well, playing Wofford in Spartanburg.