Hi I am Bernard. Born and raised in Belgium. Only watched soccer until I came to Georgia for a one-month exchange program when I was 15. Went to my first Braves game in the summer of 1986 (Fulton County stadium, Dale Murphy.... it was a long time ago....). I fell in love with the US and the city of Atlanta. Later I was an exchange student in CA for my senior year of high school. That's when I discovered football and basketball. Came back to Belgium and earned a degree in Aerospace Engineering. Finally came back to Atlanta in 1994 and had the prviliege to earn my MBA from Georgia Tech in 1996. I remember it was a good time for basketball. Football was atrocious in 1994 as we all know. Then came a coaching change and better results. Sounds familiar?
I left ATL after the Olympics and never had a chance to go back. But I always remained a faithful Jackets fan. I have been watching almost every FB game and a lot of BB games ever since - even when it's the middle of the night for me - although I must admit for the first time ever I quit before the end of the CIN game this week and went to bed at 2:30 am. I see that some of you have a hard time catching some of the games on tv, but it's even more difficult here in Europe. For several years, I was able to watch on the ESPN app, but they stopped providing the service in EU this year. I have been able to watch on Hulu since then - but they quickly picked up that I was using a VPN and I have been kicked out. The last game I will be able to watch is this weekend - kick off at 1:30 am
. Hoping for a big upset! After that it will be a permanent black out
.
Since 1996, I have only been able to attend 3 FB games in person - but they have all been W! The 2001 kick-off classic against Syracuse in the Meadowlands, just a couple of weeks before 9/11. Then the UConn game in 2002 - the last year they played in their campus stadium in Storrs - which was more like a high school stadium. I was also at the Dublin game in 2016 - and will be again next year.
On the current state of our programs, I will say that I am very happy with Brent Key and I believe he is the right man for the job. Does that mean we will be 15-0 next year? Probably not, but at least now I can enjoy watching the games again and feel proud about the team. Unfortunately I do not have the same optimism about our MBB program.
One last comment for those of you who might still be reading. Even though I only signed up to this forum today, I have been reading your posts for several years and have truly enjoyed them. We might not always have the same opinions, but we all share the same passion. We might not agree on what is the best color combination for the uniforms, but we all wear the same logo. And we always root for the good guys.
Go Jackets!