Attention ATL: Come drink with BC and Clemson fans

The BC Club of Atlanta has gotten together with the Clemson Alumni for a happy hour tomorrow (Tuesday) October 26. It will be at the Taco Mac on Roswell Road (the old Frankie's).

Clemson fans are always good people and you will probably be more happy with them now than you will be after Saturday.

Taco Mac is also donating two $25 gift cards to the two best-dressed Eagle and Clemson fans.

For any more details, hit up BCMike.

Attention Atlanta area fans and alums: join the BC club for Relay for Life

The BC Club of Atlanta is joining other area alumni clubs to help raise money to fight cancer. Details below. Congrats on the club for doing more than just sports stuff.

The Boston College Alumni Association of Atlanta and other local ACC alumni groups (Clemson, FSU, Miami, NCSU, VT, others) are coming together for one cause - to help raise money to fight cancer!

Please join us for a happy hour to raise money for the Cobb County Relay for Life, which benefits the American Cancer Society.

A $10 donation at the door includes your beers that evening. Please pass this on - ANYONE AND EVERYONE is invited to attend!

A great deal on beers and helping to cure cancer. Win/Win everyone!

To learn more about the Cobb County Relay for Life, visit www.cobbrelay.org or http://main.acsevents.org/goto/BostonCollegeATL Thanks for your support!

An evening with Matt and Gene

Tonight the BC Club of Atlanta hosted a cocktail party with Matt Ryan and Gene DeFilippo. Thanks to the Alumni office for coordinating the details and our local chapter president Kyla Perfetuo. Big congrats to BC Mike for being the driving force behind the event and for giving Gene a very nice introduction.

Before I get into the details of the evening, I strongly encourage all chapters to organize and push for events like these. We are very fortunate that the ACC Championship is taking place here in our city and that Matt just happened to be drafted by the Falcons, but there are always opportunities like this in major cities. Try to capitalize on any occasion locally and then work with BC to bring some names to your town. I don't know if Spaz expressed any willingness to do these sorts of things, but his recruiting will take him to the big markets of the Midwest, Texas and California. It doesn't hurt to see if he and/or Gene will come and speak with you. And as BC continues to push the "Light of the World" campaign they will need to hold more events like this. So be aggressive, organized and continue to give to BC. Pep talk over.

As for the evening, it was a simple cocktail party for the first hour. Matt and Gene both worked the room while alumni mingled. Then we moved into a seated area. The alumni office showed a short Light the World video, then BC Mike introduced Gene. Gene spoke for a few minutes and then handed things over to Matt. Matt was the star of the show. Gene does this sort of thing for a living. Matt does it even better. Working off the cuff, he gave a short speech with the right amount of humor, modesty, and poise. He understood his audience and what they wanted to hear. I don't want to make it sound like the Gettysburg Address, but I've sat through a lot of canned speeches. And to see Matt handle himself in this way was very impressive. If he didn't have an NFL arm, you could see that he'd be very comfortable in front of a classroom, court room or board room.

After the speeches Matt and Gene both stood for a short Q&A. This was probably the best part of the evening. Like and old comedy team they finished each others sentences and balanced things out. Gene did an impression of Jared Dudley. They told a story together about Matt going to Gene and asking that the football team live somewhere other than Upper during the summer practices. Matt fielded most of the questions. He talked about the difference between college and pros. Admitted that the Virginia Tech touchdown is still his favorite moment and told stories about the NFL. I couldn't help myself and asked a question to Gene. I didn't want to rehash any of the topics where we already knew his answer or try to show him up with any of the things I've criticized him for on the blog, so I hit on the subject that I get emailed about often: ESPN U. I said I get ESPN U but many BC fans don't and I wanted to know what the ACC is doing about it. Gene got into the history of ESPN and how they've always leveraged special events and live games to force the cable companies to carry them. First with the original ESPN and then with ESPN 2. He even said that that the 1995 Duke-UNC game was a critical piece of programing in getting ESPN 2 onto more systems. He then explained that some of the top ESPN folks just met with the ACC about this issue. They are going to continue to push and also hope fan interest puts pressure on the cable companies. In summary, there was no timeline or specifics given, but the powers that be do think getting ESPN U into more homes is important.

After the Q&A wrapped, people mingled and Matt stood patiently for more pictures and autographs. The guy is a saint. He was kissing babies, shaking hands, listening to everyone's stories and fawning questions...and he's and NFL superstar. How many of us would be that patient with nothing to gain?

It was a short, fun night and certainly made me proud to be a BC fan. Despite my differences with how Gene handled the Jags situation, I thank him for speaking to the BC fans tonight. Obvious thanks to Matt. And one more thanks to Kyla and Mike for pulling it off.

[Here are my amateur pictures. Sorry, but the lighting was screwing up my auto focus.]

Reminder to Atlanta area BC fans: Gene is coming to town

For those of you who might have missed the invite or forgot to RSVP, there is still time to join your fellow BC supporters next week at a dinner with Gene DeFilippo. Here is the information:

An Evening with Director of Athletics Gene DeFilippo
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Reception 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Gene DeFilippo to address alumni at 7:00 p.m.
Georgia Tech Alumni House
190 North Avenue
Atlanta, GA 30313

Alumni, Parents and Friends,

Please join the BC Atlanta Chapter of the Boston College Alumni Association as we welcome Boston College Director of Athletics Gene DeFilippo, to a reception at the Georgia Tech Alumni House.

With the ACC tournament just around the corner we're thrilled to kick-off the tournament weekend by welcoming Gene to Atlanta and have him discuss what has taken place over the past year for the University's 750 student-athletes and its 31 varsity teams.

RSVP by Friday, March 6, to alumnichapters@bc.edu or 800-669-8430.

Cocktails and hors d'oeuvres will be provided. Business attire preferred.

For those of you in other areas of the country, I strongly suggest you continue to reach out to BC for opportunities like this. Our local chapter leadership has been very aggressive in trying to get speakers. This is the payoff for their efforts.

Attention BC fans: Watch Matt Ryan's potential NFL debut with other SuperFans

If you're a BC fan in the southeast or up for a road trip from other parts of the country, the BC Club of Atlanta and the Atlanta Falcons have put together a great package for the Falcons' first game. Here are the details:

Atlanta Falcons vs. Detroit Lions
Season Opener - Sunday, September 7, 2008
1:00pm Georgia Dome
Tickets are $54 (28% off)
**Matt Ryan Starting Position Tentative**

The Boston College Alumni Association of Atlanta and the Falcons are teaming up to support Matt Ryan by offering discounted tickets for Ryan's first game in the NFL. Wear your maroon and gold and be there when the Falcons display the welcome sign at the Georgia Dome for the Boston College Alumni Association!

In addition to cheering on Matt, you can also cheer for fellow Boston College 2008 1st round NFL draft pick Gosder Cherilus who will start on the Lions offensive line this season.

Tickets are limited, so grab yours now and show your support for the BC phenomenon Matt Ryan.

Details on how to purchase tickets are here.

Gosder Cherilus is also likely to see the field that day.

Matt knows we care and sent this along:

To the Boston College Alumni Association of Atlanta:

I want to take this opportunity to thank each of you for supporting me as I enter my first NFL season with the Atlanta Falcons. It means a lot to know that there will be a group of BC Alumni cheering me on during the first game of my career. I can only hope that my time here in Atlanta will be as personally and professionally successful as my time was at BC. Hopefully at some point in the future, I?ll have the opportunity to meet and thank each of you in person. In the meantime, enjoy the game and go Falcons!

Again, thank you for all your support.

Matt Ryan

Thanks to Kyla and Mike from the BC Club for putting this together.