OVER 25,000 AMERICANS and at least one Kerryman have crossed the Atlantic for today’s Aer Lingus College Football Classic at the Aviva Stadium.
Shanahan was an ardent viewer of college football in the States. He preferred it to the NFL due to its more feverish crowds and identified with its athletes more due to his own age. Advertisement As Shanahan was naturally put up for press in his home country ahead of the Yellow Jackets’ meeting with the formidable Florida Tech Seminoles today, his head coach Brent Key swung an arm around his shoulder as he entered the media room at the Aviva.
“I’m expecting a really big year for this guy but whenever that time comes when he’s done playing football, this man has a Georgia Tech education. And that ‘GT’ right there”, Key said, pointing towards the college’s badge on his hoodie, “that’s not just known in the United States. That’s known all over the world.”
There are cities and even states in America in which the nearest university football team is the team. Three in five people from Georgia Tech’s home base in Atlanta would tell you the Yellow Jackets are more popular than the NFL’s Falcons.