Musings From The Sports Desk

Even though the Music Desk always thinks everything's all about them, this is THE big weekend for the Sports Desk.

The University of Georgia Bulldogs, who we sincerely believe will be winners of this year's National College Football Championship and the No. 1, top-ranked team by the end of the year, open their season today against the Governors of Austin Peay State University.  No, the Sports Desk never heard of them either, much less knows how to pronounce their name. Pee? Pay? Pew?  Whatever.  Georgia's leading at Halftime, 38-0.  

Georgia this year will be led by returning sophomore QB Jake Fromm.  We lost two great running backs from last year to the pros, Sony Michel (to the Patriots!) and Nick Chubb (to Cleveland - sorry, Nick), but current Bulldog running back D'Andre Swift appears more than capable of filling their fast shoes and keeping Georgia's ground offense on par with Fromm's aerial attack. Oh look, the Third Quarter started and Georgia now leads 45-0.

If the Sports Desk got the notion to get on I-20 and drive for three hours to the west, we'd be in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, home of Bryant-Denny Stadium and the Crimson Tide, currently the Number One-ranked team in the country.  Tonight, Alabama plays unranked Louisville and are widely expected to win.

Conversely, if we were to get on I-85 and drive for two hours to the northeast, we'd be in Clemson, South Carolina, home of the Number Two-ranked Clemson Tigers.  They won their game today against in-state rival Furman, 48-7.  

Athens, Georgia, home of the Number Three-ranked Bulldogs, is about an hour east of here.  So with the Number One-, Number Two-, and Number Three-ranked football teams all within a three-hour radius of here, do you understand why the Sports Desk considers The South, particularly the southern tip of the Appalachians and the area within easy-driving distance of Atlanta, the epicenter of college football excellence? 

We find it adorable that other regions (Big 10, PAC 12, Texas) consider themselves football powerhouses when at best they can muster up maybe one halfway decent team over a five-state area, when - let us put it this way - if you left No. 1 ranked Alabama to drive to No. 2 ranked Clemson, you'd get there before a Five-Hour Energy Drink wore off and you'd pass No. 3 Georgia on the way.  

Of course, at this point one always has to mention Auburn.  Auburn University and Auburn, Alabama are a two-hour drive down I-85 southwest of here (the exact opposite drive from Clemson).  But if the Sports Desk felt obligated for some reason to watch Auburn play today, we wouldn't have to take that drive, because today Auburn is playing right here in Atlanta at the still-has-that-new-car-smell Mercedes-Benz Stadium.  Auburn has their hands full with the Washington Cougars right now, leading 15-13 at the half, but the reason we mention them is because No. 9 Auburn is also inside that three-hour-drive radius around Atlanta occupied by No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Clemson, and No. 3 Georgia.

And not to rub it in too hard, but although they're not ranked this year (at least not yet), Knoxville, Tennessee and the Volunteers have certainly had their contender years and are a three-hour drive due north of here, completing that championship circle around Atlanta.

Dare we offer the presence of all these top-ranked teams in the area as proof that there is more football talent in this small area than anywhere else in America, or the entire world for that matter?

Anyway, Happy First Day of College Football from the Sports Desk.  We hope we don't beat your pathetic little teams too badly.