Something big happened this weekend in my part of Cobb County.
For your information, Cobb County is basically split into four sections: North Cobb, South Cobb, East Cobb, and West Cobb.
I was raised in East Cobb and it starts at The Big Chicken (of course) and goes east to Fulton County. I live in West Cobb now which is west of The Big Chicken and heads towards Paulding County. If you are under the impression that The Big Chicken is the center of Cobb County, well, you're probably right.
East Cobb is referred to as "East Snob" because it (generally) has a lot of people who live in fancy houses and drive fancy cars that believe, in all sincerity, that they are better than you because they are better than you.
West Cobb is referred to as "West Slob" because we have that same amount of people who live in fancy houses and drive fancy cars but don't live in East Cobb. If that doesn't make a lot of sense, welcome to my life.
But like I said, something big happened in West Cobb. We had not one but TWO high schools win their respected classifications championships in football: The Harrison Hoyas and The Marietta Blue Devils.
It is important to remember that in the American South, football is not a religion. No, it is more important than that. It is life itself, at least with some people.
In Georgia, though, we are not like Texas. We don't have humongous stadiums for high school football. We have perfectly reasonable stadiums.
When my son (BEN MANIS #38) played for the Kennesaw Mountain Mustangs, Harrison was their biggest rival.
I use the term "rival" advisedly because while the two schools were only three miles apart, Harrison was always better. The kids were smarter. The parents were richer. The moms were prettier. The dads were more handsome. Their teams almost always beat Kennesaw Mountain.
It was like when I was growing up in East Cobb and going to Wheeler. Our rival was Sprayberry. We were better. Sorry, we were. We called Sprayberry "the redneck school" because, well, they were rednecks, unlike us aristocrats at the school on Holt Road.
Of course, the head coach of the Kennesaw Mountain Mustangs when my son played was a graduate of Sprayberry.
As Joe Biden would say, the yearly game versus Harrison was a Big (Really Bad Word) Deal
The week of the Harrison game was always intense, especially when it was a Kennesaw Mountain home game. It drew the largest crowd and made the most money for the program.
My son said the head coach would conclude the Monday practice by saying "Men. As you know, the Hoyas (Note: there is no such a thing as a "hoya". It is a Greek word meaning "what". So they were playing the Harrison Whats) will be here Friday night. There will be 15 thousand people in the stands."
Tuesday: "Men, there will be 25 thousand people in the stands".
Wednesday: "Men, there will be 50 thousand people in the stands"
Thursday: "Men, there will be 100 thousand people in the stands, ESPN is covering the game and CNN will have a reporter on the sidelines."
Then the game was played on Friday and Harrison would always kill the Mustangs.
Until one Friday night in October.
It was Harrison's homecoming. As the 100 thousand, (give or take 95 to 98 thousand) packed into their stadium, we watched as the Hoyas were coming onto the field. The cheerleaders held the big paper "run through". On it read THERE'S A REASON WHY WE CHOSE YOU FOR HOMECOMING.
You can imagine how great that went over with the Mustang folks.
I can't give you a play-by-play about the game. It happened a long time ago and there's been a lot of water under that bridge. However, the Mustangs won the game in sudden-death overtime.
In the visitors' stand, it was sheer pandemonium. We were all jumping up and down acting ape crazy. I 'm surprised they didn't take away our driver's licenses and voting rights.
Over on the home side, it looked like a still life painting. If it was a painting it would be titiled "I Can't Believe It".
Yes, there has been a lot of water under the bridge since then. The guys on both teams are marrying, buying houses, and having kids. High school is a memory for them. Not as distant as it will be, but it is distant.
They had both Championship games on Georgia Public Television so I was able to watch Harrison's and Marietta's victories.
I was happy for them. In the grand scheme of things, it may not matter all that much, but it is still nice to see young people, working as a team, and accomplishing something.
Congratulations to the Blue Devils and the
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