Though many old-timers, who fell in love with the sport when games routinely started after Labor Day when the weather was a bit cooler, find it tough to accept, it already is football time in Tennessee and the surrounding region. The gridiron season, in fact, has been under way for a couple of weeks.
There's plenty of proof of that in the sports pages of this newspaper and in other media. The Times Free Press sports department already has produced two well-received supplements, the College Blitz and another featuring area high school teams. That's in addition to thorough preseason coverage of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, the University of Tennessee, the University of Georgia and other collegiate football programs. That's only part of it.
Collegiate football isn't the only game in town or the region. Most high school teams already have played two games. They've attracted big crowds, despite the heat and humidity of August nights. And pro football teams, despite a protracted labor dispute, are playing, as well. The Tennessee Titans and the Atlanta Falcons have large followings here, too. Given its popularity at all levels, coverage of football is extensive.
It's almost but not quite enough to make the avid fan forget there are other sports to follow at this time of the year.
Sports purists might believe that baseball should hold sway this time of year and that auto racing, tennis and golf deserve attention as their seasons wind down. That might be true, but it is almost impossible to deny the power and attraction of football in this region.
There's proof just about everywhere the sports devotee and casual fan care to look. Crowds at high school games are a precursor of the multitudes that will fill college and pro stadiums in the weeks to come. And if there is ever any doubt about the pull of football in the South, one need only to look toward Knoxville, Athens in Georgia or Tuscaloosa on football game day.
UTC might attract increasingly large crowds at its home games and many high schools report steady attendance, but the real proof comes on Saturdays at the SEC schools. Tennessee's Vols, Georgia's Bulldogs and Alabama's Crimson Tide almost always play to full houses. Indeed, Neyland Stadium, home to the Tennessee football team, usually becomes the state's fifth largest city whenever a game is played there. It won't be any different this week.
Fans might prefer that football be played in the cool and crisp days of fall rather than in the heat and humidity of early September, but that doesn't deter the faithful. If you want proof that football season has really started, look to Knoxville or Atlanta on Saturday. The crowds that witness the Vols play Montana or those who gather in the Georgia Dome to watch Georgia take on Boise State are irrefutable evidence that the South's favorite sports season has arrived.