It was barely more than a week after McCallie upset rival Baylor in last December’s TSSAA Division II-AAA BlueCross Bowl that the email appeared in my inbox.
The Blue Tornado had avenged a lopsided regular-season loss to the Red Raiders by rallying from a 21-0 second-quarter deficit to pull off the unlikely victory at Finley Stadium and claim their second straight state title, and one Times Free Press reader took the time to inform me that his alma mater’s win was especially sweet after reading our sports section’s perceived preference for highlighting Baylor.
The bias began, he said, with how we had “fawned over” his school’s rival by including five Red Raiders on our preseason Dynamite Dozen, compared to McCallie’s two.
Now, you can’t come from a more public-school background than me, so I’ve never cared who has the upper hand in the Blue-versus-Red rivalry of Chattanooga private schools. I’m just glad both teams have reached a level that, for those of us who cover area prep football, we get to enjoy watching so much elite talent.
I was reminded of the email recently as our staff put the finishing touches on ranking this year’s Dynamite Dozen, because not only will players from Baylor and McCallie comprise the majority of the list, once again it’s the Red Raiders who will show up most often when we begin counting down the rankings.