“May you live in interesting times.” - Chinese Proverb

It seems no matter how long I will live or how small or big the impact of the result will be, I never grow tired of that proverb. As one of a handful of Chattanoogans who now call Dallas home, I have followed with interest as to whether or not my hometown will keep the FCS Championship game or will it be played in the “Signal Mountain” of Dallas, which is less than a half hour’s drive from where I live.

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While I know first-hand that Frisco has lots of money to throw around in order to get this event, I do feel there are other motives involved. Either the NCAA loves the pain that comes with shooting yourself in the foot or they just like watching stuff get destroyed.

Before Chattanooga “nurtured” this game, the FCS championship was just some hole-in-the-wall game in West Virginia that wasn’t even a blimp on the radar screen. That game is not - nor will it ever be - a Cotton Bowl or a Rose Bowl or a Sugar Bowl, but my hometown tried to do everything within its beer-budget powers to make it like one of the big-boy football games.

Sadly it seems, it wasn’t enough. Frisco has so much more financial clout that they do, making Signal Mountain look like East Lake. I could go into a lot of ulterior motives as to while Frisco pushed for this game, but you would have to actually live here for some time to get the references.

The ‘really’ sad part is nobody down here cares. There has been no coverage of this event in the “Ye Olde Dallas Morning News” as Robert T. Nash might say.

When it was finally announced that Frisco had won the bid, I bought today’s paper and the ‘only’ mention of it is in an iddy-biddy catty corner of page 2B in the Metro Section. The Sports Section was too busy tripping over themselves to cover the Cowboys off-season decision deals even though we’re in the middle of Mavs season.

The biggest slap in the face has to be the fact that the game will be played the exact same day as the Cotton Bowl. Even if BJ and the boys were to get the Mocs to the big game, I believe both coverage and attendance will be somewhat lacking for this one. I can also assure you that the denizens of Frisco will respond to this event with a nice, long collective yawn as they drive their Mercedes, Jaguars and Lexus to the nearest Cougar bar to watch the big-boy football games.

In closing, I would just like to personally think the NCAA for taking something my hometown has built for the past 13 years and put it in the cross hairs for brutal destruction.

All the best,
Jay Macmillan
Dallas, Tex.

The Chattanoogan
http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_169937.asp