College Football: A Midsummer Day's Dream

After the completion of some mundane chores, an idea occurred to me: Why not pull a little Route 66?  Yeah, take a couple of days and tour some former haunts of mine from long ago.

Who's up for a road trip?  Count my significant other out—there's no Home and Garden network available in the car.  My dogs?  Are you kidding?  They opened one eye with the "we've got air conditioning here" look.  Relatives and friends?  "Whaddya wanna do that for with the price of gasoline?"

Then it's settled—I'll go myself, and take the convertible!

First stop: the old stomping grounds of Durham's Wallace Wade Stadium.  It's named for Coach Wade, who left Alabama in 1930 after a national championship year and moved on to a better-known football school, Duke.

Fallen on hard times since 1962, except for a hiccup now and then, the once-prideful Blue Devil Palace is the only stadium in the country outside of Pasadena to host the Rose Bowl—January 1, 1942.  Then again, isn't life built upon memories?

Two hours down the road finds me roaring up to the home of the Meineke Muffler Auto Parts Bowl in Charlotte.

Horrors!  This is nothing but a sterile professional football stadium.  There is no history here, no thoughts of clashes won or lost by young men giving it their all for old State U!  No, I don't want a T-shirt that says "Junior"!  With one whisk of the map, I'm outta there.

Late afternoon finds me in the Capital City of the South, Atlanta.  Good fortune and a full gas tank allowed me to bypass Clemson, South Carolina on the way.

While I munch on Bar-B-Q at the Varsity Restaurant, my eyes are frozen across the street on "Grant Field, Bobby Dodd Stadium."  Ah, now here is what college football should look like.

In that corner is where hometown Ga. Tech stopped Joe Namath on his two-point conversion in '62 to snap the Tide's 26 game unbeaten streak, over there is where John Heisman stood when his Jackets beat Cumberland 222-0, here is where Eddie McAshan took his first hike for the Ramblin' Wreck in 1970 as the first black QB to start for a traditionally white Southeastern school.

A good night's rest followed after an evening visit to the indoor Peach Bowl.

Tooling up the road to Chattanooga, we find the home of the Division I-AA National Championship Game.  So this is where Appalachian State plays, eh?  Well, might as well say that.  They've won the last three national titles in a row here.  Look out LSU.

From here we navigate across giant granite rocks—I mean, the Tennessee Highway—to Nashville, home of the Music City Bowl.  Interesting—they've had some good games here, and the city is exciting.

On to my final leg: Memphis and the Liberty Bowl.  Wow!  Is this the place or what?  Great memories of Archie Manning, Doug Flutie, Bo Jackson, "The Manster" Randy White, John McKay's final game at Southern Cal, and Bear Bryant's final game at Alabama.

The musical home of Robert Johnson, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Elvis Presley, B.B. King, Johnny Cash, Sam Moore & Dave Prater, Issac Hayes, Booker T & the MGs, and Al Green.  The food, the charm.  This place is too much. Five stars.

Time to head home, through two states that bring you halfway across the country.  And while I look forward to my pillow and chair, it's been a long, strange, trip that was worth every minute.  Now, about this cost of gasoline...