Some Sports-Related Christmas Gift Wishes

Dear Santa,

Well, the big day is almost here. I’m sorry to be a little late in getting my letter to you, but some of these gifts won’t have to be delivered until the new year so there will be plenty of time to get everything done.

In the sports world it seems there is always plenty of people, teams, etc. who are in need of gifts. With that in mind, I’m asking for you to deliver the following:

•For Mount Union and Wisconsin-Whitewater: Another meeting in the 2015 Division III football championship game. Nine times in the past decade doesn’t seem enough for these programs.

•For University of Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo: A deserved pay raise to where he makes more than Bulldog defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt, even if it’s only $1 more.

•For “big time” college football: An immediate expansion of the playoff system to more teams. In fact, there’s a great guide you can look to: the one used by the other divisions of play.

•For my alma mater West Georgia: The final step in 2015 to playing for a national championship.

•For alma mater Piedmont Academy: A chance to play for the state title again next fall.

•For the Atlanta Hawks: The ability to get past the second round of the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.

•For Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank: A comfortable chair (yes, I know he can afford to buy it himself) so that he does not feel the itch to go on the sidelines before the game ends. You don’t see successful owners like the one in New England going on the sideline. That’s a pretty good example to follow I’d say.

•For all local coaches: A thank you for the job they do each day, often without praise or the necessary amount in their paycheck.

•For the ESPN “30 for 30” producers: That long overdue documentary on the Von Erichs of pro wrestling fame. There is no greater sports tragedy than what this family has gone through.

•For college football programs big and small: The return of the printed media guide which has become almost extinct in today’s online world.

•For The Sporting News: A return to its published magazine in today’s online world.

•For Kentucky and Vanderbilt football: A season in which they are the two top teams in the SEC East.

•For Falcons head coach Mike Smith: A place to coach for the 2015 season, even if it happens not to be in Atlanta.

•For former Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe: A return to the sidelines.

•For former Arkansas and Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt: See Jim Grobe.

•For high school baseball in Georgia: The chance to start the season when the weather is not 40 degrees with a 20-mile per hour wind.

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read one of these columns during the past year. I wish you and yours the best this holiday season and look forward to 2015 and what the sports world has to offer.

Monticello native Chris Bridges is editor of the Barrow Journal in Winder. He welcomes feedback from readers of The Monticello New at cbridges@barrowjournal.com.