I remember sitting at home with my daddy when I was a teenager watching a western on WGN out of Chicago. There were numerous commercial breaks and I finally timed it, there were showing five minutes of movie and six minutes of commercials. For those of you today, it was like watching NASCAR on NBC.

Anyway, an advertisement to describe this week’s sports in the Tiftarea would need that kind of space.

Try not to hold your breath as I go through the list.

The Tift County Blue Devils need two wins to guarantee the Region 1-AAAAA football championship, one of those wins must come against a Lowndes High Viking team Friday night that Tift has not defeated since 1994. Not only that Lowndes has won the last two state titles, as well as the last two region titles.

One other thing 1994 was also the last time Lowndes had a losing record.

In cross country, the Tift County Lady Devils will be going for their 12th straight region championship today in Warner Robins. Also at that meet, the Blue Devils should be in prime contention to qualify for the state meet.

While it will remain on the back burner for a few days, the Tift County High basketball teams also begin practice this week.

At Tiftarea Academy, the Panthers need a win Friday night over Brookwood to maintain a chance at the state football playoffs.

Down in Adel, the Fitzgerald Purple Hurricane will take on the Cook High Hornets Friday night. Fitzgerald only needs one more win to sew up the Region 1-AA championship, a title that Cook considers its’ birthright. In other words, that should be a pretty good contest.

The subregion that includes the Irwin County Indians and the Turner County Rebels could be renamed half of the state top 10. Those two teams will play Friday night in Ashburn for the right to be called the champion of that subregion.

Not only that, those two teams will have to play a playoff game during the regular season as they will have to win a contest in their 10th game of the year against an opponent they don’t yet know.

On top of all that, the Abraham Baldwin College basketball teams will open play tonight. Both of those teams should have exciting squads this year.

Needless to say it should be a fun week. It is the type of atmosphere this week that athletes go through hours of training and practice for.

Irwin County head football coach Jute Wilson probably summed it up for all of the head coaches involved when he described his team getting ready for Turner County.

“We don't have to worry about them having fun or being loose,” Wilson said. “They have a good time all of the time, sometimes to a fault. At the same time, they know how big this game is and have been very focused. Most people don't realize how many hours of preparation we put into this thing year round. This is what it is all about.”