On Wednesday at 5:00 PM, this blogger attempted to exit the parking lot at Lenox Square shopping mall, when traffic was halted by a Georgia State Patrol squad car. With blue lights flashing, the state patrol officer blocked the intersection with his vehicle, exited his vehicle, and firmly (almost angrily) directed the cars closest to him to get the hell out of the way.

Judging by the speed with which he entered the intersection and the sternness of his “get the hell out of here” gesturing, I assumed I was witnessing some sort of emergency unfolding.

Nope.

I was witnessing the approach of several large tour buses containing the Miami Hurricanes football team, arriving at Lenox (possibly the J.W. Marriott?) two days ahead of the Eat Mor Chikin Peach Bowl.

My initial thought upon realizing what I was seeing was “WTF?” Why do tour buses with college football players need police escorts just to go to a hotel?

(Click here for video of me and my lady cursing their arrival)

An escort to and from a big game is fine. But just travelling to a hotel? Gimme a fucking break. When there are actual crimes in and around Atlanta that the police don’t respond to (I’m referring to crack selling and prostitution taking place less that two blocks from my home), local governments should not waste police manpower holding the hands of college football players. Besides, they’re all 6’2″ 250 pounds — who’s gonna bother them?

I forgot about the incident until this morning, when I glanced at this AP story. It seems that the Miami Hurricanes football team was so sore at LSU for stomping on them, that one or more members of the Miami squad started a fight with LSU players after the game. Georgia State Patrol officers intervened to break up the fight, at one point pulling out the Tasers.

After reading that, I thought, “Hmm, maybe I had it all wrong.” Maybe the police escort wasn’t to protect the football team from us. Maybe it was to protect us from the football team.

Happy New Year.