Cocktail Party 1, Athens-Clarke County School System Nil

As someone who gets his rocks off when countries literally shut down for World Cup soccer matches, or when Trinidad & Tobago declared a national holiday the day after simply qualifying for the 2006 World Cup, or that all of the schools in Louisville, KY are closed the day before the Kentucky Derby every year, I am beyond amused by this:

Tired of struggling to find enough teachers to staff its classrooms on the Friday before the annual Georgia-Florida football game, the Clarke County (Ga.) School District -- which includes Athens, home of the University of Georgia -- decided to cancel school altogether.

According to area media reports, 137 teachers last year called in sick the day before the big game, and the district was able to find only 113 substitutes. School administrators studied the absences over the years and found a pattern -- almost twice as many teachers call in sick the Friday before the annual game in Jacksonville, Fla., about 360 miles away, than on an average school day.

So the district decided to call off school the Friday before the game. And Clarke County is not alone; the schools in nearby Madison and Oglethorpe counties also are taking the day off.

First reaction: HOLY SHIT that means that damn near 70 teachers in ACC call in sick on any given Friday throughout the school year? {insert joke about Georgia public education here}.

I remember when we were in college the one of the main factors for determining if any professor was to be placed in the COOL or TOOL category was whether they canceled class on the Friday before the Cocktail party or if they made a big stink about attendance that day being mandatory, as we made the road trip every year with thousands of other students and therefor weren't going to be there either way.

Georgia fans will love this bit of news. And Georgia Tech fans will too.