Champions and the antithesis of...

Well my dear friend Hank Johnston pretty much summed up Saturday for Blue Devil fans everywhere...

"Duke was held to 100 yards of total offense in Saturday's 37-0 debacle at the hands of Virginia. Sigh, a bit of nostalgia for the Carl Franks glory years kicking in about now."

(Editor's note pulled from the annals of Wikipedia: Appnted to the head coach position on his 38th birthday, he was dismissed five years later after amassing a 7-45 record. Despite the poor record, Franks was lauded for the academic success of his players, and his program won the Academic Achievement Award from the American Football Coaches Association in 2003.)

Pretty much sums it up. When we're longing for a guy that has a career win percentage just a hair above .130, that's pretty bad. I guess the only good news is that Miami is slumping -- that might make the upcoming losses to Alabama and Florida State a little more bearable...

Losing, however, does not seem to be a problem in Gillette. It is entirely clear that the only thing this town cares about (other than money) is whether their high school teams (and the NFL Broncos) win. Not just win, dominate.

And while the Camels (that would be the high school team) were far from dominate last night, they got the job done, beating Natrona County by a touchdown last night in front of a packed house. The stands were close to overflowing, as was the alleyway behind the pressbox where junior high kids were up to God-knows-what. It was exciting, too. People here are genuinely invested in high school sports (which is neat) to the point of obsession (which is scary).

Did I mention they love the Broncos? Because on Sunday, everyone here seems to forget about everything in the word that is happening except what the goings on in Invesco Field or wherever Jake Plummer is flicking off loyal NFL fans.

But back to the Camels. People are saying this year -- as they do every year -- could be the time the state championship comes home. (Coaches I know aren't quite so sure of that, given the tendency to turn the ball over). But that would be huge for these kids. They'd get to ride down the street in a fire truck and be feted as heroes for the day, week, month, probably, year. Football is, after all, king in every place except a few pockets of the East and West coasts...

How cool is that? A fire truck?! According to my girlfriend, pretty gosh darn cool.

"I've gotten to do that a couple times," Miss McNutt told me. "Four to be exact."

But who's counting?

Well, the whole town. That's why homecoming against Cheyenne East will be packed and eyes and ears will be peeled for results from Riverton and Sheridan the two weeks after that.

Fight, Camels, fight. Do your town proud.