Who or What was all the commotion ?

The NCAA Division II National Championship Game.

 Valdosta State vs.Winston-Salem State.

Front page of Times Daily, I guess you was in to big of a hurry to get here to complain about it and didn't see the Story.

By the way, Its noon Saturday at Braly Stadium in Florence.

Division II Players being escorted from the airport to the Marriot and Coldwater Inn.

Probably was one of the two football teams that arrived today. A little too much, but is nice for the final game.  About a month ago I was headed west on rickwood road at helton and three motorcycle cops had blocked all four directions holding up about 30 to 40 cars. Then here comes two schools buses headed south on helton. Later as I turned north on helton there were 2 more cops at bradshaw and helton, then I realized it was a escort for the football team playoff. In all maybe 50 to 60 cars stopped for 2 buses. I may could go with the one you referred to for a champion game, but a high school team playoff escort is not needed, a waste of taxpayer money when crime is so high here and the police should be patrolling for crime.

Talk about your waste of tax payers money, there is one child ( 14 or 15 yrs old.) that rides a bus from Wilson school dist to Brooks school, he rides alone just him and the driver. He was put out of school at Wilson for fighting. It burns me up to think about it. His parents should have to take him, we shouldnt have to run one bus hauling one kid across town.

I've never understood the purpose of police escort for football teams.  It's not like they have the president on board.

Well, thanks for the info. I should have guessed it had something to do with the state religion.

Special on donuts!   Sorry leos could not resist.

I think you'll find it has nothing to do with this state's "religion", it's done all over the country for different reasons. Just google it if you think we're so different.

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Mark Anderson, director of USU football operations, says the Aggies get a police escort at all road games - a majority of which are provided by the hosting team as a courtesy. Overall, USU athletics says police escorts are a necessary and helpful service to move team members safely and efficiently, he said.

"They want to get to the stadium and get warmed up for the game; they don't want to be sitting on a bus in bumper-to-bumper traffic," said USU athletics spokesman Zach Fisher. "And after a game, we need to catch our plane, get out of there and get home. If we we're in regular traffic, there's no way we'd make it."

At the 2010 season opener in Norman, Okla., last year, USU football got a law enforcement escort as police "parted the Red Sea" of post-game traffic outside the University of Oklahoma's 82,000-seat stadium, Fisher said.

"The police officers know the best route to and away from the stadium," he explained. "We had one at Auburn too. We flew into Columbus, Ga., which normally takes about 45 minutes to get to. With the police escort, we made it in a little over a half hour."

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I've never understood it either. No, the President wasn't on board, God was.

Well if we can close the four lane highway (Hwy 72) for 45 mintues for a pack of motorcyclists to ride thru on their way to the park, I am quite satisfied that a police escort for college athletes to play a nationally recognized and televised ball game could be justified...... Don't ya think?

Not enough info to know if the expense is justified, but it's a really nice show of appreciation for the teams. I read one player from 10 years ago stated he's never had anything so nice happen to him.

Like I said, I can understand it for a college champion game, but I can't buy for a high school football playoff game, certainly not for the home team who should know the traffic layout very well and what was their regular season record maybe 7 wins. To me, it is just more of spoiling kids that have not earned the reward at this level. Most kids today expect a reward for just getting up in the morning or for just doing anything. Kids are not being taught about the lessons of life and the long term events of life.

This nation coddles athletes all too much.  The team buses are not entitled to any more of this kind of escort excessiveness than any other organization's buses.