The biggest weekend of football, on two levels, in Macon in a long, long, long time, perhaps ever, is this weekend.

          No hyperbole, no exaggeration, no butt-kissing, no favorites, no homerism, no hugging. Save that for microphoners.

          On Friday night, the program that is now carrying the Bibb County public school banner and one of the Central Georgia banners is hosting a GHSA state semifinal game.

          First one in 49 years. First county public school semifinal since 2003. Should be enough to get people out.

          Those who claim to be supporters of high school football, and of Bibb County schools, and of Bibb County sports: shut up and show up.

          Seriously. No mottos or memes or videos or saying or bumper stickers or false claims or any of the other stuff so normal to the county, no self-congratulations or anything.

          Shut up. And show up.

          On Saturday, seventh-seeded Mercer hosts Rhode Island in the second round of the Football Championship Subdivision – formerly known as Division I-AA – playoffs. A team in Macon is nationally ranked and making a national championship run, the journey starting in town.

          Shut up. And show up.

          It’s be nice – and stunning - if the actual crowd on hand at Five Star came close to the – giggle/smirk/guffaw – announced crowd, rather than the weekly fictionalized number. After all, this is a top-10 team that’s playing mighty good, stable, old-school football, with some pretty smart guys in uniform and a mighty solid coaching staff, kicking off in the afternoon when it’ll be in the upper 50s and sunny.

          Bibb County, this is the weekend to shut up about stuff and show up. To represent. To bow up or hunker down or whatever.

          Quit whining about a lack of fill-in-the-blank, spend one less night this week or next week doing whatever, and buy a ticket.

          Buy a ticket.

          Don’t be the county folks you whine about, who complain about this or that about Bibb County, without looking in a mirror.

          Show the bleep up for a change.

          If you’re going to brag about football in Georgia, back it up by showing up. Yeah, it’s December. Yeah, it’ll be cold.

          IT’S THE PLAYOFF FOOTBALL YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO WANT TO SEE. PLAYOFF FOOTBALL IS COLD.

          And it won’t be that cold. No snow. Did you see how many people showed up in Buffalo, where you couldn’t see the seats for the snow? You have days to get gloves and a cap, or throw the ones you have in the washer, and suck it up at Thompson for three hours.

          The hope is that Thompson Stadium’s home side – inexplicably expanded a few years ago, and thus with loads of seats that have never met anybody’s butt – will be full.

          The hope is that every Bibb County public high school head coach – and maybe some private-school folks - and many of the staffs show up, wearing their own swag, and that every Bibb County public high school athletics director is chipping in, and showing up.

          In the winter of 2015, Warner Robins’ boys hosted powerhouse Miller Grove in the GHSA 5A basketball playoffs. The game had to be moved to Veterans, because it was a monster matchup and that was – back then – the only gym in the county big enough.

          Overflow crowd, and every school in the county had people there. A goose-bumps memory. Warner Robins beat the team that had won – hold on to your coffee – 32 straight postseason games.

          Boom.

          Fitzgerald is coming. Fitzgerald has only four fewer postseason wins in the last decade than all six Bibb County public schools have, combined, since 1970.

          A program.

          The 2021 Class AA state champ. Has had one losing season this century, has failed to win 10 games or more only five times this century.

          Show the bleep up. History may not be made by Northeast, but good Lord, wouldn’t it be nice to have a Macon event-of-the-decade atmosphere if it does?

          A little more than a year ago, I started a rant on the computer about fan support in a couple areas for a couple big games, sparked by an ACE game at Northeast, and never ran it.

          Saved it, because I knew it would remain relevant. After all, one of the subjects involved Bibb County, which shows up on social media, but doesn’t much show up at games.

          That game involved ACE against Northeast at Thompson, with the 4-0 Gryphons – having outscored opponents 210-8 – facing the 2-1 No. 5 Raiders, and budding star Nick Woodford.

          A big game in mid-September. Nice weather.

          A week earlier, knowing it was coming, I wrote: “For a change, a Bibb County public school facility should have every inch of seating covered – other than the too-much-room given the bands. No blather or selfies or mottos or themes or rhymes or Twitter hype or fancy graphics.

          “No talk, just action. Show the hell up, or shut the hell up.”

          Fingers were crossed. I figured there’d be parking issues, but was bummed when the parking lot was maybe half full 20 minutes before kickoff. Then I was amped to see a line – an actual long line – to get in.

          Alas, I went down to the field, and the amped feeling died. ACE filled the visitors side, Northeast didn’t fill half of the home side.

          *Sigh* Reality hit.

          What I wrote and saved: “What a major disappointment, the failure of the motto-happy Eastside – OK, Bibb County is motto happy when it comes to, well, anything – to show up, the failure of non-Northeast folks to catch a truly relevant game, a quality and ranked – and deservedly so – team at home.”

          Even the pre-expansion Thompson would’ve had too many empty seats. For a ranked team. In Bibb County. Two years after going to the quarterfinals.

          Wow.

          Here’s the chance to make up for it, show that Bibb County is more than hot air and thumb-happy social posters, and posers.

          Every former Northeast player who lives within an hour and can make it should be there, as should alums galore. And Bibb County fans of football, and of Bibb County.

Humility, confidence, persistence, curiosity, and instinct have put Northeast star running back and honor student Nick Woodford on an elite level

          This team deserves it. And man oh man, more people need to see Nick Woodford – a poster child for what people say they want to see and to support – play the game of football.

          One of the best ever to play in Bibb County, and Bibb County and the school he attends and alums of that school hardly seem to know it. An honor student, salutatorian, and an old-school, pounding running back, a teen beyond his years.

          Shut up. And show up. Represent. Support.

          This is a superb chance for Bibb County schools to leave a good impression, on Bibb County constituents as much as anybody outside of Bibb County. Yessir, there’s a load of skepticism and eye-rolling about county goings on, amid the posturing and mottos and obsessions with social media posturing and self-promotion.

          It’s a great chance to just work and accomplish something without the back-patting and self-back-patting and social media flurry, to just do it right.

          Here’s hoping there have by now been at least three meetings and maybe a conference call or two, as well as a solid to-do list shared among a couple dozen people to make the experience off the field what it needs to be.

          Like making sure more than enough hot chocolate and coffee will be ready, and that there’s no chance of running out of the most popular concession stand items (leftovers can go to basketball concession stands), and traffic enforcement is ready, and the visitors side is prepped, and enough workers will be there, and smiling and helpful.

          And making sure the game operations center - how, with all the expenditures, a new game operations center wasn’t more prioritized awhile back is a bit befuddling - is ready, as well as lights, PA, and scoreboards.

Having some sponsors cough up some bucks for ads on a one-page 11x17 “program” with the two rosters and results would be nice.

          This isn’t even rare air, it’s new air. Shoot, there are parents of players involved who weren’t alive back in 1975 when Central made its run to the state championship.

          A major Bibb County sporting event. Sure would be glorious it was executed well, and if a nice chunk of folks showed up.

          Ditto, in different ways, for Mercer.

          Yes, the SEC championship game is set for two-plus hours later than Mercer’s 2 p.m. kickoff.

          For one, there are plenty of non-UGA fans around, believe it or not, so some of those folks can show up and support a local team. For another, as we saw last week – and with every game – the first quarter isn’t really all that important. The drama comes later.

          For another, there’s not a huge overlap between Mercer sports fans and those of other state teams – that’s another sitdown chat – for whom the SEC finale isn’t overly important. Mercer is more like Georgia Tech, and the Yellow Jackets are off. The potential Mercer audience will be maybe 30 minutes, mostly less, from home, and can be be back in front of the TV by halftime.

          For another, this is a quality, fundamental, somewhat old-school football team that has a lot of bright kids earning conference honors, has a half-dozen Central Georgians on the roster, and is in the playoffs for the second year in a row.

          And there is a large variety of hydration options, plus music, and other stuff. Better tailgating than you expect from a place that allowed its basketball and volleyball teams to play in the embarrassing safety hazard known as Porter Gym for two decades more than necessary.

          All that, at a minimum, makes considering a trip – no matter what issues you might have otherwise with, well, whatever or whoever – worthwhile.

          Shoot, the dang booster parking spots around the field house should be at least 50 percent full for a change.

          It’s a big weekend of football in Macon dang Georgia, a phrase that doesn’t exactly flow off the tongue – or keyboard – based on history. But here we are, a team playing for a state championship berth and a team playing in the national playoffs.

          Sure would be nice if 4,000 or so on Friday and 8,000 or so on Saturday would go against all odds and show up, and help a couple teams make a statement.

          A Bibb County homefield advantage? Imagine that.