(Could Yellow Jacket unis become a forgotten sight between the hedges?)

The second rule of sportswriting is to avoid the dreaded cliche (the first rule is to never wear a tie to a baseball game unless you're getting married during the seventh-inning stretch).

But sometimes we just can't seem to avoid those demon cliches (they wouldn't exist if they didn't fit nearly any situation), so you'll forgive me for dropping the tried and true "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" line right now.

University of Georgia Director of Athletics Damon Evans and Georgia Tech counterpart Dan Radakovich, two men for whom I have the deepest respect, have both engaged in talks with Atlanta Sports Council officials about moving the Georgia Tech-Georgia game up the schedule to September and playing it at the Georgia Dome in downtown Atlanta.

In a word: No.

Don't. Stop. Desist. Do not pass 'go,' leave the $200. Resist this urge.

I get the logic behind it.

TV deals, broadcast rights, national television exposure, these are the buzzwords of college athletics these days.

Why? Because the money is good. Very good. College football is a gold mine for an athletics program, just ask schools like Indiana and Duke, that, comparatively speaking, have great basketball legacies and no money.

Making this move would do two things:

One, it would make the Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate a marquee event on an early-season calendar usually begging for anything resembling a watchable game.

Two, it puts the action in the Georgia Dome, which, while seating less people overall than Sanford Stadium and not noticeably more than Bobby Dodd Stadium, is a big-time venue.

It's often considered the most high-profile non-BCS site, it's the home of the SEC Championship and it's hosted two largely-successful SEC-ACC match-ups to open each of the last two seasons.

In reality, both ADs have been quick to tone back any speculation, using words like "informal" with great strain to make sure no one thinks this is happening tomorrow.

The AJC's Mark Bradley endorses the idea, largely for these reasons. He also invokes the dreadful decision by Auburn and Alabama to forsake Legion Field in Birmingham and begin playing the Iron Bowl as a home-and-home again, a decision that's left many sour on both sides.

I have the greatest respect for Bradley, but I cannot bring myself to agree with him here.

Look, hold it in the Dome. That's fine. It centralizes a great rivalry, lets the festivity of the event rise to even greater heights.

And if you think the game would be Tech-partisan because it's in Atlanta, then you sorely underestimate Georgia's blood oath-loyal fanbase.

There are certain things you sacrifice to keep up with the Jones: traditional Thanksgiving Day NFL match-ups, old-time uniform designs and even, quite begrudgingly, bowls not named for a corporate sponsor (not totally sold on that last one).

This game, however, is not one of those things.

The Iron Bowl example is a perfect comparison. Moving that game from Legion Field (where 'Bama punted, where Bo went over the Top, where the Bear scowled along the sidelines while presiding over the SEC's greatest dynasty) it took something out of the spirit of the Iron Bowl.

In this case, the reverse is true.

The location doesn't bother me so much (though many's the tear a Tech fan would shed at the thought of their beloved Jackets beating Georgia and not getting to tear up the hedges afterward).

It's the date that makes me scream. The Saturday after Thanksgiving is Georgia Tech-Georgia time.

It's tailgating with family, it's houses divided, it's beers and bourbon and barbecue, and "What's the good word?" and "How 'bout them Dawgs?" For those who should matter in this discussion, this game is their season, all down to one perfect fall Saturday.

Do you really want to move the game to the early-season, when the only other rivalries that come to mind are a dying Miami-Florida State game and who-cares Colorado-Colorado State?

Sacrifice even the hedges, if you must, and the beautifully-restored Rambling Wreck (surely driving inside the Dome is prohibited).

But there are certain Southern traditions that are not for sale, and this is one of them.

Yes, this would make the Hate a national TV event, there's no doubting that.

But why should fans of the bee and the bulldog care? This is their game, not anyone else's. It always has been, and it always should be. Period.