Bleed for Your Team

MARIETTA, Ga.-- This weekend, the Deep South's oldest rivalry is back. The Auburn tigers played the Georgia Bulldogs for the first time in 1892 at Piedmont Park in Atlanta. Saturday, they're back at in Athens. A local blood bank is hoping those college football rivalries will be enough to overcome H1N1 fears.

LifeSouth unloads for a blood drive: preparing for their slow season. This year, the holiday lull Is compounded by fears that giving blood will make you weak and more susceptible to H1N1. Drive organizers say: not true.

"There are perceptions that giving blood can negatively impact your immune system, but nothing could be further from the truth," Michael Becker with LifeSouth said.

Now, this blood banking is banking on college rivalries to carry them through the fall. "Bleed For Your Team" is now in session. This week's blood drive in Marietta was clearly in Yellow Jacket territory.

Robert Heddy joked, "I'd like to say that I bleed white and gold. But hopefully, it comes out red or they might not take it!"

Even Neal Coughlin isn't intimidated by the clearly displayed loyalty of the man taking his blood; he's wearing a Georgia hat. "Nope. I bleed for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets," Coughlin said. "They say it's good, old fashioned hate. But, really, it's good football and good fun."

It's that kind of talk, that kind of competitiveness LifeSouth is hoping will drive college fans into those chairs.

Blood from these donations will stay in the Southeast, serving 120 medical facilities. Those facilities usually run low this time of year.

Each pint of blood is a vote for your college team, winning you a t-shirt. It's a way to do something good. A way to prove you really do bleed your team colors.

You can participate in Bleed For Your Team through the end of November. Click Here for a list of donation locations.