We have a buddy named Ron. He went to Samford, partly because his dad
hoped that a church-affiliated school would prove to be a moderating influence
on him. We’d say the jury is out on that,
even after a good number of years.
Anyway, Ron is plenty bright but not the most compliant student
in the world. This was back in the old
days, before common sense began to be in such short supply. In other words, college grades got sent to
whomever was signing the tuition checks.
In this case, Ron’s dad. So a
couple of weeks after mid-terms, Ron was sitting around in his dorm room when
the phone rang. Now, this was also in
the time when if you wanted to know who was on the phone, you had to answer
it. When Ron answered, it was his
dad. Dispensing with the usual
pleasantries (long distance calls used to cost a lot, y’all) he said, “What the
@#$% is V?”
Ron, genuinely perplexed, said, “What Dad?”
“I said, ‘what the @#$% is V?’ You got a V in one of your classes. Is it because you did worse than F? The Baptists don’t’ let you hang around down
there for free, you know.” In order to
calm his father down, Ron agreed to go talk to the professor. However, he genuinely was surprised. We have forgotten what class it was, but Ron
considered it fairly easy -- he studied the materials, did his homework, passed
the quizzes, and thought he had done well on the mid-term exam. When he showed up to the appointment the professor
had an explanation.
“Yes sir, you are doing fine on the materials. But the “V” stands for visitor. You show up so rarely, I thought it was
appropriate. And I thought your parents
should know whether you were getting
what they are paying for.”
Stick with us, we are not just being long-winded and hard to
follow here (well, at least not intentionally).
Saturday night’s game reminded us of Ron.
By objective measures, Alabama did fine in the game. Alabama won. It scored 31 points, which is a
winning score most always except in the Defense Optional Big 12-ish League. The Defense only gave up 3, which is a
winning score most always, everywhere. Special
teams did not give up a kick return much over 20 yards, our punter is
outstanding (and the Ray Guy Award committee, which did not rank him in the Top
10 in the country, is pathetic), we handled the goofus rugby style punt game
just fine, and we were perfect on the day in place kicking. We converted turn overs to points. We had to move offensive linemen around like chess pieces due to injuries. We completed a beautiful long pass play. We had a passing game even with our most consistent wide receiver out of the game....
Still, it looked bad.
It felt bad. It felt like Ron
getting a V in his class. We did ok by
all the objective measures, but it just didn’t feel like we were trying, like
our heart was in it. To use a trite
phrase, we didn’t “show up.” But that is
ok. We won the football game. Not much use rehashing the statistics after the Commissioner's excellent work. Could
it have been prettier? Yes, it could. Would the outcome have been different if the
opponent was actually playing to win rather than being content not to be
embarrassed on the field? We think so.
And, to be sure, it is easy to forget this is
a bunch of 18 to 22 year olds. Despite
the Process, my overwrought expectations, and even the pressure they put on
themselves, they are not going to be able to crank up to a fever pitch and set
the woods on fire every single Saturday. After this many difficult conference
games in a row, a letdown was probably fairly inevitable. If they were going to have one, this was not
a bad time for it. And not a bad result
for an ugly effort. As Coach Holtz used
to say, Alabama has reached the point where it doesn’t have to be the best team
in America every week, just the best team in the stadium (uh, we wouldn’t advise
saying that to Coach Saban or Jonathan Allen).
So rather than rehash a bunch of statistics (though G.
Deiter’s stat line of 3 catches for 1 yard and 2 TDs may be unique in college
football history) we thought we’d move on to more seasonal thoughts.
We hope you get time away from work and responsibilities this
week to spend some time with friends and family. We always take a little extra time to reflect
on our blessings this time of year.
Certainly on that list is what the University of Alabama has meant to us,
including the joy and even the pain its sports teams provide for us. We are also thankful for the Commissioner and
his family, who are loyal friends of long standing who generously give us space
to run off at the fingertips. And we are
thankful for each of you, for taking time to read, for occasionally checking in
(whether to tell us you liked something we said or to say that we should stick
to the difference between lug and torque wrenches and leave the football
coaching to the professionals), and sharing with us your interest in Crimson
Tide football. So from all of us down here
at the Tire Store -- me, the Comptroller (who made the dubious choice to marry
me), the lug nut crew, JD, Big Willie, Mr. Poole, Moses, and Pee Wee -- we wish
you all a very happy and joyous Thanksgiving.
Roll Tide everyone. I
hope we beat the giblets out of Auburn.
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