so, it's time to pay the piper
(a look back at some preseason predictions)


i could waste your time here talking about the attempted robbery at my store sunday. i could talk about how, for the second time in less than a month, some thug placed a gun near a psp employee's head and threatened them in the hopes of getting money that the thug did not earn or deserve. i could waste your time telling you that i've had a harder time dealing with this one than i did mine. that in the past month i've been telling myself that my robbery was a stand-alone event and that lightning wouldn't strike twice. not at our store. no way. well, the guy with the gun pointed at tiffany's head sunday morning proved my theory and hopes wrong. good for you, fucker. and fuck you for getting away with jack shit this time. i could waste your time with my worries, my insecurities and my ever present feeling of paranoia every time i walk in my parking lot. i could do that, but there are more important things to consider...

the complete waste of time that has been this college football season!!!

hurray! hurray for college football. for alabama football. for none of it making any sense at all but somehow making perfect sense all at the same time. i've had to turn sports-talk radio off this week. all of the rabid alabama fans calling in and talking about the disappointment this season was. how saban isn't earning his money. how mike shula could've gone 6-6. give me a break, people. the best this team was ever going to go was 8-4, and i'll give you that they should have. they should've beaten miss. st. and of course they shoud've beaten la. monroe. but 8-4 would've made you happy? really??? what i take from this season is bama could've beaten the best current team in the sec (georgia) in ot. it destroyed one rival in tennessee. it beat arkansas in spite of mcfadden's brilliance and lost well to lsu and auburn. it's getting rid of team-killer (and best offensive player) dj hall to graduation and welcoming in a top five (top 2 if julio comes) recruiting class for the first time in forever (if ever). the future is bright, folks. you can't wipe years of incompetence away in one season. you just can't. it makes me happy that i will only have to push the "let's wait 'til next year" button one time at the most.

aside from that, you can't make predictions, in my mind, if you aren't willing to pay the piper at the end of the year. let's see how i did (the following comments not in italics are taken from my august 31st post).

- if you believe "the experts" and that usc and their crap-tacular system quarterback is going to go undefeated and win the title this year, i have some land in west virginia to sell you. oh, and on that land will reside the real national champion. quick, name me one guy on usc not named booty. or mcknight. or gable. or turner. your turn. go.

woohoo!!! one for one. usc may be the best team in the country, talent-wise. but their quarterbacks suck and alabama fans know how detrimental that can be to a team. the difference in where usc is, as a program, and alabama? usc's quarterbacks suck and they will still be in a bcs bowl. alabama is 6-6. two years, fans. two years. (and by the way, make sure you notice my national title pick. if they win saturday, they'll be playing for it all in january. two for two??? maybe.)

- if you believe darren mcfadden will win the heisman, you don't know dick (and by dick, i mean the quarterback that will lose the heisman for the best player in the country.).

three for three. the games mcfadden didn't explode in were the games that teams made sure he wasn't going to beat them and casey dick couldn't help. it's a shame. my man tebow's going to win the heisman, but mcfadden can blame that on arkansas' quarterback.

- if you believe lsu is as good as miss. st.'s quarterback made them look last night, tune is next week when they beat va. tech 7-0, touchdown courtesy of the coolest player in the country, trindon holliday.

four for four. they weren't as good as miss. st. or va. tech made them look it turns out. dorsey being hurt was one reason, but the defense was overrated from the start. they couldn't stop andre woodson. couldn't stop mcfadden. two losses. oh well. sucks for them.

- if you believe alabama will go any better than 7-5, please send me what you are smoking. or shooting up. or snorting. no, really. whatever it is, send it to me. i want to live in the same make-believe world as you.

see above. the only win they didn't get that i was giving to them prior to the season was la. monroe. as a fan, i am extremely disappointed. as a prognosticator, i am ecstatic!!! five for five.

- if you believe brandon cox is good enough to win any of auburn's four big road games, well, what can i say? enjoy the delusion. i wish alabama had an oft-injured, really old quarterback that can't throw very hard or run very fast. that would be awesome.

my one miss. five for six. cox was horrible to begin the season, but played well enough to lead his team to an underwhelming 8-4 season. played one great half all year in the first half against florida. be honest, auburn fans. are you sad to see this guy go??? i didn't think so.

- finally, if you don't believe that the only thing that matters is whether julio jones comes to alabama and brings his five star buddies with him, then you can't see the forest for the trees.

i stick to this. losing four straight to end the year hurts. it hurts real bad. i have faith in saban, though. i have faith that he can convince julio that alabama needs a supernova to lead them back to prominence. a supernova to go along with their "star". we'll know in just over a couple months whether bama gets him or not. i am saying here that they do.