"parole tide"?
(is this alabama football?)


roy upchurch
jeremy elder
rashad johnson
prince hall
glen coffee
antoine caldwell

it's probably unfair to lump all of these names together, but they are linked by the fact that they play (or played in the case of elder) football at the university of alabama. they are also linked by the unfortunate fact that they have all had some sort of off-the-field "issue" that became headline news around the state or around the country. these issues range from not adhering to a university textbook policy to getting arrested late at night in or around a bar to "breaking team rules" to first degree robbery (the latter is referring to elder, of course, and he has been dismissed from the team.). because of the sheer number of incidents, talking heads around town are clenching their teeth and just short of saying that saban has "lost control". i've heard he needs to "make an example" out of one of the players so that, in the future, other players will see that there are considerable consequences for putting oneself above the team. and, honestly, i get that.

i am a big fan of doing things "the right way". case in point, this past sunday, some friends and i played our first flag football game of the season. we had nine of our own guys show up sporting the birminghamandcheese gold and black, and we were ready to play. because we are either old or not fast or too new at the game to be considered anything other than recreational, we entered our team into the lowest level the league offers (i played in this same league last spring, mind you, and it's far from crappy.). the team that we were supposed to play sunday showed up short-handed and ended up picking up three "a"-league guys to fill out their roster. now, at the time, i couldn't have cared less. i just wanted to play. i wouldn't have cared if the team picked up randy moss and michael vick. i was ready to go. afterwards, though, losing to them felt a little dirty. all of their big plays were made by their pick-ups, and, in some ways, we felt like something was amiss. did we regret playing? absolutely not. but did we wonder if the result might have been a little different if their "real" team was there. yeah, kinda.

then again, these things happen to us all the time. in softball and basketball and now flag football, we know exactly who we will show up with every time we set out. a group of friends and co-workers that are kind of athletic, kind of not, but all of us wanting to compete and have a good time and extend the shelf-life of our athletic "careers". we don't pick up hoops ringers. we would rather play with three outfielders than pick up some random guy that may be good but we don't know. and we don't ask if you've played high school or college football before we extend an invite to play flag with us. we play first and ask questions later.

and keeping the last two paragraphs in mind, i can completely understand why outsiders and auburn fans alike would look at the discipline problems that have popped up since saban arrived and waive their collective fingers at alabama and wish the stiffest penalties upon the players involved so that, hopefully, it will affect the team the "parole tide" puts on the field in a negative way. absolutely, i can. but at the same time, i am reminded of how little i care about the repercussions and of how hopeful i am that saban give them all second and third chances so that they can be ready to go come the clemson game.

do i want my teams, the teams that i play on, to do things "the right way" and always abide by the rules? yep. always have. always will. if nothing else, if gives us a wonderful excuse (and makes us feel better) when other teams do not and we happen to lose to them.

do i want alabama's football team to do things "the right way"? um. maybe. sometimes. well...

ok, not really. it's not that i hope they don't. it's just that i hope they win football games more. and not having prince hall available would kind of hurt, you know?

so, stay out of trouble, guys. but if trouble happens to find you, here's hoping saban understands how "good of a person" you are and still lets you play saturday.