a preemptive excuse
(if i were in to that sort of thing)


for a guy that was rumored three years ago to have been quarterway considering duke because of everything he had going on between his ears, man, the andre smith thing seems pretty freaking stupid. i am telling you nothing new, but these are the facts. he's the best lineman in the country, confirmed by the outland sitting in his trophy case. there are those (and by those, i mean me) around the country that consider him the best college football player in the nation, irregardless of position. if he skips his senior year and declares for the nfl draft, the pathetic detroit lions would be incredibly short-sighted if they did not take him, lock him up for ten years and build their franchise around him. if that were to happen, come the draft he's guaranteed 55 million dollars, no less. and what's worse? all of those millions of dollars would happen with or without an agent. he could pull a daunte culpepper and negotiate his own deal because there would be nothing to negotiate. "i am the best player in this draft. pay me lots of money, please." "um, yessir, mr. smith."

but for some god-forsaken reason, andre is taking and/or maybe even placing phone calls from and to agents, therefore nullifying his eligibility to play in any more college football games. ruling him out of alabama's first sugar bowl in fifteen years. making himself look like a buffoon and leaving his teammates in the lurch.

enter mike johnson.

who's mike johnson?

exactly.

this is all i know. through thirteen games, alabama has averaged 196 yards rushing behind their line anchored behind the best left-tackle to come through tuscaloosa since chris samuels. their one game without him this year? against the mighty tulane green wave defense? 99.

i haven't seen utah play this year. the game tonight will tell if their defense is any more formidable than tulane's. but they are undefeated. you would think that means they are at least decent. and if alabama can't run the ball and has to depend on jp wilson, well, that scares me.

without andre smith, there is no "julio jones effect" on this year's team. i don't hate the big guy now. i still love him. but, damn, his choice to talk to an agent was retarded. period. and i hope it doesn't lead to this storybook season being spoiled by a sugar bowl loss to a crappy mountain west team.