the only college football preview that matters

(to me)

college football season kicks off this weekend, you say? is that so? you would think that something as big and fantastic as the introduction to the best four months of the year would receive more hype. something like a cable-sports channel devoting of full day's worth of scheduling around the projections and prognostications of persons no more qualified than me about what will happen on the way to usc winning the national championship. yeah, you're right. that did happen.

quite honestly, i am a little surprised at how indifferent i feel about the weekend. sure, having a real, live college football game on last night, sarah and i agreed, "just felt right". having quality games on tomorrow afternoon and night do get me excited a little. but i am not frenzied. i am probably still more nervous about the braves game tonight and this weekend's series with the mets as i am anything else sports related. why is this?

my best guess is that alabama doesn't really start their season 'til next week. i know. i know. they have their (pre)season-opener against western carolina tomorrow night, but this will be nothing more than a ceremony that will mean nothing more than setting a depth-chart for fans for the rest of the season. the only exception to the notion that this game is meaningless is for those lucky 90 some-odd thousand that will be there in person. preseason or not, a night game at bryant-denny is a night game at bryant-denny. and only in person will you be able to feel how awesome it is to have nick saban roaming the sidelines. i may be able to feel the electricity coming from the stadium around kick-off all the way here in birmingham, but let's face it. that alabama is without prince hall, keith brown, the starting nose-tackle, among others and i still will be disappointed if the game doesn't end in a forty point margin tells me that i should wait and get my rile up next week for the vandy game.

my second-best guess is that hannah has sucked the life out of me. i am not kidding. i feel like i've been walking around with a blank expression on my face for days. and that's a shame. i will look back on this week, maybe as soon as sunday when i go back to work, and wish i had enjoyed having so much time with her and the rest of the family more. sarah and i agree, though, that we are both better off working for a living and not being so wealthy that we could stay at home with each other all of the time for several reasons. one, hannah and caroline would become spoiled, socially handcuffed children and nobody wants that. two, we would kill each other. i feel like i am acting out bill cosby's himself routine in real life. all i am telling hannah is what she can't do. stop this. quit that. it's ridiculous. she is not a bad kid. she isn't even acting out this week. she's just here. and in the way of the ideal week i had in my head that never would have played out anyway even if the shigella didn't keep her out of school all week.

i am trying to take a deep breath and enjoy the last couple days home (not that i haven't, to some degree, enjoyed all of them. this has been a very special week.) i have with the girls. i feel like i've been "good" with regards to taking care of them, but my attitude has probably not always been the best. it's funny. in my mind, after coming home from work and picking hannah up from school, i wonder and wish for more time with her. i am sure it'll be the same with caroline. it's definitely that way with sarah. but, maybe, we aren't meant to be together in the same room with the same three people all the time. maybe without the time away from those that we love the most, we wouldn't really appreciate them as much as we should and eventually do. it's an interesting thought. one worth debating i guess. one that i'll ponder when i wake up sunday and start cursing under my breath at the thought of going back to work.

so, i may not be all go-go gadget college football just yet, but i am sure that'll come. before it does, a couple of predictions for the upcoming season.

- 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.

- 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.).

- 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.

- 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.

- 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.

- 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.

enjoy the weekend. roll saban.