Like most kids, Christmas was my favorite holiday growing up. No school for two weeks, awesome food and the giddy anticipation of getting new toys nearly made me burst waiting for Christmas to arrive. That's kind of what the start football season is like too and maybe that's why so many folks around the blogosphere have countdowns on their sites, the internet equivalent of the Christmas calendars that many people put in their homes.
Though we're 19 days away from Alabama's opener against Western Carolina, we are only 17 days away from the start of college football in general and that's also cause to celebrate. I know I'll be tuned into Tulsa at Louisiana-Monroe that night because despite the non-marquee match-up it ushers in another year of epic contests, huge upsets, glorious highs, crushing lows and the entire range of emotions one can experience as a devotee of a certain team or simply as a fan of the game in general (there's also the whole scouting a future opponent thing too though in this case.)
All season long my DVR will be at near capacity with almost nothing but football games. On opening weekend last year I watched significant portions of 17 games via a combination of watching in person, live on TV and on DVR. I'm the guy that'll be watching Central Michigan at Western Michigan on Tuesday, November 6. Sure, I might not watch every play with rapt attention but it'll at least be on in the background because as my dad always says, "Some football is better than no football."
If y'all are like me you've got football on the brain 24-7 right now. I'm dreaming about the atmosphere in Bryant-Denny when LSU comes to town on November 3rd, I'm energized by the great recruiting class being assembled, I'm still elated that we're off of probation and I'm excited beyond belief that we have a coach with enough experience and skill to put an end to getting dominated by our two biggest rivals like we have over the last decade. Any reasonable Alabama fan realizes that we aren't likely to win the SEC year, but we can rejoice in the fact that things are being put in place to make us competitive again very soon. We might not get any shiny new trophies to put in our trophy cases this year but we do have the hope of a new beginnings and the great things that come with the hiring of a new coach. It does make me wonder though...what kind of gifts will Saint Nick will bring us this year?
Roll Tide! 19 more days...