By Staff
Arthur McLean
Can you feel it? It's football season. True, it's too hot for football games, but this is south Alabama. There's always tradeoffs.
This Friday marked the first week of high school football for us in football-crazy Alabama, and soon, college football will start up as well.
Now, locally, our high school boys had some disappointing seasons last year. But that's one of the great things about sports. Every year you can start with a clean slate. The record for the No. 1 team in the state is exactly the same as the record for all the unranked teams. You all start at zero and zero, winless and undefeated.
Of course, by the time you read this column, that will have all changed.
The ECHS Blue Devils will be facing a tough test right off the bat with T.R. Miller, traditionally a strong team.
It won't by any easier for Escambia Academy, who will play on the road at Faith Academy in Mobile. Faith's always had good sports programs, and it's grown by leaps and bounds over the past few years, so I have no doubt they'll give the Cougars everything they can handle.
We'll see right off the bat where these two Escambia teams stand. Win or lose, it's going to be a long season, and there's plenty of football to be played.
I give our high schools credit. They're starting with tough competition. Of course, they don't have a lot of money to bring in patsies like Alabama and Auburn.
Auburn brings in perennial whipping boy Louisiana-Monroe for its first game, probably a wise decision after its opening performances against Southern Call the past two years. Sports Illustrated is already predicting Auburn and Kansas State will meet up in the Cotton Bowl. Considering both teams' performances and early season rankings the past couple of years, they should rename that one the over-ranked underachievers' bowl.
Alabama starts out against Utah State. Hmmm, don't know much about the aggies, but their website's sports page brags about their all-academic selections. Nope. Don't think that one should be much of a test either.
I say these games shouldn't be much of a test, but Mike Shula's still unproven, and Tommy Tuberville's teams are always unpredictable, picking off a No. 1 team one week, and getting blown out of the water the next.
I give our high schoolers some credit. They're out to play football, and it doesn't matter who lines up against them. Pretty simple. The way it should be.
Arthur McLean is the editor of the Atmore Advance.