Ready for some football

By Staff
Jonathan Willis
Franklin County Times
Each day now we are getting closer and closer to the best time of year – football season.
I have been so busy at work and home lately that I had not been keeping as close of a watch as usual on the season.
But this week it really started to hit me.
I followed the annual SEC media days spectacle in Birmingham last week and that got the ball rolling.
I can always tell as we get closer to the start of the season because it starts to creep into my mind more and more, especially at the strangest times. When I am riding down the road, at work, or sometimes, even in my sleep.
When the season gets near the phone starts ringing a little more with buddies calling to talk about this player or that news that came out of Tuscaloosa. There's never a dull moment again.
The weekends will soon be filled with high school games on Friday nights and then a full day of college football on Saturday.
Saturdays are never a restful time during the season. I either wake up early and head out for a day's worth of fun and fellowship with 92,000 other people or I wake up early and pace the floors until late into the night.
There was a time when I would never miss an Alabama game in person. I have traveled to as far as Los Angeles, Calif., and Norman, Okla., to watch my beloved Tide underachieve and lose big games.
I have driven to almost every stadium in the SEC to see some of the biggest wins, and losses, in recent decades. Each one has its own special memory.
These days, however, the drive and trouble of making a weekend trip keep me at home more. Not to mention a certain 16-month old that I hope will get to see his first game at Bryant-Denny Stadium this year.
That makes staying home and watching on TV a lot better.
But wherever we are for the next couple of months, whether it be inside the stadium or in front of the big screen, I will certainly be living and dying with every play, only to do the same thing a week later.