BAMA NATION WAITS ON WORD ABOUT MARSHALL

IS MARSHALL COMING TO BAMA?
My guess is yes, but I don't know
A day in the life of a longtime bama fan...

 

A selfie from earlier this morning

      I don’t know about you but I’m on pins and needles with my fingers crossed. It occurred to me to break out my lucky tee shirt and put it on. Got my shoes tied just right, knocked on the same wooden table my great grandfather knocked on a  hundred and thirty years ago. I straightened up all my Tide Pride plaques.  Got my sideline chair from the first year I had my floor seats and put it by the television.  Made sure I photos of Coach Dee, Coach Riley, Coach Newton,  the Wimp, David Hobbs, Coach MG, and Anthony completely straight on the wall. I have an app for that.  Took my Derrick McKey warm up out of the closest and hung it on the chair, and then got out my Alabama golf bag and golf shoes to go play some golf. You know the shoes that are red and white saddle oxfords with the big Alabama A on the side? In summary, I’ve done all I can do to help to Bama hire Gregg Marshall. I’ve turned this matter  over to Bill Battle. I do not get God involved in these things because I’m a Methodist.  I’m far to excited and anxious to just sit around and hit a refesh button all day. I’m about to play the worst round of golf in my life. There are many to choose from, but this one will be with no concentration at all. I am not taking my smart phone.  It has all the golf yardages on it, and I’m still not taking it. That’s how nervous I am. 68 years old and I’m as nervous as the day I got that letter from the draft board. I seriously need to get a life.

       I had this urge to light a candle and put it by my ’76 and ’87 team basketballs.  That seemed a little overboard, so I put the ’14-15 ball out because those guys have the most to lose.  I called a couple of current players, one assistant coach, and one sports writer.  I think the basketball coach was putting on his lucky tee shirt as well.  The players are very interested. And the sports writer didn’t give me anything.  All of my basketball buddies have been calling this morning. The emails are coming in like rain on an Alabama summer afternoon. All I could tell them was, “Sorry, I honestly don’t know anything concrete”.  I called my friend who works at WSU. He sounded like he had a bad case of the bubonic flu. After telling me a million reasons why Marshall won’t leave he finally said he had a bad feeling. At last, something solid to believe in. A man who works in the same building as the basketball administration told me he had a bad feeling about today.  I pressed him as hard as I can. He finally said “I just hope he doesn’t take the Texas job”.  He said that was what was making him sick. We told each other a couple of Texas jokes and then got into discussion about whether it was best to live in Kansas or Alabama. The consensus is they are so much alike it probably didn’t matter.  He did admit that their governor had bankrupt  Kansas with all the tax cuts. I told him if that happened in Alabama people would blame Obama. He allowed they had already done that but it didn’t work. 

     We both laughed about how grown men could be so uptight about all this Gregg Marshall stuff.  He then said something I won’t forget.  “We should worry; basketball is all we have in this State”.  There you go. Alabama fans are hoping that Marshall comes to Alabama. Kansas fans are scared to death he might leave.  I started to think about that. It is unlikely that Wichita State will ever get back to the level that Marshall took them. He was a kind of once in a lifetime deal for the ‘Shocker fans. If Marshall is coming to Alabama the WSU fans are going to be angry and feel betrayed. In our State we will be happy and jubilant for a few days, and then start talking about the A day game.  You have to feel a little sorry for those fans. Fans are just fans.  We just live in different locations.  But you know how people from the Midwest will handle the situation.  They will have tears in their eyes even as that pat their coach on the back and wish him well.  They will actually mean that. They will tell him they understand, and thank him for all he gave the ‘Shockers. In this State you leave for something you are a dead as far as people are concerned.  You are a traitor to the highest degree.  A knife in the back is more likely than a pat.

    As much as I’d feel sorry for the City of Wichita, I’d feel ten times happier for our program.  This man is a great coach, and we may negotiate some real changes in our approach to the game.  We might actually do something this time as opposed to giving the program more lip service. Like you guys, I’m excited and hopeful.  The second and third names on our list are not bad coaches at all. They just aren’t Gregg Marshall.  If Marshall can do for Bama what he did for WSU some really happy days are ahead. Roll Tide to all my Crimson brothers.