Do you see that little bitty thing in Andre Smith's hands?

                                                      

That little bitty thing is a football. A full-sized, regulation football that this offensive tackle just caught for a touchdown.

It's almost football season; Ethel's been keeping me up at night, because she's been reading this year's Yea Alabama and worrying about our depth at linebacker. We've just about got the Pachyderm Powder Room completed and stocked, ESPN GamePlan has been ordered, and we're finished with any painting or decorating that might involve anything being positioned in between my ChairMonster and the large-screen TV.

We've run into some bumps in our lives; there's problems with the sale of the house in Anthem, the reorg at work has changed my role somewhat,  Ethel has to go back to Indiana to comb through the heirlooms and figure out what needs to be shipped out here to Arizona. All of this stuff is what you call "problems", meaning "things that you have to deal with, things that get in the way".

Problems are normal; in fact, they are necessary. If people don't have problems, then they go get into situations that will give them problems.

However, sometimes problems seem overwhelming; at that point, it's necessary to get a proper perspective. That's what college football is for.

This morning, I was reading "The Crimson Tide: An Illustrated History of Football at the University of Alabama" by Winston Groom, and came across this tidbit from the section on 1933:

"The Great Depression was now in full bloom. Franklin Roosevelt, now in the White House, ended Prohibition, the Nazi party had a stranglehold on Germany, and Japan was under the sway of militarists'. Meantime...After an annoying 0-0 tie with Ole Miss, the Tide went to Knoxville and finally whipped Tennessee 12-6..."

To my way of thinking, that's a proper perspective - sure, everybody's broke and the Nazis are taking over, but at least we beat Tennessee!




                                NOTE: The views expressed on this website/weblog are mine alone
                                and do not necessarily reflect the views of Go Daddy Software, Inc.]