THE STATE HAD BEEN TORN WITH TURMOIL SURROUNDING THE FOOTBALL PROGRAM!

What? Is blood running in the streets of Bentonville? Are they ready to take the last train from Clarksville? Do Little Rockers (Rockians?) want to move, lock, stock and barrel, to Louisiana? Is there hand-to-hand combat between brothers and sisters from Hope and Hot Springs?

I know college football is religion, especially in the south. I get it. I don't like it, but I get it.
Good heavens, Alabama coach Nick Saban called his team's loss on the 17th to Louisiana-Monroe a "CATASTROPHIC EVENT" ...then talked about other catastrophic events like September 11th and Pearl Harbor, and how America rebounded from those, and his team would have to rebound from this catastrophic event, not that it was like September 11th or Pearl Harbor mind you, and right now I'm reminded of the John Belushi character on "Weekend Update" who'd get so damned worked up he'd spin right off his chair which I feel like doing right now just thinking that I'd like to kick Nick Saban in the....

Never mind. I feel much better now.
Besides, Saban's "pep talk" didn't work. His team lost its fourth straight at Auburn. Good.

As we speculate over where the UConn Huskies go play a bowl game (can we just call the Meineke Car Care Bowl "The Muffler"?)...please join me in a brief and fervent prayer that UConn football, as great as it may become, never tears the state apart with turmoil. Our very future could be at stake.