November 5, 2011 Rolling with the Tide!

Dear readers I have finally moved completely to Tallapoosa and living here full time. I moved my voter registration a week ago and I got my city tax bill last Monday.I am proud to live in the friendliest place I know. It is good to fall asleep as a train runs through town late at night. It is like music to many of us. It is good to be living all the time in the only place I've ever called "home." Miami, Asheville, Columbus, Montgomery and Marietta were nice places but Tallapoosa is home. Tonight I will not be answering the phone. Tonight I will be glued to the television watching what some have declared the "Football Game of the Century." The Crimson Tide of Alabama host the number one team in the nation from Baton Rouge. LSU hasn't had any football players locked up or in need of a bail bondsman this past week. Last month I went to Tuscaloosa for the game against Vanderbilt. The entire buzz around the Quad and inside Bryant Denny Stadium was the game coming up November 5th against LSU. I heard ticket prices were one thousand dollars a ticket. People were paying that amount last month. I heard figures this past week of $3,800 for a single ticket. My grandparents didn't pay that much for their house. Every college football fan will be watching the game tonight with the University of Alabama wrestling the top spot from a great LSU team. The Southeastern Conference has become THE conference people all over America follow. Don't get me wrong, I like Louisiana. I am fond of mosquitos and folks speaking in words I can't understand. I used to work with a young lady named Mary Brasseaux from LaFayette, Louisiana. Matter of fact, I introduced her to her husband Glenn Davis and they have a beautiful family. Mary used to bring me something called boudin. This popular Cajun dish is a made of spices, rice and meat. I asked Mary how do they make it and she said that she didn't know and she didn't want to know. I love Cajun dishes like red beans and rice and jambalaya. John Folse and Paul Prudhomme are two treasured American chefs who hail from the bayou state. The game day experince in Tuscaloosa is something to behold. People began gathering in cars, trucks, motor homes, and buses since the middle of the past week. Coach Bryant's signature houndstooth design is on everything from bumper stickers, to hats, to women's skirts. Dreamland Barbecue over across the river in Northport has been packed most of the week. The competitive spirit of both teams is everywhere. Football experts say whoever wins the game tonight will go on to the be national champions. LSU has boasted of having the best coach in college football in 2001 through 2003 named Nick Saban. Coach Les Miles won the national championship in 2008. Louisiana State had a great running back who won the Heisman in 1959. Billy Cannon was a powerhouse speedster who went on and went to a brief career in professional football and later became a dentist. Alabama had Joe Namath, Johnny Musso, Ozzie Newsome, Ray Perkins, Lee Roy Jordon, Kenny Stabler, Richard Todd, Marty Lyons, Barry Krause, and 2009 Heisman winner Mark Ingram. Alabama had a coach named Paul William Bryant who set the bar high and expected excellence in himself and his players. The population of Tuscaloosa is prediced to be between a half million and 750,000 people today. Nick Saban celebrated his 60th birthday last Monday. I bet he didn't have time to have any cake. He was busy watching film and preparing for perhaps the biggest game in the history of southern college football this evening. The Bear is smiling down from heaven this day. Roll Tide!