Mailbag: Cleaning up after the party

Updated Jan. 14

You'll have to pardon the break. I had to gather my thoughts, along with my liver, after a long, hard, exhausting season.

From: Tom Hammond

Great Saban/Bama article (Is Saban's big deal really such a BIG deal? Not exactly, Jan. 3) I think your insight is interesting and entertaining. You're right; 'Bama is its own animal. I invite you to come down here for a big game next season; bring your children. There is a lot of good that the football program brings out.

Tom:

Bring my children? Why? I love them too much.

From: Samy

Reference your Saban article, you sure emphasized how 'Bama is going to win a national championship with him, and he was worth it. He won't win there. The SEC is too tough. 'Bama does not have the talent LSU had or will have. Dodd, it seems you're jumping on his wagon, I guess you seem to value dishonesty, and being a traitor.

Missing an M:

All the values embraced by the American Football Coaches Association?

From: revwhitten

Hey Dodd, can we start referring to Alabama as the Evil Empire of NCAA football? How they can't pay their players but can sling money around like the N.Y. Yankees and get whoever they want in as head coach. I think that has a certain ring to it. Alabama ... the Evil Empire.

Good Reverend:

Do you do exorcisms?

From: R D Hoelscer

Are you kidding me? Now the bar is raised to over $4 million a year. College football is already now like the NFL ... priced out of my range to take even one of my kids to a game.

I am not dropping $50 plus per ticket to go to a game. I guess they can still sell 100,000 plus tickets to an Ohio State game and get people to pay that amount, so they will.

I am just resigned to watching all the games on TV. Higher coaches salaries force only higher ticket prices. The fans will pay bills.

Git R Done:

It's called studio football. The suckers are the ones who pay all that money to watch games in freezing rain. Unless, of course you live in New Orleans, Minneapolis or Arizona. Then it's really nice, but it's still expensive. There's a point there somewhere.

From: Joe

Why don't you give THE University of Alabama, (AD) Mal Moore and the fans a break? All you so-called sports reporters do is beat 'Bama down for what they have accomplished and what they may accomplish.

Seems that the media really hates the fact that The University is trying to do what it takes to get them back to national prominence.

Ordinary Joe:

You mean conduct its private bidness in public, fumble on Rodriguez, overpay for Saban and stay 50th in literacy? OK, just so we're all clear on what national prominence means.

From: J Conyer

Great article on Saban's agreement to coach at Alabama. I agreed with everything you stated and I believe you are right on with the facts about both Saban and 'Bama, a perfect marriage of self-centered parties. As long as each of them gets everything they want and expect it will last maybe more than four years. 'Bama is a desperate and sick organization.

Rational:

Desperate and sick? No, you're thinking Rosie O'Donnell. Alabama is loud and belligerent. You haven't been reading.

From: jwtauge

Sooners coach Bob Stoops dies after living a full life.

When he gets to heaven, God is showing him around. They come to a modest little house with a faded Sooner flag in the window.

"This house is yours for eternity, Bob," says God. "This is very special; not everyone gets a house up here."

Bob felt special, indeed, and walked up to his house. On his way up the porch, he noticed another house just around the corner. It was a three-story mansion with a blue and orange sidewalk, a 50-foot tall flagpole with an enormous BSU Bronco flag, and in every window, he could see Bronco fans.

Bob looks at God and says, "God, I'm not trying to be ungrateful, but I have a question. I was a good coach, I won a national championship in 2000, four Big 12 championships, eight bowl game appearances including five BCS Bowls."

God said, "So what do you want to know, Bob?"

"Well, why does Chris Petersen get a better house than me?"

God chuckled and said, "Bob, that's not Petersen's house; that's mine."

JW:

Does that mean Oklahoma needed a Divine Interception to win?

From: Wendy

Now that Brady Quinn has blown it twice in bowl games and in other big games (aka Michigan and USC), can you still see him as a top 10 pick in the NFL Draft? And why isn't Troy Smith, the Heisman Trophy winner, in the top 10? Just curious?

Wendy:

Quinn will still be a top 10 pick, although I'm starting to have doubts about his effectiveness. Troy Smith didn't help himself in the BCS title game, for the same reason. He's too short to see over his -- and the defense's -- linemen when he takes a seven-step drop.

From: CoachTR

In a nutshell, Boise State and Notre Dame are evidence of the BCS committee's lack of understanding of the word "Champion!" Last year's Pittsburgh Steelers team is evidence of why a playoff system works. A playoff system would also eliminate the appearance of bowl games being awarded to schools on the basis of their "storied past."

Ball Coach:

Don't we all love No. 6 seeds winning the NFL title? At least college football rewards deserving teams. The NFL is getting to be like the NHL. When everybody jumps into the playoff pool, it's likely that some crap is going to float to the surface.

From: Jon Smith

You are a damned Yankee jerk, and I mean "damned" in the full theological sense of the term. See you on Judgment Day.

Sweet Homer:

I'll be there with my pitchfork. Watch your back.

From: Matt

Terry Porter just threw his flag ...

Matt:

Got a chuckle out of that one. For those of you, who don't get it, Terry Porter was the official who called pass interference in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl that essentially allowed Ohio State to win the national championship.

To your point Matt, I saw a piece somewhere before the BCS title game on Porter and his refusal to back down from doing anything wrong. I've written about his call extensively over the year. It wasn't until I saw that piece again recently that I realize how much Porter choked.

What the piece failed to mention was that the Big 12 tried to spin it a different way. The flag wasn't for pass interference, they said, but HOLDING. It appears that Miami's Glenn Sharpe did hold Chris Gamble off the line, but that would make the call even more ridiculous. That means that Porter threw the flag a good 10 seconds after the snap.

From: Kenny Dunaway

Why in the world would they play for the national championship on Monday night? I got to go to work on Tuesday, like the rest of the world. If you can answer that, I guess you can answer who really is No. 1.

Past Your Bedtime:

Sorry to bother you with Monday night football, something we've had in this country for the past 36 years. We'll leave you a wakeup call next time.

From: bbrown@dental.ufl.edu

Do you personally have the inside track that Chris Leak cannot perform at the next level of professional football?

NFL Scout:

Yes, or at least more than someone with "dental.ufl.edu" in their e-mail address.

From: Joe

Michigan and Ohio State are the two best teams in the nation, hahhahahahaha. I thought that was so ridiculous when I heard that. Now that statement has been proven absurd.

Hindsighter:

Yeah, it's a good thing the BCS didn't do "the right thing" and pair the two best teams in the nation. Yo, Big Ten. Talk to us when you can develop some speed up there in the frozen tundra.

From: Josh

Dennis, who gets paid more: Troy Smith or Bill Gates?

Tax Man:

With or without annual bonuses?

From: Wally Terry

You get paid what you are worth to the company, paying you in our free-market society. Which begs the bigger question -- what do you make? Roll Tide.

Sports Authority:

More than most guys named Wally