Several years ago, a Leadership Alabama group of which I was a part toured all of the University of Alabama’s football facilities – from the locker room at Bryant-Denny to the Mal Moore complex to the indoor practice facility.

Our tour guide shared interesting anecdotes about coaches and players, including coach Nick Saban.

“He has the same salad brought to his office every day for lunch,” the guide said. “But they are not to speak when they bring it in. He’s thinking about football.”

There were similar stories about meeting him in the hallway. “Don’t interrupt him; he’s thinking about football.”

We are experiencing record-breaking heat in South Alabama, and technically it’s still baseball season. We haven’t yet sliced the Fourth of July watermelon, gone on vacation, or made a freezer of ice cream. But we are thinking about football.

Alabama begins its season in Dallas in 63 days; high school football kicks off in Covington County in 55, when Opp plays Dale County in a pre-season game on Aug. 23, and Andalusia and Straughn host Jackson and Red Level for pre-season play on the 24th.

And at The Star-News, we are busy planning our annual football magazine.

Soon, we’ll be asking coaches to help us name a pre-season, all-county team. The idea is the brainchild of young Jeffrey Moore, who, along with Josh Dutton, will help out the full-time staff with coverage this fall. We’re also looking for some war stories from old-timers about their glory days on the county’s football fields. We’re counting on friends with memories that stretch back farther than those in our building to find those anecdotes.

I’m willing to bet we aren’t the only ones already thinking about and looking forward to football season. If you have an idea for our football magazine, pass it along to Andrew Garner at andrew.garner@andalusiastarnews.com, or to me at michele.gerlach@andalusiastarnews.com.

 

Before we get to that favorite pastime, there’s lots of summertime left to enjoy. The Fourth of July makes me think first of watermelons. Granddaddy always told us the watermelons wouldn’t be ready before the Fourth and we rarely got to cut one before then.

My father never liked traveling on holiday weekends, so our grandparents’ garden was our only destination if ever we did travel on the Fourth of July. It was more of an extra day to stock the freezer than a day of celebration.

Unless, of course, you count that first watermelon we got as a reward. Whatever you’re doing for the Fourth, happy summer to you and yours.