There’s no way to sugar coat it, my mental well being lies in the promising hands of Greg Sankey. With the announcement of the SEC schedule today, my hopes and optimism for SEC football are at a new high.

We can all admit, the last few months have been not very fun at the best. Personally I was alone for nearly three months as my roommate used the beginning of quarantine as an extended vacation at the beach. We also went 5 months with no sports, and nothing on the news but people dying, riots, social unrest, more people dying, and people yelling at me to stay home and wear a mask. There have been more fun times in my life.

Then all the College Football teams announced they were doing conference only schedules, taking away some of the marquee games we were looking forward to. No LSU v Texas, no Ohio St v Oregon, no Auburn v UNC. It felt like a punch to the gut. Merely a few days later, Big10 and PAC12 announced they were cancelling football all together due to a now contested medical report. And it looked like all hope was lost for my favorite thing in the world, college football.

It’s hard to put in to words how much college football means to myself and other fans across the country. Growing up in Alabama, there has never been a huge emphasis on most professional sports, so all we had was College Football. Imagine your favorite thing in the world, something that you always relied on to bring you joy an entertainment. Whether that be Christmas, your dog, gardening, pickup sticks, whatever. Things that are so concrete the thought of them leaving your life never crossed your mind. Then in a rapid turn of events, your dog dies, the dust bowl ruins all your crops, pickup sticks gets outlawed, and Santa fucking quits. That’s what it felt like when College Football was all but dead.

And then today, the SEC announced their conference only schedule. And just like that, the dog kicks back up, corn starts blooming, pickup sticks is legalized, and Santa renegotiates his contract with the world. Everything seems right in the world. My hopes have reached a new high after having everything stripped away and I feel alive again.

I know there’s still a decent sized chance that CFB could be not go through. Frankly I have no idea how this is going to work out. But I have no choice but to think with my heart over my brain here. So Greg, if you’re reading this, for the dogs life, for the gardens and crops of the world, for the professional pickup sticks players, for Santa, for me, for all of us, don’t break my heart. It’s been through a lot these last few months and I don’t know how much more it can take.

With Love,

Coach Paul