Published: December 01, 2008 05:05 pm      

Robert Carter: Time to get off the fence

When I moved here about a dozen years ago, people almost immediately tried to get me to declare.

“Alabama or Auburn?”

I grew up with that same sort of thing in Kentucky. Only the teams, and usually the sport, were different: “Kentucky or Louis-ville?” “Cats or Cards?”

Back then I had a rock-solid excuse for my standard answer, “Neither. Hilltoppers!” I attended Western Kentucky University, and aside from the school providing me an excellent education in journalism (it’s one of the top five journalism schools in the nation), it also gave me cover from having to come down on one side or the other of the Bluegrass State’s great divide.

When I got back into the news business after a long absence, I once again had a legitimate reason for avoiding The Great Declaration. “Well, I work for a newspaper, you see, and we’re to remain objective in what we report about, and we must cover both sides equally so that people can trust our reporting, and ...”

The time to climb down off the proverbial fence has come, at least for the sake of predictions if not declared loyalties.

Nick Saban has become the deliverer, and quickly. In his short time in Tuscaloosa, he has led the Tide back to the top of the heap of college football. Just how fast he has pulled off this feat has amazed even the most devoted of Bama faithful.

But even as the Tide sits atop the BCS rankings, there’s still one big hurdle Saban has yet to get past. The old riverboat gambler is down at Auburn, grinning and standing beside a tree full of Charmin accumulated over the years.

Strange as it may sound, some Alabama fans consider an Iron Bowl win more important than a national championship. They can rest assured now. This is the year for the Tide.

Saban’s system is fully in place. John Parker Wilson, Javier Arenas, Julio Jones and the rest have the Tide running on all cylinders. It’s enough to make The Old Man lean up against the goalpost, adjust the hound’s-tooth hat and crack a grin. Bama is on top, and all is right with the world.

Meanwhile on the Plains, it’s been a season to forget. The Tigers are reduced to fighting for mere bowl eligibility, after a win by a 3-2 score (what?) and an insurrection within the coaching staff.

So even for an accomplished fence-sitter like me, this year’s Iron Bowl is an easy call. Were it any other opponent, the Tide might be looking past as it gets ready for the SEC Championship against Florida. But it’s not any other opponent. It’s Auburn, and there are several years worth of making up to do.

Alabama 34, Auburn 14.



Robert Carter is the sports editor of The North Jefferson News.